Cued American English Competency Screening-Expressive

CAECS-E :: About :: Ratings :: Preparing :: Mock Expressive :: Self-Assessment Guide

CHECK YOURSELF
Follow these steps to see how you did. These exercises will cannot guarantee how you will perform on actual standardized testing, but you can get a sense of what raters will see. Take your time as you go through the steps. Your objective is not simply to get through the exercises, but to discover more about how you cue.

STEP 1: Rewind and just watch your tape. Do not look for errors, just get a sense of how it looks. How does it look compared to how it felt when you were doing it?

STEP 2: Watch the first section and pay attention only to the vowel cues. Check your form and accuracy. Do you consistently touch?

STEP 3: Watch the second section of your videotape. Check handshapes only. Are your handshapes crisp and clear (like the cues on a Cued Speech chart)? Go frame by frame and make sure that each cue is fully rendered and that no extra handshapes appear.

STEP 4: For the sentence portion, plan to spend at least an hour going over your tape. Look at each sentence separately and give each one sufficient attention. Try storyboarding the sentence. In other words, write out or draw what you should see. (You can use cue notation, cue script, or draw stick figures). Get a sense of exactly what the sentence would look like when cued correctly. Then watch frame-by-frame and see what you did.

STEP 5: Rewind and watch the sentence-section again. This time, only evaluate your form. When you cue a sentence, do the words look the same as if you had cued the word by itself? Are the cues clear and distinct. Do you touch each placement or are cues jumbled indistinctly at the side? Are your side movements clear and accurate? Do you accidentally swoop during diphthongs? Do you inadvertantly move up before moving down for a side-down movement?

STEP 6: Rewind the sentence portion again. This time compare the manner in which you delivered the sentence with and without cues. Get a sense of your tone of delivery. Check that your facial expression is appropriate (not too much, not too little, not deadpan). Does your facial expression change when you read the sentence out loud versus when you cued the sentence? Can you see the inflection of a question when cued?

STEP 7: Ask a fellow cuer whom you trust to watch your tape. Let them view the tape privately, then meet and discuss. Avoid the urge to view the tape together. Provide him or her with a copy of this guide.

STEP 8: Compile a list of questions to take to your next class or cue camp. Make a list of your strengths and things to work on. Devise a specific plan for working on your skills. With whom will you consult? What materials will you use to practice each skills. BE SPECIFIC. Make practice fun.