Back in town and ready to tackle 2010 demands!…

I have been away from my blog for almost one month!…  Hopefully everyone had a great Holiday Season and forgot about the PSC SLE testing for a couple of weeks… Did I? Not really… because I knew that three of my trainees had to work on preparing their oral interaction exams that will be held in the week of January 18… I saw them this week and they are quite anxious!… Yet I know that they will perform just fine when time will come!

When I got back from my trip, I had very good news!… Though unexpected, Sam had been called in for his oral interaction interview just a few days before Christmas and he thought that he would not get his C since he felt that he needed more preparation time… Well, he got an E and he was thrilled!

Congratulations Sam!

 

And Kelly, who had missed her appointment in late September, finally went for her oral interaction test in Victoria and she also got an E… Back in the summer of 2009, her examiner had given her a mere B… At the time, I could not believe it since, in my book, this young woman was bilingual!… I believe that people who take this exam without knowing what it is really about perform poorly because of the nature of the questions… In Kelly’s case, all it took was a few hours of good preparation to polish her speech and adopt useful strategies…

Congratulations Kelly!

 

Of course, such great news certainly lifted my spirits in order to tackle 2010 with optimism…  In spite of the numerous flaws in the SLE testing process, my students manage to meet the language requirements of government’s job positions…

Except for Corey, who still has not been invited to take the oral interaction test, there are no pending cases… Next week will be hectic for me with three people to train and comfort until they take their tests on January 18, 19 and 20… I am expecting to be quite stressed!…  Also, new requests came in while I was away… I would not be surprised if there were a flood of testing until the end of March 2010… It will be the end of fiscal year in the PSC and, from experience, all departments try to exhaust their budgets and finish their projects before April.

This month should also bring back at least three of my former trainees who need to get higher levels so that they will meet the language requirements of their new positions… But, almost three weeks away from work gave me the opportunity to refill my energy tank and I am now ready to face the music… Now I only have to get rid of that head cold and accept that I am back under our harsh Canadian climate!…

All I need is to picture this in my head until Spring comes back…

Happy 2010 to everyone!…

;)

 

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Last Updates… and Last Quizz in 2009!

This will be my last post this year… I will be leaving on vacation this coming Saturday and, since I have lots to do, I do not think I will have time left to dedicate to my blog…

In the news department, I got a phone call from Corey in Montreal… after more than six weeks of painful waiting, he finally got his reading comprehension and written expression test results in the mail this morning and he made it!… He got a strong C in reading (and if he had had the time to complete the 65 questions, I am convinced he would have obtained an E) and he got his B in writing, missing the C by only one answer (that killed him actually!)… He wrote an email to his contact at the CRA to let him know that he had met the language requirements of the position he applied for and that he was expecting to be invited to take the oral interaction test some time in January!… Sometimes, these people need to be reminded of some basic stuff!

Congratulations Corey!

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Always the same «vices de procédure»…

Once again, it has been a while since my last post… Well… I have been busy wrapping up training before the Holidays… It should calm down soon though because now people, who are given testing dates, will not go for their tests before mid-January… Therefore they will have plenty of time to get ready…

This past week I got only good news… Annie who was afraid to fail her C got her results last Thursday and she made it «haut-la-main»… I was confident that she would meet the requirements of the job position she had applied for…

Congratulations Annie!

Then Stephanie, who had only one hour with me to practice an oral simulation the day before her test, got the B she needed to maintain her position! Quite an achievement indeed!…

Congratulations Stephanie!

On Monday, Dan’s results came in… he obtained the C he needed to also maintain his position… Actually I would have given him an E because, in my book, this young man is bilingual: he speaks French fluently and he rarely makes mistakes… But hey! Giving exemptions is not something the PSC does on a regular basis… actually, I would think they never do (in Ottawa anyways)!…

Congratulations Dan!

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