Exam Update #8

THANK YOU, LANGUAGE COMPETENCE!

Five minutes ago I left the office of Mrs Isolde Schmidt, my lecturer in English Didactics. I do not want to say that I "hate" her, no, but this exam was like sitting on a hot-seat and I have to admit, is was not very comfortable. Can you say that a question is "spongy"???? I don't think so, but you never really know what she is getting at. All the others had questions which were on our scripts, so you knew what to answer, but in my exam she never ever asked about things like "selection criteria for vocabulary", "Krashen's Monitor-Hypothesis", "Mnemonics" or "steps of a good grammar lesson". So it was mostly guesswork on my part.

I guess I am also subject to the "chain effect" of exams, in a positive sense, as my friend left the exam right before me with a D - so even though my knowledge was limited, it probably "seemed" better. In the end the only thing that really saved me was my language competence, my fluency and good pronunciation - she did not correct my mistakes, which she did frequently with others - and my ability to "babble" away. So when I got the grade in the end, I was told that knowledgewise it was a C, but due to my language aptitude and competence they decided to give me a B. More than satisfying, I must say!

So the last of my English exams will take place on Friday: Cultural Knowledge (Transport and Public Schools in the UK - what a surprise!) and Language Competence (so not to worry about, I should think!)

And then ... Concert on Saturday, Natalie's Baptising on Monday and 3 weeks without exams ... oh what a joy! Oh, and we will start the barbecue season Friday night to celebrate the end of the first round of oral exams!