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Part A of the oral exam consists of a monologue (about 10 minutes) on a newspaper article dealing with a contemporary problem (the causes, consequences, solutions and personal interest of the problem).

For more social news linked to topics studied, visit: Pinboard

To practice for the oral exam, each week, we will study a newspaper article, starting with article 1. During the class, one student will be selected randomly to share their presentation, while their colleagues ask questions to further develop their comprehension.

At home, you should prepare with a bilingual dictionary for around 30 minutes.

Before preparing the monologue:

• The first step is to read the opening and closing lines of the text to get a general idea of the content and style

• Then, read through the text at normal speed to understand the main ideas.

• What is the focus of the text and to which contemporary problem does it relate?

• Go through the text again, comparing viewpoints and working out any meaning from the context.

While preparing the monologue, divide your presentation into three parts, signposting them for the audience to help comprehension.

Brief introduction:

• What is the general subject/the issue developed?

• Give information about the source of the article: author / newspaper / date / type of article: information (events), editorial (journalist’s opinion), review (film, book, exhibition, album), interview, account (personal experience), etc.

• Very briefly sum up the main message of the article (so as not to paraphrase it later)

Analysis: an in-depth discussion of the article

• what are the arguments and how are the arguments presented?

• the causes / consequences / possible solutions (if they are not already mentioned in the article)

• in what way does the order in which the arguments appear influence the reader?

• is the article balanced and convincing or biased and lacking in factual material? Are different viewpoints presented?

• what is the author’s opinion?

• what language does the author use to influence us?

Conclusion:

• what is the impact of the article?

• how relevant is this issue in Switzerland today?

• how relevant is this issue to the student?

Do not forget:

• Eye contact, use a slide with a detailed outline of your presentation (with useful information that will help your classmates take notes), for example, division, titles, main themes, etc, speak without reading your text, make full reference to the text, and systematically use a dictionary when preparing your presentation.

Extended assignment

During the fist semester, choose a recent (from August 2019 onwards) English language newspaper article that deals with a contemporary problem; your article should have a link to an area that has been studied in class and should be between 750 and 850 words long.

These articles will form a corpus, from which we will work during the second semester.

Possible sources include:

• The Daily Mail (British socially conservative tabloid)

• The Atlantic (American libertarian magazine)

• The USA Today (American tabloid)

• The New York Times (American socially liberal broadsheet)

• Time Magazine (American liberal magazine)

• The Washington Post (American politically liberal broadsheet)

• The Wall Street Journal (American economically liberal broadsheet)

• The Guardian (British socially liberal broadsheet)

• The Economist (British economically liberal magazine)