MUET Speaking Tips 2013 Year End

Hey ho! I'm finally done with all the American Inspiration training ( I represented Malaysia for a 6 week study tour all over america!) and hv cleared my backlog of training of teachers and students for PMR & SPM English.. called my Target A+ & Final Countdown projects... phew... now I can concentrate on MUET even though my students are not sitting for this exam.

A short reflection of my students' performance in the July paper.. gosh it was harsh... no band 4s... we reduced the amount of band 1s but quality has fallen drastically.. ah well. such is life. I was really shocked that even the science students scored mostly band 2s... If you ask me... it has to do with the increasing number of seats available in IPTAs around... hence the students left in form six who didnt get a placement are 'weaker'. If you treat this statement as a fact and not an insult, you need to find the solution which is to work harder and smarter instead of feeling 'hurt'. remember the song... what doesn't kill you makes u stronger.. but the latest song on the radio i heard recently is ... what doesn't kill you makes u feel alive... so soooo try your best to read more, write more and speak n listen more in English.

Ok.. about Speaking. here are my latest top tips:

1. Speaking is all about confidence - I would say faking confidence is 80% of the trick - the other 20% is your general knowledge and language.
Why? A confident speaker (even if he/she uses broken English) is more interesting and exciting to listen to. There is nothing more an examiner dreads than a boring, unconfident mouse. If you're a mouse, act like a rat. Speak loud enough with enough confidence, look the examiners in the eyes, give your most brilliant smile and talk and talk like there's no tomorrow. Just say whatever that comes to mind; serious stuff as well as funny jokes/stories that are related to the topic.
Therefore, YOU NEED TO FAKE CONFIDENCE TO GAIN CONFIDENCE.

2. The 20% is general knowledge. Be well read. If you are talking about the environment you need to give concrete examples. Mention your personal opinions of how 'sad' and 'disappointed' you are that people are becoming greedier everyday, that for the sake of money and in the so-called name of progress 150+ hectares of the Tawau Hills Park has been deforested.. Talk about the widespread forest burnings to clear land in Indonesia that is destroying the habitats of wildlife like Orangutans and rhinoceros and so on just to build more palm oil plantations.. the destruction of mangrove swamps to clear and make way for shrimp farms and this releases ozone thinning gasses, hence global warming is escalating. The trick is to throw facts and figures at the examiners and make yourself look good and well-read. However, avoid sweeping statements like 'All governments are greedy', 'Everyone does it for money.', 'Society does not care about the environment' etc.. because these are over-generalisations and sweeping statements. Where is the proof? Instead.. say "Some governments have been proven to be profit-minded", "Many people are driven by the concept of making money, esp making 'easy money'." and "There is a certain strata of society that clearly do not care about the impact to society". Notice how I modified the sentences to be more 'believable'.
Hence, YOU NEED TO READ MORE N RETAIN SOME INTERESTING FACTS N FIGURES TO IMPRESS THE EXAMINERS.

3. Finally, you need to memorise good phrases to use (I have blogged about this so look up the archive) and really use it actively in both tasks. A person who participates and is engaged in the discussion will definitely deserve better marks. Help each other out by asking questions, offering suggestions, making the discussion lively and even funny. Even if you dont feel excited, pretend!!! Think of it as a short sketch...
Thus, BE A DRAMA KING/QUEEN!!!

Finally, do scour my blog for more speaking tips and sample scripts... good luck everyone!

P/s: in the comments below, if u hv taken today's exam, pls write out the speaking questions. There are generally two sets of questions for each day. Cheerios!