Two learners walk into your classroom. Both have a certificate that says “advanced”. Within fifteen minutes, you realise they’re nowhere near the same level. How is that possible?

In this episode of The Happy Language Teacher, we look at three of the most widely used scales for describing language ability: the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Proficieny Guidelines (ACTFL) and the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB). Wherever you teach, you’ll learn what these levels really tell you, and what they don’t.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• why the CEFR was designed to describe what learners can do, not to grade them
• why language learning is a sliding scale rather than a staircase
• how the CEFR, ACTFL and CLB compare with each other, and why “advanced” doesn’t always mean the same thing
• what each framework was built for, and why that matters for your teaching

Next episode: how to use the Common Europen Framework of Reference in your own lessons, with practical ideas you can try straight away.

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