GOVERNORATE: Sharqiyah South 2015/2016

ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEST

GRADE EIGHT
Semester One
Second Session

Name

School Class

Write your answers on the Test Paper

Time: 2 hours Pages: 9

LISTENING 10

GRM/VCB 10

TEST READING 10
SCORES

WRITING 10

TOTAL 40
ENGLISH, GRADE 8, SEMESTER ONE, 2nd SESSION
2015/2016

LISTENING 1 (Items 1–5) (5 marks)

You are going to hear five short texts about animals in the zoo. Match the pictures with
the texts. For each text, shade in the bubble under the correct option.

A. B. C.

D. E. F.

Pictures
Text A B C D E F

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

1
ENGLISH, GRADE 8, SEMESTER ONE, 2nd SESSION 2015/2016

LISTENING 2 (Items 6–10) (5 marks)

You are going to hear text about Salim.

For each item, shade in the bubble next to the correct option.

6. Ali is Salim's _______________

friend brother Teacher

7. Ali is about ________________ years old

33 35 37

8. Ali works in a _______________

school newspaper Company

9. Ali leaves his office at about ______________

2:00 5:00 7:00

10. Ali is ____________ in his work.

not interested tired interested

LISTENING
SCORE
10

2
ENGLISH, GRADE 8, SEMESTER ONE, 2nd SESSION
2015/2016

GRAMMAR/VOCABULARY 1 (Items 1–5) (2½ marks)

Complete the text. For each item, shade in the bubble next to the correct option.

Nasser works for Oman Air. He is a (1) ________. When he (2) ________the big cities,
he takes his son Ali with him. Last summer, they visited Tokyo. Tokyo is the (3)
__________of Japan. The weather was (4) ______ and wet. They enjoyed the trip
because they visited many (5) _________places in Tokyo such as the Imperial Palace
and Hama Rikyu Park.

1.
captain pilot Sailor
2.
visits stops Makes
3.
capital town Village
4.
cold fat Strong
5.
boring interesting foolish

GRAMMAR/VOCABULARY 2 (Items 6–10) (2½ marks)

Complete each sentence with ONE word only.

6. The exam was ____________ difficult, but Ali could pass it.

7. She _____________ to live in Muscat, but now she lives in Sur.

8. He went to the hospital _____________ he felt sick.

9. This computer is better ________ my laptop.

10. The light bulb _____________ invented in 1887.

3
ENGLISH, GRADE 8, SEMESTER ONE, 2nd SESSION 2015/2016

GRAMMAR/VOCABULARY 3 (Items 11–20) (5 marks)

Complete the unfinished words in the text.

Make sure you spell each word correctly.

EXAMPLE:

“Good_ morning! My_ name’s Ahmed Al-Zedjali and_ I’m a student_ at a

school_ in Muscat. I’m in Grade_ Six. My favourite_ subject is Maths.”

TEXT

Speaker A: How can I (11) he _ _ you?

Speaker B: I don’t (12) fe _ _well.

Speaker A: What's the matter?

Speaker B: I (13) ha_ _ a terrible headache (14) a_ _ I’m always (15) tir _ _.

Speaker A: Do you have (16) a temperat _ _ _ and a runny (17) no_ _?

Speaker B: (18) Y_ _, I also sometimes I feel (19) h_ _ and sometimes I feel cold.

Speaker A: It sounds like (20) y_ _ have a flu.

GRM/VCB
SCORE
10

4
ENGLISH, GRADE 8, SEMESTER ONE, 2nd SESSION
2015/2016

READING 1 (Items 1–4) (4 marks)

Match the four texts on the left with the texts in the box. Shade in the bubble under
the correct option.

1. The outdoor life is too noisy for me. A. They are one of the Seven Wonders of
the Ancient World.

2. Ali waited the whole day to go to B. Our teacher is very strict. He reduced
reading class and he always smiled marks for naughty students.
when he got there.

3. Great inventions have changed the C. But look at us now .Our world is
World. Our grandparents lived a very completely different than theirs.
difficult life.

4. Egypt is the home of the Great D.

Pyramids of Giza. Reading was his favourite hobby.

E. Oh, it’s really great. It’s a fantastic

place in Europe.

F.
I prefer quiet, indoor activities such as
reading, writing and playing computer
games

A B C D E F

1.

2.

3.

4.

5
ENGLISH, GRADE 8, SEMESTER ONE, 2nd SESSION 2015/2016

READING 2 (Items 5–10) (6 marks)

Read the email. Then complete the task.

Dear Badriya,

How are you and how is your family? I hope you all keep fine.

We are fine and my mum is getting better after the operations. Last month she had
an accident. She was getting up to the second floor in our house and she fell down from
the stairs. She had broken her left hand and the two legs. Immediately, we took her to
Khawla Hospital and the surgeon Khalid Al kharoosi made three operations for her. All of
them were successful and she was admitted in the hospital for two weeks.

After the two weeks, she was discharged from the hospital and went back home. Now
she is doing some physical exercises to get fit. She is going to the hospital three times
every day for this training.

Thanks for God for every thing. Sorry to disturb you with my news. How is your
family and your college? I heard that you are studying dentistry. Hope you all the best.

I wish I can hear from you soon

Thanks a lot

Best wishes

Suad Salim

6
ENGLISH, GRADE 8, SEMESTER ONE, 2nd SESSION
2015/2016

READING 2 (continued)

For each question, write a short answer (not more than FOUR WORDS).

5. Who is the sender of the email?

__________________________________________________

6. Who fell from the stairs?

___________________________________________________

7. Where did the accident happen?

___________________________________________________

8. What was the name of the surgeon who did the operations?

_________________________________________________

9. How long did the mother stay in the hospital?

_________________________________________________

10. What is Badriya studying?

__________________________________________________

READING

7
ENGLISH, GRADE 8, SEMESTER ONE, 2nd SESSION 2015/2016

SCORE
10
WRITING 1 (5 marks)
Write at least 60 words on the following topic:

“ Many tourists visit Oman ”

-Do you agree or not? Give your reasons.

Your writing should be clear and well organized.

Marker A Marker B Average

8
ENGLISH, GRADE 8, SEMESTER ONE, 2nd SESSION
2015/2016

WRITING 2 [5 marks]
Complete the following task. Write at least 60 words.

Situation: “How did you spend the National Day holiday?"

Your writing should be clear and well organized

Marker A Marker B Average

WRITING
SCORE

9
ENGLISH, GRADE 8, SEMESTER ONE, 2nd SESSION 2015/2016

10

10
 Listening scripts

Grade 8 exam

1st semester

Listening 1

1- It is a very dangerous animal. You can see it in the zoo. It is called the king of
the jungle.
2- . They are very funny animals. They always like to do things that we do and
they like eating bananas.

3- Yesterday we visited the lake. We sat and painted many different kinds of
these animals with their beautiful and colourful feathers.
4- I don’t like to see these animals with their beautiful dots and long necks in
the cages. They must be free in the forest.
5- These are huge animals. We don’t have them here in Oman. They have got
long noses and big ears.

Listening 2

Hello. I am Salim and I would like to tell you about one of my best friends. His name
is Ali and he is my cousin. He is about 35 years old. He lives in Muscat. He is an artist
in "Oman observer" newspaper. He works in an office with three other artists. He
starts workat 8.30 and usually finishes at 5.00 in the afternoon. In his job, Ali draws
cartoons for films. He has to read the story and draw pictures to show what is
happening. Ali is very interested in his job and group.
GRADE EIGHT — ENGLISH LANGUAGE MARKING GUIDE
SEMESTER ONE, 2015/2016, Second SESSION TOTAL MARKS: 40
GOVERNORATE: Sharqiyah South page 1 of 3
***********************************************************************************************************************

LISTENING 1 (5 mks)

A B C D E F

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Notes: One mark each. Responses must be indicated clearly.

LISTENING 2 (5 mks)

6. friends brothers teachers

7. 33 35 37

8. school newspaper company

9. 2:00 5:00 7:00

10. not interested tired interested

Notes: One mark each. Responses must be indicated clearly.

GRM/ VCB 1 (2.5 mks)

1. captain pilot sailor

2. visits stops makes

3. capital town village

4. cold fat strong

5. boring interesting foolish

Notes: Half-a-mark each. Responses must be indicated clearly.

Grade 8, Sem. 1, 2015/16, 2nd Session: Marking Guide page 2 of 3

GRM/ VCB 2 (2.5 mks) GRM/ VCB 3 (5 mks)

6. very 11. help 16. temperature

7. used 12. feel 17. nose
8. because 13. have 18. Yes
9. than 14. and 19. hot
10. was 15. tired 20. you

Notes: Half-a-mark each. Spelling must be Notes: Half-a-mark each. Spelling must be correct,
correct. including grammatical endings.

READING 1 (4 mks) READING 2 (6 mks)

5. Suad Salim
A B C D E F
6. Suad's mother
1.
7. At home
2.
8. Khalid Al kharoosi
3.
9. For two weeks
4.
10. Dentistry

Notes: One mark each. Complete accuracy

Notes: One mark each. Responses must be indicated in grammar and spelling is not required, but
clearly. answers must be clearly and convincingly
correct.
Grade 7, Sem. 1, 2012/13, 2nd Session: Marking Guide page 3 of 3

WRITING 1 (5 mks)
– Discusses the topic in a lively, interesting way, making effective use of supporting arguments.
5 – The points made by the writer are logically organised and very clear.
– Makes use of a fair range of structures and vocabulary, with a good level of accuracy.

– Discusses the topic reasonably well, but use of supporting arguments is not fully effective.
4 – The points made by the writer are reasonably well organized and mostly clear.
– Use of grammar and vocabulary is reasonably correct, though rather limited in range.

– Expresses opinions with some use of supporting arguments, but only in a limited way.
3 – The writer makes an attempt to organise his/her points, but this is only partly effective.
– There is a noticeable lack of accuracy in the use of grammar and vocabulary.

– Makes an attempt to discuss the topic, but the result is unconvincing and clearly inadequate.
2 – Weak organization makes it difficult to follow the points being made by the writer.
– Grammar and vocabulary contain frequent serious errors.

– A very feeble attempt to discuss the topic. Very little relevant content.
1 – The points made by the writer are confused and disjointed.
– The language used is extremely limited and/or seriously distorted.

No attempt at the task: EITHER Irrelevant (Completely unrelated to the topic)

0
OR Hardly any writing at all, or not written in English OR Complete nonsense

WRITING 2 (5 mks)

– Tells the story fully and clearly, in a lively, interesting way, providing appropriate details.
5 – The text is coherent and easy to read. Not many language errors.

– Tells the story clearly enough, but writing lacks interest for the reader.
4
– There are several noticeable language errors and the text sometimes lacks coherence.

– Manages to convey the main outline of the story, but only in a limited way.
3
– Language used is limited in range and/or contains quite frequent errors.

– An attempt is made to tell the story, but important points are either missing or unclear.
2
– Language used is very limited and/or contains many serious errors.

– A very feeble attempt to tell the story. Very little relevant content.
1 – Language used is extremely limited and/or seriously distorted.

No attempt at the task: EITHER Irrelevant (Completely unrelated to the pictures/ task/
0
instructions) OR Hardly any writing at all, or not written in English OR Complete nonsense

* NOTE: In WRITING 2, test-writers actually have two different task-options to choose from (Picture
Story or Task Instructions) when preparing the exam-paper. However, as both of these require student
to produce a narrative text, the same Rating Scale can be used, whichever type of task they use.