Parlez-vous français?

I am coming to the end of my formal language study. I am now in a pronunciation course. It is one hour a day, two days a week, for four weeks. (That’s eight hours if you do the math.) I thought this would be a relaxing, non-stressful way to finish. Wrong! In some ways it is less stressful – hardly any homework and I don’t think there will be a final exam. However, in class it is very stressful. I felt fairly confident in my pronunciation skills and thought this would merely be a tweaking – a slight improvement. However, it seems everything I say is wrong! As the teacher goes around the room, student by student, and we each try to reproduce some little sound, I push some little squeak out of my throat with all students’ eyes on me, and the teacher exclaims, “pas compris!” (not understood). Really though, the teacher tries to make it fun for us, and I am really learning a lot.

Here is a resume of my French language learning. Growing up in Canada, French was introduced into my school when I was 12. I studied French the next 10 years, through high school and Bible college. With 10 years of French, you would think I would be able to speak it right? Wrong! I could not carry on a conversation. In the next 30 some years, living in the United States, I did not speak French at all. In the year before moving to Belgium, we had a lady come and give lessons to our team. Then, after we moved here, I began lessons at Alliance Française. I found that my 10 years of French gained me about 4 months worth, although I think it really helped with vocabulary, pronunciation, and being able to accept that French is different from English. April through June, I took the semi-intensive course (3 days a week, 2 ½ hours a day). I was off for July and August. In September, I took the extensive course (2 days a week, 2 hours a day). I landed in that class because the semi-intensive class was full. I intended to try to change classes after the first month, but I decided I liked the pace; I liked the teacher and had grown attached to the other students. In January, I thought I would like to continue in that class, but the teacher left and took most of the students with her (oops!) so there were not enough students to make the class. So, I chose the intensive class (5 days a weeks, 3 hours a day). I realized I would need a good study plan to survive at this pace and not be overwhelmed and fall behind. This is the plan I devised:

1. Make study cards: a). Vocabulary b). Conjugations c). Rules
2. Study new material
3. Complete homework
4. Supplement new material with grammar exercises from other books
5. Re-write written assignments with corrections
6. Review old material (for current course)
7. Review old material (previous courses) and conjugations, etc. from back of textbooks, other materials

I followed this every day, but I rarely got to the final step because by that time each day I found I had spent about 2 hours on study and homework. I think it really helped me though, because at the end of the course I did not have to cram for the exam. The intensive course was a great experience for me and a great way to finish, but I could not see myself doing that month after month. My study plan might not work for you, but I would strongly recommend to anyone studying language to find a plan that works for you and to stick to it.

I have mixed feelings about finishing language study. It is nice to have that off my schedule and be able to move on to other things. It is frightening to realize that I still have a long way to go and I have to go the rest of the way on my own. I still have two language partners that I will continue with, and that is a tremendous help. Also, I have lots of resources to continue learning on my own. It will take self-discipline when you do not have the structure of the language class.