I am always amazed by the fact that many people, after an extended period of time in intensive French training, cannot get their levels!… I agree that getting a C in oral is not easy, yet it should be achievable. As for the written expression test, many months in full-time training should be enough for people to get good results given that the format of the test is multiple choices…
Last week, I have been contacted by someone who, after full-time training, missed the C in both written expression and oral interaction. Will part-time training over a period of two months do the trick?… Well… I will know more tomorrow after having assessed this public servant’s abilities in French…
I am reluctant to set my own online students as examples because, if they manage to achieve the levels they need, it is only because they have a solid background in French… and, if they do not, I try my very best to teach them what they will need to perform on their tests. Therefore I can bring most of them from either an A to a B or a B to a C in a very short period of time… yet those who do not have enough background in French usually need to be re-tested, especially at the oral (if they are allowed to!)…
Let’s say I would have beginners in full-time training… since I would have plenty of time, I would spend several months teaching them the basics of the language… I would start from scratch, adding new grammar notions along the way, making sure they would not lose from sight anything learned before… I see learning a language as adding up layers… in an organized way of course! For instance, teaching all the language verb tenses at once is not very efficient!… It is only confusing…
I had Seema as a part-time student for several months… when she left for attending a language school full-time, most of the basics had been covered… yet she made her teachers believe that she was a true beginner because she did not want them to rush the process. She thought it would give her time to digest and integrate everything she had learned so far… Well, right from the beginning, they started to teach her to the tests… by asking her about her work and her responsibilities… She had just arrived, mid-January, and she had until some time in September to be tested… Eight months! What was the rush?… As for grammar, it was (and probably still is) all over the place! One day they will teach the Indicative present and the next day, they will teach the Subjunctive past!… Hey!!! Anybody home?…
Yes! I do agree that the ultimate goal of this exhausting training is to pass the three SLE tests… But teaching to the tests right from the beginning is pure nonsense! No wonder why, after such a long process, most people cannot really communicate in French… they never learned how to do so! As for writing, I doubt they ever wrote a full sentence of their own… Everything is about “fill in the blanks” and “choose the correct answer”… Not very helpful when these people have to write a memorandum on their own…
If language schools do believe they are accelerating the process by skipping the essential basics of the language, they are actually not!… Most of my online trainees, who know the basics, can prepare for the tests in ten or less hours!… All we need to work on is to refresh some grammar notions, brush up their vocabulary and polish the way they express themselves.
I see language training as a recipe… if, in order to save time, you do not add all the ingredients that are needed; chances are your dish will not be a huge success!… and if you are left with some spare time, you will have to re-do it before your guests show up! And then you will be rushing for a good reason!
When teachers have full-time students for almost a year, I do not see why they would try to push them ahead of their time… Six weeks at the end of the process should be more than enough to teach them to the tests… and their students would not be disgusted and discouraged with French… People cannot go through such drill for months without getting fed-up!… Especially when they lack the basics in both grammar and syntax…
If the reason is that their students must achieve at the tests so that their schools will have good statistics, well… it appears their methods fail many times anyways! Learning a new language is actually exciting and fun… yet it seems that the way it is taught in language schools kills enthusiasm… it would not take much to make changes and it would not jeopardize the trainees’ goal of meeting the languages requirements of their job positions… But, it would take some effort and… who wants to invest effort in something that has been around for ages and has never been challenged?…
“Tous les pères sont les mêmes! Un moment vient toujours où ils ne voudraient pas être regardés par leurs fils avec les yeux qu’ils leur ont faits”
Carlo Collodi
What do they actually teach?…
I am always amazed by the fact that many people, after an extended period of time in intensive French training, cannot get their levels!… I agree that getting a C in oral is not easy, yet it should be achievable. As for the written expression test, many months in full-time training should be enough for people to get good results given that the format of the test is multiple choices…
Last week, I have been contacted by someone who, after full-time training, missed the C in both written expression and oral interaction. Will part-time training over a period of two months do the trick?… Well… I will know more tomorrow after having assessed this public servant’s abilities in French…
I am reluctant to set my own online students as examples because, if they manage to achieve the levels they need, it is only because they have a solid background in French… and, if they do not, I try my very best to teach them what they will need to perform on their tests. Therefore I can bring most of them from either an A to a B or a B to a C in a very short period of time… yet those who do not have enough background in French usually need to be re-tested, especially at the oral (if they are allowed to!)…
Let’s say I would have beginners in full-time training… since I would have plenty of time, I would spend several months teaching them the basics of the language… I would start from scratch, adding new grammar notions along the way, making sure they would not lose from sight anything learned before… I see learning a language as adding up layers… in an organized way of course! For instance, teaching all the language verb tenses at once is not very efficient!… It is only confusing…
I had Seema as a part-time student for several months… when she left for attending a language school full-time, most of the basics had been covered… yet she made her teachers believe that she was a true beginner because she did not want them to rush the process. She thought it would give her time to digest and integrate everything she had learned so far… Well, right from the beginning, they started to teach her to the tests… by asking her about her work and her responsibilities… She had just arrived, mid-January, and she had until some time in September to be tested… Eight months! What was the rush?… As for grammar, it was (and probably still is) all over the place! One day they will teach the Indicative present and the next day, they will teach the Subjunctive past!… Hey!!! Anybody home?…
Yes! I do agree that the ultimate goal of this exhausting training is to pass the three SLE tests… But teaching to the tests right from the beginning is pure nonsense! No wonder why, after such a long process, most people cannot really communicate in French… they never learned how to do so! As for writing, I doubt they ever wrote a full sentence of their own… Everything is about “fill in the blanks” and “choose the correct answer”… Not very helpful when these people have to write a memorandum on their own…
If language schools do believe they are accelerating the process by skipping the essential basics of the language, they are actually not!… Most of my online trainees, who know the basics, can prepare for the tests in ten or less hours!… All we need to work on is to refresh some grammar notions, brush up their vocabulary and polish the way they express themselves.
I see language training as a recipe… if, in order to save time, you do not add all the ingredients that are needed; chances are your dish will not be a huge success!… and if you are left with some spare time, you will have to re-do it before your guests show up! And then you will be rushing for a good reason!
When teachers have full-time students for almost a year, I do not see why they would try to push them ahead of their time… Six weeks at the end of the process should be more than enough to teach them to the tests… and their students would not be disgusted and discouraged with French… People cannot go through such drill for months without getting fed-up!… Especially when they lack the basics in both grammar and syntax…
If the reason is that their students must achieve at the tests so that their schools will have good statistics, well… it appears their methods fail many times anyways! Learning a new language is actually exciting and fun… yet it seems that the way it is taught in language schools kills enthusiasm… it would not take much to make changes and it would not jeopardize the trainees’ goal of meeting the languages requirements of their job positions… But, it would take some effort and… who wants to invest effort in something that has been around for ages and has never been challenged?…
“Tous les pères sont les mêmes! Un moment vient toujours où ils ne voudraient pas être regardés par leurs fils avec les yeux qu’ils leur ont faits”
Carlo Collodi