Have you finished with English? That is perhaps one of the most uttered phrases when it comes to English language learning in Greece. Finished. Like an unpleasant chore which must be completed before moving on to bigger and better things. Or a spoonful of medicine that must be swallowed to make that pesky cough go away. And yet that is how the learning of English is often treated – as something that must be over and done with, the earlier the better.
As a result, for the last 50 years, the TESOL profession in Greece has been built around exam preparation, around, as Angeliki Deligianni, Northern Greece state school adviser, claims, “…an instructional process mainly evolving around exams and certificates.” The result? A large percent “…of those holding a certificate for over five years have dropped back to an A or B senior frondistirio level.” says Paul Shaw, chair of TESOL Northern Greece. Finished? It looks like they’re just starting.
Of the many things that set Athens College apart from other educational institutions in Greece is our aim to produce graduates who are speakers, or rather, users of the English language. This means that, upon graduation, students will have the language skills not only to pursue degrees at English speaking universities if they so choose, but also to be able to use the language confidently and effectively in almost any situation.
Such was the focus of the presentation on the English language program at Athens College given to the Parents’ Association on December 18th, 2006. It aimed to define the program goals , look at how they’re met, and examine future options for giving students the best English language education they can get.
Starting from the very first grade, Athens College students are carefully evaluated and placed in the appropriate academic program depending on their oral skills. Fluency is the only criteria used. Throughout the school years, children are continually evaluated and re-evaluated to ensure that their learning needs are met. By the time children reach the high school level, their language level has developed to the point that English is considered a second, rather than foreign, language for the majority. At this stage, emphasis is placed on exposing students to various other aspects of the language such as preparing speeches and presentations, reading poems or plays, written analysis of current and controversial issues, and so on.
At the end of the presentation, when parents were given the opportunity to voice their comments and concerns, one parent raised the issue of private lessons, claiming that about 90 % of students still have private lessons in English in order to pass some form of external exam such as the Cambridge FCE or the Michigan ECCE. Why does this remain the case? There are several explanations. One goes back to the idea of finishing with English, especially before being bogged down with the Panhellenic examinations preparation. Another can be attributed to parents’ desire to provide their children with as many educational resources as possible. And yet another explanation is as simple as everybody else is doing it so… But whatever the reason, private lessons do remain a reality.
And it is in this area where the College would like to provide alternatives and where parents are encouraged to think outside the box of rigid exam preparation. By the end of Grade 6, the average student is already at the CEF (Common European Framework) level A2/B1, by the end of the Gymnasium, the average is B1 + / B2 or FCE . The children’s English is becoming better. Not only is it becoming better, but children are developing better fluency and equipping themselves with English language skills they can use.
At the same time, however, the need for validation of students’ progress and skills in English is recognized. And this is where the College believes that the Trinity College Examinations could prove very effective. Trinity examinations differ from other forms of standardized testing in that they largely reflect what the student can do. This approach is very much inline with the English Program’s overarching goal – English in use. Student choice and interest are acknowledged, strengths and weaknesses are taken into account, and students are tested on how well they can use the language, not on their “testmanship”, or test-taking skills. With this information in hand , we will be able to evaluate accurately and objectively how well our children can really use the English language, and where we, as educators, could stand to improve even further.
Trinity Examinations in Spoken English will first be administered at Athens College to all Grade 4 and grade 10 students in April of 2007 as a pilot program. Our goal is then to make this process an established and permanent part of the English Language program, with all students participating.
So, does this mean that by taking the Trinity Examinations students will have finished with English and private lessons forever? Hardly. After all, one never really does finish learning a language. But what it does mean is that students will be armed with a valid external language certificate based on the Common European Framework scale which will show them to be competent and successful users of the language. More importantly, students will actually be competent and successful users of the language. |
