Students have access to a number of resources designed to help them succeed in CSEC French and Spanish. This idea has been echoed by Darrel Williams, an Education Officer for Foreign Languages in the Ministry of Education.

Williams was speaking on day one of a series of conferences for fifth formers preparing to write CSEC French and Spanish in May-June 2017. He said: “You are among the lot benefiting from things that were never done in my day as a student. It is a privilege to have teachers guide you and help you to better understand the exams that you are about to take…After five years we often think that we know it all, but we sometimes don’t understand the structure with which CXC assesses us. It’s an important thing that students start getting themselves in the mindset for the exams”.

Abigail Providence, French Teacher at St. Vincent Grammar School

The Foreign Language conferences, organized annually, specifically address some of the challenging areas in the CSEC French and Spanish exams. Abigail Providence, French Teacher at St. Vincent Grammar School and one of the facilitators of the conference, explained some of the content areas targeted this year. Providence spoke of students’ challenges with the situational responses and said that the conference would help them to respond “precisely and appropriately”. In relation to the contextual dialogue, she said that the conference’s aim was "to prepare students to handle the dialogue in an effective way so as to gain maximum points". The teacher of many years also said that the students would be coached in responding effectively to questions asked orally in the target language, as well as manipulation of the vocabulary and grammar necessary for all parts of the CSEC exams.

The Fifth Form Foreign Language Conferences form part of the annual calendar of activities of the Ministry of Education. The sessions commenced on Wednesday November 8 and culminated on Friday November 10 at the Doris McKie Learning Resource Centre in Arnos Vale.