Job Discussion Forums

[John Hall]

Naturegirl321,

Does your school use the Cambridge exams to place or evaluate the proficiency of your students?

[naturegirl321]

[MamaOaxaca]

Wow, naturegirl, I know you only wrote a few lines and there is probably a lot more to it, but that all sounds so, bizarre.

John we use the Cambridge Exams in our program. Starting with the KET, Key English Test. People often ask us why we use British exams in Mexico, which shares a boarder with the US, the simple answer is there are any American exams out there that compare. Giving KET students the TOEFL would be pointless. The Cambridge Exams mesh very nicely with the Common European Framework which has extensive discriptors for teachers, students, and materials writers, why should we reinvent the wheel? In fact, I'm sitting next to a sample copy of a new American English text book from one of the top text book publishers and on the back it tells me the Common European Framework level of the book. The Brits on just on the ball, when it comes to English teaching. Probably because it is actually part of British Foriegn Policy to promote the use of the English languge, where as the US Foriegn Policy makes no mention of language.