Oral Exams

At the moment Steph and I are occupied for the most part with Final Exams. Yesterday it was the turn of the senior students to have their Final English Oral Exam. This exam took the form of a mock interview.

When we first arrived back in October we sat in on the previous batch of students when they sat their Final English Oral Exam which was also a mock interview. Our first impression in October was that we had some serious work to do with the next batch!

I am really pleased to say that by comparison the cohort we examined yesterday are much improved. Some of them are still a long way off speaking competent English but none of them were lost for words or completely unable to understand what we were asking. At their best there are a few whose English is an equal of anyone else’s here. Considering that these are generally the less intellectually able students learning their second language the evidence of their progress is really pleasing. What has most obviously improved is their confidence, the students have grasped a freedom to speak not achieved by their predecessors.

Languages are subjects in which it is quite difficult to measure progress over the short term. Week to week there can seem to be very little difference. So it is really uplifting to see that, when all is said and done, they have been learning. The hard work has, thankfully, been worth it. These are the times which make being a teacher worthwhile.

So to MT73, IE46 and WFT59; a very big well done!