Cheating in MFL oral exam am I just being naive?

[middleclassonbursary]

At lunch today with friends I was talking to their DC's asking how GCSE's are going, one told me that in the MFL oral exam the teacher asks the question then held up the answer written on a piece of paper. I was stunned then someone else's DC (different school) said his school did it. My DC said his school didn't but his friends with friends at other schools say it's common practice.
I'm completely stunned, this in my book is cheating. One said we do it because everyone else does it.

hertsandessex - yes, that's the suggestion!

MFL language learning is appalling nowadays. I am 50 and have barely spoken a word of French since school but I am de Gaulle compared with ds.

Ds's school does not cheat. Ds had no idea what the "surprise question" in the oral exam would be. The writing task is a joke, though. It's a test of memory, not proficiency in a foreign language.

Yes, O Levels were waaaaay harder. I did French, German and Spanish and frequently bore ds with tales of how you had absolutely no advance warning of what you had to translate back and forth. And you had to write a short story on a random subject. I still remember having to write about a tiger escaping from the zoo. My story consisted of quite a lot of "Au secours!"