Un veritable cauchemar...

I'm not sure whether anyone ever reads these, but just in case this post comes with a warning - it consists of me ranting about the nightmare that was my French oral exam this evening!

The brief was straightforward enough - prepare a three minute presentation about a project for an ecological community. Then listen to two other students give their presentations followed by a six minute discussion. Easy you would think?

Well I thought it would be until this evening....my presentation was prepared, I had possible questions to ask and answers to questions that I thought the others might ask me. I logged into the OU online conferencing system where the exam was to take place - so far so good. The other students were there and my heart sunk - one of them was a native French speaker who spoke very quickly and, from previous experience, never had very good sound quality via her microphone.

Before we gave our presentations we all had to give our names and ID numbers and that was when I realised that both of the other students were very difficult to hear - the sound was fuzzy and muffled. But before I could say anything, the tutor had started her introduction and we were underway. We were told that if we had sound problems we could send a written message, but not while anyone else was speaking, which didn't give any leeway!

I gave my presentation first and I think it went ok. Then the next girl started and I could barely hear what she was saying. The sound was so crackly I could only make out odd words here and there and had to guess at her project. As soon as she finished I sent a message to the tutor, but got no response. The next student then started and her sound was as bad - quiet and muffled. At that point I could have cried.

The discussion started and I was asked a question - thankfully I could just about make out the main part of it! I managed a reply and asked another question, but then one of the others decided she wanted to tell us more about her project rather than having a discussion and rambled on! Before I knew it, the exam was over and I felt as if I contributed nothing to the discussion.

As soon as I logged out I burst into tears - I cannot believe that having worked so bloody hard over the past seven months and received great scores up until now, that my course result could be jeopordised by the fact that other people had crap equipment and that somebody decided to monopolise the discussion. the other annoying thing is that her presentation was only just over 2 minutes anyway, so the bit she rambled on about during the discussion time could have been said during her presentation time anyway.

I had defended the OU's decision to use online conferencing for exams previously, as I had no problems at all for my last course. Yet tonight has shown me that it is just not a reliable way to assess students language abilities - technical problems (or microphone hogs) can ruin someone's chances completely.

I have emailed my tutor, but doubt anything can be done. I understand there is a Special Circumstances form that can be sent to the exam board but whether this is worth pursuing I don't know yet. Now is not the time to decide - I am so cross and upset that I can barely think straight. The thought that 15 minutes tonight could have ruined my course result (and ultimately my degree result) is so infuriating.

I know the answer is to put it behind me and move on - and as I have the written exam in 2 weeks I should really concentrate on that - but for now I'm drowning my sorrows in a large glass of wine! Hopefully I'll be able to put it all in perspective tomorrow.

Wilkommen, bienvenue, welcome

We held our first ever Languages Day at school today and it was great! The children were split into their 4 team point groups and then went round 4 'countries' learning a little bit of language and some of the culture.

I don't normally work all day on Thursday, but decided to go in and help out. Needless to say, I was in France. The day started with all the children going through passport control to board the aeroplane in the hall - as senior security officer I had to query a few passports and check some dodgy looking photos! The children really enjoyed this - especially the emergency proceedures on the plane ('the exits are here, here and here - I always wanted to be a trolley dolly!') and take off and landing. Then they were off to their first country - as well as France there was Germany, Spain and Estonia (our music teacher is Estonian). In France we had a cafe, a bibliotheque, some games plus food to try. Brioche went down well, brie less so!

All the children seemed to really enjoy the day and their little tasters of other countries. Whilst languages at Primary level may not be seen as a priority, I have seen how keen the children are to learn new words and phrases and particularly how the children who may struggle in other lessons seem to blossom with languages - they come to the subject at the same level as the other children and are not afraid to have a go.

Days like this make me sway towards Primary teaching again - seeing children tackle new challenges with enthusiasm gives me a warm glow! I'm not going to give up on my dream - it may take a while but I'll get there in the end. I need to take every opportunity to be involved in lessons and keep learning; I am very fortunate to work with a great team of teachers who are happy for me to be involved.

(On the downside, my French oral exam is in 4 days and I have a rotten cold and sore throat - don't think that is going to help the accent too much!)

Nothing is ever straightforward

I have spent some time looking into requirements for PGCE and now fear that my degree may not be good enough. Ideally I want to do my PGCE at the UEA - the closest university to where I live. Their requirements for secondary modern languages states that you must have a good understanding of the culture of the target language. Yet, I have not spent much time in either France or Germany. A tentative enquiry on the TES website has lead to a reply which basically says that my language skills will notbe good enough if I don't spend at least a term abroad.

So, I looked at requirements for Primary - that states that as well as a degree, good A level results are needed. I didn't take A levels.

Perhaps I'm fooling myself that I'll ever be able to become a teacher - maybe I should just go and work in Tesco instead.

Oh well - I'll keep plodding on and attend the UEA Secondary and Primary open days to try and talk to tutors and see whether I stand a chance. Starting to feel rather despondent though.

Back to school

The end of the long summer holidays and three out of my four children are back at school today (youngest starts Wednesday) so it is time for me to pick my books up again and get on with some serious studying! I have found it very difficult to keep up with things over the holidays - entertaining - and feeding! - 4 children with very different temperaments, likes and dislikes meant that the books were left largely untouched, other than to write my final assignment for my French course.

A three hour tutorial tonight should get me in the mood for revision - at least it will point out all the glaring gaps in my vocabulary and grammar. The 2 hour drive each way isn't something I'm particularly looking forward to, but with exams looming I can't afford to miss any opportunity to practise French. Just three weeks until the spoken exam and then a further two weeks until the written exam - lots of work to do between now and then. And then only a couple of weeks gap until I start my German course....

My theoretical child-free study time could soon be a thing of the past ae I am on the lookout for another job. DH is not enjoying the new role that he has been pushed into, so I need to bring some more money in just in case things reach boiling point and he ends up leaving work. This could put a huge dent in my plan of completing my degree in another 2 years, but I'll just have to see how things go.

My application for job-shadowing in Toulouse has to be in next week - I'm still wiating for details of my partner school so it is going to be a very last minute application! Would be great if I could go as that may be my only chance to go to France next year.

Back to the books - have to prepare an essay plan before tonight's tutorial!