Help With Test Design From Experienced Teachers Please

[makavelithedon]

Hi all,

I have been asked to come up with an entrance test for a new Pratom 1 EP at a government school and some input would be appreciated by those who have a number of years experience.

The kids have had one year of English in Kindergarten and I have been given a list of topics that are meant to have been covered with the teacher to base it on! However, my concern is not necessarily getting the top kids at that age who happen to know or have picked up a little, but weeding out those who have learning difficulties and/or concentration problems that end up holding the whole class back.

This may sound a little harsh to some, but the actual guidelines for this programme state that it is meant to be for students showing a natural aptitude for ESL and liking for it (which is rarely if ever followed) but I agree and take the line that this is a paid for programme not one where students have a right to be placed. And where the school has no understanding or support of learning problems or support for teaching staff dealing with them and the consequent loss in learning time they can and do invariably cause can be monumental.

Therefore, I have asked the Kindergarten teachers for a list of their 10 most well behaved and enthusiastic students per class to help with selection. I'd imagine this will be pretty minimal in helping, but at least it may give a slightly better picture of the student.

If there is anything else you feel could help It would be appreciated.

[allane]

However, my concern is not necessarily getting the top kids at that age who happen to know or have picked up a little, but weeding out those who have learning difficulties and/or concentration problems that end up holding the whole class back.

As a high school teacher, I concur with your comment above. If anything, it is probably even more a propos at the Prathom 1 level.

At the school where I work, we have a Pre-entrance test, which is intended to weed out those with little or no background/aptitude in English. I am not involved in the administrative side of things, but I presume that those who fall below a certain minimum score on the Pre-entrance Test are not allowed to write the actual Entrance Test, which happens a month or so later.

[PeaceBlondie]

You may be on the right track to ask the kindergarten teachers for recommendations. In most schools, administrative incompetence and bribes mean much more than abilities and learning disabilities. Good luck; there are exceptions.

[Firelily]

It may sound strange, but I would test their Thai reading and writing skills - if they can read Thai sort of fluently, then obviously they can pick up new things fast, they are not struggling, even if on day 1 in prathom 1 they don't even know their alphabets. (I've seen six-year-olds reading simple English perfectly in 6 weeks, starting from scratch, that takes aptitude, others have no clue after 3 years of English in anuban.) But I know this would look weird and I suspect you would have to appear "more professional".

Is it a written exam or a one-by-one oral exam?

I would look for kids who can follow an example after you demonstrate a task and work independently on something like matching pairs of words on a page (even if they can't read English, they should be able to match words that look the same, and for a start, understand from an example that this is what you want them to do). I would test their creativity with something like "here is a baby cat on the tree, he cannot come down, how can you help?" using drawings or English (if their spoken English is good enough). I would try to observe them before they come to the test, for example, if there is a waiting area with a book corner, are there kids who go and take a look at the books on the shelves? (really depends on how many applicants you get!) I would try to observe their attention span and focus using jigsaw puzzle, word search, or "find the way out of the maze".

On the other hand, they are just small kids. If someone freaks out, you won't see their true potential as a stranger. If their kindergarten teachers are reliable, I would listen to their opinion and insights, and make decisions based on that.

Hope there is something in here that may help.

(I am a kindergarten teacher in an EP school with 4 years of experience teaching at this level.)

[Milo]

Admittedly only ever taught M4 and above, but I used to devise multiple choice exams for my Sts that I considered physically impossible to fail. An alarming number always managed though!!