Unit 11 — Public Speaking: Toward the Komm-Prüfung

Track E · Klasse 11 · Niveau E (Basisfach / Leistungsfach)

Template: Activate → Input → Practise → Produce → Reflect.
Niveau: E. Klausur (assessment) at Niveau E (90 BE, Comprehension + Analysis + Composition + Mediation).
Course tagging: basic course (Basisfach, E-BF) and advanced course (Leistungsfach, E-LF) — Units in Klasse 11–13 carry both where applicable; some Units are tagged BF or LF specifically.

Learning objectives Link to heading

  • I can deliver a 4-minute monologue on a stimulus and respond to a 4-minute follow-up dialogue (Kommunikationsprüfung-style).
  • I can use academic-spoken register without sounding stilted.
  • I can rebut and concede with specifics in real time.

curriculum framework (“Bildungsplan”) alignment Link to heading

  • 3.4.1 / 3.5.1 Soziokulturelles Orientierungswissen / Themen
  • 3.4.3.1 / 3.5.3.1 Hör-/Hörsehverstehen
  • 3.4.3.3 / 3.5.3.3 Sprechen – an Gesprächen teilnehmen
  • 3.4.3.4 / 3.5.3.4 Sprechen – zusammenhängendes monologisches Sprechen

(Sources: https://www.bildungsplaene-bw.de/,Lde/LS/BP2016BW/ALLG/GYM/E1/IK/11-12-LF / https://www.bildungsplaene-bw.de/,Lde/LS/BP2016BW/ALLG/GYM/E1/IK/11-12-BF)

Lead-in story Link to heading

Klasse 11 begins formal preparation for the oral exam (“Kommunikationsprüfung”). Mr. Yilmaz set the format: 4-minute monologue from a stimulus + 4-minute examiner dialogue + 2-minute closing. The class is rehearsing in pairs. Maja drew a stimulus card on the future of work; the dialogue partner is to ask one supportive and one sharp follow-up.

1. Activate Link to heading

Stimulus scan. On the slide are three stimulus cards (one image, one quote, one statistic). Pick one. Build a 90-second outline.

2. Input Link to heading

Kommunikationsprüfung format (~10 min) Link to heading

  1. Monologue (4 min). Frame stimulus → 2 arguments → counter + concession → close.
  2. Dialogue (4 min). Examiner asks 4-6 follow-ups. Candidate must rebut, concede, and elaborate.
  3. Close (2 min). One synthesis + one final stance.

Spoken academic register Link to heading

I would argue that … / The picture, however, is more complex … / Let me concede one point first … / The available evidence suggests … / What I’m not saying is X — what I am saying is Y. / On reflection, I think … / If I had to commit, I would say …

3. Practise Link to heading

Niveau E — controlled Link to heading

  1. Match phrase to function: Let me concede one point → concession; On reflection → re-framing; If I had to commit → committing.
  2. Build a 4-line monologue opening from a stimulus ‘The future of work is hybrid by 2030.’

Niveau E — productive Link to heading

  1. Build a 4-minute monologue outline (bullets) on a stimulus of your choice.
Answer key

Controlled. 1. all true. 2. Open.

Productive. 3. Open.

4. Produce Link to heading

Pair Komm-Prüfung rehearsal. 10 minutes per pair (4 + 4 + 2). Audience scores: clarity of frame, specificity of evidence, quality of concession, fluency of rebuttal, quality of close.

Sample Link to heading

Let me start with the stimulus quote — the future of work is hybrid by 2030. I would argue that this claim is half-right and half-marketing. The available evidence suggests that hybrid arrangements are spreading in white-collar sectors, but the picture is more complex once we look beyond office work. Frontline jobs — care, retail, manufacturing — have been substantially less affected, and these are more than half of the workforce in most OECD countries. Accordingly, the 2030 will be hybrid claim is, in this regard, a claim about a specific sector that has been generalised. Let me concede one point first: white-collar hybrid work is here to stay, and the cultural effect of that — including on city planning, commute patterns, and small-business lunch traffic — is real. What I’m not saying is that hybrid is a fad. What I am saying is that the future of work is plural, not singular. On reflection, the more honest stimulus would be: the future of office work is hybrid by 2030. If I had to commit, I would say that the policy debate should focus on flexibility for those whose jobs cannot be hybrid — paid sick leave, predictable scheduling, training rights — because that is the fairness gap the hybrid framing tends to obscure.

5. Reflect Link to heading

  • I can deliver a 4-minute monologue from a stimulus.
  • I can hold a 4-minute dialogue with an examiner.
  • I can rebut and concede in real time.

One thing in your notebook: Write one sentence using something you learned in this Unit.

Exam example Link to heading

Klausur (assessment) — Niveau E (full paper, 90 BE)
Time. 4 hours including 20 minutes of breaks (220 active minutes). Total. 90 BE.
Inhalt / Sprache split. Basisfach (basic course): 50/50. Leistungsfach (advanced course): 40/60.

Part A — Comprehension (~24 BE) Link to heading

Listen twice.

“I would argue that the future of work is hybrid claim is half-right. The available evidence suggests hybrid is real for white-collar sectors but frontline jobs — care, retail, manufacturing — have been substantially less affected. The honest stimulus is: the future of office work is hybrid by 2030.”

  1. Stance: ___ . 2. Generalisation problem: ___ . 3. Frontline examples: ___ . 4. The corrected stimulus: ___ .

Part B — Analysis (~18 BE) Link to heading

Read the sample monologue above.

  1. Two main arguments: ___ . 2. Concession + specifics: ___ . 3. What I am not saying / what I am saying contrast: ___ . 4. Final commit: ___ .

Part C — Composition (~18 BE) Link to heading

Insert spoken-academic phrase.

  1. ___ that hybrid is half-right.
  2. ___ , the picture is more complex.
  3. ___ one point first: cultural effects are real.
  4. ___ , I would say the policy debate should centre on flexibility.

Mediation (~30 BE) Link to heading

Write a 4-minute Komm-Prüfung-style monologue script (~300 words) on a stimulus of your choice. Use 5 spoken-academic phrases.

Expected-answer profile (Erwartungshorizont) — sample
T1. half-right; the claim is generalised from white-collar to all sectors; care / retail / manufacturing; the future of office work is hybrid by 2030. T2. white-collar hybrid is real and spreading + the 2030 hybrid claim is over-generalised; cultural effects on city planning / commute / lunch traffic; not saying it’s a fad — saying the future is plural; policy should focus on frontline-job flexibility (sick leave, predictable scheduling, training). T3. I would argue / The picture, however / Let me concede / If I had to commit. T4. Open.
grading scale (Notenschlüssel) (von 90 BE)
| 86–90 | 1+ | 81–85 | 1 | 76–80 | 1- | | 71–75 | 2+ | 66–70 | 2 | 61–65 | 2- | | 56–60 | 3+ | 51–55 | 3 | 46–50 | 3- | | 41–45 | 4+ | 36–40 | 4 | 30–35 | 4- | | 22–29 | 5 | 0–21 | 6 | | |

Downloads Link to heading

**Slide deck timing.** 90 minutes total (Doppelstunde — typical in the Oberstufe). Lead-in 6 min · Activate 8 min · Input 25 min · Practise 15 min · Produce 30 min · Reflect 6 min.

Differentiation — support (below Niveau E).

Complete this monologue skeleton for your stimulus card before you rehearse — one line each, then say it aloud without reading:

  • Frame: My stimulus is ____, and my honest reaction is that it is ____.
  • Argument 1: One reason I take this view is ____, for example ____.
  • Concession: I will concede one point: ____ is genuinely true.
  • Commit: If I had to commit, I would say ____.

Extension (above Niveau E / Oberstufe).

Deliver your 4-minute monologue twice from the same stimulus card, but pitched to two opposed audiences — first to a sceptical policymaker, then to an activist who already agrees with you — and hold the closing dialogue on this question: how did the audience change your choice of evidence, your concessions, and your register, and where does shifting the framing for effect stop being persuasion and start being manipulation? Defend your line with reference to at least one rhetorical technique you deployed differently each time.

Common pitfalls Link to heading

  • Reading off a card kills the dialogue.
  • Generic concessions (you have a point) → name the specific point.
  • Don’t memorise — internalise the structure.

Further reading / listening Link to heading

  • TED Talks — short examples of stimulus-led talks.
  • BBC Sounds — Question Time extracts.

Downloads

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Listen

The vocabulary, dialogues and reading texts of this unit as audio, spoken by a native voice. The spoken text is shown beneath each clip.

Text 1
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"I would argue that the future of work is hybrid claim is half-right. The available evidence suggests hybrid is real for white-collar sectors but frontline jobs — care, retail, manufacturing — have been substantially less affected. The honest stimulus is: the future of office work is hybrid by 2030."