 Poster: A snowHead
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What does this entail - anyone done the new style language test and got any info/tips?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| roga wrote: |
What does this entail ?
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Que`? 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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LOL, merci! 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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No probs! Was actually just making a long list of things (and which respective limbs they'd cost me) I need for my ISIA. Time to start planting money in the garden again.
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*No* exemptions? Hmmph, I think if I were ever inclined and able to work towards ISIA, I'd be pretty miffed to have to pay a tenner to prove something that ought to be proved by 2 degrees, one postgrad diploma, 2 professional memberships, 15+ years' professional experience and 10 years living in an SL country....
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eng_ch, better get your request for an exemption in before the end of the year then!!
It does seem a bit wrong not to give exemptions - when I did the workbook I was told I could get an exemption for my A level French, although as I couldn't find the certificate I did the workbook anyway! Unless of course it is ISIA who have made this rule...
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Just my opinion so may be totally wrong, but I think the new way is a vast improvement. The old work books were symptomatic of the reason most Brits can't speak a SL. It was full of conjugated verbs and tenses and some really silly phrases to translate. At least the new method (speaking) will ensure that people at least can call for the mountain rescue. I have worked in Italy for years, so I can get by in the SL, but some of the questions on the work book I didn’t do as I couldn't have answered them in English, never mind an SL.
Give it a go - in English (or your own 1st language if not English).
Pick a verb and fully conjugate it. Use a very simple one 1st like GO
Present
I go, you go, it goes, we go, you go, they go. Simple
OK, now like this I will go, you will go, it will go, we will go, you will go, they will go Hmmmm still simple 
Try this future
I will have gone, you will have gone, it will have gone, we will have gone, you will have gone, they will have gone
and what about the conditional past and present tenses
I would have gone, you would have gone, it would have gone, we would have gone, you would have gone, they would have gone
I would go, you would go, it would go, we would go, you would go, they would go
The old BASI workbook was full of stuff like this. The ability to say and ask is much more use.
This would fail a written test - ci un incidente, bisogno di pronto soccorso - there's an accident, I need the MRT
But who cares - it would work
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eng_ch, how much would it cost BASI to process excemptions? a tenner is a drop in the ocean in terms of your training cost why be "miffed". seems pretty straightforward to me that unless you are a native speaker you do a 10 minute test on the phone, less time than filling out an excemption form
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| skimottaret wrote: |
| why be "miffed" |
Because I've been a linguist by profession for the last 15 years and already hold far higher language qualifications. But then they probably expect an A&E consultant to do the first aid course too lol
Wayne, I agree that an oral is a much more apt assessment
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Personally I think they should allow Gaelic as a second language
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eng_ch,
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they probably expect an A&E consultant to do the first aid course too lol
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I think they do actually! Medical professionals normally do standard first aid courses too - or that's what my Red Cross first aid trainer told us anyway!
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Reminds me of when my sister (ambulance technician) and her hubby (senior paramedic) were first on scene of an accident (dressed in civies, as they were on a day off), when some bloke barged them out of the way with, "I'm a first-aider...." 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Sounds like the latest crazy government rule. OH's work's cars are required to have a specific first aid kit from now on... The fact that he's a vet and the work cars are full of far more than you'd ever have in a first aid kit doesn't count. First aid kits seem to contain dressings, scissors and not much else as far as I can tell. OH's car obviously contains far more sterile dressings than any bought first aid kit... And other things that might be useful at a car accident e.g. an axe for helping to extract dogs/humans from a burning car.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I think it's much better than it used to be. British ski teachers sometimes got away with (true, in one case I know) taking a translator in with him, actually not being able to speak a word and so on. It was embarassing and caused friction with other nationalities' instructors who genuinely did speak several languages.
eng_ch, I would think an exception would be in order, but it would be so little trouble to do that it wouldn't be worth worrying anyway!
BTW I've never done one, but then I chat to the guys from the Jeunesse et Sport in French every time they check my Carte Professionelle!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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So long as you've got a GCSE pass in your chosen SL, BASI will accept this. Or at least that's all they requested from me even though I work as a Dutch/French translator.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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hari, was that recently though? The point made above (and stated on the BASI website) is that they no longer accept exemptions (and it's now an oral test not a workbook).
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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sometime over the summer if that is recent enough
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Just by the skin of my teeth. In any case, I personally wasn't too worried about the SL, more so about the rest of ISIA after reading all the posts in the rest of the forum!!
ADVICE - oral language exams are not designed to specifically fail students (unless they have absolutely zero knowledge). Their role is to allow you to express yourself using vocabulary that is readily available to you. Don't go looking up fancy and convoluted words in the dictionary to impress the examiner - it doesn't work like that. Just try and relax and hopefully it should all come pretty easily.
(I used to teach Dutch at university in The Netherlands - my classes were in writing which as we all know is a lot more difficult than speaking. Me personally, I'm glad that I didn't have to do this French grammar style test. After years of dictée et grammaire in a French school, I still can't write the language correctly even though I translate it. So, we should all be thankful for this switchover to an oral test.)
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hari, the workbook was easy and if you've done French GCSE you'd have breezed it, they weren't expecting perfect French grammar. I would have had an exemption as I have French A level, but couldn't find my certificate so I did it anyway.
As said above though, the oral is much more useful and practical, as it emulates what an instructor might actually have to use in a real situation. However, i think people just find the idea of speaking much more intimidating that writing, particuarly if they are a naturally shy person.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| beanie1 wrote: |
| hari, the workbook was easy and if you've done French GCSE you'd have breezed it, |
When I was a Science teacher, due to the lack of linguists and my having A level French & degree level German I was seconded to the MFL dept leading up to GCSE exam time. I was horrified at the lack of ability in most of the pupils who, after 5 years of French, were unable to make even simple conversation. I also did some work with 3 A level students. Their written work was "interesting", but their conversation was limited to talking about who they were, where they lived, and what their hobbies were. Oh and they could ask where the station was, but not understand the reply!
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Butterfly, gosh that's awful! I'm pleased to say I could talk about a lot more than that when I was doing French A level - current affairs etc. However, I'm sad to say I've forgotten most of it now (though my understanding is ok-ish) 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Butterfly wrote: |
| When I was a Science teacher, due to the lack of linguists and my having A level French & degree level German I was seconded to the MFL dept leading up to GCSE exam time. I was horrified at the lack of ability in most of the pupils who, after 5 years of French, were unable to make even simple conversation. I also did some work with 3 A level students. Their written work was "interesting", but their conversation was limited to talking about who they were, where they lived, and what their hobbies were. Oh and they could ask where the station was, but not understand the reply! |
I paid my way through my translation master's by tutoring GCSE German. I did the penultimate year of O levels and was utterly horrified by the lack of knowledge required at GCSE - if you could learn a role play parrot-fashion you'd have passed without understanding a word of what you were spouting (maybe a slight exaggeration but not much). The O level at least required you to have a decent range of vocabulary and a fundamental understanding of the grammar - how else can you know how to put a sentence together?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I think it's got worse rather than better. I did GCSE French and German 1997 and GCSE Russian in 1999. I have an A from the Russian, and know about 3 random phrases (none useful) and can sort of count to 10. It was the first year of a new syllabus where questions and answers were both in the target language, and you could have a dictionary in the exam. I never got my head around Russian, and the teacher was anti-grammar, so my fall back technique when running out of time was to spot a word from the question in the text, and copy out the sentence that word was in. Given I got an A, that must have worked some of the time. The 2 GCSEs from 1997 were both A*s and I still remember enough German to find my way around a town and cope with most of a menu. General conversation seems to work better under the influence of alcohol though. My French is still fluent after doing A-Level and a degree which involved studying French law in France for a year, and actually making the effort to speak and read French regularly. Given that I've had to make the effort to keep my French current, and the state of my Russian and German, I think that having an oral test rather than exemptions means more useful skills for a ski instructor who might actually have to communicate with local authorities etc.
I was shocked at how little language knowledge and ability was shown by the Tignes resort reps for the company I was with. The taxi driver spoke no English and the resort rep meeting the taxi of latecomers (stupid flights) couldn't even direct the non-local driver with anything other than "ici" and pointing.
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I did the SL oral test over the summer - rang up the office and had a quick chat to Natacha in French - it really wasn't difficult. I certainly didn't get all the tenses and conjugations right every time, and there was a fair bit of stuttering and pausing to think of the right word but all that was required was to be able to hold a conversation. As Natacha said to me, they're more interested in knowing that you can have a go at making yourself understood even if you don't necessarily know the right grammar or vocab.
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FAQ
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