Ontario Academic Credit - OAC

[Johann]

Unfortunately, Canadian credentials have very little clout. TESC wouldn't even accept my composition course...

I know what you mean. Fortunately, OAC English, besides giving me a (very) few credits in the 80s at Niagara College, exempted me from the two compulsory English courses (a.k.a. "Dummy English") otherwise mandatory for all diploma students.

You have one advantage; Canada's expectations are much higher for French than America. I really recommend you take the CLEP French. My french is extremely rusty and I haven't practiced in years, and I still got enough for 12 credits.

This advice, I assume, applies to the OP. I agree the expectations are higher, but -as I see it- French is not well-taught in most Ontario schools. Students here with accurate pronunciation and good grammar are the exception - not the rule. That was true 50 years ago and is true today. There are French-only high schools in several parts of Ontario -- and I've observed that quite a few of their grads, although fluent, write/speak French with much the same low standards as (too) many grads of English schools do in English! It's harder to make spelling mistakes in French than it is in English - but there are plenty of French-schooled HS grads here who do so consistently, without apparent difficulty! I worked in a largely-bilingual office environment for over 20 years -- so I know what the written/spoken standards were!

English-speaking Ontario HS Grads who remember ANY of their French are not numerous. Back in the day, French was taught to high-schoolers only. I thought then that the results might have been better if instruction started in early years. Today, most Ontario schools start French in about Grade 3. Lamentably, the results in general seem no better after 10 years of instruction (!) than they were after 4 years.

French was my favourite subject in High School and I have taken a French Literature course or two in University - a great pleasure. I still write the odd letter in French. I also took German and Latin in High School. I can remember German and Latin pretty well and still read in both, occasionally. Not much call for writing letters in Latin these days, though.

I doubt if I'll ever get 12 (or any) CLEP credits in French (or anything else) because:

(1) I would have to go more than a thousand miles East or West before I could find a place to write CLEPS. Even Toronto, a nearby city of well over 2.5 million people, has NO exam centre for CLEPs.

(2) If I undertake distance study at American schools (who knows - I might) I will not be seeking any CLEP credits.

(3) CLEPS are not recognized at Canadian schools

(4) If I wanted, I suppose I could write CLEPS across the border in the US - an hour's drive - but I don't travel to the US any more. Since 2001, it's not so easy. It's sort of understandable, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. I used to go over for dinner and/or entertainment any time I wanted. Now it's a passport etc. deal. So I haven't gone across in 12 years . I can get everything I need here. Nothing against the US, of course, but it makes sense to spend one's money at home...

Johann