Congratulations Melody!

Then yesterday evening, when I connected with Michelle in Toronto, she broke the good news: earlier this week she had been called in (out of the blue) for the oral interaction test and she got the required B… she was not prepared for that at all! Actually, for the past 16 weeks, we have been doing French for the only sake of learning French (nor for tackling and acing the SLE tests) once a week… but, since we had been working rigourously on the concordance des temps and the conditional, I do believe it helped her a great deal for her presentation…  yet she deserves all the credit because we had never worked towards the exam together!

Congratulations Michelle!

And, when I got up this morning, I had an email from Denise in Toronto with  «Allo… mauvaise nouvelle » in the subject line!… For a second there, I stopped breathing!… But it was a prank!… She got her C haut-la-main!… Consequently I will be able to relax in Montreal during the long weekend because all the results are in!…  and even unexpected ones!

Congratulations Denise!

Besides those excellent news and four new trainees, everything is business as usual… this is why I am taking the opportunity of this recess in the PSC SLE testing process soap opera to write about my thoughts on online education sites… Once again, I will not point my finger at any of them in particular because a quick tour of their forums shows that a few (if not many) experience problems… and it seems that the larger they are the more bumps in the road they encounter!

What amazes me the most is to see that many do not have proper policies and the ensuing complaints are quite eloquent. Both community members (teachers and students) and staff spend lots of time and energy bleating about their problems (and some are very serious) yet the management of those sites refuses to do anything constructive. Of course it has a lot to do with their philosophy… some owners of such sites want them to be an open source for online education… therefore they open their doors to anyone who wishes to join the community without even elementary screening. Anyone can sign up to be a teacher: with no profile picture, no credentials, no background history, no teaching experience… and five minutes later they can create classes and use the platform to teach any subjects… it is an utopia to believe that anyone can teach only based upon the fact that they are good in some areas or they can speak a language… I think the boot camps here are a good example: most of their teachers never taught French but, because they do speak the language, those schools owners believe that they can!… Well… they cannot!… Actually if anyone could teach, there would not be any education programs in universities right?… Teaching is not an easy task and it implies a large part of responsibilities… language learning will not occur without the help of an expert… of course students will eventually get enough to get by and survive, but they will never become fluent in all areas (reading, writing and speaking).

Instead of trying and fixing what goes wrong by adopting professional policies and rules, they insist on marketing… according to them, if the teachers’ community does not succeed, it is only because they cannot market their services the right way… and, unfortunately, some excellent teachers with blind faith are convinced that it is their fault if they work hard for peanuts!… Well… marketing your services on a site where everything looks and, to some extent is, non professional will not help you build a reputation in your field of expertise. Also the type of clientele many sites attract is not the one who will buy you dinner at the end of the day!… Most of their students are inactive (not taking any classes) and those who do sign up for classes do not want to pay for learning… though I am not sure I would be willing to disburse money myself for being taught by someone with no experience, no credentials and, in some case, who is not even out of adolescence!… Anyone looking for serious and competent teachers will not join such communities (although there are some excellent and professional teachers/tutors there… yet they fall into the cracks of the system and their expertise cannot be recognized for its true value)…

I do not understand why so many community and staff members are so reluctant to implement screening policies… someone who is professional has nothing to hide: they have credentials and experience to show and it is only normal to be asked for this kind of stuff… when people contact me for training, they do ask me those questions… if they are going to invest in me for preparing them to take the PSC SLE exams, it is only natural that they want to make sure that they knocked on the right door and that they will not be disappointed…

If there were times when seeing so many teachers struggling to make a living out of online education services saddened me, I have to admit that I am less and less inclined to pity them… In many ways, they do nurture non professional sites by not taking action and staying there in spite of all the problems that systematically arise… and they also nurture the gurus’ egos and narcissic sides by providing them with a faithful blind audience. One would think that these teachers are somewhat internet savvy and that they could search for other avenues for their online teaching… because there are some sites that are truly professional… and finding them is actually at the tip of their fingers…

And for those who have some financial resources, it would be much more beneficial to start their own online education business… no one needs to be under the banner of a large site!… I think I do very well on my own and none of those sites would actually provide me with what I need to run my online teaching… I do have policies and rules which I abide by… Doing business either on the web or in the real world is the same… yet it appears that some people are still living in the dinosaur age… the internet is no longer something new that people are suspicious of… many transactions are done over the net and lots of professional services are also found there… and I think that consumers are keen and well educated (of course there will always be some gullible individuals): they can tell right away what site is professional and what site is not!… There is no need for a PHD to sort them out…

“Toute activité orientée selon l’éthique peut être subordonnée à deux maximes totalement différentes et irréductiblement opposées : l’éthique de responsabilité et l’éthique de conviction”

Max Weber

This morning, Pam took her written expression test and Candice went for her oral interaction exam. I already heard from Candice: apparently, her interview went pretty well… her position language requirements are BBB and she already got CB (reading comprehension and written expression)… so far so good!… And, today, she was led in the fourth part of the test which means that the examiner thought she was strong enough to possibly earn a C… awesome! Her resuls will probably not come in soon yet we can both sleep tight since the level B is guaranteed!… Consequently I will not worry about her results.

Kate, who took her oral interaction test a week ago, is still waiting for her results: she needs a C… Although I am confident that she pulled it out, I will not rest until I get the final results. I will see Kelly for the last time this coming Friday, then she will go for her oral next week… she also needs a C and I am convinced she will get it (unless nervousness takes control of her!).

Edna got the result of her oral interaction test yesterday afternoon and she missed her B… although a bit disappointed, she was not upset because she actually did great considering that she knew so little in French when I first met her a month ago… she improved drastically and she made every effort to do her best during the interview!… She is a very hard worker and I am really proud of her! I do not know many people who can go from level X to level A in 14 hours of training!… And, if she is ever given a second chance at the test, I know she can move up to the next level…

Chapeau Edna!

Speaking of Edna… Last week, she was scheduled to take both the reading comprehension and written expression tests on the same morning… When she got there, she was mentally prepared and ready to tackle those absurd exams. Actually she got her B in reading comprehension, missing the C only by three answers.

What about her written expression test results?… Well… she did not take the test that morning… What happened?… You will not believe it, but I swear it is the truth… Everything went wrong from the start indeed: candidates were supposed to take the reading comprehension test at 8:30 then they were delayed until 9:00… not a big deal so far… afterwards, they were given a 15 minute break that actually lasted 30 minutes… what was the excuse?… your guess is as good as mine!… Anyways, by the time they finally started the written expression exam, the candidates were probably hungry and quite tired!

I guess it would not have been so bad if they had been given the right test… keep in mind that these people were there to take the two tests in French… but the written expression test was in English! Of course they pinpointed this trivial mistake to the garde-chiourme… The moron (excuse my language yet I cannot find a better politically correct word to qualify this individual’s incompetence), instead of re-programming the computers, sent them back home with a new testing date at the end of the month!… As if people had only to take the SLE tests in life!… Take Edna’s case for instance, as a casual employee, she does not get paid when she takes time off work… as if she had any other choices! When such employees must take the SLE tests, it would be normal that they get paid since it is required for their job!

Same thing in Candice’s case: she will not get paid for the two half days she took to be tested in French. Last week, when she got that email saying that she would be tested orally in less than five days, she went to see her director asking if she could ask for another date… because she felt she needed more prep!… The answer she got threw me off my chair (though I should be used to those stupid statements by now!): “Don’t worry, the sooner the better!… Then you’ll be able to put it behind you… all you have to do is go there and chat for 30 minutes… no big deal!”… No big deal??? I cannot wait and see this director (and many others), who took the oral interaction test prior to June 2008, be re-tested and chat for 30 minutes!… I am convinced that the tune will change afterwards!

It is beyond me that so many people are that oblivious of the damages they cause: with either their stupid/hurtful remarks, their inability to fix their flaws or their new versions of the SLE tests (without any warning)!… And the worst part is that they do not have shame at all!

When I was told that the written expression test was entirely different from the samples civil servants are practicing with on Campus Direct, I admit I had a dilemma: should I tell Pam who was scheduled to take the test this month and should I share that information with Krystal who always reacts emotionally?… I knew Krystal would find out through my blog and, indeed, the very same day I had published my post on that topic, she sent me a “Mon dieu” email… As for Pam, I chose to tell her as soon as I got the news…

After the first reaction, everybody sat down and took a deep breath… knowing what this month test is about actually helped them… It is the element of surprise that pushes candidates to panic and then lose focus…  When I saw Pam yesterday morning, she was calm and she did very well on the practice tests (we had worked on the strategy to use and it proved itself to be quite efficient)… Yesterday evening, I had an online session with Krystal and she really did great: only 9 mistakes!… I was expecting her to be edgy because she will take her reading comprehension and written expression exams next Tuesday… but she was calm and in a very good mood: I could smell the tomatoes brewing in their juice behind her… preparing her vegetables to be put in jars was a very good sign of her excellent spirits!… And I am sure she will tackle those tests the best she can do, the way Pam probably did this morning.

In spite of everything, I manage to cheer my trainees up and prepare them to face all the flaws, mistakes and discrepancies that occur systematically in this whole SLE testing process… In other words, they can beat the system and, that only gives them the drive to move forward and achieve!

To all of my students (past, present and to come), I say…

You are the best… ever!

“Il est honteux d’être sans honte”

Saint Augustin

I have been seriously reflecting on this lately… my thoughts were triggered by comments posted on the forums of an online education site (which, by the way, I will not name here because it is only one among many)… This site, as well as all the other similar ones, provides teachers with a platform so that they can start their own online teaching/tutoring business… Of course, many people are lured by the idea of having their own business… therefore there is a growing number of tutors/teachers signing up… although many are inactive or left the site a long time ago… yet figures show that there are many teachers working… It is the same with students: most of them do not take either private sessions or classes… but it looks good from a statistic point of view!… A quick tour of the classes offered on the site is enough to realize that there are not thousands of individuals registered in any of them… and the ones that are popular are the ones that are free…

For months, teachers have been ranting about students’ no-shows trying to find a solution (and some threads are now heating up)… most of the time, people sign up for classes with no real intent to ever attend… why do they do that?… well… your guess is as good as mine… Then, lately, it came out that many teachers do not dare to show up for the classes they opened… I guess they left the site (for any reasons) and, since they did not have the ability to cancel their classes and probably did not know that someone from the staff could have done it for them, they just left things the way they were!… I agree that it is not what is expected from professionals… anyone with a minimum of professionalism would ask for their accounts, profiles and classes be deleted…

Actually it is precisely where the problem is!… Since there is no screening done, anyone can sign up as a teacher/tutor… it is not rare to see someone with two profiles: one as a student and another one as a teacher… credentials are not important, therefore one can see several teenagers (some as young as 13) teaching!… I agree that some kids are smart cookies, yet they cannot teach!… To some extent, it is kind of insulting for experienced professional teachers!… Do you know many teenagers who are mature and responsible enough to hold a steady and demanding job such as teaching?… They will often neglect doing their school homework to go out with their friends and party!…

In a way, I do feel sad for the few true professional teachers who devote time and effort into trying to make their living on such sites… yet I cannot understand why they stick around while they could be using their time and energy in building their own online business… People who teach on those online education sites are not operating their own business: their status is similar to employees’ status, yet without a  regular salary and social benefits!…

Own a business means controlling everything from A to Z: targeting a specific clientele, establishing prices and methods of payment, choosing the proper tools, setting the rules, deciding on the ideal environment, etc… The minute there is a middle man, it is no longer someone’s business… it is the middle man’s business! He has total control on everything: rules (if there are any), methods of payment, type of clientele, platform, etc… and he takes a substantial percentage on the money his teachers earn!… If teachers want changes, they are invited to post their ideas on the Idea Board… the ones that agree with the middle man’s agenda might be adopted, but the ones rocking the boat are discarded!… Such an environment only creates frustration and dissatisfaction among teachers…

Yet I see people who are still trying to change things… investing time and energy into something that is doomed to fail! Unfortunately, teachers are not known for their business skills… it is why most of them work in the regular schooling system (grade schools, high schools, colleges and universtities). Only the ones who have an excellent sense of entrepreneuship can succeed in business!…

People who are not afraid of taking risks, however, can become very successful!… And I do believe that some can learn a few skills that would help them start their own business… All it takes is the will to succeed, some positive aggressiveness, some money, a good plan, a specific niche, some market research, a professional logo, attractive business cards and brochures, a domain name, a website, a blog (providing useful and accurate info), a good network (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other similar social networks are not the best – at least, not for training businesses), experience, credentials, excellent references and a platform (one branded with their business names that can be rented yearly – no strings attach) that suits their specific needs.

Of course, all of the above demand time and effort… it is not something that will happen overnight… On the other hand, if well done, success is almost guaranteed! Considering the hours and energy consumed in ranting on the forums of sites that will alledgedly allow teachers to become successful entrepreneurs (the question is: when? if ever…), I truly believe that people who are seriously contemplating the idea of having their own online teaching business would be better off on their own… unless they do think they still have some precious time left to waste on false promises…

Bottom line, it is a matter of personal choice… when teachers choose to work with a middle man, they have to accept the fact that it will never be their call to change whatever they do not like… they either stop complaining and try to make the best out of  a situation that is far from being ideal or they decide to take risks and jump in unknown waters where possibilities are endless…

“Je suis agnostique. Ce qui ne veut pas dire que je ne crois pas, mais que je ne sais pas si je crois”

François Mitterand

On the weekend I came across something that kind of disturbed me… Originating from any Federal Departments, I would have probably giggled and made fun of their «français boiteux»… but what I read originated from the «bureau des langues officielles» in Montreal. Of course this generic text can be found in the PSC templates, which I assume were created in Ottawa… yet one would think that Francophones located in Montreal would have spotted this text right away (unless they never read what they are actually sending to candidates)!…

When my trainees get their official results, most of the time, they forward me the email they received from the PSC… since I am always eager to know their results, I never read the generic introduction message of this email. Honestly I am not interested in whatever is written… my only concern is: did my student make it?… I made an exception last Saturday, I probably had some spare time since I read the whole thing… Then I had the shock of my life! «Quelle horreur!!!»… I had to read this paragraph more than once to make sure I was not having a bad dream:

VEUILLEZ NE PAS RÉPONDRE À CE COURRIEL VIA VOTRE SYSTÈME DE COURRIEL. VOTRE COURRIEL NE SERA PAS RÉPONDU.

What in the hell is that?!!?… Everything is utterly incorrect in this short paragraph!… It looks like someone scanned the English version of this warning through some Google free translator:

PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL VIA YOUR EMAIL SYSTEM. YOUR EMAIL WILL NOT BE ANSWERED.

No one could ever come up with a better literal translation than this one!… Even with time and effort, nothing would beat this paragraph. Maybe it is time for a crash course in French… First of all, «courriel» is the electronic version of «courrier» (mail) in French… it actually stands for the longer version «courrier électronique»… what we have here is a «message électronique», not a «courriel»… usually, when referring to the email system, we say «système de messagerie électronique»… and, grammaticaly, we do not use the passive voice in French for expressions such as I have been told or your email will not be answered… Even my beginners know that!… Am I being a fussy purist?… I really do not think so! I just cannot stand anyone murdering my mother tongue!… Here is what I do with this horrific paragraph:

VEUILLEZ NE PAS RÉPONDRE À CE COURRIEL VIA VOTRE SYSTÈME DE COURRIEL. VOTRE COURRIEL NE SERA PAS RÉPONDU.

Not much left indeed!… To make sure that Francophones who do not happen to be bilingual would understand such a warning, it should read like this:

VEUILLEZ NE PAS RÉPONDRE À CE MESSAGE VIA VOTRE SYSTÈME DE MESSAGERIE ÉLECTRONIQUE PARCE QUE VOUS NE RECEVREZ AUCUNE RÉPONSE.

Et voilà!… Le tour est joué!… Actually, my first reaction was to reply to this email in order to pinpoint the mistakes… then I realized that no one would read it!… L’ironie du sort quoi!… Of course, I could see this as a pathetic joke… and move on… yet I do have a serious problem when I think of all those Anglophones having their second language skills assessed by people from the PSC… If those who claim to be a so-called panel of experts in French cannot even write (or at least review and correct) such a short and simple paragraph according to the French language standards, well… I am scared!… What if their assessment were based upon their own flaws and mistakes?… I have seen enough of those in both their reading comprehension and written expression tests to be worried!… Why would it be different when they are evaluating candidates on their abilities to communicate orally in French?… It is certainly something to ponder upon seriously… Anyone claiming the right of assessing others on their second language abilities should be flawless experts… therefore each time I come across something that tells me otherwise, I do question the present system…

“J’ai toujours rencontré si peu d’esprit autour de moi qu’il a bien fallu que j’utilise le mien”

Paul Léautaud

Yet it is a perfect day for writing since I am not tempted to step outside… way too «lugubre» for me!

This week has been very busy as usual… Joyce went for her oral interaction test on Tuesday… I had seen her for two hours that morning and I had managed to have her burst into tears. Useless to say that I felt really bad… Of course she was extremely nervous and overwhelmed: the pressure for attaining level C is higher… But, when she came back from her phone interview, she gave me a call… she was happy with her performance! Of course, she could not tell if it had been enough for her to get a C… actually no one can predict the outcome of the oral interaction test… Like it or not, there is some subjectivity that is part and parcel of human nature. I do not believe in pure objectivity… it is an ideal that cannot really be attained. Though the PPC likes to proclaim that its oral interaction test is done in a way that can assess people objectively… one would certainly wish that it would be the case!

This test was the last step in Joyce’s job application process that started more than six months ago. Hopefully she will meet the language requirements of the position she applied for and her name will be added to a pool of candidates… one would think that, after so long, she would actually get the position. Wrong!… she was told it may take one to two years before they draw her name from the hat!… Quite depressing, is it not? I am convinced some people just drop the whole thing and decide to look somewhere else… who can afford to wait for so long? Well… someone who already has a job might have the patience to wait… but someone who is unemployed just cannot wait that long because their stomach is telling them otherwise… And even those who are patient may be told after many months that they do not qualify for a position because they could not meet the language requirements (keep in mind that SLE testing comes last in this long process). And, poor Joyce, she was told not to expect her test results before two weeks!…

This is why some make the decision of «baisser les bras devant une telle bureaucratie» and moving on… Krystal, in Toronto, had been stuggling with her decision for quite some time and, a couple of weeks ago, she had told me that she had applied for jobs in the private sector. Of course, she was torn apart because she would like to get one of the two positions she applied for in Ottawa more than eight months ago… yet I could see she was at the end of her rope… It did not take long for her to receive a call: yesterday she was booked for an interview… and chances are that it will not take months before she gets an answer (one way or the other). Since she got professional ethics, if she ever were offered the position and accepted it, she would not move on with the government process. And the Department she was short-listed for two positions would then lose a highly qualified (perhaps over qualified) candidate…

As for Yong in Montreal… finally, in the middle of June, he was notified that he had not passed his B level in oral interaction… since the language requirements of the position he had applied for were BBB and his profile ended up being BBA, he assumed that it was over and started to apply elsewhere… On Tuesday, I got a call from him on Skype… he wanted some advice and my opinion so that he could make a «décision éclairée»: he had been offered an engineer position with a nuclear company in Toronto and he was meeting with management yesterday…

Then, on Tuesday morning, he got a call from Ottawa… they said they were sending him a letter of offer for an English essential position! I can imagine how he felt… being placed in such a situation is kind of overwhelming! The question is “What should I do?”… Of course, I am no expert… but I think he needed to talk with someone so that he could sort out his thoughts. And, since I do live in Ottawa, I was able to tell him about the pros and the cons of living here… and I gave him a list of points to take into consideration before making a decision. Yong came here from China not so long ago and he is not familiar with Canadian cities other than with Montreal… so… I was able to tell him a bit more about Ottawa and Toronto… Both cities have their pros and their cons… and, as for the jobs, obviously a position within the Public Service of Canada guarantees security, excellent social benefits, regular working hours and many opportunities for career advancement… on the other hand, salaries are higher in the private sector (in his field anyways)…

Last night, on the news, there was a story on the difficult and long process people have to go through when they apply for a position within the Federal Government. With so many babyboomers retiring from the workforce massively, there are many job openings in the public sector… of course, young people are attracted by the idea of working in the government. Yet they are thrown off by the complexity and the duration of the hiring process… and often they do not understand the jargon used in job posts on the web. There was an interview with a former public servant who decided to start a consulting service in order to help applicants in understanding this process by providing them with explanations and useful tips on strategies to use (though no one can speed up the process!)… I admit it made me smile: with the government, everything comes down to being strategic… otherwise one would get lost in the maze of such complex processes!… When I do prepare candidates for their SLE tests, I actually work more on strategies than on their French grammar and syntax!!! I am sure this woman will be successful with the kind of service she does provide… I have to say that our government provides creative people with ideas that answer the needs of people who wish to work within the government… as long as the PSC will stick to its complex and endless hiring/staffing processes, it will provide people like this woman with an inexhaustible gold mine… people who will help candidates to go through this long process with lesser pain!…

“L’intelligence est la faculté à l’aide de laquelle nous comprenons finalement que tout est incompréhensible”

Maurice Maeterlinck