Conversational English Test

Warm-up

1. How are you?

2. What is your name?
3. Where are you from?
4. How many years have you studied English? Do you work or do you study?
(This question helps the tester know how to begin testing the student. If they seem advanced, move
immediately to intermediate questions.)

Beginner
1. Where does your family live?
2. Tell me a little about your family?
3. Tell me a little about the classes that you took this semester.
4. Describe your room for me.
5. Do you like your school? Why?

Intermediate
1. Do you have future plans? What do you hope to do? (Future tenses)
2. What do you think of your teachers? (Expresses a point of view, opinion)
3. Do you have any siblings? Describe them.
4. What do you do on weekends?
5. Where do you usually eat? What dishes do you like?
6. Do you watch television? Tell me about a favorite program you have.
7. What do you like to do in the evening?
8. Describe your ideal house.

Advanced
1. What did you do this morning before you came here? (Past tense)
2. Did you read the paper this morning or watch the news? What happened? What do you think of this
situation?
3. Did you go out last weekend? What did you do? Did you have fun?
4. Compare the city where you were born to ________ (New York City, Beijing, etc.)
5. What is a current issue that your country faces? What are your opinions about it?
How to Conduct English Testing

From the group of native English speakers at camp, you will need to select three English testers. The
best are those familiar with ESL, those who have done English testing before, or those who have
relationships with foreigners with different language abilities. If your team meets none of these
qualifications, pick someone who is mature, likes teaching English and is attentive to details.

As English testers you will meet together for about 15-30 minutes before campers arrive in order to
discuss your testing strategy. Included in this document are questions that you will ask during the “test”
or “English conversation”, which will allow you to estimate what level of understanding and speaking
each camper has.

Begin by choosing questions from the included list that you would like to ask the camper. Start with
“What is your name? How old are you? Where are you from?” to get a baseline. If the camper is having
a hard time answering these questions, ask them again, or in a different way, so as to figure out if they
actually understand or not. Always ask, “Do you study or do you work” instead of asking “Do you go to
school” because that is only through high school.

Once you have figured out if they are beginner, intermediate or more advanced, you can ask more
questions from the list to pinpoint exactly where they might fall on a 1-10 scale. (Depending on how
many English classes your camp will have will depend on if your scale is 1-10 or 1-8 or something else,
with 8 or 10 being the highest class.) Once you have asked enough questions to determine in which
level you would place them, have them write their name in your chart. Once they have left, make a note
that, for example, either they were a solid “Level 6” or a “Level 6 minus”, or a “Level 6+ plus.” This will
help you later to divide up your classes appropriately according to similar levels of English level.

Initially the three English testers will t​ ogether​ test five or so campers, so as to understand what
constitutes a “Level 6”, for example, or to figure out the difference between a “Level 4” from a “Level 5”.
Once you have tested some participants and formed a baseline, testers can begin testing individually.
Testing can take hours, depending on how many non-native speakers you have. Remember to test
campers ​and leaders. As many people, including leaders, should be in English classes as possible. For
most camps, this should not be an option, except for the main national and US leaders, in case they
have other responsibilities during that time.

Once you have verified that every non-native participant has been tested, testers regroup in order to
figure out how to divide your participants into appropriate groups. It is easiest to start with the Level
0-1/Ultra Beginners and the Level 10/Super Advance groups because they are distinct. It gets more
difficult as you make your way from the Level 1 and 10 toward intermediate groups. A few tips:
● Group size does not have to be 100% equal
● Be sensitive to an all-girls or all-guys group with only, say, one person of the opposite sex. This
is permissible but not always beneficial.
● Also be sensitive about how many believers and non-believers you have in a class.
● Show your list to an appointed national leader so that he/she can decide if there is any
problematic pairing, which would be unknown to a foreign tester.
● Do not make exceptions to put campers together on purpose. They need to be in a group
according to their language ability.

Then read off each class on the first full day of camp, in the AM before English class.
English Levels

Beginner Lower Higher Advanced

Intermediate Intermediate

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Coherence Does not Makes significant Makes few Correctly

understand the mistakes mistakes understands
questions understanding understanding questions
questions questions

Responses are Responses are Responses are Responses are

unclear somewhat clear mostly clear clear

Fluency Does not speak Speaks somewhat Speaks mostly Speaks fluidly
fluidly fluidly fluidly

Frequent short Frequent short Semi-frequent Few or no breaks

and long breaks and long breaks short or a few
long breaks

Pronunciation Pronounces less Pronounces Pronounces Pronounces

than 50% words around 50% around 75% almost all words
correctly words correctly words correctly correctly

Sentence Poor grammar Basic grammar Moderately strong Strong grammar

Structure / grammar
Grammar /
Vocabulary Minimal Non-varied basic A varied but basic Varied and
vocabulary. vocabulary vocabulary relatively complex
vocabulary

Makes significant Several key Several key Limited mistakes

mistakes mistakes mistakes acceptable
English Placement Chart

Beginner Intermediate Advanced

Name (First and last) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20