This photo was taken from the garden looking toward the back of the school.
Unfortunately, I did fairly well on my tests and was placed in an advanced class. Once again, I am one of the weak links, but I have decided to stay in the class until the end of the week before making any rash decisions to move. What does excite me, is the fact that I find myself understanding almost everything and I'm no longer trying to translate word for word. That is a huge improvement!
Thus far, I am a big fan of this school even though I am stressed and tired. There are a variety of profs and all the ones I have had to date are excellent - smart, funny, kind and charismatic. Classes are anything but dull. Although the days are long, they move us around from place to place - classroom, language laboratory, garden, grand salon, petit salon etc. Some of our classes are combined with the other advanced class and sometimes we are on our own. Extremely useful basics such as the alphabet, numbers, acronyms etc. were covered which I never learned in my other schools. The program and methods are deliberate and structured and there are "built-in" opportunities to practice what you have learned. Even at lunch, a prof sits at your table and engages every student in conversation. There is no getting away with silence. The handouts are very handy with a focus on oral language. No doubt they will be a good reference when I get home to Canada.
Today, we had an informal and engaging class on simple and common phrases used in everyday social situations in France. One of the many useful things I learned to say was "J'ai assez mangé, merci" (I have had enough to eat thank you" or "pas encore" (not yet) when the waiter says "Ça y est" (are you finished?) Afterwards the waiter usually asks "Ça a été?" (was everything OK?) If it was good, you can respond "C'était bon! C'était tres bien!" etc. If not, you can respond "Ça a été" which is a polite response meaning it was OK, but not exceptional. Julienne, the prof of that session, had us in stitches many times with his examples, explanations and role-playing.
One of the most stressful things that we all have to do as students in our class is to give a 20 minute exposé (class presentation) without notes. Afterwards, every student has to ask the presenter at least one question. The first presentation was today and a fellow student spoke quite well for 20 minutes in French on the Syrian Crisis. Yikes! He did not prepare at all except to choose a subject in which he was well versed. He is a diplomat in the U.S.A. and was very familiar with the situation. I was stressed out just coming up with a comment or question, let alone talk in French for 20 minutes with or without notes! The other stressful part is that you never know when Bruno, our wonderful prof, is going to ask you to present. A different student will present every afternoon until we have all "had a go" at it. I hope that I am near the end, so that I have some time to improve my oral language. By the way, there are only 10 students in my class, so I will likely have to give my presentation sometime next week, if not before. They say miracles do happen. Here's hoping.
A view of the arbor on the grounds and the sea from the rear of the building.
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