Last year, especially starting around June, it seemed that no one could achieve a C at the TOP (Test of Oral Proficiency) in French. It was actually quite depressing for me because I knew that most of my trainees were strong enough to get this level. A couple of them even took the test up to three times with no other results than a mere B… To some extent, I had started to believe that there was a conspiracy in Ottawa, where the headquarters for SLE testing are located. Why only in Ottawa? Simply because people tested over the phone with examiners based in Montreal  – or in person with assessors from various Departments such as CRA, Health, etc. – were still getting their C when they deserved it!…

I admit that I was angry most of the time and, when I left for Jamaica in Mid-December, it was long due because I was totally drained… and, for a while, I  even thought of giving up and retiring!… Yet I felt that I could not let down people who really needed help so that they would have a chance at those stupid tests! This process is excruciating and they need all the support they can get in order to get through this ordeal. And… I thought of all these people who are not living in Ottawa and cannot find resources… they would have been left on their own… Finally I decided that I had still enough energy and courage to fight this absurd system. Therefore I rolled up my sleeves and dived into 2011 with the ferocity of a lioness!… Sometimes I truly believe that only someone like me is crazy enough to do this… well, I guess I am a true believer and I refuse to give up on people who need my support and expertise.

Then something happened… something unexpected… something I would call a miracle! Now, 50% of the candidates to the TOP  who go to Slater are tested over the phone with examiners from Montreal… of course, my students who were evaluated this way got their C with no problems…  consequently, there was nothing to throw me off my chair… It is when my students tested face-to-face started to get their C one after the other that I realized that the pattern had been finally broken!… Actually none of them who were seeking a C failed!… Not even a single one!!! They all passed!… I would say that, since the beginning of January, I had about 20 trainees who needed a C and all of them obtained it!… Incredible!!!

How did that happen?… Well… it is known that our government keeps statistics of everything… therefore, I suspect that the ones on the success of bilingualism within the PSC showed a high rate of failure… without mentioning that many positions require CBC, BBC and CCC… if assessors fail most of the candidates, how can they staff?… In my opinion (and I might be wrong), the examiners have been “demanded” to be more realistic with their evaluation at level C… in other words, to assess people according to the criterias of the level: highly functional in the second language… and not bilingual! E is the level that people get when they are fluent!… Among my students who got their C, I had several who were bilingual and should have obtained an exemption… But hey! Let’s not be too greedy here… it is already an exploit that they got a C… Last year, I had a couple of them who were bilingual in my book and they only got a B!… Apparently, the wind shifted at Slater and it is kind of a relief… it is a test to assess people’s abilities in their second language… not a trial where they feel as if they were tortured by some tormenters…

On a sad note though, our “urban legend” did not budge… this examiner is still giving B to the ones who are at the level C… and giving an A to the ones who are at the level B… Two weeks ago, one of my students had the misfortune of being evaluated by this individual… she got out of there traumatized! Not only this jaded assessor is unfair but is also arrogant, cynical and sarcastic…  Who needs to sit down with such a jerk for 45 minutes when they are already under stress and pressure?… I have to say that I am tempted to reveal this person’s name, but I will not do it today… perhaps later… All I have to say for now is that no one should do this job more than two or three years, after that they tend to become bias and some of them are at risk of abusing the power they have… think of it for a second… individuals who fail to get the level they need at the TOP are eliminated from hiring processes and sometimes demoted… I think there should be at least two assessors in the room, the way it is done during job interviews… otherwise these people’s fate rests in the hands of one single person!!! A responsibility I would not want because I think I would have a hard time to sleep at night…

But… overall, there has been some improvement and there is hope for the future in the SLE testing department. It will be interesting to see if this positive trend will continue…

«Même sans espoir, la lutte est encore un espoir»

Romain Rolland

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

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

Congratulations Joyce!

Useless to say that I have been pondering upon a few things since I heard the news… I prepare many people to tackle the SLE tests, either online or face-to-face… As far as reading comprehension and written expression are concerned, all of my students obtained the levels they were seeking and half of them even scored higher (with the exception of Cynthia who missed her B by one answer on the written expression exam and, unfortunately, she was never invited to take the test a second time… and in Dave’s case, it was due to the PPC’s failure to follow the specifications of his accommodation request).

It would take too much time to go back far in time to have a look at my statistics… therefore I did concentrate my analysis on the results observed since the beginning of 2009.

So far I had/have 24 students to prepare for their oral interaction tests. Fifteen of them already took the exam…  six of them obtained their levels the first time they were tested (and one of them got a higher level). Then there are the ones who had failed to meet their required levels on the first trial and came to me for help: five in total and two of them passed on the second trial. I am waiting for Maggie’s results in NYC (I am confident that she got a C on her first attempt) and I never heard back from Lara in Brussels (I do not know whether she received her C or not). The 15 people who already took the oral interaction test had between one and 12 hours of training with me. The other nine still do not have a date yet… hopefully they will be given more time to prepare than the ones who ended up with only one week or two (and, in several cases, with only a couple of days!)…

Out of 15, five were tested over the phone: three of them had an assessor located in Montreal and they all passed their required levels (and Joyce surpassed hers by receiving an exemption)… as for Lara and Maggie (no results in yet), I do not know if their examiners were located in Montreal or at Foreign Affairs in Ottawa… this will have to be confirmed later on.

Eight were tested in face-to-face interviews by either an assessor from Slater or someone from their own Department in Ottawa. Three did not pass their required levels, three passed the first time and two obtained their levels the second time… Four of them who were tested for a B were led into the last part of the exam, yet no one was given a C…

Finally, two were tested in face-to-face interviews in Montreal… both of them were looking for a B and both were led in the fourth part of the test. They ended up with an A!…

Keeping in mind that the oral interaction test is the same, no matter how and where the test is held, results should be more or less the same based upon what I could observe among my trainees… yet it is not the case! For instance, take Lauren who was tested over the phone and got her B after three hours of training with me… and take Yong and Luna who were tested in face-to-face interviews in Montreal and both led in the last part of the exam (what was not the case for Lauren)… If I do compare those three people’s strenghts and weaknesses, I would say that they are at the same level. Yong can certainly communicate in French without confusing people… same thing with Luna who, by the way, did very well at the in-house SLE testing since she was offered a French essential position (she has been working in a French environment for the past month and apparently she is doing very well). Greg will be the next one to be tested in Montreal and it will be interesting to see his results… although he is not very strong in grammar, I would say he speaks French the way Joyce does… he is at ease and he sounds natural.

From what I observed in Ottawa, I tend to think that assessors do not give higher levels than the ones required. Alicia obtained a mere B and she is exactly at Joyce’s level of speech (with a similar background) in French… would she have obtained an exemption if her interview had been done over the phone? Same thing with Christie, she got a B and she should have obtained a C…

What Alicia did or did not do? Was she more nervous than Joyce was when she went for her interview?… Well… no one was more nervous than Joyce was (she had bursted into tears that morning)… was she less self-confident? Not at all…  therefore, why did one get an exemption and did the other one only get a B?… And why were Luna and Yong taken in the last part of the test if they were indeed unable to get more than an A?… I can accept that someone who sounds strong enough to get a C might be led in the last part of the interview for verification and ends up with a B… but taking someone two steps down does not agree with me at all!

Based upon those facts, I can only draw one conclusion: results depend on the assessor… although the PSC made every effort to standardize the oral interaction test so that it would be 100% objective, it is an utopia to think that there is no room left for subjectivity on the assessors’ part. Unless they fire all their examiners and replace them with robots, the oral interaction interview will never be objective!… The only way it could happen would be to have candidates study and memorize answers for each and every questions of the exam… Then, perhaps, assessors could be objective (well… given they would have nothing bugging them in their personal lives to distract them)  because all they would have to do is substract one point for each little mistake done… In other words, it would be like taking a written expression test orally!!!

“C’est au bout de la vieille corde qu’on tisse la nouvelle”

Proverbe africain

Congratulations Nelson!

Also… Luna started in her French essential position this morning… although she was a bit nervous, I am sure that she did very well… I will know everything about it when I will see her online for her weekly lesson tomorrow evening. As for Krystal in Toronto, she is kind of fed up with the endless process (more than six months for the two positions she applied for) of trying and getting a job within the Public Service of Canada… therefore she started looking elswhere… yet she still wants to move  on with her French training, judging that being bilingual is an asset for any career she will pursue. And, if she is ever called in for the PSC SLE tests, she will be ready…

Tomorrow Joyce in Moncton and Michelle in Toronto will start preparing for the SLE oral test and working on improving their French. None of them has a date for their testing yet… but they know that, sooner they are getting at it, better they will perform when they will be called in. It is what I call a judicious decision… waiting until the very last minute is rather ill-advised…

Which brings me to what I have been pondering upon for quite a while… Is teaching online taken seriously?… Of course, I am excluding my own trainees because they really do appreciate being able to get the help they need because of  a technology that allows them to get the same quality training they would get in a face-to-face setting. A few years ago, this type of training would have been unthinkable… well, it could have been done over the phone or Skype with a minimum of tools (if none at all). Today, with virtual classrooms, screen and library content sharing, a whiteboard and access to their sessions recordings, my trainees get a state-of-the-art professional service.

That being said, the kind of specialized training I am providing is quite draining… often I have only a few hours to help people preparing for their three SLE tests with the federal government. Of course, I want all of them to achieve the levels they need to meet their positions language requirements… therefore, it is as much stressful for me as it is for them! Although most of my students get their levels, some do not and I cannot help it: if I had had more time with them, I could have prepared them better… even if they never blamed me for not passing their levels!… Unfortunately I am no miracle worker… though there are some days I wish I would be!

This is why, last winter, I thought I could join a site where I could teach French a couple of hours per week without stress… I was thinking of people wanting to learn the language based upon personal interest instead of upon vocational purpose… I did not want to add this type of training to my already existing business because I wanted to keep it the way it was: a service intended for federal public servants and people who had applied for a job within the PSC.

It did not take me long to realize that it was not what it was supposed to be… I gave two series of four classes each that ran in April and May: the first one was kind of successful… five people had joined and they attended regularly. Then, two dropped out before the second one started… then another one after the first class of the second round… I finally ended up with two students. I do believe some teachers do just fine by providing one-on-one tutoring… most of their students are probably the ones they already had and they brought them there so they could use the platform.

There are thousands of people (both students and teachers) on that site, yet I would say that the vast majority is inactive…  Also, when they had introduced classes at the end of 2008, in order to attract students they had made them free… Of course people were signing up for classes yet, when teachers decided that their work had to be compensated financially (online teachers have to pay their bills as anyone else) and started to open classes that were no longer free, the numbers of attendees dropped drastically. In my mind, it was already too late for that shift… the FREE culture had already taken deep roots… Since then, management is trying all kinds of incentive to attract people into paid classes… so far, the no shows rate has not dropped!… instead (from what I read in the forums) it would have increased… Giving away mugs, bumper stickers, pens or T-shirts is called  advertising/marketing, but giving away the actual service? I call it dumb!… especially when it is done on an extended period of time…

I have even seen people requesting free classes from teachers on topics they were interested in!… I do believe this is rude and I actually do not understand such mentality of “give me, give me”… Some argue that it is due to the nature of the Internet: apparently people using the web are expecting everything for free… FALSE!!!… In my mind, if you do market your services based upon free stuff, you will get the individuals who are indeed looking for freebies all the time…  then do not expect them to change overnight when you want to turn things around!… This is why, before starting giving away your services, it is important to know exactly what you want… if you want your site to be a free resource, well… so be it!… But if you wish to make it a source of income, then think twice… because professional teachers who will join your site are expecting to be paid for the service they will provide and they will not wait for ages until that happens!… And, above all, do not maintain false hope… they are intelligent people and they will choose for themselves whether they wish to pursue or move on elsewhere. E-teaching is a serious job… and I do know that motivated people with a goal value it… I see it every day in my practice…

“L’expérience est une lanterne que l’on porte sur le dos et qui n’éclaire jamais que le chemin parcouru”

Confucius