PITY the poor Leaving Certificate European language students and indeed their teachers. Now well over a year into their two year courses, they are still awaiting or have only just received sample exam papers and tapes. September 1995 saw the introduction of new language syllabuses which place new emphasis on speaking and listening skills. Aural and oral exams now represent 45 per cent of the total marks.

Although the new syllabuses were available well before the start of the school year in September 1995, sample exam papers have been arriving in schools only this term. Teachers argue that these sample papers play a vital role in helping teachers to understand how the syllabus is going to be tested and where the emphasis will lie. This information impacts upon their teaching, they say.

Sample German papers arrived in schools just before the start of this school year - they were sent out in the middle of August. However, sample Spanish papers arrived only in early September. Sample French and Italian papers were even later, arriving weeks after term had started.

"The sample papers arrived in school a few weeks into autumn term, although they were supposed to be in the schools over the summer," observes a Co Wicklow based teacher. "This means that people will be sitting exams in June 1997, yet they have only had the sample paper since the end of September this year. They should have had them when they embarked on the course."

A spokesperson for the Italian Teachers' Association says: "We were assured that sample papers would arrive before the summer break, but we didn't get them until five or six weeks into the autumn term." Without sample papers, teachers have found it difficult to set Christmas and end of year exams during the 1995-1996 school year.

If the situation is bad for students of French, German and Italian and their teachers, it's even worse for higher level Spanish students and their teachers. At a meeting of the Spanish Teachers' Association last week, teachers expressed concern that NCCA guidelines for the honours paper have been ignored. "To our surprise an extra section bags been introduced," says a Spanish teacher.

"The paper is too long. Even teachers are saying that they would take more than two and a half hours to complete it. They also find the rubrics - the instructions at the beginning of each section - confusing." On top of that teachers are finding it impossible to obtain copies of El Camino, so students are forced to opt for the alternative journalism text.

There is also concern that the comprehension passage is too long - it covers one whole page of the exam paper while the relevant questions cover a further two pages. "It's going to be a very noisy exam with students shuffling backwards and forwards between the pages," observes this teacher.

The Department of Education issues only one sample paper per new syllabus. Many teachers would like to see the Department producing more than one, believing that a single paper fails to provide them with the necessary amount of guidance. "Teachers aren't sure of the type of questions that will be asked," comments a north Dublin German teacher. "Are they multi choice for example? All we do know is that they will be based on the syllabus. In the past we've had old papers to guide us and we've known what to expect."

The oral exams are to include role plays - students learn to role plays (initially the figure as 24 role plays but this was later reduced) - which are set for each subject. They are examined on a number of them.

IDEALLY students should be told of the role plays at the beginning of the course. While German and Italian students got their role plays last year, students of French and Spanish are still awaiting theirs.

Or are they? French teachers at any rate remain uncertain. "They were supposed to issue the actual role plays 18 months before the exam - during fifth year," explains a French teacher. "But they didn't arrive - what we received were labelled `sample'.

"At this stage we have to assume that they are indeed - the role plays as it would be too late to be allocated new ones. I've phoned the exam branch in Athlone a number of times but have not received satisfactory information. It's very disconcerting."

Meanwhile, Spanish teachers report that their new oral exam is very similar to the old orals and the sample role, plays differ from those suggested by the NCCA and leave little room for natural conversation.

As things stand, schools are still awaiting aural tapes and question papers in Leaving Certificate French, Italian, German and Spanish. "Until we get the tapes we're not sure what will be covered in the listening part of the exam," says a German teacher. "So, as teachers, we can't be as categorical as we would like to be. German teachers are annoyed at the delays in sending out materials. The two inspectors in the Department work extremely hard and I wouldn't want to criticise them in any way, but the system simply isn't working for us. If you have a course starting in September 1995, you'd expect to have the sample papers and cassettes at an early stage."

A frustrated Italian teacher - comments: "The Italian aural tape will be longer than the old one - we need a sample tape and questions. At the moment we are relying on past tapes and papers. Students and teachers are worried. It's an added stress for them and adds to the confusion. It's getting very late in the day. Tapes and question papers should be available in fifth year so that students have two full years knowing what they are supposed to be doing. In fifth year they were studying without knowing what they were studying towards. It makes it hard to teach towards the exam."

ACCORDING to a spokesperson for the Department of Education, German teachers were issued with sample Leaving Certificate papers last Spring and sample French, Spanish and Italian papers were sent out to schools in early August. Sample aural tapes and papers in French and German were issued to schools last week, while those for Spanish and Italian will be distributed this week.

The Department's spokesperson also says that the sample higher level Leaving Certificate Spanish paper is based on the general guidelines recommended by the NCCA. However, a number of internal details may differ from the original proposals of the course committee because views expressed by teachers during in career development courses have been incorporated into the exam.