Learning French...an ongoing love affair....

Where did my love of all things french come from........? well, learning the french language at High school (many universes ago!) must have had something to do with it..my poor poor teacher..most of the students showed no interest whatsoever in her class..but moi? ... well I sat at the very front..'ecoutez..ing and repetez ...ing ' as I was told..I was sold on it at 13.

Moving five years forward... High school done and dusted...au revoir to french and a big bonjour  to adult land..

Moving another 18 years forward....married...two children..now what was it I used to like doing when I was just ....me??  Oh yes,  studying french! From this point on I surrounded myself  with my beloved language in sorts of wonderful ways..

A great place to start/recommence is with a short course at  a local Tafe, where they offer 2 or 3 different levels. I did this for a couple of years, thoroughly enjoying it, AND the like minded company.

I then promoted myself to Alliance Francaise, an international organization that promotes french culture and language around the world, so if you are lucky enough to have one in your city, I highly recommend it, the teachers are normally  native speakers, and different levels are on offer... I go on a Thursday afternoon for 2 hours of conversation..just love it! Margaret Ambrose, an australian,  wrote a book called  How to be french, which touches on some Alliance classes. Fun read :)

At one point I got very serious about my language skills...I decided I needed a  'bit of paper' to 'prove' I could speak french!   Never having gone to university before... I  felt quite brave  looking into  courses etc.  Three and a half years of elation and frustration  later, I was armed with my 'bit of paper'. I had done it! Yay! Not only that, but I did it via correspondence, so those of you  who have thought about  taking on the challenge and using the fact that you dont live near a city that offers this.... SORRY...you will have to think of another excuse :)

These days I make sure I keep up  the skills by  attending a weekly class, watching the french news every morrning at 10.15 am on SBS (Im fibbing about the 'every morning' bit )  watching french films I hire from  Quickflix (great range of world films), and sometimes I play a  game on  Yabla, a fabulous site that helps with  reading, listening and grammatical skills in french. I should use it more, as I have taken out a yearly subscription, which is very reasonable...about $10 per month..not bad!  Here is an example:  http://french.yabla.com/player_cdn.php?id=106&tlang_id=en

I hope I have encouraged those of you who think about  learning this beautiful language, to  'just do it!'...its a wonderful  and ongoing journey, one I'm sure you won't regret :)

a Bientot
Gigi