Asking a stranger for directions
During the A1 speaking test, the examiner plays a stranger in the street in Prague. The candidate, Marek, must ask for directions to the post office, understand the answer, and thank the person. The card says: 'You are near Karlovo náměstí. Ask a passer-by where the post office is. The answer will be: Jděte rovně a pak doprava. Je to vedle banky. You must use a formal greeting because the person is older.' Marek starts: 'Ahoj, kde je pošta?' He pronounces 'pošta' without the š, and says 'doprava' as 'do prava' with a pause. He does not repeat the route. The examiner interrupts after 20 seconds and asks him to try again more politely. He has 40 seconds for the second attempt. The examiner will score greeting, question, comprehension check, and closing.
1. What are two problems with Marek's first turn, one sociolinguistic and one pronunciation or word-stress problem?
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Sociolinguistic problem: he uses Ahoj with an older stranger. Ahoj is informal, for friends, family, or peers. In a street approach to an older person, the default is Dobrý den.
Pronunciation problem: he says pošta without the š sound, so it sounds like posta, which is not the target word. He also separates doprava into do prava, which breaks the word and can obscure the meaning 'to the right'. The stress in doprava belongs on the first syllable.
The judgement is that politeness and intelligibility are separate scoring points. Fixing only Ahoj still leaves the key destination word unclear.
2. Give a model second attempt of two to three turns that includes greeting, question, repetition of the route, and thanks.
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Model second attempt:
Dobrý den, promiňte, kde je prosím pošta?- Examiner:
Jděte rovně a pak doprava. Je to vedle banky. Rovně a pak doprava, vedle banky? Děkuji mockrát. Na shledanou.
Why this works:
Dobrý denfixes the register.promiňtesoftens the approach.prosímmakes the question polite.- The repetition
Rovně a pak doprava, vedle banky?is a comprehension check, not parroting. Děkuji mockrát. Na shledanou.closes the interaction.
At A1, short fixed phrases are better than a long, memorised sentence that breaks down.
3. Why is repeating the route a speaking-test strategy, not just politeness?
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Repeating the route gives the examiner evidence of listening comprehension. If Marek only says Děkuji, the examiner cannot tell whether he understood rovně, doprava, or vedle banky. By saying Rovně a pak doprava, vedle banky?, he demonstrates that he caught the key words and gives the examiner a chance to correct him.
It also buys thinking time and keeps the turn going, which matters in a 40-second retry. The repetition should be selective: two or three key words, not the whole answer. The judgement is that a short comprehension check is both communicative and strategically useful in an oral exam.