seeking job

[Peanutz]

Peanutz

my wife studied for the IELTS at home , i downloaded a few books and audio tapes/cds off the net , and as i work for a company that repairs printers, i printed them out for her.

but the first time she took the IELTS test, she got an average of 6.5 but needed a 7 , so she revised some more and took it again.. second time she got the 7 she needed

I don't know if you know what Plab tests are ? they are medical exams for non uk and non euro docs to take, allowing them to work in the uk as a doc, if you did know sorry , plab1 test is £150 i think, plab2 is £450, and both have to be taken in london .


but my wifes english was really good to start with, why don't you start a open university course, learn from home in your own time, even while you work

Yeah Joe, I was considering to take an open Uni long distance course too. As I have written to another thread, I am considering to take a GSCE A English level just to brush up my english and hopefully would give me more confidence in speaking the language. There are a lot of choices, the only thing is to study carefully which courses would turn out more usefull in the future. I have read about the ICS courses and that is really a helpful site for those who wants to study staying at home and while you work. Taking the Plab tests is not really that expensive if that will allow your wife to practice her profession as a Doc. I am going to ask for more information about the course that I am interested to do, I am not sure if taking IELTS would be really helpful, it is just a test to determine one's knowledge of english language. I did some online test to determine my english knowledge and in one test I got High Advance Proficiency result and the other one I got Advance Intermediate I don't know what is the difference though lol I should ask our Forum Teacher Alan!!!

[Alan]

Peanutz,

There are HUNDREDS of ways that you can take English improvement courses. Incidentally, I teach English up to 'A' Level.

However, in my humble opinion, by far and away the best way to - as you say- 'brush up' on your English is simply by being here!
Although I took thousands of Foreign Language exams - I learned most of my French by living in France - my German by living in Germany etc....

Finally Peanutz, speaking now as a teacher, I would consider your English is at such a good standard already that - unless you want or need formal qualifications - you do not need to invest in any courses.

Your level of English is already infinitely better than a lot of English people I have spoken to!

Good luck,

Al

[Peanutz]

Peanutz,

There are HUNDREDS of ways that you can take English improvement courses. Incidentally, I teach English up to 'A' Level.

However, in my humble opinion, by far and away the best way to - as you say- 'brush up' on your English is simply by being here!
Although I took thousands of Foreign Language exams - I learned most of my French by living in France - my German by living in Germany etc....

Finally Peanutz, speaking now as a teacher, I would consider your English is at such a good standard already that - unless you want or need formal qualifications - you do not need to invest in any courses.

Your level of English is already infinitely better than a lot of English people I have spoken to!

Good luck,

Al

Thanks Alan, I agree that the best way in learning a foreign language is living in that country where they speak it. I studied French and Spanish for five years but I have not learned anything cause I have not used them after a long time I am fluent in Italian cause I studied it and I lived in Italy for almost 20 years and my job was doing translations from Italian to Tagalog-Filipino. As what I learned living here in just ten days is, if I would aim for a higher level skilled job then I would need a better knowledge of English. A better understanding of all British burocratic and non mechanism and all that comes with it. I do not need to work right now as my husband can provide for the two of us very efficiently he is a Project Manager, but I do like to work and keep myself busy so my mind will not stay idle, mine is for our future planning just in case if some unexpected things would come along the road. After we have our children and it is time for them to go to school and I am free to get back at work again I won't be doing a non skills job argh! And if we are planning to have a better life for our retirement future I think I need to give my share of it. Yes, I think I will get a degree course or another diploma to have a better qualification that will turn out more useful for me.

Thank you so much for a very helpful advice.

[andypaul]

Peanutz,

There are HUNDREDS of ways that you can take English improvement courses. Incidentally, I teach English up to 'A' Level.

However, in my humble opinion, by far and away the best way to - as you say- 'brush up' on your English is simply by being here!
Although I took thousands of Foreign Language exams - I learned most of my French by living in France - my German by living in Germany etc....

Finally Peanutz, speaking now as a teacher, I would consider your English is at such a good standard already that - unless you want or need formal qualifications - you do not need to invest in any courses.

Your level of English is already infinitely better than a lot of English people I have spoken to!

Good luck,

Al

Many of the fillpinas on here have very good english but sadly the employers will still prefer to see an english qualification on a cv as unless they are very knowlegably on the phillpines its unlikely they will realise that most are taught in english at school.

[joebloggs]

peanutz, A level english, and i'm sure Alan would correct me if i'm wrong, is no easy exam , nothing wrong with your english, maybe you should spend time on a course or skill which would lead you to a job you want to do..

IELTS like you said is used to grade people by their knowledge of the english language.

what type of work do you want to do?

[andypaul]

peanutz, A level english, and i'm sure Alan would correct me if i'm wrong, is no easy exam , nothing wrong with your english, maybe you should spend time on a course or skill which would lead you to a job you want to do..

IELTS like you said is used to grade people by their knowledge of the english language.

what type of work do you want to do?

I will second that the ielts is what Unis, the nhs, and other major employers use as a way of measuring peoples English skills. In fact i think the schools in the UK would find it worth its while to make ALL pupils take it so employers could judge all canditates skills in Reading,writing, listening and speaking English.

[Peanutz]

peanutz, A level english, and i'm sure Alan would correct me if i'm wrong, is no easy exam , nothing wrong with your english, maybe you should spend time on a course or skill which would lead you to a job you want to do..

IELTS like you said is used to grade people by their knowledge of the english language.

what type of work do you want to do?

Hi Joe, sorry for this late reply I got so busy! I painted the other room and I got all sorenot bad to keep myself busy it's just all is a mess here now and I still have not yet finished to put things on their place

I really want to take an A level in English just for my own satisfaction and I do really think that it might be a good thing for me to achieve it, I know that it will be hard for me since it is not my mother tongue but I will try my best. I went to inform about it and they gave me a pre-assessment test and my result was I am a level 2 and I am eligible to get the GCSE higher tier course. My qualifications are (this is in Italy) I can work in Banks, Manager Company supervisor and a freelance interpreter. But this is my qualifications in Italy, I went for an informative interview in a job agency and the lady told me that I have a very good job skills and she will try to look if there are job offer that would fit my skills, she can't believe that I arrived only twenty days ago and already adventuring to find a job (still waiting to be called). What I feel is I need to be confident in speaking everyday english and I will only achieve that by working. I will get any kind of job that would help me to practice my english and move for a higher job skills after I gained my english speaking confidence. I was also thinking of getting a Math GCSE which I think it will be much harder for me since I hate anything whith numbers Anyway, I am going out to the center again and look for job, maybe I will hunt down every shop and job agencies and give them again my CV. Wish me luck!

[Mrs.JMajor]

Hi Joe, sorry for this late reply I got so busy! I painted the other room and I got all sorenot bad to keep myself busy it's just all is a mess here now and I still have not yet finished to put things on their place

I really want to take an A level in English just for my own satisfaction and I do really think that it might be a good thing for me to achieve it, I know that it will be hard for me since it is not my mother tongue but I will try my best. I went to inform about it and they gave me a pre-assessment test and my result was I am a level 2 and I am eligible to get the GCSE higher tier course. My qualifications are (this is in Italy) I can work in Banks, Manager Company supervisor and a freelance interpreter. But this is my qualifications in Italy, I went for an informative interview in a job agency and the lady told me that I have a very good job skills and she will try to look if there are job offer that would fit my skills, she can't believe that I arrived only twenty days ago and already adventuring to find a job (still waiting to be called). What I feel is I need to be confident in speaking everyday english and I will only achieve that by working. I will get any kind of job that would help me to practice my english and move for a higher job skills after I gained my english speaking confidence. I was also thinking of getting a Math GCSE which I think it will be much harder for me since I hate anything whith numbers Anyway, I am going out to the center again and look for job, maybe I will hunt down every shop and job agencies and give them again my CV. Wish me luck!

i wish u good luck peanutz...and im confident u can have job soon,actually that is our topic of my hubby
..if i can find job easy if i go there,as im doing well here in pi,having business lending w/c i owned for almost 6 years,i saw this thread was made august 2007 and im replying it just now...so i wonder if u had find job now peanutz ( would u like to keep in touch yourself on the forum now?

good luck juliet