learn french

i stopped going to my new french class after the first two classes. the classes were slow and laborious and i had to drive 30 miles to get to and from the class. i’m disappointed and frustrated with my lack of stick-to-it-iveness. i can’t afford to travel anywhere that speaks french anyway. grrr…

After a year and half of questionable instruction in French through the local chapter of Alliance Francais, I quit the lessons. Every twelve weeks, my class was assigned a new instructor and each instructor seemed to come from a deeper part of the African sub-continent speaking with a thicker accent. The breaking point for me was when I asked the instructor how to say “stove” in French. He looked at me confused. I pushed on, “Like ‘I’ll put the teapot on the stove’?” The blank stare continued. I started to get a frantic sensation…. “Are you trying to tell me you don’t know what a stove is?” I asked. He could not explain being a complete loss of words. That was the moment when I realised I was not getting a quality education and I dropped out.

Two weeks ago, I started a “French for Travelers” class through the local community college and I had a lot of hope riding on the outcome. I wanted to love the instructor who is an American who has been studying French since she was a child but she’s spastic and tends to talk in a high pitched voice when she is talking to the class, as if we were all five-year-olds. The college is also 20 miles away from where I live and work so I am not getting home until well after 10pm and guzzling gasoline like an H2.

This has been another disappointing experience and has definitely tainted me in my quest to learn a foreign language. Maybe the class will improve over time and the teacher will calm down. I’m not holding my breath but I’m hoping just the same.

i’ve been off my french classes for about six months now but my first new class is tonight. i hope my new instructor gets me excited about the language again. my last two instructors just frustrated me and made me wonder why i was even trying to learn a new language. bon chance!