leetom said:
1) Can you guys tell me what sort of protocol to expect?
What will happen is you will eventually get to a desk to register yourself, for that you will need that letter they sent you
AND PHOTO ID!!! Then they will give you a card, on which is written your student number, course, date etc. On this card there will also be a number - this is the order in which you will be called. So if you are number 44 in your group (ie, the 9am group, the 11am group, the 1pm group and the 3pm group), you will be the 44th person called in your particular group.
After you'll called you will probably be in a cluster of people whose numbers are close to yours (42, 43, 45, 46...) and will be lead to rooms, outside of which you will then wait and bite your fingernails bloody until you are eventually called in. Before you go in MORE people will process you - wanting to see your card, and giving you a cassette which you will hand to the examiner.
leetom said:
2) Do they give you preparation time? Are you just plonked in with an examiner and they start asking questions?
Short answer, no. The format of the Continuers exam is that it is just a conversation, so it is really a random choice for the examiner (and depending what they're like and what mood they're in, it's even more random and pot luck! But the vast, vast majority are really nice). After you have been given your cassette, your number and identity has been checked in quadruplicate and the traditional rituals have been observed, you are allowed to go in for the kill. The examiner will be like the clairvoyant that you see on
Mornings with Kerri-Anne - very calm, collected and have that airy feel about him/her that is guaranteed to make you relax. HERE is where you will have time to familiarise yourself with the surroundings etc. The examiner will probably try to make you calm down, depending on how you enter the room (kicking and screaming, trembling, nonchalant...). Then you'll sit down, a few seconds of "How are you? Don't worry it'll be fine!".
Then, they'll say some sort of formal spiel which I have now forgotten. They WILL ask you if you prefer to be addressed as 'tu' or 'vous', but in general if you talk to them, answer in vous only.
They will then check the cassette to make sure that MI5 has not tampered with it in order to spy on the vast gold reserves hidden in your exam venue. They will actually record, but this first bit is
not the real thing. Ah, now I remember. I think they go "French Continuers Speaking Exam, 2005. Please state your student number" - you state your student number. Then they stop the tape, rewind, and do the anti-MI5 test I mentioned. If all goes well you will hear what you just said. The examiner will give you a last 2 seconds to breathe before the fiery pits of hell open, press record, and then say "The examination will now begin".
The VERY FIRST QUESTION will be something hopelessly inane. Mine was "Est-ce que tu aimes le sport?". Which was lucky cos the Athens Olympics were on at the time and I launched into a tirade about how I loathe sport, which then allowed me to gasbag about my muso life.
. See how easy it is to change the subject and move into a different direction?
Other favourite openers from my trials/practices: Tu regardes souvent la télé? Qu'est-ce que tu aimes faire pendant ton temps libre? and Qu'est-ce que tu veux devenir?
Allow me to backtrack a bit for the next question:
leetom said:
Are you given anything, ANYTHING to sort of start moulding answers from (like a context, say just visiting France or a job interview) or are they just random questions?
You are not given anything. No paper nor pen, nor valium. As above, they start asking you random questions. BUT they will be very easy, basic questions. Nothing too hard like "Est-ce que tu crois que la marge brut d'autofinancement du budget nationale est en train de baisser ou est-ce qu'il faut encore une augmentation d'impôts pour mieux faciliter la croissance économique?".
The examiner will ask you their Question of the Day, and in the first few things will utter, s/he will go from there. But it's up to YOU to drive the conversation! The fewer questions they ask and the less they intervene, the better, cos it means you are communicating pure gold and that they are understanding what you say!
The preperation for this - basically, just talk to yourself. Get to know yourself, because as you know the topics, they are all about the Young Person's World. It's ME! ME! ME!, the topic about which you are all experts. If you have things you like and dislike, things you would like and would not like to happen you should be set.
leetom said:
Also, will anybody else be doing their speaking down in Bowral? If so, we can hang out together. Get chips or something.
Unfortunately I didn't get sent to Bowral, and I'd be up for chips if I didn't have to go to a house warming!
Have I forgotten anything?
Above all, bonne chance! You'll all be fine. J'ai confiance en vous!
chepas
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