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

Both March and April are always hectic months for me… I guess it is due to the end of fiscal in the PSC, as well as the beginning of another fiscal year… yet, I do not really see the link between so many people being tested for their second language and fiscal years!… Actually, maybe there is none and it is only coincidental… Who knows?

All I can say is that there are no breaks in the SLE testing… I believe it is because most of the entry level job positions now require a minimum of BBB and more and more of them require CBC… Also, it appears that many Departments cut into their language training budgets, leaving many civil servants in a limbo… they need to be either tested or re-tested, but they are not offered any paid training to prepare… I now work with many of them, which was quite unusual a few months ago… If there is a hiring freeze within the government at this point, there is no testing freeze!

In the news department, Mitch got back to me a couple of weeks ago: he finally got his B in written expression and we are currently working on his upcoming oral test preparation. He had a hard time with grammar because he never really took any formal French courses… on the other hand, he is from Montreal and he is more at ease speaking… therefore it should be easier for him to get his B (and possibly a C) in oral interaction.

Congratulations Mitch!

Chrissie went for her oral interaction test this morning… I am impatient to hear from her… I am convinced she will get her B… Sally, in Vancouver, finally went for her oral interview as well and she got her B!…

Congratulations Sally!

Bonita went for her written expression test yesterday and, unfortunately, she missed her B by only two points. She was really disappointed because she had worked very hard… yet, she was pressured with time and she would have needed a couple of more training sessions… And, from what she said, she got one of the tough versions of the test… but, good news, she is not out of the competition!… Sharon got her B in oral although she did not really believe she could make it… well… she did!

Congratulations Sharon!

Finally, and not the least, Haiyan - who was really nervous during the whole excruciating hiring process (from interviews to tests/exams) – saw the end of it last Friday… and she got her B in oral as well!

Congratulations Haiyan!

Sometimes, I think my job is redundant… of course, there is not much variety when it comes to SLE tests… they have been the same forever… yet, when I see my trainees get their required levels, I am very proud of their achievement and I do forget the repetitive aspect of my work… And, with Le Club français, we can enjoy sporadic outings and forget about the SLE tests for a while…  Those provide people with the opportunity to use their French outside the fake box they have to enter when they are tested… and I am always amazed of how good they are at communicating their messages and thoughts… when often they struggle so much with the tests!

Last Friday, we went to the The Higlanders’ Pub where we celebrated three April Birthdays… We had a great time and it was fun to get out of our lairs after the long winter months…

Celebrating Seema, Mark and Corey's birthdays!

Alice, Seema and Mark shining!

Corey, Mark and La Dame dragon smiling!

Corey (who never stopped smiling that evening), La Dame dragon and Keely

At the end of the evening...

Happy Mark on his 30th Birthday!

“J’avance dans l’hiver à force de printemps”

Charles Joseph de Ligne

In the news department, Boris passed the required levels(CBC)  of the job position he has applied for… he even surpassed them in two tests: ECC!

Congratulations Boris!

The order of the pronouns in French… do you know it or do you sometimes struggle with it?… I found an interesting test on pronouns following an imperative… I took it and I got a perfect mark… can you do it, avoiding the traps?… Give it a try!

My Aussie friend sent me an interesting picture…

Apparently, it is the first time he came across a sign in almost perfect English! Be the judge!…

If you want to play my game, click here!

Have fun!

Photo credit by Philip Lean, Canberra, Australia