Learning tongue-tangling French

Since February I’ve been taking night classes to learn spoken French, just enough to speak it more confidently while travelling.

I completed Level 1 class in Term 1 and I’m just about to finish the Level 2 class in the same week I leave for my London/Paris trip.

Denis, out tutor, is a Kiwi and former High School Principal. He’s provided lots opportunities in class for us to practice spoken French with each other. He’s set up role plays like ordering food in a restaurant and buying a ticket at a train station.

He’s helped us understand the way we need to hold our mouth on the “ou’s” and “ru’s”. He’s had us reading weather reports and Presidential speeches. He’s even gotten us to sing the French national anthem during each class!

I’m certainly not at the top of the class but I’m hoping I’ve absorbed enough to try speaking French while I’m in Paris in a week or so – at least more than I did when I was there six months ago.

Next week is our final class and we’ll finish as we did last term, with wine, cheese, and our beret-capping ceremony.