To make up for my absence from this blog for a while, this will be particularly long, so, allons-y!
Having just finished Week Three, I am finding the Institut de Français, in Villefranche-sur-Mer, to be every bit as intense as I had heard it could be. One report had it that a female student had broken down crying at one point. I wondered if that would be me, and as various days passed, I’d think, hmmm…is this the homework/exercise/assignment/laboratory that will break the camel’s back (and, metaphorically, make it cry)?
When I heard we were to give a 15-20-minute presentation, in French, with no notes, I thought, ah, ha! This could be that moment!
To back up, I had signed up for the full four-week course, with the Institut supplying the accommodation. Some students were here for two weeks, some for three. At the start of the session (Nov. 21), there were 32 students. After three weeks, we numbered 22; people tend not to drop out (too much of a financial commitment), so the decreased number could mainly be chalked up to those registered for fewer than four weeks, in addition to, on any given day, there being a certain amount of illness (two had Covid early on, and were out for a week). The time of year has to be a factor in these absences, along with the pandemic. The weather changes constantly. While I’ve been here (three weeks now), we’ve had a lot of rain, but also an equal number of fair, sunny days.
The Institut is housed in an old villa (see above photo). It’s been modernized somewhat, although I did hear grumbling the first week about how it could use some updating in its plumbing and general appearance. The location and views are unbeatable, though, tending to override any such complaints.
The schedule is as follows:
Breakfast: 8:10 – 9:00
Class: 9:00 – 10:30
Break: 10:30 – 10:45
Class and Laboratory: 10:45 – 12:00
Lunch: 12:00 – 1:00
Group Session in the Grand Salon: 1:00 – 2:15
Break: 2:15 – 2:45
Class: 2:45 – 3:30
Break: 3:30 – 3:45
Class: 3:45 – 4:45
The Class is the most intense part of the day, as there are only a few people in each of the 4 classes (Beginner, Lower Intermediate, Upper Intermediate, Advanced). We were given seven tests the first day to determine which level we should be in. I was placed in the Upper Intermediate one (surprisingly, to me), and I was happy to see that, in fact, we all did truly have about the same ability, but with different strengths and weaknesses. My strength is grammar, my weakness is speaking, while a Russian woman in my class, who has lived in Monaco for years, speaks French fast and colloquially. However, she needs help with spelling and grammar. Overall, though, we are a well-matched group. We started with seven people; after the first week, one person was moved to the level below. Then people started getting sick or leaving due to having signed up for only two or three weeks. The last day of Week Three found only three of us in class, putting even more pressure on each individual!
The object of the training is to be able to speak the language. They don’t want you to take notes, so that you will be fully engaged in repeating, and, better, imitating, what the teacher says. There are rapid fire questions to us students, and we are asked/expected to respond in full sentences, correctly.
For example, first thing in the morning, class might go like this (obviously, all in French):
Teacher: What did you do this weekend (addressing one student)?
Student A (female): I went on a walk from Villefranche to Eze, and then I had breakfast on a restaurant in the Old Town.
Teacher: You had breakfast IN a restaurant. Repeat.
Student A: I went on a walk from Villefranche to Eze, and then I had breakfast in a restaurant in the Old Town.
Teacher: Bon! Student B, what did Student A do?
Student B: He went on a…
Teacher: She
Student B: She walked…
Teacher: Same verb…
Student B: She went on a walk, etc. etc.
The above rapid-fire questions constitute the first hour and a half of the day. So, it’s constant drilling and correcting and repeating, and you never know when you are going to be called on. In discussing this with other students, we agree that it is completely different to know in your head what to say, versus having to actually say it! You can construct the perfect sentence…for that other student. Then you are called on, and, suddenly, you can’t remember whether the question was past, present, or future…or maybe, what particular verb was used…or, whether an indirect or direct object was involved…or…the gender of the nouns. The calisthenics that go on in our brains require so much energy that we are all exhausted by the end of the day.
The instructors are excellent, and the teaching methods effective. I do feel more confident in speaking than I did in Week One. I know, theoretically, that I must practice, practice, practice, and not fear making mistakes. It’s tough, though, to sound like a 2-year-old (if that!) all the time! However, I think I have finally absorbed that truism, in that I am talking more, in the wild, so to speak, with waiters, people at bus stops, fellow walkers, whomever. Pretty much all the time, once I have opened my mouth and said something, I later realize I made some grammatical error (I was trying to put the sentence in the past, but put it in the present, for example). I can only hope that the next time I will get it right.
To break up the routine, the Institut occasionally does things like host movie nights (Ciné Club), with popcorn, right after class. I’ve done this twice now and enjoyed both films (Pour Elle and Les Saveurs des Palais). One of the teachers sits with us, and, from time to time, stops the film to ask if we are following it. The subtitles are in French, so we have two ways to understand the action, reading and listening. It’s a good way to learn the language, which I hope to continue when I’m on my own.
As for that presentation in Week Three, I wrote it out, and then practiced it… a lot! When it was time to begin the presentations, I volunteered to be the first (while I still remembered the various new words I had learned in the course of preparing it, and, of course, to get it over with!). It went well, and I was happy to have the rest of the week free (well, of that worry anyway!). Another student simply spoke off the cuff. Wow, I am so not there…yet!
Meanwhile, it’s an exciting time for me, as I continue to move forward in buying my apartment. I hope to close on it at the end of December.
It’s also an exciting time for France, as Les Bleus continue to advance in the World Cup. Saturday night’s victory against England produced fireworks, screaming in the street, and horn honking galore, in Nice (I was told…alas, I was elsewhere!). People are a bit worried about the upcoming match on Wednesday, France v. Morocco. It’s the worst possible match-up for Nice, where a large part of the population is North African, with many Moroccans in particular. A whole lot of people are going to be disappointed whichever side wins…
So, back to school for the final week. And then the holidays, where friends, food, and festivities await!
