Photo card
Saying what a photo shows, then more questions on its topic, answered with your opinions and reasons, some of them unseen until the test.
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Photo card, explained point by point
Everything the GCSE specification expects you to be able to do, and how to actually do it - the same lesson a signed-in student studies from.
Know how AQA's photo card works and is marked
The photo card is the second part of AQA's speaking test, worth 15 marks: about two minutes at Foundation and three at Higher. The card shows a photo and three of the five questions the teacher will ask, so you can prepare those in your 12 minutes; the other two you hear for the first time. The first question usually asks what is in the photo, and at least one question wants an opinion with a reason. It is marked for communication only: answering every question clearly and developing most of your answers.
Know how Pearson Edexcel's picture-based task works and is marked
Pearson Edexcel's picture-based task is Task 2, worth 24 marks: 16 for communication and content and 8 for the accuracy of your Chinese. It lasts 2.5 to 3 minutes at Foundation and 3 to 3.5 at Higher. Your card has a picture and five bullets in English to prepare from. The teacher's first question is about the picture, and the rest are about its topic and your views. At Higher the fifth bullet is a ! question you haven't seen, and at both tiers you must refer to the past, the present and the future.
Describe what you can see
Answer the picture question with what is actually there before you say what you think. Say who and what with 有, what people are doing with 在 before the verb, and where with 左边, 右边, 前边 or 后边: 这张照片里有四个人。他们在公园里吃午饭。左边有一只狗。 Then add the weather: 天气很好。
Give opinions with reasons
Questions about your views want 我觉得 or 我喜欢 with a reason after 因为: 我很喜欢跟家人吃晚饭，因为很有意思。 A reason of your own, rather than the first one anybody would give, lifts the mark.
Develop every answer
Add a second sentence each time: a reason, an example, what you did or what you plan to do. 我常常跟朋友踢足球。上个星期六我们踢了两个小时。 Join ideas with 也, 还, 可是 and 所以. Two or three linked sentences beat a one-word answer every time.
Use the past, the present and the future
Chinese shows time with words rather than verb endings. For the past, a time word with 了 or 过: 去年我去过中国。 For now, 每天 or 现在. For the future, 要, 想 or 打算 with a time word: 明年我打算学做饺子。 Edexcel requires all three at both tiers, and AQA's questions bring in the past and the future too.
Handle the questions you haven't seen
Listen for the question word and the time word, then reuse the teacher's own words: 你以后想做什么工作？ 以后我想做老师，因为我喜欢孩子。 If you didn't catch it, say 对不起，我不明白。 Asking for a repeat is allowed with both boards.
Use your notes as prompts, not a script
Your notes can hold key words for each question. Edexcel allows one side of A4 and bars reading out whole prepared sentences; with AQA you keep your notes until the conversation. Glance down, then look up and talk to the teacher.
Photo card key terms
The words the specification and the mark schemes use, each defined the way an examiner wants it.
- Photo card
- AQA's second speaking task: a photo and five questions on it and its theme, worth 15 marks.
- Picture-based task
- Edexcel's second speaking task: a picture and five questions on its topic, worth 24 marks.
- Develop
- Take an answer further, with a reason or a step into another time frame.
- Justify
- Give the reason behind an opinion, usually after 因为.
- 在 before a verb
- Is doing: the way to say what people in a picture are doing, as in 他们在跑步.
- 左边 and 右边
- On the left and on the right, for saying where things are in a picture.
- Time frame
- Past, present or future. Chinese shows it with time words and markers like 了, not by changing the verb.
- Unseen question
- A question that isn't on your card. AQA asks two; Edexcel's Higher card marks one with a !.
Common mistakes in Photo card
The slips that cost marks year after year, and what to do instead.
Describing only the picture and never giving a view.
After the first question, the questions move to you. Say what you think and why, with 我觉得 and 因为.
Answering with one word, such as 好 or 足球.
Answer in a full sentence, such as 我喜欢踢足球，因为很有意思。, then add a second one.
Saying what you imagine instead of what is in the picture.
Start the picture question with what anyone can see: how many people, where they are and what they are doing. Then add your guess or your opinion.
Using 是 before an adjective, as in 天气是好.
An adjective works like a verb in Chinese and needs no 是: 天气很好。 Here 很 simply links it.
Putting 了 on a future plan, as in 明天我去了公园.
了 marks something completed. For a plan use 要 or 打算, as in 明天我要去公园。, and keep 了 for what has happened.