A Network Evening in Thailand
In late February, a Cambridge ESOL Network Evening was held in Bangkok to bring together school principals, teachers, representatives from universities, education officials from the Ministry of Education and publishers.
It was also an occasion to mark the retirement of Clarence Shettlesworth after ten years as a Senior Team Leader, a Regional Development Manager and as an Inspections Co-ordinator.
Our office in India
As reported in the last edition of Cambridge First, Cambridge ESOL has opened an office in India to respond to the burgeoning increase in exams candidature. The local Marketing Manager TK Arunachalam (known as Arun) previously worked with the British Council and the commercial section of the British High Commission. Working from his office located within the Cambridge University Press (CUP) agency in Chennai, south of India, he is responsible for Cambridge ESOL marketing activities throughout all 35 states.
The impact of Arun’s appointment has already been significant. Working with the British Council, Cambridge ESOL is now developing very close links with state ministries, the corporate sector and also technical colleges and universities, which are increasingly looking towards Cambridge ESOL’s business English exams to provide international standards of English for students and employees.
Arun is working with state education authorities to promote BEC (Business English Certificates) to the tertiary education sector and with commercial organisations and professional bodies to adopt BULATS (Business Language Testing System) in the corporate sector, linking both to the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework. The quickly growing call centre business and other global industries increasingly need to rely on international benchmarks of language competence and certification as they recruit second language speakers of English.
Swiss university chooses BEC
Studying at the bilingual University of Fribourg helps students from all over Switzerland, and abroad, to improve their language skills. The Faculty of Economics has offered bilingual degrees for some time, but decided five years ago to integrate formal language study into the official curriculum.
As part of the needs analysis, research into official examinations in English and their recognition in the workplace worldwide identified BEC (Business English Certificate) as the ‘market leader’. As a result, many students following a course in English are opting to take BEC Vantage, or even BEC Higher, at the end of their course.
Success of computer-based PET
Offering greater flexibility over exam sessions and faster turnaround of entries and results, computer-based PET (Preliminary English Test) is likely to be a popular option. The March administration of the test was successful and further sessions are planned for 17 June, 29 September and 11 November 2006.
To register interest, or for more information, please contact ESOLCustomerSupport@CambridgeESOL.org
Cambridge welcomes Local Secretaries
‘I feel more confident and I’m sure I’ll put what I’ve learned into practice.’ This was just some of the feedback when 18 Local Secretaries met in Cambridge in February for one of Cambridge ESOL’s regular Local Secretary Training Programme events.
A Local Secretary is a local exams administrator. Very often they are managers of the exam centre, or an exams department.
Increased support for Mexico
Andreina España Presas has joined Cambridge ESOL’s Mexico office as Development Manager, playing a vital role in helping centres to increase the number of candidates they attract and providing a first point of contact for Local Secretaries.
Spain and Portugal welcome new team member
Xavier Ballesteros has joined the Business Development team in the Cambridge ESOL Madrid office as Marketing Manager for Spain and Portugal.
Young Learners Day in Poland
British Council, a key partner of Cambridge ESOL, recently converted their offices in Warsaw, Poland into a one-day playground for young learners.
Children drew their impressions of the United Kingdom and listened to stories in English. They could change into tigers, lions or butterflies by having their faces painted, or try their luck in a singing competition. Young computer fans searched websites for useful language learning activities and book lovers checked their language ability to see if they were ready to read real English fairy tales.
Meanwhile, the grown-ups (their parents) attended sessions on how to help their children learn English, or discussions on language tests for young learners.
In the afternoon, older children joined in the fun, taking part in demonstration lessons, familiarising themselves with the electronic resources available to help them in their study of the language and get practical hints on how to prepare for Cambridge exams. The Young Learners Day attracted 700 visitors.