My first French lesson

Last night, I have already conditioned myself that it would basically be a normal day. I woke up and ate breakfast the same time as I usually do every morning. But instead of sitting in front of the laptop having our usual SATC or movie marathon, I had to prepare for my first ever French class today. About a month ago, I decided to finally consider teaching French for beginners. I have honestly written off this prospect years ago, as I thought I was not teacher material. I could not go for a full-time work, though, as I do not wish to push my health that hard again. Last year’s two full-time work faux pas was literally a very costly lesson. Still, I did not lose that constant yearning to expand my horizons and seek opportunities other than what I am currently doing. I was just naturally a restless soul.

My first French lesson

My first French lesson

Last Tuesday, I got a message that I would be conducting my first French class on Friday for five adult students. I basically recycled the lesson I did on my teaching demo a month ago and added a more detailed explanation of pointers on what to expect when learning how to pronounce the language properly. It went really well, I think, and I did not realize that three hours had already passed. My students were mostly middle-aged people, wanting to learn a foreign language in their free time. I was surprised on how rewarding the feeling was. I was able to introduce the language to them in the manner that they understand, with a bit of humor to boot. I even had to rename one of the students Pierre, as it was the French equivalent of his name, Peter. I recall my French professor more than a decade ago doing the same thing to my classmate with the same name. On one of our classes, my nickname was even re-spelled as ‘Braille‘ as it was the French spelling for Bry.

At the end of our class, I made them pronounce several French brands and names, such as Le Pont des Arts, Les Misérables, Hermès, Lanvin, Le Cœur de France and Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain. =P They had a hard time with the last two, and I could have just made them pronounce Amélie. However, I know that they would feel more proud of themselves if they would leave the room knowing how to properly read that wretched title for a movie. I still have the weekend to plan for next week’s lesson, and to strategize how to prevent them from dozing off. But for now, it’s à lundi for me!

bryologue

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