Last year, especially starting around June, it seemed that no one could achieve a C at the TOP (Test of Oral Proficiency) in French. It was actually quite depressing for me because I knew that most of my trainees were strong enough to get this level. A couple of them even took the test up to three times with no other results than a mere B… To some extent, I had started to believe that there was a conspiracy in Ottawa, where the headquarters for SLE testing are located. Why only in Ottawa? Simply because people tested over the phone with examiners based in Montreal  – or in person with assessors from various Departments such as CRA, Health, etc. – were still getting their C when they deserved it!…

I admit that I was angry most of the time and, when I left for Jamaica in Mid-December, it was long due because I was totally drained… and, for a while, I  even thought of giving up and retiring!… Yet I felt that I could not let down people who really needed help so that they would have a chance at those stupid tests! This process is excruciating and they need all the support they can get in order to get through this ordeal. And… I thought of all these people who are not living in Ottawa and cannot find resources… they would have been left on their own… Finally I decided that I had still enough energy and courage to fight this absurd system. Therefore I rolled up my sleeves and dived into 2011 with the ferocity of a lioness!… Sometimes I truly believe that only someone like me is crazy enough to do this… well, I guess I am a true believer and I refuse to give up on people who need my support and expertise.

Then something happened… something unexpected… something I would call a miracle! Now, 50% of the candidates to the TOP  who go to Slater are tested over the phone with examiners from Montreal… of course, my students who were evaluated this way got their C with no problems…  consequently, there was nothing to throw me off my chair… It is when my students tested face-to-face started to get their C one after the other that I realized that the pattern had been finally broken!… Actually none of them who were seeking a C failed!… Not even a single one!!! They all passed!… I would say that, since the beginning of January, I had about 20 trainees who needed a C and all of them obtained it!… Incredible!!!

How did that happen?… Well… it is known that our government keeps statistics of everything… therefore, I suspect that the ones on the success of bilingualism within the PSC showed a high rate of failure… without mentioning that many positions require CBC, BBC and CCC… if assessors fail most of the candidates, how can they staff?… In my opinion (and I might be wrong), the examiners have been “demanded” to be more realistic with their evaluation at level C… in other words, to assess people according to the criterias of the level: highly functional in the second language… and not bilingual! E is the level that people get when they are fluent!… Among my students who got their C, I had several who were bilingual and should have obtained an exemption… But hey! Let’s not be too greedy here… it is already an exploit that they got a C… Last year, I had a couple of them who were bilingual in my book and they only got a B!… Apparently, the wind shifted at Slater and it is kind of a relief… it is a test to assess people’s abilities in their second language… not a trial where they feel as if they were tortured by some tormenters…

On a sad note though, our “urban legend” did not budge… this examiner is still giving B to the ones who are at the level C… and giving an A to the ones who are at the level B… Two weeks ago, one of my students had the misfortune of being evaluated by this individual… she got out of there traumatized! Not only this jaded assessor is unfair but is also arrogant, cynical and sarcastic…  Who needs to sit down with such a jerk for 45 minutes when they are already under stress and pressure?… I have to say that I am tempted to reveal this person’s name, but I will not do it today… perhaps later… All I have to say for now is that no one should do this job more than two or three years, after that they tend to become bias and some of them are at risk of abusing the power they have… think of it for a second… individuals who fail to get the level they need at the TOP are eliminated from hiring processes and sometimes demoted… I think there should be at least two assessors in the room, the way it is done during job interviews… otherwise these people’s fate rests in the hands of one single person!!! A responsibility I would not want because I think I would have a hard time to sleep at night…

But… overall, there has been some improvement and there is hope for the future in the SLE testing department. It will be interesting to see if this positive trend will continue…

«Même sans espoir, la lutte est encore un espoir»

Romain Rolland

What is new in the SLE testing department?… Not much except that lots of people are being tested all the time. Since most entry level positions now require levels BBB, more candidates have to be tested at some point in the hiring processes. Of course, the new Reading Comprehension test led to a wave of panic… before, no one really cared about this test, which was relatively easy… today, it is a whole different tune… we also have to prepare our trainees to take that exam… as if working on the Written Expression and the Oral tests was not enough! Well… it keeps us busy I guess!

Before I start talking about something that has been bugging me for a while now, I would like to let everyone know that Seema finally got her C in oral after several attempts! I am very happy for her because she had lost her zest lately… she was craving to go back to work… after too much time spent into boot camps!

Congratulations Seema!!!

Most of the time, when we are preparing people for their oral exam, we do not encounter resistance because they are ready to do whatever it takes to achieve the level they need. Take Marjorie for instance… Angèle and I prepared her for the C on a full-time basis in October and, believe me, it was not easy for either one of us. Yet I have to say that Marjorie was a great team player… I was literally bombarding her with grammar and syntax notions every single day and she always made a point to apply her new skills when practicing with Angèle later in the day. At the end, she could not be more ready to confront her torturer last week… she had integrated all the notions she needed to make use of during the test and, most of all, she had gained confidence in her abilities tremendously… Angèle and I know that she performed very well when she went for her interview… unfortunately, her assessor was the one everybody in town dread to have… because this “urban legend” has the reputation to never give level C… will Marjorie break the pattern?… Actually, after more than one week, she still did not hear about her results which is unusual for someone who is a PSC employee… «À suivre…»

That being said, it sometimes happens that some people who are asking for our help are skeptical and refuse to follow our instructions and advice. But, after arguing for a while, most of them realize that we are professionals and we know our job! Yes… I agree… our methods are unorthodox and we push people to their limits so that they will give their best during the test… We put them in a box where there is little (if no) room to move… Why? Because we know exactly what will be expected from them during the oral interview… therefore we provide them with the tools, tips and strategies they will need in order to satisfy the assessors and meet the criterias of the level they need to achieve…

Of course, people who never took a PSC SLE test before or took the test prior to June 2008 are more or less expecting a 45 minute conversation with someone who will arbitrarily decide if they pass their levels or not… well, it is not that simple. First of all, it is a TEST and not a casual conversation… Candidates are expected to demonstrate specific abilities, use specific complex structures and accurate work-related vocabulary… and rigid criterias have been established for each level… I have seen many people who were fluent in French fail this test because they had not shown enough of what is needed to achieve a C for instance… Yes! it is frustrating and… Yes! it is ridiculous to some extent… yet there is nothing we can do in order to change the way this test is conducted. And those who do not want to abide by those rules will probably not get the levels they need…

A couple of weeks ago, I was a bit frustrated… and I opened up to Marjorie… she was in that predicament herself and I wanted to know how she felt about my method… of course, she agreed that it was a painful process but she also knew that she had no other options, having already missed her C once… Then I asked her how I should explain and describe my drastic method and I am quoting her here:

I developed a strategy specifically designed to target and address all four elements of the PSC oral expression exam. Rather than focusing on generic language instruction, I focus students on the vocabulary expected from PSC employees in the workplace. The test is not a conversation, it is an exam whereby you must demonstrate specific elements of speech. My philosophy is to situate and prepare students to be comfortable with all four elements of the exam and to prepare them for a successful result at each level.

 I think this summarizes the method I use to prepare my trainees to be successful at the oral test. And… like it or not, it has been proven to be efficient since most of our students obtain the levels they actually need to meet the language requirements of their positions.

Therefore, for those of you who are looking for help in order to be well prepared for the oral test, please read the above carefully and make sure that you are ready to make the commitment of being put into a box and work on doing exactly what will be expected from you when you will be facing your examiner… and remember, it is a TEST… not a conversation with someone you will ever have a coffee with afterwards…

«La vie, c’est une boîte d’instruments qui piquent et coupent. À toute heure nous nous ensanglantons les mains.»

Alphonse Daudet

But I am not here to discuss the fate of the numerous language schools in Ottawa. I am rather interested in the fate of all these people who need to meet the language requirements of their positions and who became the victims of a vicious system.

Of course, there was the introduction of the new reading comprehension test at the beginning of August… something that is now making people more miserable than ever… at least, before, they were able to concentrate their effort on preparing for the written expression and oral tests… now they also have to try and better their abilities to read (well… what am I saying here? it is anything but a reading test!) in French…  Seema who now needs CBC after having achieved her BBB took the test again a couple of weeks ago: she said it was a real nightmare and she did not have enough time to finish the 60 questions… of course she missed the C… And, now, even Francophones with an exemption in oral proficiency cannot get their levels in both reading comprehension and written expression in English… they are now looking for training and most of them write to me in English and their messages are flawless! So… what should I conclude???… and do I have to add that there are no samples of the new test to practice with on Campus Direct? Great!!!…

 What bugs me the most right now is that, for over two months now, none of my trainees got a C in oral… except for the ones who were tested at CRA, Health Canada or over the phone (some people even got exemptions). All those who were tested in person at Slater failed… and those who achieved a C were tested more than two or three times. Is it a plot of some sort?… I hate to say this but… it appears this happened after a floor at Slater was flooded and they had to move their assessors on another floor… I know… it is ridiculous… but I cannot see why so many people are denied their C other than the examiners being frustrated (or truly incompetent)…

Take Josie for instance… born and raised in Montreal, she communicates very well in French and she does not have any English accent when she speaks… one would think that she is a Francophone from Montreal. Of course she makes some mistakes, but do I have to remind everyone that Francophones also make mistakes when they speak? Well… she was tested twice and, both times, she missed her C… I am sorry, but what are they looking for? It is beyond my understanding… and also beyond any logic…  On the other hand, they distribute Bs like candies to even people who can hardly put together a simple sentence with a subject, a verb (non conjugated most of the time) and one object!… Consequently, Josie who communicates efficiently and someone who only gets by in French end up with the same language profile, yet there is a huge gap between the two! And… on their feedback sheets, here is what we can read:

“Comprehension: You demonstrated an ability to understand linguistically complex questions, speaker viewpoints and conversations about abstract topics.”

Well… such a statement is accurate in Josie’s case… and I am sorry, but… someone who can demonstrate such abilities is NOT a B… and even a C is not described as bilingual, therefore there should not be such a fuss about abstract topics!… so… tell me… what do they want?

The only conclusion I can draw from this non sense is that the PSC needs people to fill in the entry level positions left vacant by the babyboomers leaving massively the workforce… therefore, they lowered their criterias for the B level (otherwise they would not have anyone they could hire) – in my book, the current B level in oral proficiency is the equivalent of an A before all the pointless reforms – and they raised the criterias for the C level… bottom line, we now see a flock of people detaining a B… yet their abilities to communicate in the second language are quite different.

Well… «au risque d’avoir l’air méchante», the only thing this test is assessing is the examiners’ inabilities to judge someone’s abilities to communicate in their second language… and one question pops up in my mind: who are these judges and what is their background?…

«Pour ne point rougir devant sa victime, l’homme qui a commencé par la blesser, la tue.»

Honoré de Blazac

I really do not know what is happening because, usually, there is less language testing in the PSC during the summer… yet, this year, there is not respite. If I had to guess, I would say it is probably due to baby boomers’ massive departure from the work force. Therefore there is an urgent need to replace them! Whatever the reasons are, it is real and I am busier than ever… Many of my trainees were tested these past two months and they all got the  levels they needed to comply with their job position requirements (or even higher). It would be too long to name them individually in this post, therefore I will congratulate them all in one sentence:

Congratulations to everyone!

It has been a rumor for many months but, now, it is official: there will be a new version of the reading comprehension test as soon as July 30… Instead of 65 questions, there will be 60 but the time (90 minutes) will be reduced to 80 minutes… consequently I do not describe this as a bonus! Apparently there will be five more questions at the end (which will not count) and candidates’ answers will be used for statistics purpose!?!

The first question that comes to mind is: will the new test be more or less the same or will it be more difficult. Well… it will be much more difficult. From what I heard (former students who voluntarily participated in the pilot project), it is not a piece of cake!… I agree that the current test may be a bit too easy, and it is precisely for that reason that the PPC made the decision to change it. I am not against designing a new version of the test… but I do not understand why the gap between the former test and the new one is so huge! 

When the written expression test was changed in October 2007,  it passed from 55 rather easy questions to 80 very difficult questions. The rate of failure was very high and the PSC decided to standardize the scores (which was helping people with low raw scores, but punishing the ones with high raw scores)… Finally, in June 2008, the 65 question version of the test was introduced: did it really help people to pass?… It is hard to tell… since they cut in the time as well and kept the same amount of long questions, I would be tempted to say that it did not really make a noticeable difference… and the difficulty level remained the same.

I would not be surprised that, in a few months, the reading comprehension test would go through the same process.  For sure, the difficulty level of the new test is higher… there will no longer be questions in English and, in many cases, candidates will have to fill in the blanks or finish a sentence/paragraph with the correct syntax, grammar and accurate vocabulary… It sounds more like a grammar test than a reading test as a matter of fact.

Right now, I can only anticipate what it will be… I am sure I will know more in a couple of weeks when my trainees will start taking the new reading comprehension test. Then I will be able to talk more about it… I am sure of one thing though, it will be difficult and I doubt we will see many candidates get an E like it has been for several years now. Therefore, in a week from now, all of the three SLE tests will be a pain in the neck!

In the maze of all this testing, Le Club français manages to meet once a month for some activities in French. Last Friday we went to «Le Théâtre de l’Île» in Hull where we had dinner on the patio and attended a play… As usual, we all had a great time though many players were missing due to summer vacation… Judge by yourself:

Happy Alice, Mark and Seema

Mark, La Dame dragon and Corey having a great time

Two big smiles...

Having a great time here!

Great food, excellent play and a friendly environment

And we will do it again soon… with more participants hopefully! In spite of the painful process of preparing for the PSC SLE tests, many of us became real good friends in real life… and it is one of the reasons why I do love my job!… I would not do anything else…

«On ne se lasse pas de changer les institutions, ne pouvant changer les hommes.»

Jean-Lucien Arréat

There was a slow down in the PSC SLE testing though… it is always like this when the financial year ends: it takes a while before the Departments get their new budgets going. Nevertheless, requests for training are still coming in!

Patrice finally got the results for his three tests (after several months) and he got EEC… quite an achievement indeed!

Congratulations Patrice!

Adelaide also got the results of her oral interaction test and she got the B required for her to keep her current position and, even better, she was offered a promotion within her division!

Congratulations Adelaide!

And… Monica, who was totally depressed after her oral test and had nightmares thinking she had only achieved and A, got her results last week and she got her C!…

Congratulations Monica!

Therefore I am happy… it looks like everyone managed to get their required language levels… Yet I have to say that I have them work like slaves sometimes!… Getting prepared for the SLE tests is a long and painful process and I really do admire my trainees. I am not convinced I would be able to suffer as much!

That being said, I had time to browse some tests and I finally decide to have you try and take an exercise on pronunciation… though pronunciation in French is more or less consistent, sometimes there are words that are not pronounced the way they are written (or maybe they are!). I took the test myself and I got 50/50… I am sure you can get a perfect score too!

After some freezing temperatures last week, we are back to above normal tempartures this week… Go figure!

It is such a pleasure to see stuff like this!

If you are not sitting on some patio somewhere, click here to play my game!

Have fun!

Photo credit by Philip Lean, Canberra, Australia