I'd like to know if other countries, including England, are using the new Common European Framework (CEF) to base their course levels on? Has it had any impact on your work as a teacher? I still can't see much reference to it in coursebooks, etc.
For more information about the CEF: www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/CADRE_EN.asp
This question is from Lorraine ter Veer, the Netherlands
Comments
joe
In Indonesia I don't think we use the CEF to base our course levels on. The international standards that we aim at among others are the Cambridge Examinations such as PET, FCE, and so on; the TOEFL, and the TOEIC. There are of course others, but the ones mentioned above are the most common.
Kate Nyburg, France
I'm working as an English teacher in French primary schools (age 8 to 11 y.o.) and we use this CEF for the first level (A1). Children have to have (at least) this level (speaking, listening, writing and reading skills) when they leave primary school.
Liz Fishwick, Syria
A.K.Farrar, RomaniaOur Teaching Centre has recently changed to CEF where all the courses are mapped to the CEF and lessons are based on "can-do" statements. Asessment is based on assessed tasks which follow a can-do aim.
As I find knowledge and grammar tests quite pointless, soul destroying for the learners and think they encourage a distorted idea that learning English is about 'knowing' lots of grammar and achieving high marks, then the impact on my work as a teacher has been positive. I can really see progress in ability, higher levels of motivation, and I have more belief in what I'm doing in the lessons.
I have just spent a week 'training' two new teachers for our language school in Romania - I made constant reference to the levels and the can do statements - and even encouraged them to 'dog into' the original document. The ALTE organisation now bases all its examinations on the levels, and textbooks are quickly being written (or re-written) to incorperate the levels.
alarabia
Here in Saudi Arabia there is a joint venture between Cambridge University Press and the Saudi Obeikan group. One product of this is the Saudi-ised version of the Messages course which has just been launched.
The course is based around the CEF, which I thoroughly support. As a relative newcomer to the ELT world I seem to surrounded by a variety of "levels" none of which can be inter-changed. If the European framework becomes the 'gold standard' it has to be a good idea for teachers and learners of general English.