“Pardon?” I said to the subway
attendant for the third time already in our conversation. She was
clearly annoyed, and repeated the instructions again. After my first
month in France it was clear that my language abilities were not up to
par. As a French major, I had made all As in my language courses, yet
my struggle to communicate showed that this classroom learning was
not sufficient. So I began immersing myself in French. In my tiny
student's room, I spent hours listening to a French recording of
Crime and Punishment (my favorite novel) while following along with a
book. When I heard a word I didn't know, I waited until the end of
the sentence to see if I could understand it. If not, I paused the
recording, looked it up on the internet, and made a flashcard. Five
months after starting this regime, I was able to carry on a slow but
steady conversation in French. My success led me to study other
languages in a similar fashion, and I've since read novels in two
other foreign languages.
This experience really drove home to me
the importance of motivation in learning. My classroom learning was
certainly valuable and provided me with a solid foundation for the
language. But my real achievements and satisfaction in the knowledge
I had gained only came when I had the motivation to strengthen and
use them. Finding students' motivations and channeling them into what
they learn, therefore, is a key part of my approach to teaching.
Attached is the first chapter of the French recording of Crime and Punishment which I mentioned: http://sd-36232.dedibox.fr/Dostoievski_-_Crime_et_chatiment_Chap01.mp3
Me too! Only I went to work in France for just six weeks, as a scientist. The receptionist at the small hotel would laugh whenever he saw me, and engage in conversation. After, he would translate into English what I'd actually said, and we'd laugh about it. I learned from him, because he was genuinely wanting to help me, and I never felt judged. That's vital in teaching.
ReplyDeleteThat's a wonderful and unusual story, most people find their attempts at French treated contemptuously. You must not have been in Paris!
DeleteI too am obsessed with trying to learn French. Like most, I am better reading French than trying to pronounce it with my Southern schoolgirl accent. I hope to read Hugo and Dumas in French before I give up.
ReplyDeleteWonderful posting.
I would love to read Tolstoy in Russian, but everyone says that Cyrillic (sp?) is incredibly difficult.
Nice to meet you.
Diana Haig
Hi Diana! Don't give up! Reading French is really not that difficult. Both of those authors are pretty long-winded, but if you can make it through the English and enjoy it (which you probably have), I'm sure you could do it in French too!
DeleteAnd I'm a passionate Russian learner (that's my focus language at the moment). Cyrillic is simple--you can learn it in a week. Russian grammar is another story. I too hope to be able to read Tolstoy and Dostoevsky one day in Russian.