The Partner Who Answers Everything
Nadia (11) and Yusuf (10) are the only two Quickmarch candidates at the centre, so they must be examined as a pair for the interactive task: ask and answer questions about your partner's hobbies, then agree on a present for a friend. In the third practice, Nadia asked all six questions, answered her own questions aloud when Yusuf paused for more than two seconds, corrected his pronunciation twice ('it's not go-ed, it's went') and told him which present to choose. In four minutes Yusuf produced three utterances: 'Yes', 'Football' and 'I like blue'.
In the one-to-one part of the same session, Yusuf described a picture in six connected sentences and answered three follow-up questions correctly. Nadia's own answers were accurate but short, and she never asked a question she had not prepared in advance.
1. Where is the problem located - in Yusuf's language, in Nadia's behaviour, in the pairing, or in the task set-up? Argue for the most likely explanation using the contrast in Yusuf's performances.
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The contrast between Yusuf's two performances is decisive. He produced six connected sentences and handled three follow-ups alone, then three words in the pair task. His language is not the problem.
What the pair task removed was opportunity: Nadia filled every silence, and the task as set allowed one candidate to do all the asking while the other nodded. That is an opportunity gap, not a competence gap.
Nadia is not the root cause either. She is doing what a fluent, helpful eleven-year-old does when a partner hesitates - and no one has taught her what the interactive task rewards.
So the problem lies in the set-up and in untaught rules of interaction. Because the pairing is fixed for the exam, this needs addressing immediately rather than avoided.
2. You cannot change the pairing for the exam. What will you change in the six weeks you have, and what will you measure?
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Change the rules of practice, not the people.
- A three-second rule. After a question, nobody speaks for three seconds. Nadia practises this as a skill and is praised for it.
- Quotas on cards. Yusuf must ask two questions in every task; Nadia must leave two questions unanswered until he speaks.
- Role swaps. Nadia sometimes plays examiner (asking only), Yusuf the candidate, then swap. This shows her how it feels to be talked over.
- Back-channelling instead of filling: 'Mm', 'Really?', 'And you?' Teach these as the correct way to support a partner.
- One minute of recorded audio per week, with each of them counting the other's turns.
Measure: number of questions Yusuf initiates, and the longest silence Nadia tolerates.
3. How would you explain the problem to Nadia without discouraging her? Draft the key moves of what you would say.
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Lead with what she is doing right. Her instinct is generous and her English is strong; the correction is about exam mechanics, not her character.
Suggested words: 'You are quick and kind, and that is exactly why this is tricky. When you answer for Yusuf, the examiner can only hear you - so you lose marks for dominating and he loses the chance to speak. From today your job is the pause. If you wait three seconds, you help him more than any correction.'
Then give her something measurable: two of his turns per task left deliberately empty. That turns 'helping' into a skill she can see herself succeeding at, instead of a criticism she has to defend against. Check in after one week, not after six.