Chapter 21 ----The end of course test

The main course at The English Language College runs for four weeks.

On the last Thursday, students have to do a progress test. If they score 75 % or more, students who are staying longer can continue at a higher level. If they do badly, they usually have to repeat the same level.

It is now lunch-time. The progress test is finished. Most students are happy, but Rosa is a little worried.

"Relax!" says Arturo. "The test isn’t so important!"

"It isn’t important for you because you’re leaving tomorrow, but I don’t want to repeat the same level!"

"I’m sure you’ll pass," says Arturo. "English is easy for European students!"

"What do you mean?" Rosa asks.

"I mean that usually students from Asia and the Arab world have a lot more work to do. Word order and grammar are very different in their first languages. Fewer words are similar and they usually have to learn a new alphabet." Arturo explains.

"But the Asian students in our class write very well and have very good English grammar!" Rosa says.

"That’s because they practise writing and grammar a lot at school in their countries. Some of the students in our class have practised English grammar for many years. But they usually do more writing than

speaking!" Arturo says.

"That’s interesting!" answers Rosa, "because in Spanish culture, speaking is probably more important than writing!"

"Yes," says Arturo, "but we make a lot of mistakes and have big pronunciation problems when we’re speaking English!"

"This is why I’m worried about my test," Rosa explains. "I didn’t spend enough time in the language laboratory!"

"But I’m sure your listening and reading were very good," says Arturo.

"Elisabeth Frost gives you a lot of listening practice and your food vocabulary is now very big!"

"Let’s go and have lunch!" Rosa says. "My appetite is very big too!"

Upstairs, on the second floor, there are many hungry teachers. Their appetites are very big, but they have to correct the students’ tests quickly.

Both the students and Mary Palmer are waiting for the test results.