Friday 10 September 2010

Success in First Certificate (FCE)

His mum was so chuffed she called us the evening they checked his First Certificate result online. I did my little jig to celebrate - we don't get enough students continuing on properly to achieve this level (CEFR B2) at Luna.

Huli Wigman from the Southern Highlands of Pap...Image via Wikipedia
Not Trevor Joseph
Cambridge ESOL's FCE is widely recognised in Europe as the gold standard for English language assessment, and it is known worldwide (with the exception of Japan, possibly North Korea & more remote parts of Papua New Guinea) as a very good certificate to have in your learning portfolio. It is a lifelong achievement, and it opens doors. Doors to academic pursuits, and doors to careers. For example, our good friends studying with Trevor Joseph at King's Road English School in Tokyo know that a Pass at FCE gets them into university in Moscow. Sadly, recognition in Japan is woeful.

Ask a teacher though, which exam should students be aiming for...good chance the better the teacher, the more likely they are to say FCE. Go ahead, try this sensei test?!
Chuffed with FCE success
My concern about T taking FCE was that he'd do his usual half-hearted checking, skip the pre-writing plan he desperately needed to do, get blase in the reading and reboot to High School pronunciation in the speaking test. Oh, and I guaranteed his dad a year ago he'd pass!

So, well done T for proving me right (and wrong)! You now have a shiny FCE certificate for your wall, and should you ever think about studying/working overseas, a proven advantage (as well as a better chance of getting a visa). All you have to do now is get out of basketball and tennis club, daft English classes at school and come to me twice a week & start reading your readers again, we'll have you passing CAE before you go to uni.

Tonight we celebrate your success in FCE - very well done. One proud teacher here.

4 comments:

  1. Congratulations to T for passing his FCE Examination. I was marking a lot of papers this summer from all round the world (including Japan) and the quality of writing, particularly in Japan, was very good.

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  2. Good to hear!

    Never come across a 'proper' examiner before - I train oral examiners here in Japan.

    Have you blogged tips for success?

    Jim

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  3. Jim

    No I haven't blogged any tips about the writing section on the FCE, CAE or BEC exams yet.

    Blogging about this seems a good idea Jim. Perhaps my next post should be about this.

    Martin

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  4. Jim

    I have blogged about the FCE Examination (http://eltexperiences.blogspot.com/2010/09/fce-examination-writing-tips-part-1.html). Please visit and let me know what you think by posting a comment.

    I hope it is helpful.

    Martin

    ReplyDelete

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