الشهادات المعتمدة عالمياً في اللغة الإنجليزية

 

شهادات معتمدة عالميا في اللغة الإنجليزية:

حتى لو كنت تجيد الإنجليزية بدرجة الإجادة الكاملة (Proficient) فستظل بحاجة إلى شهادة معتمدة لإثبات مستوى إجادتك للّغة في كل مرة تتقدم فيها جامعة أو سفارة أو شركة دولية أو أي جهة تشترط إجادة الإنجليزية للحصول على خدماتها أو الانضمام إليها. لهذا ظهرت الكثير من شهادات اللغة الإنجليزية المعتمدة يعتمد كل منها على اجتياز طالب الشهادة لامتحان قصير يتم تقييم مستواه على أساسه وبعد ذلك يمنح شهادة بهذا المستوى، وتعدد هذه الشهادات وتفاوت صعوبة الحصول عليها راجع إلى اختلاف الغرض من إجادة اللغة الذي تركز عليه كل شهادة كما سترى في السطور التالية التي سنشرح لك فيها أهم وأفضل شهادات اللغة الإنجليزية وكيفية الحصول عليها والغرض التي تستخدم من أجله.

التوفل والأيلتس (TOEFL & IELTS)

التوفل والأيلتس من أفضل شهادات اللغة الإنجليزية وأكثرها شهرة وانتشارًا، يرتبط إستخدام الشهادتين بالتقدم للجامعات ومراكز الدراسات العليا في البلدان الناطقة بالإنجليزية وأيضًا في بعض السفارات قبل الحصول على تأشيرة الإقامة أو الهجرة، ويمكن الحصول على أي منهما بمجرد دفع تكاليف الاختبار (تتراوح بين 200 إلى 250 دولار) وتحديد موعده، وبينما يمكن نيل شهادة التوفل عبر الإنترنت يحتاج الحصول على شهادة الأيلتس إلى الحضور لواحد من مراكز الإختبار المنتشرة حول العالم. وأخيرًا مدة صلاحية التوفل أو الأيلتس سنتين من تاريخ الحصول على الشهادة.

التويك (TOEIC)

يعتبر التويك واحدًا من أشهر شهادات اللغة الإنجليزية المعتمدة المتخصصة، يستهدف إختبار التويك بشكل أساسي العاملين في المؤسسات والشركات العابرة للقارات، حيث يقيس قدرة المرء على التعامل اليومي بالإنجليزية في بيئة مختلطة، يشيع إستخدام إختبار التويك في البلدان الآسيوية مثل اليابان وكوريا الجنوبية وتايلاند، كما أنه معروف على نطاق واسع في المملكة المتحدة وأوروبا والولايات المتحدة. وشهادة التويك صالحة لمدة سنتين من تاريخ الحصول عليها، لكن بعض الشركات قد تطلب من المتقدم الحصول على الشهادة مرة أخرى إذا كان قد مر على تاريخ الحصول عليها أكثر من عامين.

إمتحانات جامعة كامبردج للّغة الإنجليزية

تتبع مؤسسة Cambridge English Language Assessment جامعة كامبريدج البريطانية العريقة، وهي مؤسسة غير هادفة للربح تهدف إلى تقديم شهادات اللغة الإنجليزية المعتمدة مختلفة المستوى لتقييم مستويات المتقدمين في اللغة الإنجليزية للأغراض المختلفة، تقدم المؤسسة عدد من شهادات اللغة الإنجليزية مختلفة المستوى على النحو التالي:

• First Certificate in English (FCE): تعتبر مكافئة للمستويات المتوسطة الشائعة لإمتحان التوفل (بداية من B1 حتى B2) كما يمكن مقارنتها بدرجات 5.5 إلى 6.5 في إمتحان الأيلتس، ولا تستخدم عادة من الجامعات والمؤسسات التعليمية.
• Certificate in Advanced English (CAE): تعتبر أكثر تقدمًا من الشهادة السابقة، ويمكن مقارنتها بالمستويات المرتفعة في امتحان التوفل (بداية من C1 حتى C2) أو درجة بين 6.5 و 8 في الأيلتس، وتعتبر هذه الشهادة من الشهادات المطلوبة بكثرة في العديد من الجامعات البريطانية لبدء دراسات المرحلة الجامعية أو بعد الجامعية كبديل عن شهادة الأيلتس.
• Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE): وتعتبر أعلى الشهادات التي تقدمها المؤسسة، وهي أعلى مستوى من الدرجة القصوى في امتحان التوفل، وتكافئ درجة فوق 8 في امتحان الأيلتس، تطلب هذه الشهادة من قبل بعض الجامعات للانضمام إلى برامج الدراسات العليا المتقدمة أو المتخصصة في اللغات أو الأدب.

وعلى الرغم من أن هذه الإمتحانات تابعة لمؤسسة بريطانية، إلا أن حضور الامتحان متاح في عدد كبير من المراكز المعتمدة حول العالم بمجرد حجز موعد للامتحا.ن ودفع المصروفات الخاصة به والتي تختلف من دولة لأخرى، وتتميز امتحانات جامعة كامبردج للّغة الإنجليزية بأن كل شهاداتها مفتوحة الصلاحية عكس امتحانات التوفل والأيلتس والتويك، لكن بعض الجهات تشترط اجتياز الامتحان خلال مدة لا تتعدى سنتين من تقديمه إلى الجهة.

شهادة اللغة الإنجليزية للأعمال (BEC)

تتبع هذه الشهادة أيضًا مؤسسة Cambridge English Language Assessment لكنها شهادة معتمدة في اللغة الإنجليزية مخصصة للدارسين والعاملين في مجال إدارة الأعمال، توجد ثلاثة مستويات متاحة للشهادة:

• BEC Preliminary (B1)
• BEC Vantage (B2)
• BEC Higher (C1)

وفي حين لا تحتاج لمعرفة عميقةبالمصطلحات المتخصصة لنيل هذه الشهادة، يتوقع منك أن تكون قادرًا على مجاراة نوعية مشابهة للأحاديث اليومية الشائعة في بيئات الأعمال، يمكن اجتياز امتحان شهادة اللغة الإنجليزية للأعمال في عدد كبير من مراكز الاختبار المعتمدة على مستوى العالم، ومثل شهادات جامعة كامبريدج الأخرى، لا توجد مدة صلاحية لشهادات BEC لكن بعض الجهات قد تشترط عدم مرور مدة معينة على تاريخ نيل الشهادة لاعتبارها شهادة لغة إنجليزية معتمدة.

شهادة الإجادة في اللغة الإنجليزية (ECCE)

تتبع هذه الشهادة Michigan Language Assessment وهي مؤسسة مشتركة بين جامعتي ميتشيجان وكامبريدج تأسست عام 1941 وقدمت الشهادة عام 1994، يحتاج الحصول على شهادة ECCE إلى معدل 650 من 1000 على الأقل، بينما يمنح الحاصلون على 840 فأعلى الشهادة مع مرتبة الشرف، وهي مكافئة للمستوى B2 في الإطار الأوروبي المرجعي العام للغات وصالحة لمدة غير محددة، تلقى الشهادة قبولاً في عدد كبير من الجامعات حول العالم وتعتبر واحدة من أفضل شهادات اللغة الإنجليزية المعتمدة.

شهادة الكفاءة في اللغة الإنجليزية (ECPE)

تتبع هذه الشهادة أيضًا مؤسسة Michigan Language Assessment لكنها أكثر تقدمًا من شهادة ECCE، تم تقديم الشهادة للمرة الأولى عام 1953 لتكون بذلك واحدة من أقدم شهادات اللغة الإنجليزية المتخصصة في اللغة الإنجليزية على مستوى العالم، تكافئ الشهادة مستوى C2 وهو المستوى الأعلى من مستويات الإطار الأوروبي المرجعي العام للغات، وهي صالحة أيضًا مدى الحياة مثل شهادة ECCE.

Alberto's new neighbours B2/C1

 

Alberto took one look at his new neighbours and knew that his life was going to get more difficult. He watched them arrive in their big, noisy car and watched them get out. There they were, two of them, as big and as noisy as their car – and smelly and stupid as well.

'Terrible!' he thought. 'How am I going to put up with them?' He went to tell Mimi. Mimi was the friend he lived with.

'Have you seen the new neighbours?' he asked her.

'No,' she said. 'Who are they?'

'Two of them. The ones we don’t like. Big and noisy and stupid and smelly. Just like they always are.'

'Oh no,' said Mimi. 'How awful! Still, I suppose we can just ignore them.'

'I suppose you're right,' agreed Alberto. 'We'll just have to ignore them.'

For a few days, then, Alberto and Mimi tried to ignore their new neighbours. When the neighbours went out for a walk, Alberto and Mimi didn't say hello to them. When the neighbours were in their garden, Alberto and Mimi went inside. This was OK for a few days, but, perhaps inevitably, things didn't stay this way …

One day, Alberto woke up from his sleep to find one of the neighbours in his garden. 'Mimi!' he shouted. 'Have you seen this!? He's in our garden!!!! Look!'

'How terrible,' said Mimi. 'Let's call our staff and make sure they get rid of him immediately!'

Mimi went off to call their staff. Two minutes later, Alberto and Mimi's head of staff was out in the garden trying to get rid of the unwelcome neighbour. 'Go on!' he shouted. 'Get out of here! Go home!' The neighbour didn't say anything but gave Alberto and Mimi's head of staff a dirty look, then he went back into his garden. Alberto and Mimi felt better and then asked their head of staff to prepare their lunch for them.

However, it wasn't enough. Over the next few days, Alberto and Mimi often found one or other or both of their new neighbours walking around their own garden. It was terrible. To show how they felt, Alberto and Mimi went into their neighbours' garden at night, when the neighbours were inside, and broke all the flowers.

The next morning one of the neighbours came to talk to Alberto.

'Hey!' he said. 'Hey, you!' Alberto ignored him, but he continued talking. 'You came into our garden last night and broke all the flowers!' Alberto didn't say anything but gave his neighbour a dirty look. 'Now I'm in trouble!' continued his neighbour. 'They think I did it!'

'Who are "they"?' asked Alberto.

'My owners, of course,' replied the neighbour.

'Owners!?' said Alberto. 'You have "owners"?'

'Course we do,' said his neighbour. 'Don't you?'

'Oh, no,' replied Alberto. 'We have staff.'

Alberto went to tell Mimi that the neighbours didn't have staff but owners.

'That's not a surprise,' said Mimi. 'That explains everything. That's why they're so noisy and smelly and stupid. We need to make their owners become staff.'

The next day, Alberto and Mimi were actually very friendly with their new neighbours. They tried to explain how to make their owners become 'staff'.

'Listen,' said Alberto to them. 'It's very easy. First, understand that the house is your house, not theirs.'

'And second,' said Mimi, 'make sure that you are always clean.'

'Make sure they give you food whenever you want!'

'Sit on the newspaper while they are reading it!'

'Sleep as much as possible – on their beds!'

'And finally, try not to bark but to miaow instead.'

But it was no good. The neighbours just didn't understand. After a week, they gave up.

'It's no good,' said Mimi. 'They'll never understand – dogs have owners, cats have staff.'

 

A serious case B2/C1

 

I have a friend who is afraid of spiders. This isn't very unusual; a lot of people are afraid of spiders. I don't really like spiders much myself. I don't mind them if I see them outside in the garden, as long as they're not too big. But if one comes in the house, especially if it's one of those really big spiders with furry legs and little red eyes, then I go 'Yeeucch' and I try to get rid of it. Usually I'll use a brush to get rid of the spider, but if I feel brave then I'll put a glass over the top of it, slide a piece of paper under the glass and then take it outside.

This is quite normal, I think. But my friend isn't afraid of spiders in any normal way. She isn't just afraid of spiders, she is totally, completely and utterly terrified of them. When my friend sees a spider, she doesn't just go 'Uurgghh!' or run away or ask someone else to get rid of the horrible creepy-crawly. No, she screams as loud as she possibly can. She screams so loud that her neighbours worry about her and think about calling the police. When she sees a spider, she shivers all over and sometimes she freezes completely – she can't move at all because she is so terrified. Sometimes she even faints.

But my friend had a surprise for me when we met for coffee last week.

'Guess what?' she asked me.

'What?' I said.

'I've got a new pet!'

'Great,' I said. 'What is it? A dog? A cat?'

'No.'

'A budgie?'

'No.'

'A rabbit?'

'No.'

'What then?'

'I've got a pet spider.'

'I don't believe you!'

'It's true! I decided that it was time I did something about my phobia, so I went to visit a doctor, a special doctor. A psychiatrist. This psychiatrist specialises in phobias – helping people who have irrational fears to get better and live normally. He told me I suffered from "arachnophobia".'

…

'It's an irrational fear of spiders,' he said. 'About one in fifty people suffer from a severe form of arachnophobia. It's not very uncommon.'

'Thanks,' said my friend. 'But that doesn't help me much ...'

'There are lots of different ways we can try to cure your phobia,' said the psychiatrist. 'First, there is traditional analysis.'

'What does that mean?' asked my friend.

'This means lots of talking. We try to find out exactly why you have such a terrible fear of spiders. Perhaps it's linked to something that happened to you when you were a child.'

'Oh dear,' said my friend. 'That sounds quite worrying.'

'It can take a long time,' said the psychiatrist. 'Years, sometimes, and you can never be certain that it will be successful.'

'Are there any other methods?'

'Yes – some psychiatrists use hypnosis along with traditional analysis.'

My friend didn't like the idea of being hypnotised. 'I'm worried about what things will come out of my subconscious mind!' she said. 'Are there any other methods?'

'Well,' said the psychiatrist, 'there is what we call the "behavioural" approach.'

'What's the behavioural approach?' asked my friend.

'Well,' said the psychiatrist, 'it's like this ...'

The psychiatrist got out a small spider from his desk. It wasn't a real spider. It was made of plastic. Even though it was only a plastic spider, my friend screamed when she saw it.

'Don't worry,' said the psychiatrist. 'It's not a real spider.'

'I know,' said my friend. 'But I'm afraid of it just the same.'

'Hmm,' said the psychiatrist. 'A serious case ...' He put the plastic spider on the desk. When my friend stopped screaming, the psychiatrist told her to touch it. When she stopped screaming again – the idea of touching the plastic spider was enough to make her scream – she touched it. At first she touched it for just one second. She shivered all over, but at least she managed to touch it.

'OK,' said the psychiatrist. 'That's all for today. Thanks. You can go home now.'

'That's it?' asked my friend.

'Yes.'

'That's all?'

'Yes, for today. This is the behavioural approach. Come back tomorrow.'

My friend went back the next day, and this time the plastic spider was already on the doctor's desk. This time she touched it and held it for five minutes. Then the doctor told her to go home and come back the next day. The next day she went back and the plastic spider was on her chair. She had to move the spider so she could sit down. The next day she held the spider in her hand while she sat in her chair. The next day, the doctor gave her the plastic spider and told her to take it home with her.

'Where do spiders appear in your house?' asked the psychiatrist.

'In the bath, usually,' said my friend.

'Put the spider in the bath,' he told her.

My friend was terrified of the spider in the bath, but she managed not to scream when she saw it there.

'It's only a plastic spider,' she told herself.

The next day the psychiatrist told her to put the spider in her living room. My friend put it on top of the television. At first she thought the spider was watching her and she felt afraid. Then she told herself that it was only a plastic spider.

The next day the psychiatrist told her to put the spider in her bed.

'No way!' she said. 'Absolutely not!'

'Why not?' asked the psychiatrist.

'It's a spider!' replied my friend.

'No, it's not,' said the psychiatrist, 'It's a plastic spider. It's not a real one.'

My friend realised that her doctor was right. She put the plastic spider in her bed and she slept there all night with it in her bed. She only felt a little bit afraid.

The next day, she went back to the psychiatrist. This time, she had a shock … a big shock. Sitting in the middle of the doctor's desk there was a spider. And this time it was a real spider.

My friend was about to scream and run away, but she didn't. She sat on the other side of the room, as far away as possible from the spider, for about five minutes, then she got up and left the room.

'See you tomorrow!' shouted the psychiatrist to her as she left.

The next day she went back, and this time the psychiatrist let the spider run around on his desk. Again, my friend stayed about five minutes, then left. The next day she stayed for ten minutes, and the day after that, fifteen. Eventually, the psychiatrist held the spider, the real spider with long furry legs and little eyes, in his hand. He asked my friend to come and touch it. At first she refused, but the doctor insisted. Eventually she touched the spider, just for a second. The next day she touched it for a few seconds, then for a few minutes, and after that she held the spider in her own hand.

Then she took the spider home and let it run around in her house. She didn't feel afraid. Well, OK, she did feel afraid, but only a tiny bit.

…

'So now I've got a pet spider!' she told me again.

'Well done!' I said.

'There's only one problem,' she said, and as she spoke I noticed that she was shivering all over. Then she screamed and climbed up on the chair. She was pointing to something on the floor.

'Over there!' she screamed. 'Look! It's a beetle!'

Chris Rose

True Beauty – A2/B1

 

Steph was looking at Instagram. There were #blessed yoga photos and #SundayBreakfast pictures. She saw photos of fresh bread and coffee with hearts in the milk. 

*****

On the other side of the city, Matt was doing the same thing. His Instagram was full of #FitBody gym selfies and #beachlife holiday photos. 

*****

Steph put some flowers next to her breakfast and took a photo of it. Her eggs and coffee were cold now, but the plate looked good. The plate was from an expensive art market. She had 'borrowed' the flowers from her neighbour's garden. Probably only ten people a day walked past old Mrs Robinson's garden. Flowers are for everyone to enjoy, aren't they? she thought. If she put the picture on Instagram, more people would see the flowers.

Steph changed the colours on her picture to make the orange juice more orange and the pink roses brighter. She was choosing an Instagram filter when she noticed TrueBeauty. She had downloaded it the day before and then forgotten about it. Her picture looked perfect with that filter. She posted the photo for her 15k followers. She hoped some of them would feel jealous of her life. Then she threw the food on her plate into the bin. She didn't want to eat it now that it was cold. 

*****

Matt was ready to give up. He had worked out for an hour and he had put cooking oil on his skin so that it would look shiny. But the photos still didn't look good. He only wanted to be fit so that he could put photos on social media. He looked at his Instagram again. He hoped to see some ideas he could copy. Then he noticed an ad for TrueBeauty. 

Pictures as beautiful as you are. See the real you with TrueBeauty. Available in your app store for £0. Because True Beauty is free.

That's what he needed. He downloaded the app. In minutes, he had the perfect selfie. In the photos, his body looked amazing. He posted the photo for his 27k followers. Then he got in the shower to wash off all the cooking oil. He remembered reading about all the fat under the city, in the sewers. Millions of people lived in his city. Most of them washed their cooking oil down the sink. The oil went to the sewers. It made a disgusting mess and some poor worker had to clean it. Or did the oil go into the ocean and kill dolphins? He couldn't remember. But it wasn't his problem, was it? It was someone else's problem. 

*****

Both Steph and Matt were surprised to get so few likes. And they weren't prepared for the negative comments they received. 

susieQ Remind me never to get breakfast at your place!

gymguy21 Ewww, disgusting!

The rest of the comments were even worse.

Both social media influencers looked again at the pictures they had posted. 

Steph's picture showed horrible, green eggs with flies all over them. The flowers were dead, and the coffee looked disgusting and grey. In Matt's picture, his body was covered in something that looked like dirty butter. It was in his hair and in his nose. And, worst of all, his hands were really dirty. It looked as if he had been digging in the garden – or worse. 

They both tried to delete the photos, but they couldn't. The negative comments kept coming. In a way, it was Steph's most popular post. And 50 people had shared Matt's post already. 

Just then, everyone who had installed the TrueBeauty filter received a message from the person who had created it. Steph and Matt read:  

Dear User,

Thank you for making TrueBeauty such an amazing success! Fifty million downloads in the first 24 hours! Wow, it's more than I ever hoped for. Honestly, guys, I am so #blessed.

I know that each of you really, truly cares about showing yourself as you really are. Are you as beautiful on the inside as you are on the outside? If you want your pictures to show the real you, it's time to be as beautiful in real life as you are on your social media. 

Have a truly beautiful day, beautiful people!

Love,

TrueBeauty

PS. You can't remove the filter or delete the pictures you posted using it. #SorryNotSorry 

PPS. By the way, after the first time you use TrueBeauty, it will change all your photos from that moment on! 

*****

For the next 24 hours, not many people posted photos online. There was only one way people could see if the filter was still destroying their photos: they had to post pictures first and then see how they looked.

The results were not pretty. 

A few of the biggest influencers offered a reward. They joined together to offer a million pounds for the first person to remove the filter. But they couldn't post a picture of themselves holding the money because the pictures were so ugly. So they had to stop advertising the reward. It didn't matter anyway. The person who developed TrueBeauty was too clever and no one could remove the filter. 

*****

Steph stopped trying to take pictures after five more horrible pictures. She couldn't remove the TrueBeauty filter. The only thing she could do to hide the ugly pictures was to make her account private. Now, no one could see anything she had ever posted in her life. She felt depressed. She didn't want to do anything if she couldn't post photos of it.

She went downstairs, past Mrs Robinson's garden. The flowers were more beautiful than ever. She noticed the smell for the first time. Lovely! She stopped and smelled a large, purple rose. 

'Hello,' said Mrs Robinson. Steph was surprised because she didn't know Mrs Robinson was there. 

'Oh, sorry!' said Mrs Robinson. 'I was just putting water on the plants. At this time of year, there's always so much to do.'

Steph looked around. She hadn't realised it was hard work to make a garden look nice. In fact, she had never really spoken to Mrs Robinson. She had a new thought.

'Do you want some help?' Steph asked. After all, she didn't have anything else to do.

'Oh, thank you, dear! That would be lovely!' Mrs Robinson looked delighted. Steph actually felt happy for the first time since the whole TrueBeauty nightmare had started.

A couple of hours later, to be honest, Steph didn't think the garden looked very different. But Mrs Robinson said she had been a great help. Steph had enjoyed herself a lot. Mrs Robinson had been an actor in the past and she had some amazing stories to tell. 

'Take a picture of us, dear,' said Mrs Robinson as Steph was leaving. 'One of those selfies everyone loves.' 

Steph almost said no. What could she do with photos now? But Mrs Robinson would be happy with an ordinary picture. Steph supposed she could take one. She took a quick picture of the two of them. They were standing together in front of the roses, smiling and looking a little bit shiny and hot. 

Later that evening she looked at the picture on her phone. She changed the colours a little bit. But the roses looked beautiful anyway, with or without any changes. And nothing could improve the smiles on her and Mrs Robinson's faces. 

That's a really beautiful picture, she thought. It's a shame TrueBeauty will destroy it if I post it. 

But then she had a thought. She went back and read TrueBeauty's message again.

And then she posted her picture. When the picture went online, it looked exactly the same! She made her account public again. Then she added some text to the photo. 

Me and my neighbour in her garden #TrueBeauty #BeautyIsOnTheInside 

*****

One of Steph's followers, Matt, saw her photo. At first, he was just pleased to see a nice photo for a change. He hadn't been to the gym for two days. He supposed he was kind of depressed. Maybe he felt bad because he hadn't exercised. Or maybe it was because of all the horrible, ugly photos he'd seen.

Then he had an idea as he read @Steph's post. Maybe it wouldn't work, but it was worth trying. He picked up all the paper, plastic and glass in his house. He put it into three different piles. Then he looked again at @Steph's picture. He went and knocked on his neighbour's door. He asked her if he could take her rubbish to the bins. The young mother who answered the door was surprised at his offer of help, but she said yes.

*****

While Matt was at the recycling bins, he took a photo of himself next to the green glass bin. He posted the smiling selfie with the hashtag #TrueBeauty. He saw that #TrueBeauty was the fifth most popular hashtag. His picture, like many of the others, was nothing special. It was just a smiling guy, a guy who was doing something ordinary after helping his neighbour. It was a truly beautiful photo. 

 

Nicola Prentis

The time travel plumber – A2/B1

 

September 17

Priya and the plumber from TimeTech Insurance company looked around at her flooded kitchen. She hadn't been to the house for weeks. A few months ago, she had moved back to live with her parents to save money because Charlie's hospital bills were so high. She had hoped to sell the house before this but, so far, no one had been interested. Someone was coming to see it tomorrow, the first person in four months. She really needed them to buy it, but no one would want it now. She guessed the water had been in the kitchen for ages because it smelled like old fish. 

'Eww!' said Charlie at the horrible smell. He held his nose and made a silly face, the way five-year-olds do. And then he started to cough. But his thin body was too weak for the effort and he stopped. Priya felt even worse about the situation. 

She had called the plumber as soon as she saw the condition of the house. And right after that, she called her boss at the jewellery shop to say she couldn't work today. She was really good at her job and she sold lots of jewellery, but he would probably take money from her pay. Just one of those expensive necklaces would pay for Charlie's operation. It was so unfair! 

'Do you mind if I look?' asked the plumber. 

'Of course! Please, go in,' she replied. Luckily, the plumber was wearing boots that were about five centimetres higher than the water. He walked slowly towards the sink and opened the cupboard under it to look at the pipes. Then, he took a few photos of the flooded kitchen, one of them with her, Charlie and the dog in. Charlie made another silly face for the photo, which made him look even more pale and ill.

'Can you fix it?' she asked. She didn't have the money to pay someone to repair the kitchen, so she hoped the insurance company would do it. But TimeTech's slogan promised: Say goodbye to every* problem you ever had! Well, Priya definitely wanted to say goodbye to this problem.

'It's your lucky day,' he said, 'as long as the flood happened within the right time period. Now, to be sure, I need to go back two months. The pipe looks as if it's been like this for a while. But I think the flooding actually happened six weeks ago because of the way the water looks.'

Priya shook her head in surprise. It was so hard to believe that this time travel stuff was real.

'Now, I just need to ask a few questions,' he said. He had a pen and paper to make notes, not some complicated machine like you might expect a time traveller to have. 'When did you sign up with TimeTech?'

'August 15,' she said. Her heart sank the moment the words were out of her mouth.

'Oh,' he said. 'That's only a month ago.'

'Oh no! Please don't say you can't fix it! I need to sell the house or I can't pay for Charlie's doctor and—' She began to cry, she couldn't stop herself. 'I had to take the morning off work to come here today and my boss isn't happy. Now he won't pay me for today, which is all I need.'

'We really can't go back to a time before the customer signed up with TimeTech,' he said, 'because it's really hard to make them believe that in the future they're going to be a customer. We tried it a few times but it always went badly.'

'Oh, I'm sure I'll believe you! I was thinking about signing up for a long time before I finally did it,' she said. 'Say goodbye to every problem you ever had, right? I certainly have a lot of problems!' She tried to laugh but, instead, she was almost crying again. 

Charlie hugged her legs. Maybe the plumber felt sorry for her or maybe he was just embarrassed but he said, 'You seem as if you're having a hard time so, OK, I'll do this for you.'

He wrote down some more information, shaking his head. She knew that he was doing her a big favour. 'I'll be back in about half an hour to make sure you're happy with the work, OK?'

The plumber walked back to the road and disappeared into his van. It was a very ordinary van and it didn't look like a time machine at all. The slogan Say goodbye to every* problem you ever had! was painted on the side of the van. It had a * next to some smaller writing underneath, but she couldn't read it from where she was. 

Obviously they couldn't wait in the disgusting, flooded kitchen so they sat outside. Charlie was too tired to run around the garden. Instead, he watched the dog trying to dig a hole next to the 'For Sale' sign. 

She went closer to the van and read the small writing under the slogan. 

*TimeTech only solves problems involving objects. We CANNOT change situations that happen because of people and their actions.

Aaah, now she remembered! TimeTech had been in the news after twelve of their customers went to prison. TimeTech had now added * next to the word 'every' in their slogan. 

Just as she was looking at it, the van door opened. 'All fixed!' the plumber said, smiling. 

'Was I surprised to see you?' Priya asked. 

'Yes! At first, but that's why the photos are so useful. People always believe me when they see themselves in the pictures. You said you couldn't believe you were using TimeTech so soon after signing up.'

'Let's see! Let's see!' Charlie jumped up and down with a new energy. 

Priya opened the house door and, just like TimeTech promised, her problem was solved. The kitchen was dry, tidy and smelled normal. 

'Wow!' said Charlie.

Priya agreed. 'It's as though the flood never happened!' she said to the plumber.

He laughed. 'It didn't happen!' he said. 'I put your new pipe in on 17 July and that solved the problem before it could happen. It would be more accurate to say the flood unhappened! But don't think about it too much. Time travel is confusing!'

Priya shook her head. She couldn't believe what had just happened – or unhappened. 

July 17

Two months earlier, Priya was also shaking her head and she also couldn't believe what had just happened. In one way, of course, nothing extraordinary had happened. 

A plumber had fixed a pipe in a few minutes. 

Except the pipe wasn't broken – yet – and the plumber had come from the future. 

Well, she was glad that future Priya was going to sign up with TimeTech. She had heard a bit about them, but now she really understood what the company did. Say goodbye to every* problem you ever had! the slogan on the van outside her house had said. There was some smaller writing underneath, but she hadn't been close enough to read it. It was amazing – solve all your problems with time travel. She hadn't believed the plumber was telling the truth at first. But when he showed her the photo from the future she knew it was true. The photo showed Charlie looking so pale and thin. It broke her heart to see how much worse her little boy would get in the next two months.

'I've certainly got a lot of problems,' she thought. The biggest was money, of course. Since Charlie had got ill, she had spent all her money on doctors and medicine. But he still needed an operation and if he didn't get it … She didn't want to think about it. She had very little time and she needed money, a lot of it. Until today, she thought selling the house and moving in with her parents was the only way to get enough money to make Charlie better. But now, thanks to TimeTech, she had a better idea. She knew stealing was wrong, time travel didn't change that. 'But my boss is horrible to me,' she thought. 'And anyway, he's so rich he won't notice if a couple of hundred-thousand-pound necklaces disappear. And if I do get caught, well, TimeTech will make it "unhappen" and get me out of prison.' Maybe they would help her put the jewellery back or go back in time and show her a photo of herself in prison, or whatever it was they could do. She'd seen her kitchen with her own eyes! TimeTech's insurance was the best insurance you could ever have.

September 17

As they waved the plumber goodbye, Charlie ran back into the garden. He played with the dog, who had found a ball in the kitchen. 'Where's the "For Sale" sign gone, Mum?' he asked. 'Did the plumber take it away?'

'Something like that,' said Priya. She smiled as she watched him running around. His legs were strong and his little fat face was pink. 

'The operation was a success,' she thought. Her old worries were gone. But now that she had read the small writing on the TimeTech van, she had a new fear – that any moment the police would come and she would be the thirteenth person in prison. TimeTech couldn't solve every problem. She had been crazy to imagine they could. So far, it seemed as if her boss hadn't noticed the missing necklaces. She hoped her luck would last.

Nicola Prentis