TELPAS speaking prompts and practice for 8th and 9th 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.
Prompt 1 of 6 — Provide and Summarize Information — suggested time about 2 minutes
Listen to the story.
After the Hailstorm
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Show transcript
Kwame's grandmother had grown tomatoes in her backyard in Fort Worth for thirty years, and every spring Kwame helped her plant them.
One evening in April, a hailstorm hit the city. Hailstones the size of marbles bounced off the roof for ten minutes. The next morning, Kwame went outside and found the tomato plants broken and flattened. His grandmother stood looking at them without saying a word.
Kwame wanted to help. He looked online and read that a tomato plant can often grow back if its main stem is not broken. He and his grandmother checked every plant. Six of the ten still had a good stem. They tied those six to wooden stakes and cut off the damaged leaves. Then Kwame used some boards and an old bedsheet to build a simple cover they could pull over the plants the next time a storm came.
By June, the six plants were taller than Kwame. His grandmother gave bags of tomatoes to all the neighbors, and she told every one of them that her grandson had saved the garden.
When you are ready to speak, tell as much as you can.
Listen to the story about Kwame and his grandmother. Then retell the story in your own words. Tell what happened at the beginning, in the middle and at the end.
Answer the prompt aloud. After recording, listen back or try another take.
View the practice scoring rubric
| Level | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| 4 — Addresses the task completely |
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| 3 — Addresses the task somewhat successfully |
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| 2 — Addresses the task in a limited way |
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| 1 — Does not yet address the task |
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Show a strong sample response
Okay, so this story is about a boy named Kwame and his grandma, and she lives in Fort Worth. She grew tomatoes in her backyard for like thirty years, and every spring Kwame helped her plant them. Then one night in April there was a really bad hailstorm, and the hail was as big as marbles. In the morning, Kwame went outside and all the tomato plants were broken and smashed down. His grandma was just standing there, she didn't say anything, so you could tell she was really sad.
So Kwame wanted to help her. He looked it up online and found out that the plants can grow back if the main stem isn't broken. They checked all ten plants, and six of them were still okay. They tied those ones to wooden sticks and cut off the leaves that were damaged. And then Kwame built a cover with boards and an old sheet, so next time there's a storm they can protect the plants.
At the end, by June, the plants were taller than Kwame. His grandma gave tomatoes to all the neighbors, and she told everybody that her grandson saved the garden.
The retelling covers the beginning, middle and end in the right order and includes the important details: the storm, the six plants that survived, the stakes and the cover. The student uses past tense for the story, including irregular verbs such as grew, went, found, built and told, and explains the grandmother's feelings from a clue in the story. Natural spoken words like okay and so are fine in speech.
What to look for
- Read the story aloud at a normal pace, and do not let the student read the transcript first. On the real test it is a video that the student may watch again before speaking, so a second listen is fine.
- Listen for sequence words such as then, after that and at the end. They show the student is organizing the story, not just listing parts.
- Check the past tense, especially irregular verbs. Saying "he find" instead of "he found" is a common error at this level.
- A strong retelling includes why things happened (because the stem was not broken), not only what happened.
- If the student stops early, note where. Leaving out the ending is a common sign of losing track of the story.
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.