Salut!

So, the evening classes have finally begun, and I’ve realized the whole point of my efforts to learn French – in other words, to communicate with other people! I was so nervous before I entered the room for the first time because I could hear a couple of people chatting away in fluent French – I thought we were all supposed to be beginners here! It turned out to be our tutor talking to a young French student who’s doing some work experience at the college, and who’d offered to come and lend a hand with the class!

For me, half the battle of learning French is getting away from the idea that I have to understand all those boring grammatical rules which did my head in at school! The tutor assured us that we were going to concentrate on vocabulary and phrases which we could use in everyday conversations in France, and that she’d “slip in” the grammar along the way without it dominating the conversational emphasis. Phew!

Quite a few of my fellow students were there either because they wanted to be able to use French for business purposes, or simply because they were fed up of going on holiday and not being able to put across even the most basic ideas. It was great to know that I’m not the only one who feels a mild wave of panic sweep over me if I’m faced with having to order a taxi or decipher a menu in France, and I found that it was useful to be able to ask our tutor specific questions related to the vocabulary I’ll need for my business trips.

The only downside that I found with the evening class was having to wait for some people in the class to catch up to the rest of us. It turns out that, perhaps thanks to the revision of my dim and distant knowledge of French from my school days, I know a bit more than I think! I found this a bit frustrating, but on the other hand, I enjoyed the lively bits of conversation I managed to engage in. The coffee and croissants were especially welcome!

A bientôt!

Nic

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