I think there has to be something more than an exam, studying a language to just take an exam, at least for me, it's not something enjoyable and fulfilling. Instead, I would think about culture, food, places and its people, I think that's something more enjoyable and "tangible" than just an exam, and it can change your life beyond academic grades or just a job (that is important for whoever want to do so) but those are my 2 cents.

interesting is the best teacher in the world! This is no doubt !

I also hate high school English!

Hello Linda, my name is bayuzen from Indonesia. can you help to learn chinese ? thank you very much

At least for me (and the language-learning friends that I have spoken to), scheduling an exam for a language is not motivating at all. For instance, during high school, I took 4 years of French and I had plenty of exams (small quizzes weekly and bigger tests every month or so). The teacher graded us harshly, didn't encourage practical conversations in French, forced us to memorize verb conjugations again and again. I hated it, and for years after that, I thought that I had no natural talent for languages (that my brain wasn't designed for languages).

There are many other reasons why people learn a new language:

Any of these are stronger reasons than "I am going to schedule an exam to motivate me."

In the case of Chinese, for instance, you can try to show students how widely used Chinese is for business nowadays, how rich the literature / architecture / art of ancient China is, how delicious various types of Chinese food are, etc.

And for me personally, I am learning Italian right now because of how beautiful the language sounds, how friendly / sociable / fun Italians are, how delicious their food is, how warm / mild their climate is, and its deep impact on Western culture