New Years Resolution – Let’s parler Francais

I’ve learnt that it’s very important to take French lessons, as without a basic understanding of the language it is so difficult to do the simplest things, and for me part of the challenge of moving to France was grappling with the language.

After my first lesson I found that for 3 months I had been telling our lovely elderly French male neighbour that I was HOT "Je suis chaude" - it should of been "J'ai chaude" .... how embarrassing that I had been saying this, but never mind - it wasn't the last time I accidently said strange or rude things!

My first French teacher, Dominique, was great and we had a wide variety of lessons covering a multitude of subjects. On one occasion we were all seated and Dominique closed all the blinds and locked the door ... we all wondered what was going on and she then announced that we were going to have a lesson in swearing !!!
It was great to have some ‘appropriate’ words for the situation when someone drives into the back of your car, steals your parking place etc.  Also more polite ways of making your point with the "vous" form and the impolite ways of using "tu".  We copied all this down and listened carefully, some words we vowed never to use and with others we practiced the pronunciation carefully.  At the end of the lesson Dominique very carefully wiped the board clean and opened the blinds and we were allowed to leave when all written notes were carefully stowed away in our bags.

When we moved to the Dordogne I started lessons with another lady. These were awful. She corrected every single sound I said, would butt in and correct me - it got to the stage where I didn't want to say anything, she was blocking my train of thought and I started to feel EVERYTHING I said was wrong and my confidence was taking a real bashing.  Needless to say I soon stopped.

After a very long search I found a new teacher, Nathalie, who came highly recommended. I was slightly dubious after my last experience but I knew I needed to keep these lessons going.  I had an initial free "getting to know each other" session and Nathalie asked me a lot of questions to get an idea of the things I liked or didn't, my family, my hobbies etc.  I arranged for another lesson and returned the next week when we worked on subjects that were relevant to my life and I really felt she understood me and what I wanted to achieve.  I have been attending lessons with Nathalie for 5 years now and she has helped me immensely, not only with the language but with any paperwork that was a struggle. She is a mine of information and never tires of correcting the same mistakes over and over again!

So as soon as you arrive here, search out a French teacher and get recommendations from other people. And good luck.  If anyone wants the details of my teacher let me know.... she also has fantastic biscuits!