Congratulations Seema!

I also heard from Kate… unfortunately, she did not get the C she was looking for, the examiner gave her a mere B… but, since her boss really wants her in that position and does know that Kate can communicate efficiently in French, the oral language requirement of her job position has been changed into a level B… Finally one person with judgment and common sense!… It would be great improvement if there were more… yet demain n’est pas la veille!… Therefore Kate joins Alicia and Christie on my list of this assessment process flaws! I would not be surprised to hear that the three of them had the same assessor…

This week will be another marathon of testing: Sun is taking her reading comprehension and written expression tests (she needs a C in both) this morning and Krystal will take hers tomorrow. Kelly, in Victoria, will be tested orally over the phone on Wednesday… she must obtain a level C… hopefully she will get it!… Based upon my trainees (located outside Ottawa)experience, examiners in Montreal are a bit more flexible (read less picky)… we shall see! And… I almost forgot!… Edna will go back to be tested for her written expression on Wednesday as well… hopefully she will not be given the test in English this time!

For those of you who do not know what the COFI (Centres d’orientation et de formation des immigrants) are, here is a brief explanation… When the province of Quebec made French its official language and introduced Bill 101 (Bill stipulating that immigrants’ kids have to attend French school unless one of the two parents had some kind of education in English in Quebec at some point – which is highly unlikely), new adult immigrants who do not speak a word of French are sent in those centers so that they can learn the basics of the language… there, they can acquire some survival spoken French and get acquainted with the culture québécoise… Those  aiming at learning how to write are invited to under’go day or evening programs that are tailored to their specific needs in any school boards across the province.

New immigrants who do not have jobs attend those centers full time… those who do have jobs or go to university attend part time… These centers are not giving highly qualified training in French… actually it is not their reason for being either. They are not teaching immigrants to take SLE tests: they are teaching them how to survive in a French environment by providing them with useful vocabulary so that they can communicate in daily situations.

Times really changed… I do remember my retired Italian neighbours in Montreal: they had arrived in Canada right after the World War II… the lady was fluent in both French and English, their adult kids only spoke English and the man could not speak any other languages than Italian (I always wondered how he had managed all those years… actually he was relying on his wife for everyday interaction with the outside world)… She had been a nanny in a family in Wesmount for years and it was where she had learned French and English (the father was an Anglophone, the mother was a Francophone and the children were bilingual and attending French schools)… Okay… back to my story now…

Last week, I assessed a new student located in Montreal who needs to obtain levels CCC in order to qualify for the job position he applied for within the PSC… Corey, a middle age man, arrived in Canada two years ago with only his mother tongue and English as a second language in his pocket: he did not know one single word of French at the time. Since he had a night shift job in an IT call center, he spent only half of his days (and still does) in  a COFI combined with 16 weekly hours in his school board evening program (for the written part of his learning)… In late Spring I had Yong who had also spent some time in a COFI in order to learn French and, even if he did not get his B in oral interaction, he could communicate fairly well… actually I was quite impressed with his skills since the COFI do not teach French formally!… Of course his French was not polished enough for the PSC examiner and did not meet the absurd standards of the PPC tests… although he managed to get his B in reading and writing!

I really did not know what to expect prior to meeting with Corey… if Yong had missed the level B, how could he get a C?… I know so many people who are bilingual in my book and who cannot get it!… On the other hand, I know some who cannot even have a casual conversation about weather or order a pizza in French and who actually have a level C… Go figure!… I stopped wondering about such a dichotomy because I would only waste my time!… There are no answers to this strange phenomenon… only because there are no real objectives, except that candidates have to perform the way the PPC wants them to… and even so, sometimes, one examiner will prefer another dance!… It is why it is imperative to know more than one, just in case!…

On Wednesday, I spent one hour online with Corey and I simulated an interview in French (with the four components of the actual oral interaction test)… Of course he was all over the place, providing me with more information than I was actually seeking… In the middle of this babel, though, I was quite pleased with his easiness to speak… and his comprehension was excellent… therefore I decided that he could get his C!… Yet I will have to put him in the box and restrain his wish to talk too much!… I will have to constrict him so that he will stay within the speech limits permitted!… It will not be an easy task to confine him in the work area only and I will have to provide him with the jargon they are expecting him to use during the examination… but it is manageable!… He has an excellent foundation in French and all that is needed to do is to have him speak more formally (yet I will make sure that he will keep his natural way of expression)… using words such as processus, gestionnaire, gestion de projet, affectation, note de breffage (do not worry if you do not know this word, it does not exist outside the PSC), intérimaire, protocole d’entente, etc.

After our session, I thought that it would be a great idea to have civil servants under’going French training in one of the numerous COFI throughout Quebec (there must even be one located in Gatineau!)… I am surprised that the famous PSC technocrates have not thought of such an option yet: they do not know much about pedagogy, but they are supposed to know how to count… that would save the government lots of money indeed, because I am sure it would be much cheaper to send employees in a COFI than in any language schools around town (institutions that do not give top notch services anyways!)… The bright side of such training would be that, afterwards, those civil servants would be able to communicate in French… and, at the end, it would only take a few hours to prepare them for their dance in front of an examiner… If I ever doubted the kind of training the COFI are providing, now I am convinced that they do a great and useful job!

“La danse est une cage où l’on apprend l’oiseau”

Claude Nougaro

Actually, I am the one who browsed properties located close to his office… of course, the first time he had visited houses for sale, he had been taken in some unsafe neighbourhoods… people from outside of town are easy preys for real estate agents who know they will have a hard time selling those properties to Ottawa residents! The second time, after research on the net, I went with them to visit houses in a safe neighbourhood located at only 10 minutes from Mark’s office. I remember, back in 2000, my real estate agent had done the very same thing: he had selected properties where selling was tough… yet he had not counted on the fact I had been studying in Ottawa some 30 years earlier!… No matter how many years go by, these neighbourhoods never lose their bad reputation…

Anyways… Mark will live in a quiet neighbourhood and he will not have to cross town to get to work. Besides touring houses for sale, we had dinner at Social on Sussex (in the Byward Market) where we were able to eat outdoors in their cosy garden… I would have liked to have him see more of Ottawa but I was busy with work and he had lots to do in terms of paperwork too! It is a raincheck because, soon, he will be here permanently and I will be able to show him interesting spots: «Ce n’est que partie remise!»…

I was so happy when I got that phone call from Pam Monday morning when she told me she had obtained her level C in oral interaction… There was no doubt in my mind that she would get it yet I am not sure she was convinced… In the last two months, I had been working on de-programming her, teaching her grammar basics and bringing back her natural way of speaking in French. All along, I had been able to see that she was skeptical… What I was actually asking from her was to undo and unlearn whatever she had been taught in the nine months she had spent in a boot camp… And, trust me, it was not easy for her… I also did understand why she was reluctant… she had taken the oral interaction test twice and she had failed to get her C… her confidence was quite shaken by the time I started training with her. Was I gambling?… Not really… I know my method, strategy and tips are almost infallible… yet I had to give her back the necessary confidence to tackle that test!.. I was aware that, if I failed to do so, chances were that she would not get her required level… In other words, my reputation was on the line (well… not really, but I saw it this way)!… I did not have nine months to teach her full-time the grammar basics she needed to know so that she could organize her speech the way Francophones do… I only had eight weeks, part-time… «C’était pour ainsi dire une course contre la montre!»… I am always focused but, this time, I was even more focused than ever!

Our first weeks together were very challenging… I was asking her to forget about what she had memorized and I wanted her to speak naturally, without using those useless «mots-liens» that nobody uses in real life contexts… In other words, I was demolishing the cult of brainwashing already well engrained in her mind… My unorthodox method was not agreeing with what she had been told!… Many times, she encountered frustration and temptation to burst into tears!… Slowly, but surely, she learned how to trust me and my judgment… it certainly did not happen overnight!… And I never gave up: it would have been the easy way out and I could not let her down and do to her what others had done by telling her that she had fossilized habits that could never be fixed…

In my book she never failed to get her level C: those who were supposed to teach her and bring her up to that level did fail to do their job!… First, alledged teachers in language schools have no expertise in the field: they speak French and they have a university degree (it does not matter if this degree is in theology or physics!) – real experts are not found there because the pay cheque is ridiculous!… second, they do not care whether their trainees achieve their levels or not… and finally they do not see the importance of connecting with their students. As for support, they do not provide any mainly because they are not interested in their students’ ups and downs… It is never about “trust us, we know what we are doing”, it is only about “do what we tell you to do and shut up!”…

How many people did those teachers traumatize?… What is the extent of the damages they cause by not paying attention to their trainees’ needs and concerns?… How many civil servants never managed to meet the language requirements of their positions, thinking that they were at fault and they would never be able to achieve their goals?… Too many indeed! Pam was the lucky one!… She was pretty devastated when I had met her two months ago… yet today she feels empowered and she knows that she can communicate in French in a very efficient way!… Me telling her so was not enough, she had to believe it herself and now, she does!… She will take the written expression test again in 10 days because she knows she will be able to get her C… I will see her a few hours to prepare her and I know she will make it!

All it takes is to believe in someone… Pam believed in me and I believed in her and, together, we succeeded!… It was tough at times, but we also had some great moments!… I am really proud of her!!!

Speaking of pride… I heard from Melody before dinner: she got her B in both reading comprehension and written expression… another success story… Now we are facing an even greater challenge: the oral interaction exam… but I am confident that she will make it!

Congratulations Melody!

“Les défis vous font découvrir sur vous-même des choses que vous ne soupçonniez pas.  C’est ce qui vous grandit et vous pousse au-delà des limites”

David Lyle Boren

That being said, what teachers tell their students (adults as well as children) have greater impact that one may think… I remember, 10 years ago, when Andy had told me he wanted to quit French after only a couple of weeks of part-time training. Of course I had asked him “But why?”… “I’m a slow learner” had been his answer… “And who labeled you as a slow learner besides yourself?”… “Well… all my French teachers, when I was a kid, told me I was too dumb to learn a second language!”… Useless to say that I was shocked!… Other times, other mentality would you think… Well… such statements, unfortunately, are still around… A few months ago, a couple of days before her oral interaction test, Pam was told she had fossilized habits that could never be fixed!… I beg your pardon?… Who would state something like this? Only someone trying to cover up for their own incompetence… It is so easy to let students take the blame for their failure! Yet… was everything done to help them achieve? I seriously doubt it!…

In 1999, I had taught French to a young woman who had been denied French training for several years based upon the fact she had failed the kurd test!… At the time she was fluent in English and German, but she was told she could never learn a second language (she already had a second language!). Such decisions are beyond my understanding!… If I had to take that stupid audio test, I would fail big time because I am anything but auditive!… I thought this test had been discarded a long time ago when I found out that two of my students had taken it in 2007… they had been given a nice personalized brochure with their learning styles explained in it: it looked like those certificates veterinarians give to their clients so that they will not forget about their pets’ next vaccination!… I wonder how much this testing and analysis cost to Canadian tax payers! I prefer not knowing actually… especially since this whole process is not an accurate diagnosis of people’s learning abilities! But I am sure it is a perfect way of screening people before they under’go second language training…

In the course of my practice I met several people who, like Andy and Pam, did not have sweet memories of their French courses in school. When came the time to go on training so that they could meet the language requirements of their positions, it was more than stressful!… Over the years, they had learned how to compensate for their learning differences and they were achievers… the mere idea of going in a setting that would bring them back where they were once, feeling truly miserable, was enough to prevent them from learning…

I can accept (with reluctance though) the fact that, with groups, teachers cannot really adapt their teaching methods to answer these students’ specific learning needs… yet, it is easy to have small groups of people who learn more or less the same way. It will not happen soon in language schools though!… They prefer to ignore those differences and blame the students instead!… Why would they not since those people’s employer could not care less about their fate anyways?… They are not interested in divulging this kind of problems because they would have to change quite a few things regarding their stiff teaching methods! What I do not buy is that no effort is made to help these students out in one-on-one training!… Though I am not sure their so-called teachers can actually see the problem!

A couple of weeks ago I had a short conversation with someone who trains  and prepare civil servants for their SLE tests… we were discussing language schools’ methods when she said “How many times shall we repeat the same grammar notions over and over without success?… It’s the student’s problem!”… Well… we shall repeat as many times as needed!… And we shall adapt our teaching methods to this student’s learning styles and special needs… Maybe some of them will never manage to pass the PSC SLE tests (only because of the nature of these exams) yet they will be able to communicate in French! And, in my book, the ultimate goal is not passing tests: it is to communicate…

Andy who was alledgedly too dumb to learn French is now bilingual and, while he was my student, he wrote the most creative and beautiful stories I was ever given to read… As for Pam, I did fix most of her fossilized habits in two months… So tell me… who is to blame?… 

“L’incompétence règne dans toutes les relations et, avec le temps, elle produit très naturellement l’indifférence”

Thomas Bernhard

For those who applied for a job position within the Public Service of Canada many months ago, the length of this endless process had its toll on them… after so many exams and interviews, they are exhausted… and the mere idea of the upcoming SLE tests stresses them out… for those who already work for the government, but must take the tests again so that they can meet the modified language requirements of their positions, memories of bad past experiences either in boot camps or during the oral interaction exam weakened their confidence in their skills and competencies…

Top that with a greyish, cool, rainy summer and you have the perfect recipe to end up breaking down!… I am fully aware of how tough it is for these people to get prepared for their SLE tests… I have been helping individuals to get through this painful process for years now and, each time the PPC modifies one test, it becomes harder… Before June 2008, the oral interaction test was no fun yet manageable!… At least it was run more like a conversation and there was some room for creativity and control on the candidate’s part… Now it is conducted like any other job interviews in the government: it is very formal… although examiners pay more attention to the container than to the content of what people are actually saying. Yet! because of the structure of the interview itself, candidates are under the impression that they have to come up with the correct answers… actually there are no correct answers because expectations are about how they answer and not about what they answer…

This is why, at the beginning of the week, I spent some time with each of my students to try and convince them to change a few things regarding their attitude and their methodology. First, after having noticed that most of them (all women!… in general, men are less nervous and more strategic when they have to tackle tests) were spending hours everyday studying and memorizing, I came up with a study plan that would allow them to breathe between our training sessions. For instance, Pam is more energetic in the morning… therefore, instead of studying at night before going to bed (and then she would not be able to sleep), I suggested that she could spend 30 minutes in the morning reading her notes while having her first cup of coffee… Then, she could set her radio in French for the rest of the day and listen to it the way she would in English… in other words, with only one ear… Since she suscribed to L’Actualité (an interesting magazine in French), I told her that she could pick an article once in a while and read it only for entertainment… not with the purpose of studying syntax, vocabulary and grammar. Of course, the memories of her last oral interaction interview left her with a bitter after taste… yet I told her to turn the page and look forward… instead of always looking back… and to adopt a positive attitude. Well… I can already see a change… she is much more relaxed and she now performs better during our sessions. Before, she was stressed and too concerned with the test itself… it was only preventing her from concentrating on what she was doing. Next week, she will be away on vacation and we elaborated a plan this morning… she will spend some time reading her notes or doing a written exercise  early in the morning and, then, she will read an article in French before going to bed… and in between she will enjoy her time away and have fun!

I had a similar conversation with Krystal and, the last time I saw her online, she did very well… For some reasons, people (most of the time women) tend to overdo things… they overthink, they overstudy, etc… doing this only leads to stress and discouragement. It is like they never give a break to their brain… take people who do too much when they are physically training, at some point their muscles ache so much that they can no longer move… well, the brain is also a muscle!… It needs to relax once in a while…

Spending hours studying and memorizing will not accelerate the process… acquiring a second language is not like studying History or geography… there is so much someone can absorb at once!… and since it has nothing to do with memorization, reading notes and applying the new knowledge is the best way to learn… but, with moderation!!! One must let new knowledge makes its way through their brain until it slowly sinks in… It is very similar to boiling versus simmering… «Le plat est bien meilleur lorsqu’il est cuit à feu doux»…

Men seem to do all this by pure instinct… in school, it is not unusual to hear that boys are lazy compared to girls… actually, both genders learn differently: girls tend to be logical and rational… they pay attention to details and they want to get high marks…  boys, on the other hand, learn better through games: if they do not have fun doing something, their interest disappears quickly… as for details, unless exceptions, they are not very concerned with them and, as long as they pass, they are not looking for the highest marks!… When I was in grade school and high school, I never saw guys being stressed out because of upcoming exams… well… maybe they were a bit nervous, but stress was certainly not eating them up! It was quite different for girls though… This week I was watching Greg and I was amazed to see how quickly both his grammar and vocabulary had improved in such a short period of time… he spends 15 minutes each day reading his notes and, if the opportunity is there, he does any other activities related to French that is fun for him: listening to the radio, watching a movie, reading an interesting article, etc… And Nelson is exactly the same! Okay… maybe instead of having a strong B, they will have a weak B… but, for them, it is not important as long as they get the B they are looking for!

My best advice to everyone who is preparing for their SLE tests is: find a routine that is easy to follow… do not spend more than one daily hour studying and take breaks!… Look for other activities that will give you some exposure to French, without being streneous… Adopt a positive attitude and I guarantee that you will enjoy learning much more!

“Insensés que nous sommes, nous voulons tout conquérir, comme si nous avions le temps de tout posséder”

Frédéric II Le Grand 

Of course, when something like this happens, it brings back an old debate to the surface: policies on the two official languages in this country. I doubt this heated topic will ever die down one day… two days in a row, May 19 and May 20 (click on the dates to read the articles), Kelly Egan wrote about how many public servants faked their way through into bilingual positions by only being able to pass the SLE tests without having to prove they can actually work in the second language… and about taxpayers’ money wasted on training people who actually do not want to either learn or use French.

I do agree with all this to some extent… being forced to learn a language with the mere purpose of passing tests in order to meet a position requirements or get a promotion is something I would not be thrilled to do myself. As for people close to retire from the workforce, they should not be on the Public Service fulltime language training list. But should those policies on official languages be overthrown?… I do not think so…

I read a few comments left on Egan’s articles and I noticed that only irreducible unilingual English people seem to be strongly in favour of French disappearance from the Public Service… And the universal belief that less qualified people get promotions only because they are bilingual is part of the Ottawa urban myths I am afraid! For decades (what am I saying here? For centuries!), Francophones learned how to speak English because their counterpart never judged either imperative or necessary to learn French. Therefore, for a very long time, bilingual positions were given to Francophones… This situation certainly created resentment among unlingual Anglophones for years! When they finally got the opportunity to learn the language «aux frais de la princesse», instead of seeing this as something positive for their career advancement and personal growth, they saw it as the ultimate punishment!…

Today I would like to shed positive light on what seems to be an aberrant concept… In the course of my practice, I did meet several jaded aging civil servants who were reluctant to under’go language training… their ideas of what it would be had come from their peers’ bad experience rather than based on their hatred for French. Their negative attitude was also motivated by their fear of failure… Not a good combination indeed!

Although I knew they would have to take the SLE tests at some point, I taught them French so that they would want to improve and use it in their daily lives… Since I am passionate about my mother tongue and what I do, it was not irrealistic on my part. All it took was a bit of creativity, lots of support and positive reinforcement and some room for mistakes!… Learning a second language to communicate is not about mastering it (though the way SLE testing is conducted could give that impression)…

For the past five months, I have been helping people who applied for job positions within the Public Service or civil servants who are trying to get their levels without having to go on fulltime language training in one of the numerous boot camps in Ottawa. Therefore I am now working with younger people who already have some background in French (many of them attended French immersion schools for a few years) or for who French is their third language. Although I have to push them hard by teaching them to the tests, I make sure to spend some time on teaching them about the language and the culture. Consequently, they are not suffering the way people in language schools are… they learn better and they achieve better at the tests. Why? Because if they come to me kind of desperate and nervous about their upcoming tests, they always leave serene and confident… Bottom line, I firmly believe it is all about attitude.

If people looked at learning French as an asset instead of a burden… if they had a positive attitude… if they were curious about the other solitude’s culture and issues… if they saw this journey as an incredible discovery… I am convinced they would be more open minded regarding the policies on the two official languages in Canada.

Of course, changes have to be made about the whole training and SLE testing process in the Public Service of Canada. The current state of affairs just does not work!… A thorough review of the training programs and methods should be on the priority list of the PSC as well as the implementation of an evaluation system based upon knowledge and communication capabilities (in other words, the «mots-liens» should be forgotten and replaced with more effective and useful grammar/syntax notions)… Also, if only public servants who really need to be bilingual at work (meaning that they have to go back an forth between both languages on a daily basis) were provided with language training, taxpayers’ money would be spent much more wisely and the government could spend more on other programs in need of more funding.

Being bilingual is not a tragedy… it is something that gives people more choices and more opportunities. This morning, I asked Yong why he wanted to get his B since the job he applied for is essential English… I was expecting the typical answers: quicker access to management positions, higher wages, etc.  I was kind of surprised by his answer… he said that the two largest nuclear companies were located in France and in the U.S.A… and there is a possibility that the French company will build a large nuclear plant in Canada. His dream is to work for that company and he knows he will never be able to work there and travel to France without being able to speak French…. and it is one of the reasons why he attended the Université de Montréal instead of its competitor in Ontario: now he knows the technical jargon in French!… The secret for success is to look beyond the letter on a piece of paper that declares you eligible for a bilingual position…

“La fin de l’espoir est le commencement de la mort”

Charles De Gaulle