Stop, Rewind the Tape and Say it again or… Move on?

From what I can see in my blog’s stats, many people are landing here after having typed specific search engine terms that are obviously related to SLE within the Public Service of Canada… I guess civil servants are looking for some advice and tips regarding their upcoming tests (reading comprehension, written and oral expression).

The Commission itself does not provide anything substantial on its website, except for some general and technical information… of course, people under’going language training have the option to register with Campus Direct and spend their time on practicing obsolete reading/writing tests or listening to short conversations and answering questions on those (I have been told it is a brand new feature, but I cannot confirm whether this type of exercise is available on the net or only on tapes purchased by the language schools: this might be just something else originating from the rumors’ mill!). Yet I am convinced they are looking for some more useful tips on how to be successful at the oral test.

The last time I saw Alice, I could not believe how choppy her discourse had become in only two weeks of fulltime training! Obviously her teachers (she has 3!) made her very self-conscious of her mistakes! Se would systematically stop after each set of words to make sure she had not made any errors on genders, verb tenses or prepositions… therefore if she ever had; by hesitating, stopping, deleting her sentence and re-wording it, she was pointing out her very own mistakes to me! Maybe I would have missed a few if she had simply moved on with confidence!…

What amazes me the most is that, in her needs assessment from the school, it was clearly specified that she hesitated too much and had to work on her speech flow… I agree that she was often hesitating yet it was not that bad!!!

Apparently the teaching technique in that school (I have been around quite a few in the past years and I never saw anything similar…) consists of interrupting students each time they make a mistake (how can someone not lose the thread of their thoughts when they are consistently interrupted?)… later on, instead of interrupting them, they only count each little mistake by marking them down on paper… by that time the students, already too self-conscious and suffering from trauma, no longer need to be interrupted: they can do it on their very own!!! On the other hand, they want their trainees to sound natural and speak fluently… how do they achieve that? By having them memorizing their answers!… Of course it might be useful to memorize their names, position’s titles and basic tasks… but, for the rest… MON OEIL!…

During the oral examination, all they will show are their memorization’s skills and nothing else! Because when they will be asked “out-of-the-blue” questions; they will lose confidence, start stuttering and even freeze!…

I remember Danny, back then a producer with The National at the CBC (he died in the Spring of 2007)… he had been born in Montreal but had moved to the Prairies when he was a pre-teen. Therefore, what was left from his French sounded rather like “street” French. He certainly needed a good brush-up! Yet he could communicate his thoughts in French in spite of his numerous mistakes… When he did not have a word on the tip of his tongue, he would easily use the English word instead by pronouncing it “à la française”! And, believe it or not, he was successful at fooling people (even me!)… One day, in class, he had said “Personnellement, je préfère les végétables…” Later on, one of his peers asked me what was the French translation for vegetables… “Légumes of course… you should know that!” She then looked at me and said “How come you didn’t correct Danny when he said végétables then?” Obviously I had missed that mistake! “Well Jackie… I guess I didn’t noticed it only because Danny speaks with such confidence!”

Anyone learning a new language does that from time to time… and it is okay! This week Johanne, a Francophone who works with my trainees, said that, when she was learning English, she used to do that often… one day she wanted to describe the new dress she had bought “… it is long with dentelle at the bottom!” She did not know the word “lace” and she used the French word instead, making sure of having it sound English! Apparently everybody understood!!!

To all of you out there who land on this blog and take the time to read this post prior to your oral test with the Public Service of Canada (and to you Alice, Jessica and Susan), my best advice and opinion as a long time teacher, trainer and assessor is Go there, be yourself and show confidence! Forget about memorization… do not let the “mots-liens” be an obsession (if there is room for some of them, they wil come naturally… do not force them at any time!)… If you ever start answering a question and realize your answer is somewhat too complicated or crooked, smile and say something like this (if you ever persist using the same structure, you will only dig your own grave!) “Pardonnez-moi, je reprends du début parce que je me suis mal exprimé(e) et ma réponse risque de ne pas être claire” Only this will show the assessor that you are aware of your own mistakes yet you can bring it to their attention in French, in a communicative way!

And… just in case you forgot about this stuff… charm still does operate on people! Using this card will allow you to connect with your assessor for the duration of the test… and let me reassure you all: we do not hear every single word people say!!! Therefore a “le” instead of a “la” will not be noticed in the maze of your speech… consequently do not stop talking and correct such a small error! You will be only tipping the assessor on your mistake… Continuez à parler, coûte que coûte!

Trust me, if I were an assessor (an awful job! Imagine listening to candidates all day long, all week long, all year long…) and someone with personality and undeniable charm were sitting in front of me, able to communicate in French (in spite of some mistakes) I would not even listen to their tapes afterwards… only because I would already know that they passed their required level! Remember, you are somewhat in control of this test (if not in control of 50% of the interview, very close to!)… so do not hesitate to take on that responsibility!… Be pro-active, there is no reason for you to remain passive… Empower yourself!

“Le hasard gouverne un peu plus de la moitié de nos actions et nous dirigeons le reste”

Machiavel