Role Play 3 - Interview fürs Fernsehen

Exam Format and the Role-Play Setting

The Leaving Certificate German oral examination lasts about 15 minutes and carries 25% of your overall Higher Level mark. The test has three parts: a general conversation (where you also have the option of discussing a literary work), either a project or a picture sequence, and a role-play situation. The exact mark breakdown and the set of prescribed role plays are issued by the State Examinations Commission (SEC) for your specific examination year, so always confirm current circulars with your teacher.

In this scenario, the roles are strictly defined. The examiner acts as a broadcast journalist (der Moderator or die Reporterin), and you are the visiting student being interviewed. Because you are speaking on camera to a media professional whom you have never met before, you must consistently use the formal register: Sie (subject and accusative), Ihnen (dative), and the possessive Ihr / Ihre. Slipping into the informal du or dir costs marks under language appropriateness. If you make a slip, do not panic; simply self-correct immediately with Entschuldigung, ... Sie and continue. Self-correction shows active language awareness.

Navigating the Interview Cues

The printed cue card outlines what you need to say in English, and the cues usually follow the same running order:

1. Greeting and introducing yourself: Greet the presenter in an appropriate television style, state your name and where in Ireland you come from, and explain where you are currently based in Germany.
2. Purpose and duration of your stay: Explain why you are in Germany (such as a school exchange or language programme), using seit + present tense to explain how long you have been there.
3. Comparing Irish and German life: Discuss contrasts between everyday life or schooling in Ireland and Germany, supporting your points with subordinating conjunctions.
4. Future plans and ambitions: Detail your intended next steps after school, such as college courses or work experience, using future and conditional structures.
5. Asking the reporter a question: One of the cues on the card will instruct you to put a question to the reporter; it is usually the last one. Whenever you see that instruction, ask a full, formally worded question with correct word order.

The Grammar That Wins Marks Here

Top-band marks require accurate sentence structures, precise verb placement, and appropriate case endings. Master these core exponents before your exam:

Formal Address with Sie

You use Sie (you), Ihnen (to you, dative), and Ihr / Ihre (your), always written with a capital letter. The verb ending matches the plural wir/sie form: Sie kommen, Sie sind, Sie haben, Sie können.

Ongoing Duration with seit + Dativ

English uses the present perfect ('I have been living here for two weeks'), but German uses the present tense with seit followed by the dative case, because the action is still continuing right now:

• Ich wohne seit zwei Wochen bei einer Gastfamilie in Hamburg. (I have been living with a host family in Hamburg for two weeks.)
• Ich lerne seit fünf Jahren Deutsch. (I have been learning German for five years.)

Subordinate Clauses: der Nebensatz (Verb-Endstellung)

Subordinating conjunctions like weil (because), dass (that), obwohl (although), and während (whereas / while) send the conjugated verb to the end of the clause. Note that modern German uses dass, not the pre-reform daß:

• Ich mag Hamburg, weil die Stadt sehr lebendig ist.
• In Irland tragen wir Uniformen, während deutsche Schüler Alltagskleidung anziehen.

Note on comparative phrases: While the verb normally sits last, a comparative phrase introduced by als or wie may trail after the verb: ..., obwohl das Wetter hier kälter ist als in Irland.

Inversion After Introductory Elements

When a sentence starts with an adverbial phrase or opinion marker like Meiner Meinung nach, the verb stays in position two, coming immediately before the subject:

• Meiner Meinung nach bietet dieses Austauschprogramm tolle Chancen.
• Danach möchte ich Medizin studieren.

Three Essential Case Rules for Locations

1. Use nach without an article for movement towards towns and countries: Ich bin nach Deutschland geflogen.
2. Use in + dative for location ('where?'), but in + accusative for destination ('where to?'): Ich bin in der Schule vs Ich gehe in die Schule.
3. Use bei + dative when staying with people: Ich wohne bei einer Gastfamilie / bei meinem Austauschpartner.

Past Actions and Future Ambitions

Talking About What You Have Already Done

In spoken German, use the perfect tense: conjugated haben or sein in position two, with the past participle at the very end. Verbs of movement or change of state take sein; most other verbs take haben:

• Letzte Woche habe ich die Elbphilharmonie besucht.
• Am Wochenende sind wir nach Berlin gefahren.

Inseparable prefixes (be-, ver-, er-) and verbs ending in -ieren do not take ge- in the past participle: besucht, verstanden, fotografiert.

Talking About Plans and Wishes

When discussing life after school, draw on a range of intention and conditional structures:

• vorhaben ... zu + Infinitiv: Ich habe vor, nach den Prüfungen ein freiwilliges soziales Jahr zu machen.
• möchte gern / würde gern: Ich würde gern an der Universität in Dublin studieren.
• Konditionalsatz (wenn): Wenn ich genug Punkte bekomme, werde ich Physiotherapie studieren.

Cultural Comparison: Irish vs German School Life

Section III of the Leaving Certificate syllabus highlights comparisons between Ireland and German-speaking societies. School life is the central comparison topic for this interview.

Television Studio Vocabulary in Context

Familiarity with broadcast and interview terms helps you respond naturally on camera:

Communication Strategies, Repairs, and Spontaneous Follow-Ups

Oral examinations reward communication strategies and learner autonomy. If you run into difficulty, do not freeze or switch to English.

Asking for Clarification

• Wie bitte? Könnten Sie die Frage bitte wiederholen? (Pardon? Could you please repeat the question?)
• Entschuldigung, ich habe das nicht ganz verstanden. Was meinen Sie genau? (Excuse me, I did not quite catch that. What do you mean exactly?)

If a Word Will Not Come

Paraphrase rather than stopping the conversation:

• Wie sagt man das auf Deutsch? (How do you say that in German?)
• Ich weiß das genaue Wort nicht, aber ich meine so etwas wie ... (I don't know the exact word, but I mean something like ...)
• Das ist eine Art ... (That is a kind of ...)

Handling Unscripted Follow-Up Questions

Examiners often ask a spontaneous follow-up question to test your communicative ease. Keep two conversational bridges ready:

• Das ist eine gute Frage. Ich glaube, dass ... (That's a good question. I believe that ...)
• Ehrlich gesagt habe ich darüber noch nicht viel nachgedacht, aber ... (To be honest, I haven't thought much about that yet, but ...)

Pronunciation Check

Three sounds commonly cause problems in this role play: ensure seit sounds like 'zite' whereas sie sounds like 'zee'; the letter z is always pronounced 'ts' (Zuschauer = 'tsoo-show-er'); and Schüler requires a rounded ü, not an English 'oo'. Practice saying aloud: Ich bin seit zwei Wochen bei einer Gastfamilie.

Key terms

die Höflichkeitsform

The formal mode of address in German, using 'Sie', 'Ihnen', and 'Ihr/Ihre', conjugated with the plural verb form.

seit + Dativ

A prepositional construction used with the present tense to express an action that started in the past and continues into the present.

der Nebensatz (Verb-Endstellung)

A subordinate clause introduced by conjunctions such as 'weil', 'dass', 'obwohl', or 'während', which places the conjugated verb at the end.

die Inversion

The inversion of subject and conjugated verb when a sentence begins with an element other than the subject, keeping the verb in second position.

das Abitur

The secondary school graduation examination in Germany, roughly equivalent to the Irish Leaving Certificate.

sitzen bleiben

To repeat an academic school year in Germany as a consequence of failing to achieve minimum passing grades.