Test your language skills, The Hindu 13-Apr-04

Trinity ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Examinations will now be held in India. This has been made possible as a result of a tie-up between Orient Longman and Trinity College, London. The two Trinity College examinations in India would be the Graded Examinations in Spoken English (GESE) and the Integrated Skills in English Examinations (ISE).

The GESE is a progressive series of tests that assess the students' grasp of English right from their first levels of learning. Anyone above the age of seven can register for the course. It is specially recommended for English language learners who want to benchmark their English language levels accurately.

The ISE examinations are intended for those who wish to record their achievements in reading, writing, speaking and listening in English, and wish to possess internationally recognised certified evidence of their proficiency in these four language skills.

These examinations would be useful for educational institutions, firms looking for evaluation standards for their staff, trainees and trainers at call centres, software documentation professionals, English language students in colleges, language trainers and other interested individuals.

The examinations would be formally launched this month through workshops in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad. Clinton Rae, Director of Language Examinations and Lynda Coney, Senior Examiner from the Trinity College, are conducting these workshops.

Each year, an increasing number of language learners, from about 50 countries, have been turning to Trinity for internationally recognised qualification, according to a release from Orient Longman.

Accredited in the U.K. by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, the Trinity assessments are recognised worldwide. Orient Longman, with over 50 years in the publishing industry and developing indigenous educational material, is also involved in English language training. They would be the national manager for the entire range of Trinity's English language examinations.

SHYMA RAJAGOPAL