The Countdown Has Begun: Plus que 3 Dodos!…

Here we go again! After what seems having been a very short break (one month between two stressful events can be perceived as a very short period of time, trust me!), it is now James’ turn to go for his oral interview on Thursday afternoon… Of course, I am nervous! It is something I will never get used to… I will never be able to distantiate myself from any FSL evaluations my trainees have to go through. Do I get emotional? Without a doubt! How could I not feel personally involved after having spent so many hours working with them on their French? I know for a fact most “teachers” in the Public Service’s system do not care at all!… I even suspect some of them are secretly thrilled when their students fail because it will guarantee them more hours… Okay, I am playing the advocate of the devil here and I should not… yet I cannot prevent myself from having this kind of thoughts sporadically… For language schools, it is only a business and they merely look at the financial benefits they get from this massive training. And if they are ever interested in their trainees’ results, it is only from a statistical point of view: it looks better having some success stories to show than failure stories!

This morning, James was surprisingly relaxed… Normally, the week of their exams, students start losing sleep. I know for a fact James does feel something, yet he never shows any sign of any particular emotions… I attribute this lack of emotions to his Asian background. We all know the stereotype of the Chinese guy who is always cold and stoic, whatever happens! James and I often joke about that… because, true or false, he is never overjoyed or oversad! He can be quite cynical and sarcastic though!!!…

We are quite a pair indeed! I am a very passionate person and I cannot hide the way I feel… Anger, frustration, sadness, happiness… name it! People always know exactly where I stand at any time of the day or night… Therefore imagine me getting everything out of my chest while James is quietly sitting in front of me with no reactions at all! We always end up bursting into laughter…

We kind of look like this!

Guess who is who???

I admit I am the bulldog/pit bull and James is the lovely puppy!… Yet I do genuinely care about him, his training, his results and… he knows it! This is why I decided to let it go this week… Forcing answers about his work is of no help at this point. All it does right now is confusing and frustating him more than doing him any good! Instead of applying the army drill, I prefer to converse with him about whatever is going on in the world or in his own backyard… This morning we chatted for two hours and, for the very first time in several weeks, I felt he was speaking fluently… without thinking about his sentences structure and grammar. We discussed everything he had heard on the radio: the upcoming election in the States, the woman killed by a trailer truck on Rideau on the weekend, the Saturday night hockey game, etc. I do trust that, when the time will come, he will find the correct answers to work related questions. He is the one who knows best about what he does exactly… I will not provide him with a script because I do not believe it will help him… People express what they have to say their own way. Trying to follow someone else’s way of expression can only lead them to make mistakes.

The most important thing in my book is that James must remain calm… I have seen too many people fail their oral tests based on their nervousness… He has the knowledge and he should be able to succeed and being relaxed is still his best asset at this point… Anyways, after having read a memo notifying him that his oral exam had been postponed later in the day, I am even more confident! When I read something like “heure d’examen oral re-fixée” and more than a couple of mistakes, I keep telling myself that he will not do worse than the ones who will actually be assessing his French!

“Il ne faut pas attendre d’être parfait pour commencer quelque chose de bien.”

L’Abbé Pierre

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