Pondering exams

[Friederike in Persia]

Cleo and Laura got me thinking some more and I've done a little bit of research on our options for the future, as far as taking exams. None of you will be in the exactly same boat, but I wonder if you have any thoughts.

My kids are heading for the English (UK) set of GCSE exams and later on for A-levels (which will open up doors for British as well as German universities). They are also doing German with me, with resources that are written for native German speakers. So far I have always assumed that when the time will come they would take the German exams for English students and get an easy A. Looking around, it turns out, that there are GCSE as well as A-level exams that are written for native German speakers. They don't look terribly difficult, but they wouldn't be an easy A either. Would you head for those? Is it worth it the trouble? Will anybody make the distinciton?

Let me just add that like most of you, I don't expect my children to become translators or anything of that sort. I hope they will use their languages, but I don't expect them to study them at university level. They can pick what suits their interests and giftings.

Hope this was clear,

thanks for any thoughts,

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

For what it's worth, here's what I see happening in a place where many kids go to university in their second language (either French to English university, or vice versa).

 

Here, having a B in an exam for native speaker is much more meaningful than an A for a second language class. If one can pass the native speaker exam, one is much more ready to be admitted in the university of that language. I would say go for the native language one, based on what I see around me.

[Matryoshka]

Our German Sat. School gives exams in the upper grades that prove fluency. I think they're put out by the German gov't? At any rate, if you pass the highest level exam you are considered fluent and can go to any German university without any further language testing. Of course I can't find info on this anywhere on their website, but if you're interested I can probably figure out what they're actually called.

[Friederike in Persia]

Our German Sat. School gives exams in the upper grades that prove fluency. I think they're put out by the German gov't? At any rate, if you pass the highest level exam you are considered fluent and can go to any German university without any further language testing. Of course I can't find info on this anywhere on their website, but if you're interested I can probably figure out what they're actually called.

 

Thanks, but I don't think that proving their fluency will be a problem in the future. When I applied at the University of London they never tested my English, even though I applied from overseas and never went for an interview until after they had accepted me. A girl from my German church got her English A-levels transferred into German credit without any problems. She now studies at Halle. (I looove the EU!!! At least most aspects of it!)

It's more about which set of British Exams to go for.

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

Our German Sat. School gives exams in the upper grades that prove fluency. ... I can probably figure out what they're actually called.

 

You're probably talking about the European standards for foreign languages.

A1 is the basic entry level. A2 is your comfortable tourist type. B1 and B2 means you can work in that language. C1 and C2 is more at the literature level.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_Reference_for_Languages

[KJB]

I think this is a good question to pose to the Goethe Institute:

 

http://www.goethe.de/enindex.htm

 

They offer testing and they are very helpful when I've had questions in the past. My daughter attended one of their summer workshops but they answered loads of my questions before she had enrolled.

[Matryoshka]

You're probably talking about the European standards for foreign languages.

A1 is the basic entry level. A2 is your comfortable tourist type. B1 and B2 means you can work in that language. C1 and C2 is more at the literature level.

 

 

Yep, that's them.