Lunchtime

Well, I’m currently in the middle of my lunch, part of the way through a company training course; it’s mandatory ‘Sarbanes-Oxley’ & ‘Controllership’ stuff that will take place both today & tomorrow, and will neatly provide me with (an estimated) 14 hours of CPD training. Which is nice. Its, well, not massively interesting, but its worth it if I want to carve out a career in an American company. Like GE, for example.

Irritatingly, tonights social corporate activity (an all expense paid cruise around the canals of Amsterdam, with meal & free bar) clashes with my last Dutch lesson, so I’m going to be attending the pre-embarkation drinks before I go off to my Dutch course, which might have interesting consequences. I suspect that, if my teacher lambasts me for being stupid whilst I'm a bit squiffy, then I’m probably going to tell her exactly what I think of her & her teaching methods. And the bloody stupid textbooks too.

Still, knowing that I’ve failed the course already is a liberating experience, though I wish I’d known that I’d failed before I told the company that I would not be available for the cruise tonight.

S

Dutch Course: the Requiem

Ok, the Dutch course is over, and I am rather more chipper than I really have any right to be. Y'see, when she was going around the class, writing documents of progress etc for people, she came to me and we had a discussion. It went something like this:

(Her) You've failed. I recommend that you repeat the course or take an assessment test in a few weeks time when your oral skills improve.
(Me) Well, I think that you're right, my oral skills are fairly poor, but think that I'd be able to pass the written section of the intake test for stage 2
(Her) [off-handedly & making moves to go onto the next student] Oh, there is only a written section for the stage 2 exam
(Me) Eh? So, it makes no difference if my oral skills are up to it then? If I pass the intake test, which is written, then I get in, so effectively I've learned enough from this course to pass me onto the next level, surely?
(Her) [pause]
(Me) I mean, if you think that I can get through the assessment to get onto the next stage of the course, which happens to be all written, then why not pass me? You've already admitted that I can pass the test, but would only fail on something thats not actually tested in the test?

Finally she  cracks & gives me a piece of paper saying that I've passed Basis 1 & can progress onto Basis 2 (YAY!), but only after I make a promise that I wont go directly on & will come back to the class in September at the earliest - not that I'm going to be there beforehand, as I genuinely want to brush up on my oral Dutch ('Noch ein Biertje, astubleift').  Dammit, but I knew that rule-lawyering was worth it. Who says that role-playing doesn't provide you with any skills?

Anyway, YAY. I PASSED! Not, admittedly due to any overweaning ability at Dutch, but mainly because I'm a persistent b*stard, who put her on the spot in the courtroom classroom. On the other hand, I'm not deluding myself that its anything other than a technical pass, rather than a genuine 'I'm ready for the next level' as her comments are legitimate - I need to do more work & really get these first few chapters known pretty damn solidly, if I'm not going to find the next few levels progressively more difficult, so something to work on before September.

S

PS Yes, the 'themed colon' in the title was deliberate.