This document provides guidance for conducting Edexcel GCSE Mandarin Chinese controlled assessments at Sevenoaks School in May 2011. It outlines the requirements for the speaking and writing tasks, including use of note forms, mark sheets, timings, and submission procedures. For the speaking tasks, students have a choice of stimulus and are given 4-6 minutes for each task. For the writing tasks, 100-150 characters is considered sufficient to achieve a high grade. Recordings and written work must be submitted digitally along with a track listing and centre details by May 15th.

1. Conduct the Edexcel GCSE Controlled Assessments Mandarin discussion day May 07 2011 Sevenoaks School

6. What do we need to submit by 15th of May Speaking and Writing, each student has: four Note forms* two Mark sheets* four Tasks/stimuli +Writing, each student has: two Writings (Essays) *Administrative Support Guide Speaking: “only need to send 1 per sampled candidate with the initial unit2 sample for moderation” ? +Speaking, for centre: OPTEM form (posted to centre) Recordings:task 2A must including all the types students took in your centre) + must including highest mark must including lowest mark.

7. Submit recordings digitally Format of each file name: Track1_5CN02_Centre number_ Candidate name_ Candidate number Including the following track listing in word / excel

8. Track listing Kent College Pembury Summer 2011 GCSE Mandarin Chinese Oral exam Track listing Centre number: 61963 Exam Series: Summer 2011

9. Writings: How many characters are needed to secure an A*? Please read the following notes—copied from Chinese specification 2009, MFL Teacher Support Book—writing and Edexcel online expert:

10. Chinese specification 2009: "Students aiming for grade C or above will need to demonstrate more extended writing skills and are expected to produce between 100 and 150 characters in each task."

11. A very useful comment from one of the Edexcel GCSE Principal Examiners as follows: "There is another point I wish to mention about the word-count: Edexcel requires 100-150 characters for the writing assessment. For the real learners, writing around 150 characters in fluent Chinese, free from errors, will be good enough to get a higher grade. There is no need to push them to 250 - 300 characters, unless they are very competent (like the native speakers from China) and wish to write more. Writing lengthy essays does not guarantee a high grade. Examiners always look for quality rather than quantity."

14. Useful links Teacher support book---speaking http://www.edexcel.com/migrationdocuments/CPS/GCSE%20from%202009/GCSE%20MFL%20Controlled%20Assessment%20Teacher%20Support%20Book%20%20-%20Speaking.pdf Teacher support book- writing http://www.edexcel.com/migrationdocuments/CPS/GCSE%20from%202009/GCSE%20MFL%20Writing%20Teacher%20Support%20Book.pdf http://www.edexcel.com/migrationdocuments/GCSE%20New%20GCSE/MFL%20Controlled%20Assessment%20Teacher%20Support%20Book.pdf http://www.edexcel.com/migrationdocuments/GCSE%20New%20GCSE/Edexcel%20GCSE%20Chinese%20-%20TSM.pdf http://www.edexcel.com/migrationdocuments/GCSE%20New%20GCSE/FAQs-Supplement.pdf http://www.edexcel.com/migrationdocuments/GCSE%20New%20GCSE/ICE-GCSE-tiered-2011.pdf