Be able to hold a conversation in 5 (yes five is reasonable) languages

I was sitting in the back of the classroom when a French Teacher at one of the schools I teacher at enters. He was this rather straight-backed African fella with a rather regal deportment. Though his blue jeans and black All-Stars softened his edges. His first words, delivered sternly, “I do not deal with babies. Please put away your things, and sit quietly for class”. His accent reminded of this gentleman I used to work with named Benjamin who was from the Congo.Benjamin was the only person that I worked with who spoke to me in French whether I responded in French or English. I always liked that…

I smiled as the kids scattered, and tucked, and quickly rushed to their seats. I stayed in the class because it helps me test my comprehension, and gives me ideas for my own French classes.

The class finally ended, and the French Teacher realized I was still in the room. “Oh! Hello…I’ll be leaving,” he said.

“Salute, Monsieur…Merci Beaucoup.Vous êtes un bon professeur de français. Les élèves ont vraiment vous écouter.Ils sont très excités de se préparer pour le Carnaval.”

He sort of stared at me with the oddest look on his face. That fear crept up in my stomach. That fear that always keeps me from speaking french out loud. The fear that I sound like an idiot to a french-speaker.

“D’où êtes-vous ?” He asked

“Où pensez-vous?” I smiled, and hoped that his response would give me an indication of whether I was in fact sounding like an idiot

“L’Afrique?”

“Non”

“Quebec?”

“Non, monsieur. Je suis seulement un Torontois”

“Non!Votre accent est parfait!”

“Merci!C’est la meilleure chose que j’ai entendu aujourd’hui”

Totally made my day. Yes. I have to work on my grammar and vocabulary, but, at least I do not sound like an IDIOT with bad grammar =)))) HAHAHAHA!

Une araignée sur le plancher
Se tricotait des bott-es

Un limaçon dans un flacon
Enfilait sa culott-e

J’ai vu dans le ciel
Un-e mouche à miel
Pinçant sa guitar-e

Un rat tout confus
Sonnait l’angélus
Au son de la fanfar-e

Well, I was quickly forced to use my french last week. I took a substitute assignment for a few days at a school they inadvertently forgot to mention was french immersion.

I was providing prep coverage for grades 1 to 8, and well…I didn’t have a choice to worry about it. I hadn’t spoken french in a looooong time. My comprehension is pretty good (though sluggish). But, I definitely need to work on my confidence in speaking the language in an educational setting. There is a lot of directional use (“Stop talking” “Sit down” “Walk in the hallways quietly” “Are you listening”), and playful terms like ‘chahute’ and ‘méli-mélo’ that I need to work on…

It’s true when they say “if you don’t use it, you lose it”

Well, now that I am well on my way to becoming a teacher (sooo excited!), I have been thinking more and more about my finances. A change in careers can do that to ya.

Well, I met this lovely fella the other day, and he was mentioning that he was ‘on-call’ with one of our national airlines. That in itself isn’t the interesting part. What was interesting is that in talking with him, I discovered that he is a teacher. During the school year, Monday to Friday, he is a high school teacher. During the summer, holidays, etc, he is an steward ‘on-call’ to earn additional income.

I really hadn’t considered stewardess as an occupational option because I thought I would be working full-time at school. But! There you go, an option for me to consider.

But, this lead to a conversation about my french. Eeh! I do not get the opportunity to use it, especially since I have left my previous job where I at least translated french documents, and had the opportunity to correspond with our french clients. Now…nadda. So, I definitely need to brush up on my french ASAP.

Additionally, I think Im going to swap Arabic for Portuguese. Very sexy language.

English (got this one under control)
French (need to brush up on my verbal)
Spanish
Arabic
TBD