Cambridge Examining

So I'm now an officially qualified Oral Examiner for the Cambridge KET and PET exams. They are the lowest 2 levels of the cambridge exam series - just before FCE and CAE, which are the only ones I had ever heard of before. It took a weekend of training, most of which was spent assessing candidates we saw on videos, and comparing our results to make sure we all had the same idea of a "3" or whatever. Even though I had to get up at crack of dawn to get into Tokyo by 9am in the rain, I'm glad I did it for several reason. For a start I've met some interesting people who have seriously expanded my social life here, and that I'm likely to stay in touch with (it helps that the main 2 people I met that weekend are both going to be based near Brisbane after leaving here!). Also, the qualification is valid for life, although I have to do a 4 hour "co-ordination" session every year if I'm planning to examine. I can use it pretty much anywhere in the world as well, which is nice, although it's not something you can do full time, there might be a weekend's work every now and then for me. And of course, it looks great on the resume!
It was also good in terms of professional development. I always find oral testing so subjective, and I'm never sure if my opinion is "correct". So it was good to compare our marks for the example exams, and see if we were too hard or easy on them, and get lots of practice in listening for particular things, such as range of grammar forms and vocabulary or whatever. Hopefully it will help me in oral exams such as placement tests and report writing in the future. And, of course, as I now know the format of the exam and what the examiners are looking for, it will be easier for me to prepare students for these exams, assuming I ever have any who want to do it!
On Thursday I did my first (and only) testing session. I think I was very lucky, as the others I have spoken to have had to do 9am-5pm marathons. I had it very easy with 1.30-4pm, with a total of 6 pairs to test. And they all passed! Everything went just as it was supposed to, which is nice!

Back to school tomorrow, after a 4 day break. Argh!