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Language schools level assessment ? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Immersion, Schools & Certificates |  | |
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 5951 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 1 of 4 05 September 2008 at 7:02am | IP Logged | ||
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Has anyone had a language school assess their level in a language ? And how did they find it ? I've heard mixed reports about how strict these tests are, and in what class level they place you ? The Cervante's Institute and Alliance Française both offer this, but I've concerns I'd be placed at a very beginner level.
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| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 5951 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 2 of 4 29 January 2009 at 5:29am | IP Logged | ||
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I've done the Cervante's Institute placement test.
-- From my TAC 2009 Log I headed to the Cervante's Institute for a placement test. I have to admit I was very nervous. All my Spanish study has been by myself, with no help or correction from tutors or Spanish friends. The only speaking practice I get is when I've been to Spain on holidays, and my only writing practise was completing exercises in the various books I have. I was concerned they'd ask me to write a letter, or something similar. When I arrived, there was a large crowd of older people signing up for their conversation course. They were happily chatting away in Spanish to the girls behind the administration desk. At this point, my mind just when blank, and I started to get even more nervous. Would I be able to anwser even the most basic Spanish questions ? Then the teacher came out for my assessment, a pleasant girl named Antonia. As I feared, she started out in rapid Spanish, on our way to the room. Thankfully, the questions started basic, "¿Cómo te llamas", "¿A qué te dedicas?" before she asked me how long I'd been studying Spanish. This was a question I'd asked in here in the Spanish forum, so I replied "Llevo dos años estudiando el español de vez en cuando". Thanks again folks for your replies. They saved me on this one. We then discussed how I'd studied Spanish, and I mentioned alone, and I'd never had a tutor. She asked me did I have a lot of Spanish friends, and I told her I'd none. She seemed very surprised, and said my accent was very good, and wondered how I got it. I didn't quite know how to explain shadowing in Spanish, so I said a lot of listening. She said I didn't stall when speaking, and was comfortable discussing in different tenses. Thank you Michel Thomas. Then she produced the test, which consisted of a number of grammar questions and a written piece. My worst fears had come through. The grammar questions were ranged from 1 to 150, but I'd to answer the subset 60 to 80. They weren't easy, and different from the questions in the Gramática. The written piece was to describe an amusing trip abroad, and why it was amusing. I've never written any long pieces before, so I had to improvise and wrote about a trip to Cuba. After about an hour, she returned to correct my paper. While waiting in the reception area, I thought I've blown it. The Spanish written piece would be my downfall, and I'd probably made a lot of mistakes in the grammar section. She returned with the results. On the grammar section I scored 80%. Yeah. :-). However, she said the letter had a number of mistakes, especially with gender. She placed me at Threshold 2, which was a bit higher than I expected, but said if it was over my head I should tell the tutor. I then signed up for classes. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5885 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 3 of 4 29 January 2009 at 7:25am | IP Logged | ||
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Congratulations! And thank you for your inspiring report!
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| ZeroTX Groupie United States Joined 5935 days ago 91 posts - 100 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 4 of 4 29 January 2009 at 5:09pm | IP Logged | ||
The school I attended worked this way... 1) 1 or 2 weeks before your arrival, you are sent an e-mail questionnaire, where you must answer as many questions as you can. When they get too hard for you to answer without using a dictionary or other help then you stop. 2) When you arrive, on day 1 (always a Monday), new students meet with existing students of mixed levels and have a discussion at whatever level they are able. The existing students have been asked to bring questions to ask the new students. During this conversation, the teacher listens to the responses. 3) These two pieces of information are combined and evaluated by all of the senior school staff while the students go on a field trip ("visita") into the city to learn the language and culture. When they return, the levels have been determined. 4) If you feel you have been drastically mis-leveled, you can ask for a change for the following week or immediately if the disparity is too great. This method seemed to properly place me. -Michael Edited by ZeroTX on 29 January 2009 at 5:11pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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