Stuttering and Leaving Cert Orals?

shizle

I'm currently in 5th year and will be doing my HL Irish and French orals next year. I have a stutter. Among friends or in casual conversation, it is barely noticeable as I am able to forget about it, however when I get nervous, or I know someone is listening attentively to me, it becomes far more magnified.

What can I do for my orals? When I'm speaking a foreign language, my stutter is very bad. Unfortunately though, a person listening might not even realise I have a stutter, they would just think I don't know what I'm saying very well, as when I feel uncomfortable I immediately resort to sentence fillers such as 'emmm', even though I know exactly what I want to say, I can't articulate it.

I suppose I could tell the examiner at the start of the oral that I have a stutter, but it may seem as if I am making excuses, especially I have become so used to disguising my stutter with sentence fillers, so it often appears as if I am just very hesitant.

My orals are starting to worry me already, as I feel as if I'm up against a huge disadvantage.

Paul4As

I remember the day before my French oral the teacher asked me and another guy to stay behind after class...the other guy had a bit of a stammer...I hid my stammer pretty well and I didn't think anybody knew I had one!!...well my French teacher did!!! She just told us to be calm and relaxed during the oral!!! I didn't know whether that was a good or bad thing at the time...her knowing all along I had a stammer which I was confident I hid well!!!
My real oral went well...I prepared a lot for it and had done well in the mock a few months earlier!!!
In Northern Ireland (I don't know about down south) the oral only counts for 25% of the grade...listening, reading and writing account for the further 75%!! I tried to see it from that point of view...although I hated listening too!!!
Preparation is the key...if you are confident in what you are saying then the words should flow a lot easier!!!
My examiner was my teacher...the oral was recorded on tape!!! I assume your examiner is not your teacher!!! It would do no harm saying to the examiner...or your teacher so that they can inform the examinationation board!!! I don't see it as a kop out or making excuses!!!
Usually when the listener knows from the onset about a stammer then the stammerer feels more at ease...and I think the listener listens a bit more attentively!!!
Everyone worries about exams...and I think everyone doing language subjects dreads the oral...stammer or no stammer!!!
You will be grand...if you've listened throughout the year and studied hard!!!

Michael O Shea

I get a lot of calls around this time of year not only from anxious students who are challenged by stammering, but from anxious parents as well who want advice on the best way to approach and support regarding oral exams be it in secondary school or collage, some orals may be one, two, or three years away, but the worry for most people who are challenged by stammering will have various lead in times.

There are a number of approaches you can take, they need to be tailored to each individual as we are all different and there is no one piece of advice that will fit all circumstances or situations.

It is more then likely that the examiner will be made aware of your challenge if you are an "overt" stammerer, maybe not if you are "covert" and hide your challenge well enough for your listener not to notice whats going on, but of course you may be smothered by whats going on, regarding fear, panic, anxiety, from a number of things which are responsive to your self-consciousness.

Being open and honest about your communication challenge is a huge step forward, speak to your teachers, your friends, attend a stammering support group, get advice not from one but many, tailor this advice to suit yourself, this forum I am sure will come up with some great advice from personal experiences of what they did regarding their own oral exams.

My own experience of oral exams is that I done very well, high marks in all oral subjects, simply because the examiners could not understand a word I said I blocked so severely with all of them, it was the pity vote, that is what I put it down too.

If you want I can put you in contact with young people like yourself who are challenged by stammering, communicate with them, share your thoughts, they will advise and support you, young people are great at that.

You are not your stammer, you are only challenged by it, maybe not always, maybe sometimes, it is the nature of the beast, never let it hold you back, move forward with your life, be free, be you.

Speak soon,
Michael.

Mr. CooL ICE

IIRC, my german oral teacher asked anyone in the class with a speech impediment to let her know so she could inform the external examiner.

I don't know what steps are taken, but the external oral examiners do take into account speech impediments (as of 2002 anyway)

bohsboy

1993 I did my orals. My parents contacted the school and asked if the examiners could be notified beforehand. I remember a letter was sent to the Dept of Education from the school if I can remember properly.

On the day of the French and Irish orals the examiner advised me they were aware of the problem and to just try and relax, it would be taken into account.

If you can speak to your teachers or career guidance teacher they must act on it. Dont be in the slightest bit embarrassed, many students seek allowances for many problems, hearing and speech difficulties.

If you would rather contact the Department of Education Im sure they will notify you of what needs to be done.

Do it now so you can enjoy the summer and go into 6th year with a calm mind.

pog it

Shizle,

Talk to your teacher about it, and have them talk to the examiner beforehand so that they are aware of it. That way they will know- otherwise the examiner may think you are stammering because you don't know the language.

I didn't do talk to anyone about my problem, and my A1 in my French paper, came down to an A2 overall, as my oral had been a B1, and all because I wasn't able to say what I wanted to say in the oral as I was paranoid about my stammering back then.

On another note Shizle- 5 years later I got rid of my speech problem.

Good luck. Feel free to pm me anytime,

Pog it

Stephen P

A lot of good advice for you above. TBH I can't remember my oral exams and it was only 12 years ago
You should definetly notify the examiner of your stammer either through your teacher or Dept of Education. They have to accommodate a person who stammers, they've come across it before countless times.
I can't really remember the format of the oral exams but is there an oral mock exam that would be good to practice also practice recording your voice with a mic speaking the foreign language. Don't stress over it you'll be fine. Use this forum for support and look at stammeringireland.ie for info on support groups around the country.
Best of luck and keep us updated!

shizle

Hello to everyone who responded to my thread way back in June!

(Mods, I'm sorry for bumping up an old thread, but I did want to apologize for my failure to respond to the helpful and reassuring advice I received )

I'm obviously on holidays now for the summer, so am not going to worry at all about the Leaving Cert. I just wanted to say that I do intend to talk to my teachers next year about my stutter in relation to informing examiners etc.

On the positive side, for our summer exams I had a practise French oral, which actually went surprisingly well . I found that when I was in an intimate one-to-one scenario, I was able to allow myself time to just relax and form the words properly, something I rarely do in everyday life. Of course being well-prepared turned out to be an invaluable tip in reducing the apparentness of my speech impediment (I imagine it would help even for those without a stutter!) In fact, I was able to speak with a level of fluency I don't readily achieve speaking to my family etc, surely because the conversation isn't nearly as fast-paced and there is no pressure to keep up with 'banter' (there is nothing I find more frustrating than not being able to voice a joke or a comment, because by the time you have gotten it out, the moment has passed.)

So hakuna matata I hope, although I'll definitely have to work a lot on oral work next year.

Thank you!

Jumbo156

Good for you and the best opf luck with the LC next year and enjoy the summer!

bohsboy

Jumbo156 wrote: »

Good for you and the best opf luck with the LC next year and enjoy the summer!

Yes, too right, for too long with a stammer you wait in fear of situations months or years in advance worrying. Its never half as bad when you are in the middle of the "feared moment".

bohsboy

sopick wrote: »

it it it is go go going to be be ha ha hard i would rec rec rec recommend that yo yo you get get get get plenty of pra pra pra pra practice

Hmm..Im looking forward to see what sort of ban this vermin gets. :cool:

Stephen P

Sopick banned permanently. It's people like him who put people who stammer off posting in this forum. Thankfully it doesn't happen often.

Basq

Stephen P wrote: »

Sopick banned permanently. It's people like him who put people who stammer off posting in this forum. Thankfully it doesn't happen often.

If I had my way, these people would be fecking sitebanned!

I'm throwing him an infraction for his behaviour as well.

**Vai**

When I did my orals the examiner was so embarrassed I passed without studying more than the first few sentences, only time Ive been happy to have a stammer

brownbinman

Hey

I know exactly what you mean. I had terrible trouble with my french oral. My teacher sent in a letter for me explaining about the stammer. Dunno how much good it did

However, when I went to college and had to present I still had the problem with it, especially when presenting in front of people in my class. Then one day I just said "Feic it, I'll probably never see these people again". Since then, I have lost my fear of presenting and am arguably the best in my Masters, able to present to MD's and CEO's in my previous job.

What I'm suggesting is to go in with the view that you will probably NEVER see the examiner again so try not to get worked up about it.