It’s hard
to believe that we’ve been in Grenoble for a little over a month
now. Although sometimes I feel like there’s still so much yet to
learn, after spending a lot of time in discussion with my host
family, meeting and talking with French and international students,
watching TV and listening to the radio, I can already see a huge
improvement in my oral comprehension. It’s really satisfying to not
have to ask someone to repeat themselves every five seconds, and it
really helps keep the conversations fluid.
Classes so
far have been sufficiently challenging. In our language courses we’re
being trained to take the DELF and/or DUEF (I always confuse the
two), which is similar (I think) to the TOEFL test in the United
States in order to start taking courses in English at the university
level. I definitely have a greater understanding and respect for the
international students who are preparing for the TOEFL exam at OU.
Although it was daunting at first, it’s really great to see how
reading a tricky newspaper article or responding to questions that go
beyond just a simple “yes” or “no” answer is already much
easier than it was a month ago. It helps that our professors are
really cool and definitely do their best to help us succeed.
That
being said, they are much more direct than professors in the U.S, and
thus have no qualms discussing your weak points on an assignment
being handed back in front of the rest of the class. Sometimes thick
skin is required. But again, you really can tell they want us to do
our best.
One of the
elective courses that I’m taking is essentially an acting class. I
really didn’t know if I wanted to take this class since I’m
generally pretty shy, but I must say I’m really glad I did. I’m
the only native English speaker in there so I have to speak in French
with the other students, and we all have a good laugh playing silly
improvisational theater games while unconsciously improving our
pronunciation, intonation, and just our general ability to produce
intelligible thoughts.
My
career path definitely won’t be taking a turn toward theater work
any time soon, but between language classes and electives, the rest
of the semester is sure to be progress-filled!
--Natalie
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