Today
I'm going to do something most prep channels
won't.
I'm going to record a,
Praxis Spanish speaking task
live on camera
and then
listen back to it and grade myself against the
American Council
on the Teaching of
Foreign Languages.
ACTFL
rubric
mistakes,
accent,
hesitations,
everything.
Quick question before we start.
What is the one thing that scares you most about
speaking section?
Your accent freezing on the first sentence,
the two minute recording limit or
self correcting mid response.
Drop it in the comments
I read everyone
and
the most mentioned fear
becomes its own follow up video.
The Praxis Speaking section is 15 minutes.
Three
tasks.
Task one,
presentational,
integrated.
Three minutes to prep,
two minutes to record.
Task two,
express an opinion.
Two minutes to prep,
two minutes to Record.
And task three,
a simulated conversation.
Five turns,
25 seconds per turn.
Everything is recorded.
No do overs.
Truth.
Most prep channels won't tell you.
Almost every teacher who fails the speaking
section
is fluent enough to pass.
I will say that
almost
every teacher who fails speaking is fluent enough
to pass.
The failure isn't your Spanish.
It's anxiety.
It's freezing on the first sentence.
It's whispering into the mic.
Instead of projecting,
it's restarting and apologizing mid recording.
It's letting your brain
do
score math.
Why
was me?
I know this
because
it happened to me.
On my retake,
my speaking score actually
went
down
from 12
out of 18
to 6 out of 18.
Not because my Spanish got worse in 10 weeks.
Because
by the time I got to speaking the last section,
I was already
calculating my overall score in my head.
The anxiety bled straight into the recording.
Despite my speaking section score being
unexpectedly low,
I still passed the entire Praxis test.
This highlights a vital point for all of us.
Individual section setbacks
don't define overall success.
Today
I'm doing task two,
express an opinion.
Two minutes to prep and two minutes to record.
on camera.
Brutally honest.
Let's go.
Presentational speaking.
Express an opinion or make an oral presentation.
Approximate
4 minutes.
La Vida Oyendia obliga las Personas.
Haye varuna vida masidentaria que en el pasado
muchos opinan que es importante y var unavida
activa,
y destinar untiampo alejercicio physico.
So we read the prompt.
We're going to
prepare for two minutes and then two minutes to
record
and then start the timer for our two minute prep
time.
While you are
prepping,
please use
this
graphic,
organizer claim.
Reason 1.
Reason 2 Closing
and helps to structure your
speech.
This is our
graphic organizer claim.
So here
in claim I'm going to say is
essencial.
Okay.
Reason one is
salud mental
mental
y physica.
Reason two,
I'm going to say
vida
felice
e satisfactoria.
And closing.
I'm just going to restate my claims as crucial.
You are
unavida,
activa.
So that is my plan
and actually it was less than two minutes to
prepare.
So I'm going to set my timer,
two minutes and
two minutes.
I am going to use my plan to
have to answer the prompt.
Okay.
Opino que varuna vida activa y destinar untiempo
alejercicio physica essencial.
Si que remos estar felices
y saludables.
Las investigaciones muestra que a numerosos
beneficios cuando y vamos una vida activa
porrejemplo los estudios demoestranche las
Personas que asen e jercios,
saludables.
So now I am going to create my own speaking
based on this
actfl rubric.
Overall comprehensibility.
Would a Spanish speaker understand me?
I would say yes.
So I'm going to give myself at organization.
Were there any supporting details or examples,
I would say yes.
I'm going to give myself at advanced low
grammar and pronunciation.
I'm going to give myself
at
advanced low
register.
Yes.
At I'm going to give myself at
accuracy and appropriateness of content.
At
vocabulary.
I'm going to give myself approaching because
I
could have used
more precise words.
Fluency and cohesiveness.
I'm going to give myself approaching.
There were definitely some
points where I had to
stop and think
Task completion
at.
So that's how I would create my own
speaking.
Now,
I would love
to point out three things
about what just happened.
First,
my Spanish was good enough.
The grammar errors I made were minor.
A native speaker would understand me.
The content of what I was said was clear.
Second,
the hesitations
cost
more than errors.
The two longer pauses I took,
those drop my fluency score more than any grammar
mistake would.
On test day you would rather say something
imperfect than pause for four seconds trying to
remember the perfect word.
And third,
every time I self corrected on camera that's
that is graded as skill
not a flaw.
Catching and fixing your own mistakes mid sentence
shows control,
apologies cost you,
self corrections earn you
and
the hardest truth.
This is what the test day sounds
imperfect
stumbling recovery.
The goal isn't to record a perfect two minutes.
The goal is to record
two minutes the rubric can score.
Done is better than perfect
every
time.
Before we wrap,
back to the question from the start.
Drop in the comments
what scares you most about
speaking accent,
freezing
the two minute limit or self correcting?
I read every comment and the most mentioned fear
becomes its own Follow up FE Video
There are two great resources for you to pass the
Praxis Spanish test with confidence.
They are free.
Links are in the description box
1.
My 50 academic Spanish verbs PDF the recognition
list that shaves four to seven minutes off reading
on test day.
2.
And this part is a bonus
when you grab the verbs.
You will also get my Posts section Debrief
checklist.
It covers all five sections of the Praxis and
turns every practice
test you take into one specific fix.
This insight
Both free
both yours when you sign up next Tuesday.
The last video in the Deep Dive series Cultural
Knowledge
the section that took me from 5 out of
12
to perfect.
12 out of 12
on retake
I'm going to walk through 5 cultural questions
live
using the 3 anchor framework and the Actfl 3 piece
lens.
Subscribe so you don't
miss it.
Free guide in the description the five shifts that
took me from
1:59 to 1:74
includes the speaking
Mindset framework I should have used on retake
and
if you want a more structured
prep plan with a small group of teachers
including
a live Q and A session and a full mindset toolkit
for speaking.
The founding Cohort opens in August.
15 seats
at $247.
Waitlist link is in the description.
Waitlist members get first chance at a seat.
Quick action this week
record
yourself answering a Spanish prompt on your
phone.
Two minutes.
Listen back once.
Notice one thing you would change,
that is the muscle
and drop your biggest
speaking fear in the comments.
See you next Tuesday for the Cultural
Deep Dive.
Bye.
