Je Suis Etudiante

Where to begin? I love my French class. I sit beside a very nice woman with three adult children. She looks to be in her fifties. Funny how we older women seem to gravitate to each other even as we are friendly to everyone and let things deflect off us rather than reflect who we are.

We have three teachers, each rotating to take a morning or afternoon session with us. Amazingly, they are well-organized and know exactly where one teacher leaves off and what homework was assigned. They are also good natured, appreciating the errors we make and laughing with us. If they are laughing at us, then they are very good actors.

For example, in our reflective verbs, we use verbs to describe how we get ready in the morning, such as I wake, I get up, I wash, I brush my teeth, I comb my hair, etc. In one of the exercises, we had to fill in the blank. The phrase went like this:

You are big now, you can ______ and ______ by yourself.

Now, women immediately understand this is a mother talking to her child and fill in words like dress, wash, brush your teeth, get ready for bed, etc. But the young men in the class either misunderstood how the reflective is used or have no idea what it takes to parent a child. They fill in words like shave, order a beer, drive.

Another time, my neighbour and I came across the word demenager - to move to a new home. She confused it with manger dejeuner - to eat lunch. The teacher said, which will you choose, to move or to eat? We both said, To eat, always eat. It was funny. You had to be there.

There are ten of us in class. Some have taken the week off work to do the course. Some are not working so they are taking the course while looking for work. I avoid the question of what I do by saying I am a writer who works from home. Funny how no one asks what I write.

There is a Somalian man in class who speaks five languages, none of them well I think, including English. Maybe it's just difficult to understand him because I pick up a Portuguese accent in his French. The first time each of the teacher taught us, he or she immediately asked him what languages he speaks. I love this man. Every time his name is called, he shouts "Oui!" so loud you would wake up if you had been drifting off. One of the women decided he has the most beautiful, unusual grey eyes she's ever seen. So that made several of us gather around him to peer into his eyes, which made this black man blush and giggle with glee.

The administration office thinks I am a rebel rouser, but in a good way. Because they cancelled last week's class, I went to ask for a refund. The receptionist said, You are the fifth person to ask for a refund. I said, I don't have to have a refund, you can apply the money to my next course. She looked up the schedule and said I would need to attend class twice a week in January, one and a half hour each time. I said, No I prefer to do a one-week intensive. But the intensive course isn't offered again till Spring. So I said, What if I note my preference, and maybe if enough people show interest, they would offer it. She said, Okay, and gave me a piece of paper to write on.

So in class, I told everyone about the opportunity to do an intensive course for the next level in January. By now, seven of us have signed up. They only need five to hold the class. The administrator came in to talk to us today to say they will offer the course. Then she shook her finger at me as she left the room. The receptionist winked at me when I left the building today.

And I am actually learning. I had forgotten what all the verbs are that use etre in passe compose. I am surprised you have to make the ending of the past participle agree with the subject. To tell time? I was never good at telling time in French, because I could never figure out the numbers to say the minutes. I think I'm getting good at the numbers. At least enough to tell time with.

It's been great fun.