Beyond Fluency – Toulouse Capitole University’s Alice Jad Embraces Proficiency

Alice Jad works in the Law Faculty at Université Toulouse Capitole. In her work, she often communicates in English with the many international students at home in Toulouse. Alice spent a week at Atlantic on an Erasmus+ programme. Moving beyond fluency, she participated in the English for Proficiency course.

Although completely fluent, she wanted to refine her use of English and transform all her passive language skills into active language mastery. During our conversation, she highlighted how much her speaking confidence had grown day by day throughout the week. She also spoke highly of Galway as a course destination, Ireland’s beautiful scenery, and the buzz, omnipresent in Galway City.

Alice started by introducing herself and sharing her motivation for attending a course at Atlantic:

I work at the law faculty at the University of Toulouse. I work in the administration with students, teachers, timetables, planning the exams and so on.

We have a lot of international students, and in my department, we don’t always know how to speak perfect English. The university is always willing to send us abroad to better ourselves and improve our English so that we can support international students better.

Touching on the challenges of moving beyond fluency and achieving native-level English skills, Alice said:

The course was fantastic, actually. It was very challenging. We were only two students attending the course, which, I think, made it even more challenging because you can’t hide.

I was a bit afraid at the beginning because when I applied, I really hesitated to opt for the Proficiency Course. I almost applied for Professional English Communication. I am glad I didn’t because I think it wouldn’t have been enough of a challenge.

All the same, I was afraid at the beginning, to be honest. But the course was great. Purva was amazing as a teacher. I learned a lot.

I think when you are a C1 level but you don’t get to practice your English on a daily basis, that course is great. You are really pushed to learn things that are really useful, but that you don’t really encounter.

Alice highlighted the fundamental difference between passive and active English language skills:

When you want to improve your English, it’s not about reading in English or listening to a podcast and audiobooks in English. Doing so is great, but it’s really passive.

During course here, it was entirely different. We had to speak a lot. We had to put in practice what we were learning, and it really made a big difference, I think.

When asked about the tangible workplace benefits of attending this course, Alice said:

I think, yeah, it It will make a difference because you get to sound more native and to feel more confident.

I guess for the students, it’s nice to know that they can come to your office and they’re going to be understood. They can talk. That will make a big difference to them.

Alice chose Atlantic Centre of Education on the recommendation of a colleague:

I have a colleague that told me about it because she came here two years ago. She said that it was the best week of her life so I had very high expectations.

Moving on to her impressions of Galway City and County, Alice told us that she had never visited Ireland before. She loved Galway City, was blown away by the Cliffs of Moher, and enjoyed a hike in the Connemara mountains:

We went to Clifden, and there we hiked. It was actually a cycling path we were on, but we didn’t understand that at the beginning. We almost missed the bus because we had gone so far, but then we realised that we had to go back. But it was great.

While in Galway City, Alice and her coursemate, along with a student from another programme, sought out the usual haunts, including the Quay’s Bar, Hooked Restaurant, Kumar’s Indian Cuisine, and McDonagh’s Fish and Chips.

Alice’s highlights included walking in the sea in Salthill and listening to Irish music in the pub:

We went walking in the sea, near Salthill that was really nice. But I think the real highlight would be the night at the pubs with Irish music. It felt like such an experience. It was really great.

By all accounts, Alice’s high expectations were met. She loved the course and left us with a great suggestion:

Maybe it would be nice to create a group chat or something at the beginning of the week. Because I think when you arrive on your own – and I was very lucky to meet people that I got along with, but maybe it would be easier to connect more with other students if you had a group chat.

We were a tiny group, a tiny class. I think when you’re a group of 10-14 people, well, you know. Then there would be a way to contact other peopl and be like…

“Hey, would you like to go to a pub tonight?”

Thank you for the great idea, Alice! We are already discussing how to implement it 😊!