Sometimes you forget what it’s like to be a student. You
move so far from being a learner that you can’t remember how it feels to be
uncertain and not understand.. Having watched our English immersion students
struggle, comprehend and live the learning experience, I decided it was time I
followed their example and immersed myself in French.
Since qualifying as a teacher inthe early seventies I have always been driven
to improve and to learn more. Through London University externals, the Open
University & numerous accredited courses, to a Masters degree at Manchester I have
striven in, my own time,to learn more.
Now was my time to apply all that knowledge and all those forty
experiential years. With some trepidation I set off for my sejour with my
French hosts Monette & Louis. What a wonderful time, eight hours plus daily
in French. Beautiful house ,excellent French cuisine, fine wines and cultural education; I ate, drank and
yes, even dreamt ,in French.
And what did I learn? Well in addition to consolidating my
grammar and improving my conjugations I learnt the pleasure and confidence that
being relaxed into a language gives. All my early childhood memories of learning
and writing, all that excitement came flooding back. Like then I was eager to
learn more, practise and apply. Hungry to communicate at my level of cognition
it was a rewarding & truly amazing experience.
I learnt too, the skill of a good teacher; who can make
confusion & sadness into comprehension & pleasure. So this is a thank
you to all those past teachers who inspired me and who may never know.
And to
my newest teachers and now friends ~ to Monett for her patience and creativity
and Louis for his humour and oenology, I say “ Merci mes amis”.
What did I learn? Well I relearnt the excitement of
learning!
(With special thanks to Sarah & Beatrice of ‘Let’s Speak’
who were so encouraging).