Speaking: presentation and conversation (AS)

Break the examination down minute by minute so that nothing about the shape of it is a surprise on the day.

1. 01Before it starts

   The centre has already submitted your Summary Sheet to CCEA by the deadline set, and has kept your Preparation Sheet to give to the visiting examiner on the day. You will have a copy of your Preparation Sheet with you during the examination. If you are using artefacts or a PowerPoint, they are set up before the clock starts.

2. 02Minutes 0 to 3 — the presentation

   Approximately three minutes, in Irish, on your chosen topic. This is the only part you control completely. It is assessed on AO4 — knowledge and understanding of, and critical response to, an aspect of the culture and society of an Irish-speaking country or community. Rehearsed, but not read: the examination focuses solely on verbal communication and linguistic competence.

3. 03The hinge

   The examiner will move you into the conversation, and the first question is very often about your presentation. Expect it and welcome it: it is the one conversation question you can prepare for, and answering it well sets the tone for the remaining eight minutes.

4. 04Minutes 3 to 11 — the conversation

   Approximately eight minutes on aspects of the AS themes — Relationships, and Culture and Lifestyle — at a level appropriate for AS. Assessed on AO1, understanding and responding to what is said to you, and AO3, accuracy and range. You will be asked why, asked for examples, and asked to consider another point of view.

5. 05What the examiner is marking throughout

   Four things, named in §6.1: engagement with the examiner, knowledge and understanding of the chosen theme, grammatical accuracy when speaking, and fluency. Two of the four are about HOW you speak rather than what you say, which is why silent thinking time costs more than a small error does.

6. 06The single most useful habit

   Never answer in one sentence. Every answer should be a claim plus a reason, and preferably plus an example — three sentences minimum. That habit alone satisfies the fluency criterion, gives the examiner something to follow up, and keeps you talking, which in an eight-minute conversation assessed on your Irish is the whole point.

Result: Eleven minutes: three prepared on AO4, a hinge question that is usually about the presentation, then eight on AO1 and AO3 — with four named criteria running throughout, two of which concern manner rather than matter, and one habit (claim, reason, example) that serves all four.

Your centre has entered you for a set film at AS 3 and expects to use the poetry option at A2 3. You want to present on something to do with the Irish language in Ulster. Work the choice through the exclusion list.

1. 01Write the exclusion list first, not last

   Line one: the AS 3 set work, by title. Line two: the A2 3 set work, by title, marked provisional if it is. Line three: the A2 1 research topic, blank for now but with a reserved AREA written in. Only then, line four: candidate AS 1 topics. Doing this in the other order is how candidates lose months of work.

2. 02Test candidate one against the list

   'Fás agus forbairt na Gaeilge i gCúige Uladh', the growth and development of Irish in Ulster — one of Appendix 1's own titles. Does it relate to a set film? Only if that film is centrally about the language in Ulster, which is a question for your teacher, not for you. Does it relate to prescribed poetry? Poets write in a dialect and about places, so a topic about the language in a region could collide. Flag it and ask.

3. 03Test candidate two

   'Na coláistí Gaeilge i dTír Chonaill', the Irish colleges in Donegal, adapted from Appendix 1's first sample title. This is about an institution and a practice rather than about the language in the abstract, which makes a collision with a literary set work much less likely. Note i dTír Chonaill with eclipsis after i.

4. 04Test candidate three

   'Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann' — an organisation, from Appendix 1's list. Almost impossible to collide with a set film or a poetry selection, richly documented, and squarely within the Culture and Lifestyle theme's 'the arts' bullet. This is the safest of the three and the easiest to research.

5. 05Reserve the A2 area explicitly

   If you present on Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, you have used the traditional-music strand of the culture option. Write on the sheet: A2 1 research to be a HISTORICAL PERIOD or a REGION, not a cultural aspect. That single line, written in year one, prevents the commonest version of the collision — presenting on a cultural topic and then wanting to research a cultural topic.

6. 06Get the signature before the research

   Take the sheet to your teacher and get the AS 1 topic agreed, with the set work specified, before you read a single article. The teacher has to authenticate the Summary Sheet anyway; the only question is whether that happens before or after you have done the work.

Result: Three candidate topics tested against a written exclusion list, with the organisation-based topic chosen as least likely to collide, an explicit reservation of the A2 research option written down in year one, and the teacher's agreement obtained before any research begins rather than after it.

Your topic is Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, from Appendix 1's list. Build the Summary Sheet's headings and then the Preparation Sheet, showing what goes in and what is cut.

1. 01The Summary Sheet — five headings

   Approximately three to five, so use five. One: cad é atá i gComhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann — what Comhaltas is. Two: a bhunú agus a fhás — its founding and growth. Three: an obair a dhéanann sé — the work it does. Four: an tionchar atá aige ar an gceol traidisiúnta — its influence on traditional music. Five: mo thuairim féin — my own view. Note i gComhaltas with eclipsis after i, and a fhás with lenition after the possessive.

2. 02What the Summary Sheet is NOT

   It is not the plan you speak from and it is not detailed. Five short headings is the whole document, plus the teacher's authentication specifying the set work. It goes to CCEA; you do not take it into the room.

3. 03The Preparation Sheet — first draft, too long

   A first attempt will list every fact you have found: names, dates, branch numbers, competition names, a definition of sean-nós, three opinions and a conclusion. Count it. It will be well over a hundred words and it will read as a script, which is exactly what it must not be.

4. 04The cutting rule

   Keep only what you would be unable to reconstruct on the day. Proper names in their exact Irish form. Any date or figure you intend to state. One or two technical terms — ceol traidisiúnta, an t-amhrán ar an sean-nós — that you want to pronounce correctly. And the exact wording of your final sentence, because the ending is where candidates most often run out of language.

5. 05The sixty words, as a shape

   Roughly: five headings echoing the Summary Sheet, about fifteen words; four or five proper nouns and terms, about fifteen; two or three dates or figures, about ten; and your closing sentence written out in full, about twenty. That is sixty, it is a scaffold rather than a script, and everything on it is something you would have hated to forget.

6. 06The PowerPoint check

   If you use slides, every word on them must come from those sixty. In practice that means five slide titles from your headings and nothing else but images. Which is, incidentally, a better slide deck than most, and it takes twenty minutes rather than three hours.

Result: A five-heading Summary Sheet in Irish for CCEA, and a sixty-word Preparation Sheet built from five headings, five proper nouns and terms, two or three figures and one fully written closing sentence — with a slide deck, if used, carrying nothing but those five headings and images.

Deliver a presentation on Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann in the four-move shape, in Irish, and check it against AO4's three clauses.

1. 01Move one — what it is, 30 seconds

   Is eagraíocht í Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann a bhíonn ag obair ar son an cheoil thraidisiúnta, an damhsa agus na teanga. Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann is an organisation that works on behalf of traditional music, dance and the language. Note the copula for classification, ar son as a compound preposition taking the genitive, and an cheoil thraidisiúnta with the genitive and its lenited adjective.

2. 02Move two — two or three facts, 60 seconds

   Tá craobhacha aige ar fud na hÉireann agus i dtíortha eile fosta. Eagraíonn sé ranganna, seisiúin cheoil agus comórtais. There are branches throughout Ireland and in other countries too. It organises classes, music sessions and competitions. Note ar fud na hÉireann with the genitive and h-prefix, i dtíortha with eclipsis, and seisiúin cheoil with a lenited genitive.

3. 03Move three — one thing explained, 60 seconds

   Choose the competition structure, or the classes, or the sessions — and explain how it actually works, from the local level upward, who takes part and how it is judged. Two or three sentences of real explanation. This is the move that demonstrates UNDERSTANDING rather than knowledge, and it is the half of AO4's first clause that most presentations skip.

4. 04Move four — your judgement, 30 seconds

   Is é mo bharúil féin gurb é an rud is tábhachtaí faoin eagraíocht ná go dtugann sí deis do dhaoine óga an ceol a fhoghlaim óna chéile seachas ó leabhar. My own opinion is that the most important thing about the organisation is that it gives young people a chance to learn the music from each other rather than from a book. Marked as a judgement, and specific enough to be argued with.

5. 05The two reserved facts

   Deliberately leave out two things you know — perhaps something about how the organisation began, and something about a particular competition. When the examiner opens the conversation with a question about the presentation, you have prepared material that is not a repetition of what you have just said.

6. 06The AO4 check

   Knowledge of the culture and society of an Irish-speaking community: moves one and two. Understanding: move three. Critical and analytical response: move four. Evaluation of works created in the language: partially, through the music itself — and if your topic were a film or a book instead, this is where that clause would be met directly.

Result: Three minutes in four moves — classify, two or three facts, one thing explained properly, one judgement explicitly owned — with two facts held back for the follow-up, and every clause of AO4 accounted for by a specific move rather than by hope.

Show how an eight-minute conversation actually unfolds, from the hinge question after the presentation to the end, with the answer shape and the grammatical range visible at each turn.

1. 01Turn one — the hinge, from the presentation

   Cén fáth ar roghnaigh tú an t-ábhar sin? Why did you choose that subject? Answer with a reserved fact: Roghnaigh mé é mar go bhfuil craobh den eagraíocht i mo bhaile féin, agus chaith mé dhá bhliain ag foghlaim ceoil ann. I chose it because there is a branch of the organisation in my own town, and I spent two years learning music there. Claim, reason, example, and it uses material the presentation did not.

2. 02Turn two — into the theme

   An bhfuil caitheamh aimsire tábhachtach do dhaoine óga? Are hobbies important for young people? Ceapaim go bhfuil siad ríthábhachtach — mar bíonn saol daltaí lán de bhrú scrúduithe — agus mar shampla, is é an ceol an t-aon uair sa tseachtain nach mbím ag smaoineamh ar obair bhaile. Three parts, plus the habitual and the eclipsis after nach.

3. 03Turn three — the past habitual question

   An raibh sé mar sin nuair a bhí do thuismitheoirí óg? Was it like that when your parents were young? Ní raibh, is dóigh liom. Ba ghnách leo a bheith ag obair ar an bhfeirm i ndiaidh na scoile, agus ní raibh mórán ama acu do chaitheamh aimsire. The past habitual ba ghnách le, and the eclipsis after ar an in the standard pattern.

4. 04Turn four — hand something back

   End an answer with a genuine question and the conversation becomes one: Agus an gceapann tú féin gur athrú maith é sin? And do you yourself think that is a good change? Examiners vary in how much they take this up, but the attempt itself is evidence of the interaction AO1 asks for.

5. 05Turn five — the comparison question

   An bhfuil an scéal mar an gcéanna sa Ghaeltacht? Is the situation the same in the Gaeltacht? Níl mé cinnte, ach de réir na ndaoine a bhí ag teagasc sa choláiste samhraidh, tá níos mó deiseanna ceoil ann ná mar atá sa chathair. I am not sure, but according to the people who were teaching in the summer college, there are more musical opportunities there than in the city. Honest uncertainty, attributed evidence, a comparative.

6. 06Turn six — the evaluation, and the close

   An rud maith é go bhfuil an ceol traidisiúnta chomh láidir sin? Is it a good thing that traditional music is so strong? Is ea, ach ní mór dúinn a bheith cúramach nach n-éiríonn sé ina rud do sheandaoine amháin. Yes, but we must be careful that it does not become something for old people only. The equative chomh, the negative subordinate with nach, and a qualification rather than a flat agreement.

Result: Six turns across eight minutes, each a three-part answer, deploying between them the habitual, the past habitual, an eclipsis after nach and after ar an, a comparative, an equative, an attributed claim and one question handed back — with the hinge turn using a fact deliberately held back from the presentation.