Cambridge speaking tests in Japan - an insight into staying safe

JP026 training Tokyo

JP026's solution to the Covid-19 risks has been to deploy these screens between speaking examiners (SEs) & candidates both, as well as SEs wearing masks & being 2m away from candidates. Each candidate has their own copy of materials, delivered by the interlocutor.

JP029 training Tokyo

JP029's solution to the Covid-19 situation has been to really keep distanced, again wear masks, and give candidates laminated materials which are disinfected after each use.




JP004's response to Covid-19 concerns has been clear screens, clear face masks as well as 2m distancing, separate materials for each candidate beneath clear mats, & disinfectance of these after each pair of candidates.

JP004 in Gunma

I think you will agree, Cambridge English Assessment Centres in Japan are taking the delivery & assessment of speaking tests in this country very seriously, and managing to do so very crediditably & safely.

Caveat - if you do not feel safe, please do not travel/sit your exam. Another exam will be available to you eventually, wherever you are. Your safety is our primary concern. Stay Safe.

Up your YLE teaching game with Luna JP004

April 26th, Nagano, and it's free

Day-long PD session to train experienced and qualified teachers to be become Speaking Examiners (SEs). This workshop will cover the speaking tests for all three Cambridge Assessment English YLE (Young Learners) examinations for children – Starters (pre-A1), Movers (A1) & Flyers (A2). 

The aims of the training session are: to make trainee examiners aware of the general responsibilities of a Cambridge Assessment English SE, likely problems/issues that may arise and how to manage them effectively; to familiarise trainee examiners with the procedure of the three YLE Speaking tests; to give trainee examiners the opportunity to conduct practice Speaking tests; to standardise the assessment of YLE candidates: ensuring familiarity with Cambridge Assessment English criteria, with standards set by standardisation videos, and making sure SEs are able to carry out accurate assessments in accordance with these.

Must have valid visa to work in Japan
Degree &/or teaching qual + recent, relevant FT experience taching English to YLs.

Contact Jim oyajim@gmail.com for application form, details & queeries - all curious YL teachers welcome!

Professional Development in Nagano with Luna International

April 25th, Nagano city - free (Ts & Cs apply).

Day-long PD session to train experienced and qualified teachers to be become Speaking Examiners (SEs). This workshop will cover the speaking tests for the A2:Key and B1:Preliminary, of Cambridge Assessment English examinations for adults.



The aims of the training session are: to make trainee examiners aware of the general responsibilities of a Cambridge Assessment English SE, likely problems/issues that may arise and how to manage them effectively; to familiarise trainee examiners with the procedure of the A2:Key and B1:Preliminary Speaking tests; to give trainee examiners the opportunity to conduct practice Speaking tests; to standardise the assessment of A2:Key and B1:Preliminary candidates: ensuring familiarity with Cambridge Assessment English criteria, with standards set by standardisation videos, and making sure SEs are able to carry out accurate assessments in accordance with these; to give trainee examiners the opportunity to discuss and ask questions about all aspects of the above.

Need a degree &/or teaching qual + recent, relevant FT experience. Must have visa (to work in Japan).

Contact Jim oyajim@gmail.com for an application form & further details/requirements. All enquiries welcome.

Revised Cambridge English: Young Learners tests – an overview

Important news for all YLE teachers & schools out there - suggest you pay careful attention to the changes & plan accordingly.

Please don't ask me for new sample or practice materials - the ink is still very wet!

Likewise, SEs, I'm trying to find out when the new materials will be available & implications for certification before the 2018 changes take effect. See the section from 22'35 - 25'00 & a comment at 47'

In-Conference Professional Development - PANSIG

Back-pedalling a couple of weeks to tell you about a very exciting afternoon I enjoyed (though working very hard) in Kobe at the recent JALT PANSIG Conference held there.

It has often struck me how many of 'my' (Cambridge) Speaking Examiners attend the various workshops & conferences I sometimes manage to get to - without being surprised; they are operating in our natural recruiting zone and showing an interest in professional development. Ideally then, make it an extra-worthwhile weekend for everyone and have something tangible to take home.

So what did we do? Prior to the Conference, announced that there would be an opportunity for teachers to attend a full speaking examiner training workshop, with a discount if attending the Conference already - or a discount to attend the rest of the day at the Conference if signing up for the training. Good deal either way!

We received very positive interest and had the session fully booked in no time at all; online pre-training meant we could start at speed with everyone on the same page...my job really a matter of fine-tuning interpretations of instructions and delivery of materials. You would have thought that reading out a few questions from a script would be easy. Usually, it would be, and you do not have to be an experienced teacher to be able to do that. However, add in the pressure of two (sometimes) three nervous/expectant/shy/chatty/non-native speakers hanging on your every word, plus the need to give each a 'fair' turn, plus manage the timing of the tasks, plus pay attention to responses and body language, plus remember what to do next? Not so easy. And with Conference providing us with a roomful of dummy candidates to actually practice on in real time, a lot of pressure. Speaking Examiners have to rise to the challenge and appreciate the necessity of delivering a standard test each & every time. For me, this impacts on the test-takers perception of the test more than anything else they do on test day. They will not remember the questions, but they will remember how they felt in the speaking test.

Job satisfaction for me in examiner training comes with recruits managing to control the above calmly.

Which is at odds with the expectations of recruits, who want to know 'what the scores are' from the start! When we do eventually get to the assessment phase, recruits get excited to see the actual criteria, and then there's a good deal of head scratching as few have assessed with benchmarked criteria before - and very few with 'Can Do' in mind. Invariably recruits begin by noticing 'mistakes', 'errors', and 'can't do', and picking on accents they are not familiar with etc. It takes 'a few goes' looking at different samples of speaking for the group to come around - and it needs to be the group, in the same scoring ballpark, for the lesson to have sunk in. And this is where teachers can stretch their experienced legs and share/discuss/argue/negotiate around interpretation of the criteria v what they saw/heard - and explain all of that couched (only) in the terms written down in front of them. Bye bye 'funny accent' and 'can't do the present perfect simple' etc!

And then the satisfaction of 'nailing' scores when final marks are collected, and the reassurance that there is a lot more support hereon in for all our successful new SEs - in this case 14 people catching the train home glowing with a very real sense of achievement from their weekend to reflect on & put into practice. Well done the PANSIG Cadre!



Need to thanks a couple of people for pushing this unique initiative through - an idea I have had in mind for a couple of years, but needed implementers like Jon Dujmovich and Mark Brierley. Overall, I should thank the PANSIG organisers for seeing the win-win, Tim Pritchard for his 'can do' attitude, and the volunteers who were thrust into practice speaking tests. This event would not have happened without the support of Cambridge English Language Assessment in Japan, specifically Tomoe Aoyama.

Luna YLE Certificates - lots of happy faces

I am delighted to report that Luna's Young Learners took Cambridge ESOL Young Learners (YLE) exams at the end of October, and that everyone really enjoyed themselves (bar one - bit of a crayon tantrum...) and even surprised themselves with what they COULD do!

Some students were taking Starters for the very first time, and were understandably nervous/not quite sure what was going to happen. Of course, we had had a run through of various tasks leading up to their big day (without making it a big deal - see no point in exam prep for the exam's sake) but that had always been co-operative & familiar. On the day, no looking around, peeping, surruptitious pencil dropping, reading out loud, putting hands up, gawping at the teacher etc!

Other students had done it before, and were quite aware (from mum, not us!) that they needed to improve on last year's scores...and I think by and large we all achieved that. Phew!!! Some of our older students moved up a level to have a go at Movers or Flyers, and they could see the difference. They had more time, for sure, but needed to be able to eg spell more, read longer passages, match vocabulary, tell a story...a big step up, and quite different to other tests they may take here in Japan (which, in my honest opinion, are basically exercises in translation/death by grammar and not worth the time/money wasted on them - purely intended to trick test-takers and pile on stress...not fair).

I was very happy that my students remembered 'how to' tips such as ignoring a question if they could not figure it out quickly. Always half a chance a light will go off later; if not, they have still answered all the other questions in time. What I also really like about the assessment of YLE (as in all other ESOL exams) is that the candidates are given the benefit of the doubt eg if their meaning is discernable but spelling a bit off, no real drama (unless spelling in eg listening is actually being tested).

We were very glad this year to welcome some candidates from Magnus' school in Okaya, and Rico's Organic English School in town. Thanks both of you for that, and for your help on the day.

You can see more happy YLE certificate holders on flickr, click here

Now we are busy pusing ahead, full of confidence and thinking about how much better we can do this year!

Providing for EFL Special Needs - examiner training, Nagoya

Focusing on the small print

My examiners were guinea pigs for a refreshed format of meeting today. I was extremely nervous before hand, as I have relied on tried and tested format & materials which I inherited since becoming a Team Leader. I have realised that this does not make the best of our precious time together, apart from maintaining their ability to assess adequately & practice reading the scripts. Both of these are very important, make no mistake: they are the key aspects of the actual examining job i.e. Deliver the speaking test to script, and assess the candidates accurately.

But, in the broader scheme of things, my examiners are grown ups. They have already shown me in training that they are up to the task. If they did not, they would not have been approved by Cambridge ESOL as examiners, and would not be on Luna's team – it’s very simple!

Kim, Corazon & Bonnie

Nowadays, examiners have access to the most recent videos of candidates to polish their assessment skills on. We can still dip into videos if we need to – in fact we do, but with a much more detailed analysis that is not assessment driven. Instead, we can focus much more on the interlocutor’s role, which impacts on the candidates’ performance/perception so strongly. We can pull the wings off the script and put it back together again, figure out which level it is. We can dissect the assessment criteria and put it back together again, without any ‘spare’ pieces. We can add to our examiners’ teaching toolkits and actually put meaning into another line on their CVs.

I want to thank my Nagoya/Gifu team today for not noticing the change of emphasis today – or at least not making a big deal out of it and asking me eg “Why did Naomi only get a 2 for Pronunciation?”

Instead, we achieved:

Focus on lip-reading

·        Ability to manage the delivery of speaking tests to sight-impaired/blind candidates.

·        Ability to enable hearing-impaired/deaf candidates to take their listening tests through lip reading

·        Monitoring peer performance in detail, fine-tune own performance

·        Tightened timing, material handling, rubric

·        Weaned Jim off over-reliance on videos

 Thank you team for travelling into the teeth of Typhoon Roke and for giving up your National Holiday/World Pirate Day, and for all of your Facebook concern for my missing pint of Guinness! You are all very much legit Cambridge ESOL examiners now, and I am looking forward to you examining soon. Find us some candidates and venues if you can too?!

Exactly the kind of people you want examining Young Learners!

Testing children - a day in "How to"

 On Sunday I was in the delightful company of some very dedicated teachers of children, for an entire day of teacher talk and child-focused assessment. I reckon I can tell within five minutes of practicing with materials/script if a trainee is going to be a good examiner or not...it's all about how they can/can't chew gum and walk at the same time - in this case read a script accurately and manipulate a few flashcards.

OK, so that sounds easy, doesn't it?!

Without a lot of classroom experience, a teacher as examiner will fumble the cards every time, guaranteed. It is crucial that examiners get into a good routine, so that they are able to maintain their teacherly, cheerful, encouraging personality with the (young, nervous, non-native) candidate. The candidate does not need to see the strings the examiner is pulling, but be put into a relaxing, smooth, flowing little mini-lesson. Remember the child's name & use it; don't repeat answers (so take off the 'teacher hat') or make judgmental comments; don't panic or speak too fast; smile, nod, keep your elbows in etc.

Every new examiner comes to training expecting to be shown how to assess; few actually realise the key role of the examiner is to actually set up the candidate to perform. "The script, Michael, it's all in the script" (with apologies to Kenny Everett). In YLE, particularly Starters, candidates are most likely taking their very first genuine English test - certainly the first one with an 'unknown' person assessing their speaking. This is truly intimidating, isn't it? A good examiner will have a child in and out of the examining room an a wave of positive vibes and chuffed with "Can do" vibes. And why not? Seriously, why shouldn't a child enjoy showing off their skills?

So a large part of a regular morning, for me, training new YLE examiners is a bit of boot camp - stripping back the teachers' habits and tics until we get to polished rubric delivery. Nothing more, nothing less. Pictures in the right place, at the right time. Heads up focus on candidate, know what you are going to do next. Have the back up question at your finger tips if necessary, and use it appropriately. If you are not looking at the candidate, you will miss their facial reactions to questions. As an experienced teacher, these are the signs we recognise day in, day out, about perception/reception. This is what our examiners bring to the table.

The 'other half' of the examiner's role is the assessment bit. Importantly, examiners must get into the routine of couching their assessment, comments, interpretations of performances to Cambridge ESOL's assessment scales.

"I think that boy had a bad accent" or "That girl was so sweet", "That boy couldn't say 'elephant' " or "That girl wasn't very good"....and similar reactions to sample videos have no place in our "Can do" analysis. Candidates are not penalised for mistakes they are making if they try to extend an answer, they are not penalised for offering a different answer than the one scripted (which is merely a suggested answer), they are not penalised for 'sounding French' or not 'looking as cute as the Italian girl' etc.

On Sunday my new team coped with the ridiculous situation where the school we were expecting to conduct training at was locked up. The school was completely unaware of the plan. Not good. Thankfully, after a subway ride to Lesley Ito's school in the city and a late start, we did  eventually manage to tackle our three levels (Starters, Movers & Flyers). Thank you all for keeping the faith, and for accepting the cramped facilities for viewing the DVDs - Kim was half in the fridge! I was very happy with my new team's performance...they took in what they were asked to do, and accepted my (mostly) constructive tips! Experience will out, and today we had a fine talent pool to draw from.

Well done Kim, Bonnie, Alex, Andrew, Cora and Lesley. Thank you all for making your journeys and for being flexible; thank you Lesley for taking us in and for lighting the YLE flame in Nagoya. Who's next?!

Nagoya - OE training

Last weekend Luna was invited to train a large group of teachers and staff from Meijo University in Nagoya. This was a big honour for us and one we were delighted to accept. Jim spent Saturday and Sunday at Meijo High School in downtown Nagoya, demonstrating how examiners should deliver the speaking tests of KET & PET; how they should manage time, materials, and unexpected situations, and how of course they should assess candidates' performances.

Easily said, but quite a task to bring a room full of teachers together to pool all their experiences and do something 'new'. On Saturday we focused particularly on making sure everyone understood what they were supposed to be doing and how, changing partners regularly and encouraging a free exchange of ideas and opinions (and there were plenty to be expressed!).

On Sunday, we changed things around a bit, to think about the impact the examiner's demeanor and physical performance have on the candidates, not just their spoken delivery of the script. We also thought about the exams from the candidates' perspective, and how the examiner should respond (or not) to manifestations of eg nerves, panic, stage-fright. Examiners were also shown how the new online resource for oral examiners will really make a big difference to their professional development as teachers and as examiners; we practiced using the site and explored the facilities that are now available 24 hours a day, every day of the year - and not just when Jim comes to town!

By the end of two, very intense days of study, a very tired but satisfied (and qualified) group of fresh oral examiners joined our ranks. Most will be examining at KET & PET levels next month, as the university initiates its adoption of Cambridge ESOL examinations. This is a really exciting step, with Luna very much at the forefront.

Jim wants to say well done to all the teachers who attended over the weekend, and to thank the staff at the school for looking after him so nicely. He is looking forward to meeting the next group of new OEs in April.