16.4.13

Français n'est pas simple...


As many of you know, I am here on a student visa. That means that I have to take classes at the university as part of being here. (Well, I guess I don't have to, but it would be weird not to, and it'd be a waste of tuition money not to.)

So I'm taking a French class. I've wanted to learn another language for a long time, and it's good for me to have that new-language-learner experience again, especially if I end up teaching German next year. I always said I would wait until I was done learning German to start a new language...I still wouldn't say I am done learning German, but I guess I'm feeling confident enough with my German to start a new language. So, French it is.

And it's hard. I love languages, and I want to love French, but some days it's really hard for me to love it. I try to remember back to when I started German and the struggles I had, but mostly I just remember loving it, even if I didn't know how to form the sentence properly or the right words to use. With French, I don't know how to form sentences properly or the right word for most things, but I feel like I have almost no grasp of anything. I guess I'm impatient, because I've only been at it for about two months, but still.

Here is why it is especially hard for me: The professor speaks almost exclusively in French. Now, I know that this is an excellent way to really show me how French is supposed to sound and teach me faster (or better, or something). But it's incredibly frustrating, and not only because I don't know enough French to follow about 98% of what he says, but because it's not comprehensible. I don't know if I'm extra frustrated because I studied how to be a language teacher, but in any case, I do know that if you are speaking in the target language (in this case, French) the whole time or in extremely large chunks, it has to be understandable for the learners. You can't just stand there and babble at me in French, nodding with big eyes as if I should totally get it because you just repeated yourself twice. At least I think you repeated yourself twice. Anyway, you need movements and pictures and gestures and signs. You have to dance around like a fool and point at a zillion things. You should probably not speak at the speed of a normal French person, either. Blah, it's hard!

To defend the professor a little bit, he does have good activities and lots of partner speaking things to get us using French. I like that, and I am noting all of the ideas that I like, and I often find myself thinking about how I can use them when teaching German in the future.

But I do still want to learn French, even in lieu (haha, that's a French word that we use in English!) of my frustration. I want to like it, and when I get it, I really do like it. Sadly, I generally only like it when I'm at home and when Dorina helps me...but normally not in class. And I would like to continue learning it, somehow, even after this semester is over.

But I guess, even if I'm not learning French too well in this semester, at least I'm learning how to be a better teacher.

Speaking of being a teacher...if anyone knows or hears of any jobs for German and/or English, I am officially certified and looking for a job for the 2013-2014 school year! I am willing to work in (almost) any state, Christian or public schools! Pass my name around :-)