Recently, I gave an English exam to some Russian students in Neftekamsk. This is a city only founded in 1957, in the Republic of Bashkortosan – a culturally rich republic in Russia, slightly larger than England (and mostly unheard of here!). The long-distance exam, using Skype, made it possible to connect this school in a far-removed location with me, a native English speaker here in the UK, so I’d like to give a brief description to explain the process. I also have pictures courtesy of the language school director, Vera Lebedava. The exam was split into two parts for the students – first listening, then speaking. Between the two their writing was also tested.
There were 11 students in the class, who have learnt English in Neftekamsk without the aid of native English speakers. Taking an exam with a native English speaker must have been both a novel and intimidating experience for the students, otherwise restricted to speaking the language (primarily spoken 2,500 miles away) in their local community. The exam was made possible thanks to the help of my local Russian tutor in Brighton, Polina Kuleshova of Link and Share, who had a prior connection to the school.
To start the exam, the teacher, Albira Vasileva, introduced herself and the class. I then introduced myself and gave a brief talk about my experience and interests. We then completed the first stage of the exam, testing listening skills. I read a text twice and the students made notes.
The students were then given a short period of time to rewrite what I had told them, testing both their listening skills and their writing skills. When their time was up, we moved on to test speaking skills.
Each student gave me a short presentation on a topic of their choice. Topics included extreme sports, favourite books and the world’s most unusual skills. The topics were very well chosen and the talks were universally interesting.
The students gave these talks to me (via Skype video chat), as well as in front of all their peers, their teacher and a panel of other teachers and directors from the school. It must have been very tough for them, especially as we had some difficulties with the internet connection that stalled the exam.
They all performed excellently, though, and were very articulate, even when suffering from nerves. I followed each talk with a few questions on the topics the students had chosen – some of which proved difficult because of the topics. Still, without exception the students were excellent. Their understanding of the subject matters was generally as impressive as their understanding of English. The high standard of these students was remarkable, as far removed from the English speaking world as they are. With fluid and accurate English, they even made colloquial and idiomatic considerations (for instance, one girl expressed that a certain type of skiing was her ‘cup of tea’). The only problem was that I had very little to suggest to them for improvement!
It was encouraging for me, to see the high standard of English that foreign learners can obtain without a native speaker’s help. It was also encouraging to see how Skype can be used to connect with students in other parts of the world, and make their communicative experience a reality. I wish all these students the best of luck in the future and look forward to hearing from the school again.
