It is about time I sit down and write a post!… Unfortunately, the end of fiscal in the PSC is always a very hectic period for me… therefore I can hardly find time to do anything else, but prepare candidates for their SLE testing. It is also the end of fiscal for my own business and I have to devote time into streneous calculations because, as a good Canadian citizen,  I have to pay my due to the CRA, right?

Speaking of being a good citizen (and also of being skeptical), I think I will soon quit the “green/beige bins” daily worshiping although I was willing to participate in the Ottawa Green Program!… Last weekend I lost patience and I wrote to the City of Ottawa… and, believe it or not, I was given a case number! My initial complaint was about the brown paper bags that do not fit properly into the beige bin… to quote my significant other, it takes four hands to keep the bag open and, then, we should probably borrow one of our neighbours’ kid to give us a hand in order to throw kitchen waste in the bag!… Man! What a time consuming and useless ritual!!!…

I guess our concerns were taken seriously since we got replies from two people… one suggested to use old newspapers (who reads papers in 2010?) as lining in the bottom of our designer beige bin and, then throw everything in the green bin… well, I am sorry but I will not spend one single minute trying to wash those bins that would become filthy in no time! Or… even better, we could use a cardboard box instead of the beige bin!… Wait a minute, I do not want a box filled with kitchen waste standing in the middle of my kitchen!… Bottom line, I think this program is defeating its purpose and, unless the City sits down with the companies designing the brown paper bags so that their products fit the beige bin, I will do what I did for years: I will use a kitchen garbage can and plastic bags! And… I will sell the beige bin on E-bay!!!… Des preneurs?…

I train people in a state-of-the-art virtual classroom and there is nothing one cannot do with high technology… and some gurus want to take me back to the Dark Age with green programs that, obviously, were not studied from a logistical point of view?… No thank you!… I cannot wait for the day my butcher will wrap my ground meat in some old newspapers!… This non sense circle would be then complete!…

When looking at this, I can see analogies with the whole SLE testing within the PSC… Both intent and purpose are great yet the process is absurd!… I will skip my opinion on the tests themselves since, by now, my readers know where I stand. For the past several weeks, I have been contacted by many civil servants who systematically failed at one or two of the language tests after months of either full-time or part-time FSL training through the regular channel… i.e. through the numerous boot camps contracting with the PSC across the country. Disappointed and fed-up, they were looking for some efficient training that will allow them to get the levels they need to meet their jobs language requirements as quickly as possible.

I heard a couple of horrific stories… for instance, take Shannon… she has been enrolled in a full-time training program for the past ten months. Useless to say that I am working on de-programming her so that she will be able to get her C when she will be tested orally again next week… Of course, she lost confidence in her skills: she now has to undo everything she was told to do for the past ten months!… It is even more discouraging since she sees her regular teacher during the day and me at night or on weekends. As a trainer, if I had students failing at the tests, I would seriously reconsider my approach and correct what is wrong… but it appears that teachers (who have no background in either pedagogy or andragogy) in private language schools are stubborn and will not budge, stating that there are no other ways…  Shannon, for months, wanted to use past tenses when summarizing the tapes in Part 2 of the oral interaction test because she thought it sounded weird to do it in a present context (by the way, she was right!)… her teacher refused to let her do it saying that Part 1 and Part 2 of the exam were assessing A and B levels!… First of all, no one is tested for an A because it is no longer in the equation for imperative bilingual positions. Anyone who have to get a C must demonstrate their skills right from the beginning of the interview!… According to this teacher, using “baby talk” (yet with the «sacro-saints mots liens») during the first half of the test and, then, moving to some elaborate ways of speaking for the second half will guarantee a C?… In your dreams!!!…

Of course people like Shannon, Deborah, Raymond, Morris and several others ask more questions concerning my method and approach… And I do not blame them! It is normal that they have trust issues given what they went/go through without positive results. On the other hand, it does not take them long to realize that this time they will be better equipped in order to achieve their required levels.

What I really do not understand is, why the PSC has not yet investigated those language schools programs, their methods and their teachers’ credentials… Billions of dollars have been/are/will be invested in second language training… Such inertia is beyond common sense… and, in the meantime, thousands of people are paying the price for something they do not have control on… Yet I see more and more  of them taking their destiny into their own hands and invest time and money so that they will be able to return to their jobs as soon as possible! I would not be surprised that, with younger generations now working within the PSC, drastic change could occur sooner than expected… Only because these people do not have the patience of the baby boomers and they are not as obedient either!

But, in spite of all this, there are success stories… Danny achieved ECB (and he only needed BBB) a couple of weeks ago…

Congratulations Danny!

Chrissie got a comfortable B in both reading comprehension and written expression… she is now working on preparing for her oral interaction test…

Congratulations Chrissie!

Sharon got an E in reading comprehension and her required B in written expression… we will start preparing her for the oral when she will return from her ten day trip in Europe…

Congratulations Sharon!

“Un beau désordre vaut mieux qu’une inerte ordonnance”

Eugène Savitzkaïa