TELPAS Practice

TELPAS speaking prompts and practice for 2nd grade

Speaking prompts with the rubric and a sample answer. Record yourself and play it back, with optional AI practice feedback from the live transcript. Not scored here: on the real test, speaking is scored with a rubric.

Record your answer and play it back—no typing needed. Where supported, turn on automatic transcription to get AI practice feedback on what you said. The feedback reads only the transcript, so it does not judge pronunciation or pace, and it is not an official TELPAS score — on the real test, speaking is scored against a rubric.

0 of 6 prompts completed (0%)

Prompt 1 of 6 — Provide and Summarize Information — suggested time about 2 minutes

Listen to the story. On the real test you would watch it as a short video.

The Class Seed

Listen to The Class Seed0:40

Press play to listen. You can pause, rewind, and replay as often as you like.

Show transcript

Emeka's class planted bean seeds in little cups of dirt.

Every day, Emeka gave his seed a little water and put the cup by the sunny window.

After three days, nothing happened. Other cups had tiny green sprouts, but Emeka's cup only had dirt. He felt sad.

His teacher said, "Some seeds take longer. Keep taking care of it."

So Emeka kept watering his seed. Two days later, he saw a small green sprout poking out of the dirt. Emeka smiled and showed the whole class.

When you are ready to speak, tell as much as you can.

Tell the story about Emeka and his seed in your own words. Tell what happened at the beginning, in the middle and at the end.

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0:00/ 2:00 target

Answer the prompt aloud. After recording, listen back or try another take.

View the practice scoring rubric
LevelWhat it looks like
4 — Addresses the task completely
  • Communicates comfortably on the topic, with or without elaboration
  • Generally uses complex sentences; grammar errors rarely interfere with meaning
  • Vocabulary nearly comparable to native English-speaking peers, including some academic words and idioms
  • Few brief pauses; few pronunciation errors, and these rarely get in the way
3 — Addresses the task somewhat successfully
  • Generally communicates on familiar social and academic topics
  • Mostly uses the right verb tense for the task, with errors in irregular or complex tenses
  • Uses some common academic and abstract words and includes some details
  • Brief pauses to search for words or rephrase; pronunciation errors but still understandable
2 — Addresses the task in a limited way
  • Communicates simple, original ideas in sentences and occasional phrases
  • Mostly simple present-tense sentences; grammar errors limit communication
  • Relies on basic, everyday vocabulary and rarely includes details
  • Pauses to search for words; some pronunciation errors limit understanding; may include some words in another language
1 — Does not yet address the task
  • Silent, or limited to single words, short phrases and memorized expressions
  • Repetitive, high-frequency words that do not build an original message
  • Frequent long pauses; pronunciation very hard to understand
  • May be entirely or mostly in another language
Show a strong sample response

Emeka and his class, they planted bean seeds in cups. Every day he watered it and he put it by the window so it gets sun. But his seed didn't grow, and the other kids had little plants already. So he was sad. Then the teacher said some seeds take more time, just keep taking care of it. So he kept watering it, and then one day there was a little green sprout! And he was so happy, and he showed everybody.

What to look for

  • Listen for the three parts: planting, the problem (no sprout), and the ending (the sprout comes up). Leaving out the problem is the most common gap.
  • Notice linking words such as then, but and so. They show the student can connect events, not just list them.
  • Past-tense verbs (planted, watered, was) are a good sign. Mixing in present tense is normal at this age and does not stop the meaning.
  • If the student stops early, you can ask once, "And then what happened?" On the real test there is no prompting, so note that you helped.
  • Nothing here produces a score. Use the rubric to decide what to practice next.
Prompt 1 of 6

Read next

  • TELPAS Speaking Test: Rubric, Prompts and Examples: On the TELPAS speaking test, students in grades 2–12 record spoken answers on a computer, and each answer is scored against the TELPAS speaking rubric. Here is what the speaking prompts ask for, what the scoring looks at, some examples, and how to practice.
  • TELPAS Listening and Speaking Test: What to Expect and How to Practice: The TELPAS listening and speaking test is one of the two online TELPAS tests for grades 2–12. Students watch and listen to short videos and answer questions, and record spoken answers, with the two kinds of item mixed through the test. Here is how the test is built, how it is scored, and how to practice for it.
  • How to Prepare for TELPAS: Practice and Tips by Domain: TELPAS measures English that a student builds over months and years, so there is no shortcut to a higher rating. What preparation can do is make sure the test itself is familiar, so a student's real English shows. Here is what is worth doing, domain by domain.

This is an independent study resource. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Texas Education Agency or the official TELPAS program. All questions here are original practice material written to match the published test design.