it's difficult. oy vey. i was just trying to speak with the russian assistant, who is so sweet. her french is a million times better than mine but she speaks in a strange way; with pursed lips or something so it makes it hard for me to understand her. when i talk in my broken, tragic french, i don't think she can understand me, either, so we're both left scratching our heads and looking at each other blankly.
i can understand the spanish assistant pretty well and i can understand the german assistant even better. we make a rag-ma-tag team, the four of us.
i had three classes this morning. in the first, the teacher had the students prepare classes ahead of time and then made them take notes on what i said. sheesh. they were so serious, probably because they are going to be graded on my presentation. they asked some pretty decent questions and could speak english very well.
in the second class i just sat in and watched how a regular class works. the kids worked in groups and then had to construct sentences on the text. it went ok. i just helped with vocabulary.
the third class went very well; the students were terminale and there were about 30 of them. i'd never met them so after introductions i had to explain america's celebration of independence day. i talked about our parades, firetrucks, fireworks, barbecues, getting a three-day weekend, etc. i had them laughing which is always good for the first meeting. usually i just act like a big goofball and it helps to break the ice.
i have two more meet & greet classes this afternoon, then i am finished until 2 p.m. friday...
Comments (3)
There's masses of history with Russians speaking French. In the Czarist days, many (most?) of the aristocrats spoke better French than they did Russian. Things have changed-! It sounds like you're hearing a foreign language in the accent of yet another foreign accent... Russian uses the tongue and throat differently than French does, I think. Not that I was ever terribly good at either.
Did you pick up the "Oy" from her, or someone else? That's a very Russian (or at least slavic) interjection.
Posted by pjm | octobre 12, 2004 5:34 PM
Posted on octobre 12, 2004 17:34
i got "oy" from a friend back home...
i think you're absolutely right about the foreign accent with a foreign accent thing. she's so sweet and so tiny and has huge brown eyes that look at me as though i am speaking greek. she reminds me of a little vampire and eats like a bird--less than i do-- and i didn't think it was possible that someone would eat less than picky old me. then again, i've turned into a major pig here in france; partly because i seem to be hungry all the time (not enuf protein?) and because the food is so friggin good.
Posted by ni | octobre 12, 2004 6:23 PM
Posted on octobre 12, 2004 18:23
My Russian teacher used to complain that I spoke Russian with a French accent.....
Hope all is wonderfull!
Posted by Caitlin | octobre 13, 2004 2:44 AM
Posted on octobre 13, 2004 02:44