Interview Feedback
Level 3 G5
22/02/12
1.) Maryam Ashrafi
Maryam seemed a little nervous throughout her interview and provided very short answers to my questions which may have been a result of a shortage in vocabulary. She gave some good examples of thing she likes to do in her free time but needs to remember the importance of including articles and main verbs. Maryam would immediately become more confident if she worked hard to try and obtain more vocabulary. She should also take the opportunity to practise listening to English whenever possible to help with her understanding in the future.
2.) Zahra Ashrafi
Zahra was quite enthusiastic in her interview and tried hard and gave some good examples of free-time activities. Unfortunately though, she did mis-answer a number of questions, in particular by confusing her ‘wh’ questions. With regards to her grammar, Zahra had some trouble with remembering to include articles and often forgot the verb ‘to be’. These are both areas she should look to focus on going forward. Any listening practise she can get, whether it be English speaking radio, films or even speaking English with her friends would help her improve.
3.) Hasan Sharifi
Hasan found it difficult to understand my questions so was unable to provide answers of more than a couple of words. Although he began to understand when I slowed down my speech further, it was very hard for him to answer properly through a lack of vocabulary. By increasing this as quickly as possible, he will soon start to find both listening and speaking in English less of a problem. It would also be good for him to try watching some English-speaking TV programmes or films, perhaps initially with subtitles so he becomes more comfortable with hearing questions being phrased in lots of different way in English.
4.) Negin Motfef
Negin’s pronunciation is good and she speaks with confidence and ease, expanding answers without encouragement. I spoke fairly quickly to her and she was still able to answer without hesitation. Unfortunately, Negin made a few mistakes with her grammar, in particular, forgetting to use ‘than’ with her comparatives and necessary plurals in plural nouns e.g., ‘brown eyes’. She should also try to learn some fixed structures for expressing her free-time interests such as ‘I like listening to music’ to avoid the confusion of ‘verb + gerund’ or ‘verb + infinitive’. If she can bring her standard if grammar up to the same level as her speaking and listening, she will do very well in future speaking assessments.
5.) Mohamad Reza Khorsand
Mohamad Reza really tried hard and listened to each of my questions very carefully, trying to break it down until he understood. This is a great tool in language learning. He was able to answer most of my questions but is held back from giving more detailed answers by a lack of vocabulary. Building up his vocabulary should be his first step from here which will immediately give him more confidence and flexibility in both his listening and his speaking. He must also look to try and correct simple grammar mistakes such as forgetting an article or a plural noun.
6.) Mohamad Dabaghmanesh
Mohamad understood my questions very well and expanded his answers without encouragement and without repeating the question in his answer which makes his speech sound quite natural. He has a good range of vocabulary and his grammar is generally very accurate including his subject verb agreements, his use of plurals and his comparatives. Going forward, Mohamad should try working on is pronunciation to bring it up to the same high level as his speaking, listening and grammar.
7.) Fatemah Hamedani
Fatemah seemed to understand my questions well and provided suitable answers throughout. She used some good adjectives including ‘delicious’, and she self-corrected on more than one occasion which shows a nice attention to detail. Although Fatema’s grammar was generally fine, she did make a few mistakes in forgetting articles and the verb ‘to be’. These are both important parts of the English language and will need to be worked on in order for her to receive higher grades in the future.
8.) Amin Sahraei
Amin listened to my questions very carefully and really tried to understand what was being asked but he did struggle, even when I slowed my speech right down. The main problem for Amin is that he doesn’t seem to have the necessary vocabulary or grammar to be able to listen effectively or be able to construct an appropriate answer. This must be very frustrating for him. As a priority, he should spend some time obtaining as much vocabulary as possible. This may at least allow him to get a basic understanding of what is being asked. Learning a few key phrases and stock responses to standard questions may also help Amin initially. From there he should work on his basic sentence structure and grammar rules.
9.) Mohamad Reza Rajabpour
Mohamad Reza seemed to understand my questions well but appeared a little frustrated at the beginning of the interview. He included some good expressions including ‘music is my life’ and some accurate expressions of frequency when talking about how often he exercises. When talking about his family home, he changed ‘my house’ to ‘our house’ which is a nice variation on the question structure and shows he is comfortable with possessive pronouns. From the accuracy of some of his speech it is clear Mohamad Reza is capable of achieving higher grades in his speaking but in order to do so he will have to put more effort into offering detailed answers. He should try to relax a little when speaking.
10.) Pedarm Azadi
Pedarm understood my questions well but seemed to worry too much that he wouldn’t and panicked slightly if he didn’t understand every word. He used some good phrases including, ‘I’m a pop music fan’ and his comparatives were accurate. He gave a detailed description of his home and provided some good house-based vocabulary but his answers were otherwise very short. Pedarm’s main priority at this stage should be to try and relax in a speaking situation and not to become frustrated if he doesn’t answer every word. It would be far better to try and pick up on key words and then as for clarification before answering.
11.) Mohamad Nikbakhsh
Mohamad started off okay and used some good phrases including ‘I’m a big rock fan’. His pronunciation is fine and he self-corrected his pronunciation of ‘live’. He asked for lots of repetition of my questions without allowing himself the chance to really try and understand what was being said which made him become quite panicky and frustrated by the end. Mohomad should try to spend some of his free time practising his listening skills in English. This could be something fairly formal like an English language listening CD or more relaxed like listening to English speaking radio or film. Either way, it may help him to feel a little more relaxed with his English listening.
12.) Alireza Bahmani
Alireza struggled slightly at the beginning of the interview but as time went on, he seemed to relax and started to both understand and respond to the questions much better. He used some nice, informal language to reply to my initial question asking how he was (‘so, so’ and ‘not bad’) and altered subject/possessive pronouns from my original questions for his answers e.g., Question: ‘Do you live in a house or an apartment?’ Answer: ‘We live in...’. This is a very observant and thoughtful thing to do and adds a nice variety to the conversation. A couple of areas Alireza needs to focus on are differentiating between the past and present simple and ensuring he does not forget to include the verb ‘to be’ where necessary.
13.) Mohamad Reza Miri
Mohamad Reza’s pronunciation is very good and he spoke with a very high level of fluency and confidence throughout his interview. I purposely spoke to him at higher speed and he had no problems with understanding my questions. He included some good phrases such as ‘I’m crazy about soccer’, included accurate expressions of frequency and expanded his answers without encouragement. Mohamad is a good example of how watching and listening to films and TV in English can help to improve your own hold on the language. However, because he feels so relaxed with speaking and listening in English, he does make some simple mistakes such as missing out articles.
14.) Jamshid Kazemi
Jamshid started the interview with an extremely detailed introduction that covered a number of different topics and lasted for a large majority of the interview. During the speech, he gave some good examples of correctly used prepositions and free-time activities but this was clearly pre-rehearsed and therefore difficult to give marks for. Jamshid was obviously very keen to show what he knew and tried very hard, but I was only able to ask two questions during the entire seven minutes. A short, but carefully constructed answer is more valuable than one that continues for several minutes, with no real thread and grammatical inaccuracies. Jamshid could try making his answers more precise by learning some fixed phrases and answers and introducing them into his own speech.
15.) Maryam Rafeiniya
Maryam was very enthusiastic about her interview and tried hard to answer my questions with as much detail as possible. She understood most of what I asked but made some mistakes in her responses, mainly as a result of her mixing up of ‘wh’ questions. Going forward, Maryam needs to focus on her grammar in order to add accuracy and increase fluency. She would also benefit from obtaining a couple more ways of expressing her love passion for singing and dancing, such as, ‘I love to dance’ or ‘singing is my number one hobby’.
16.) Roholah Totonchi
Roholah’s grammar is excellent and very few grammar–based mistakes were made throughout the whole interview. His subject verb agreements were all correct and he changed the subject from ‘I’ to ‘we’ when talking about things his family do together which is interesting and adds a bit of variation to the conversation. He also described his dream home without being asked, which was a really thoughtful thing to do. Unfortunately, Roholah lost a few marks from slightly mis-understanding some of the questions. As a result, I would recommend he try to spend some time practising his listening skills.
17.) Ehsan Hayat Davodi
Ehsan’s listening skills are fairly good and he seemed to understand most of my questions without hesitation. He used some good nouns and adjectives when describing his parents but quickly became very impatient and frustrated with himself if he couldn’t think of how to express his thoughts. This often made him give up half way through a sentence. Ehsan should try not to worry and take time with his answers; it is fine to rephrase a sentence if you cannot finish the one you have started. Learning some key phrases and stock answers would also help him.
18.) Yasin Dehghan
Yasin spoke well through the interview and expanded his answers without encouragement. He self-corrected on more than one occasion which shows a good grammatical awareness and attention to detail and easily changed a reflexive pronoun from ‘yourself’ to ‘myself’ which is a difficult area of English grammar to feel comfortable with. Yasin did make a couple of mistakes with his understanding of my questions, namely answering ‘when’ to a ‘what’ question but this could easily be sorted out with some extra listening practise. He also needs to pay more attention to the structure of expressing his free time activities (like + gerund/infinitive) but it is probably easier to learn some fixed answers at this stage.
19.) Ezam Keshavarzi
Ezam seemed quite nervous and embarrassed throughout the interview and gave up half way through most of her answers. She struggled to understand some very basic questions, including ‘how are you?’ although she did do slightly better when I slowed my speech right down. Ezam doesn’t seem to be at ease listening to English so I would recommend she start listening to some English/American music or watching more English speaking films or TV shows to increase her exposure. She would also find obtaining more vocabulary to be very helpful, both for her ability to express her ideas and her own confidence.
20.) Ezat Delvari
Ezat understood my questions well and responded to them in a very relaxed manner. Her pronunciation and use of contractions was good and made her speech seem fairly natural. Although her listening and speaking skills are at quite a high level, she makes some simple mistakes with her grammar such as mixing up he/she and incorrect subject verb agreements which have lost her some marks on this occasion. Going forward I would suggest Ezat look to focus her attention on her grammar and aim to bring it up to the same level as her other skills.