First French Class

10 Octobre 2008

I had my first French class today. On Wednesday I went to the Language Lab for an “interview” where a lady asked me questions (all in French) and attempted to have a conversation with me (all in French) in order to evaluate what level I was. Based on that interview, I was placed in a class with other spouses. The class started in September, so I am already several weeks behind. However, I must have done very poorly in the interview because the group that I have been placed with is still learning basics, like how to count in French. At the beginning of class, she asked me to say the alphabet and count to 100. Luckily, these are things I can do fairly easily. Then I had to introduce myself to the class, and then they each introduced themselves to me. In the class there is one woman from Scotland, one from Poland, two from Thailand, and then there are 2 other American women and 1 American man. I actually knew the guy, Mike (he is also from Greenville and Matthew and I had met him and his wife at one of the various meetings to get us ready for expatriatism).
I really like the instructor, she will only speak French (and insists we do the same), but she likes to have fun. Leslie (the woman from Scotland) told me that the instructor next door will come and scold our class when the laughter gets too loud for her class next door. Thank goodness I am not in that class! I feel very confident with my skill level compared to my classmates. Everyone in the class has been living in France for several months. I was worried that even if they were at my level when they left their home country, that after being immersed, they would be a lot more advanced than me. Fortunately, this is not the case. There is one girl from Thailand that sits beside me. She likes to correct everyone and says the answer even when it is not her turn. It is especially annoying when I am asked a question, and I pause for literally ½ a second, to make sure I am going to pronounce it correctly, and she will whisper the answer to me as if she is trying to help out poor dumb me! The funny thing is that she isn’t always right! She does that to everyone else as well. I wonder if they find it as annoying as I do…