I was originally placed into B1 for my language level but I had the midset that I was at least B2. The language levels are listed as A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, and C2 ranging pretty much from A1 being beginner to C2 being advanced/fluent. If you get placed into a lower level than expected, don’t panic. I only had to go through a week of classes in B1 and then talk with my études de la langue professor about moving up. I felt like I was really in the middle of the two levels but I decided to move up and challenge myself more since I am only here for a semester. Also, my French professor at home didn’t think I belonged in B1 as well. The placements are decided based on a skills test and what the preliminary language teacher thinks. We took a two week preliminary language course before we started actual classes and it is worth two credits. I kinda took the test the day before it was due because I didn’t know about it until then, so I feel like that could’ve effected my placement as well.

I felt like B1 was definitely more like review for me and I understood everything and was talking much faster than some of the others in my classes. My only fear with B2 is the oral comprehension because I have trouble understanding the audio recordings sometimes, but I know I’ll only improve over time the more I practice with it. I think I just panic a little bit because I’m too focused on the questions. Switching to B2 was definitely better for my Études de la Langue (study of the language) class because I know my reading and writing skills are definitely at that level. I have the grammar down but the big thing I want to improve is my speaking competency and to gain more vocabulary. I’m just missing a couple pieces, but the past few weeks I’ve been here I’ve definitely found some of those pieces.

Here’s a list with descriptions of my classes

Études de la Langue:

This is basically the study of the French language. I have this class three times a week and the classes are two hours long. In this class we’ve been looking over sentences and correcting them but also labeling the types of mistakes like verb tense, accord, and orthography. For homework we write little journals (large paragraphs) for our professor. He marks the errors and gives them back to you to write it a second time correctly unless you have less than five errors. The French aren’t afraid to say if you did bad in front of the class or if you did really good. It’s normal for them to expose you to the class. I’m pretty sure one time when someone made a mistake he said “Am I gonna have to jump out the window?” I mean I know that’s morbid but I found it funny because it was shocking to hear it from a teacher. He did only mean it as a joke and not to completely insult the girl. In this class we also review conjugations and other grammar rules besides verb tenses like C.O.I.: Complément d’objet indirect (Indirect Object) and C.O.D.: Complément d’objet diret (Direct Object) sentences and whether there is agreement with the verbs and the subjects or not. This is at least what the class has started out as.

Expression Orale:

In this class we’ve mainly created scenes or spoke out to the class about an experience. I’ve only had this class twice since I missed a week. We each have to do a presentation. I was assigned alcohol and France. I’m not really sure when I’m going to have to present but I’ll probably just start researching. The class grades your presentation along with the teacher on little question sheets. The last scene we did was a film interview with an interview, film maker, and viewer and we had to use verbs that were given to us. We could only use the verbs in a sentence that uses the conditional verb tense. I feel like I learn new words in the class but she doesn’t go into depth about what they mean so I need to look them up when I get home.

Civilization:

This is probably my most boring class. This is only because it’s the third two hour class on Wednesday. Wednesday’s are my rough days. This class is pretty much just a history class in French. Last class we learned about the different stages of the development of the Louvre. It was interesting but I was brain dead. I feel like this professor could talk for days on the history of France.

Écriture creative (Creative Writing) & Manifestations:

I’ve only had this class once due to the level change and strikes. Strikes and manifestations occur a lot and cause the university to shut down. The professors and students at the international school are trying to stay open since we are on a different learning tract and not having classes definitely affect us having an efficient education. Especially for us with CIEE who are only here for a semester. The creative writing class itself seems to be a good choice for me. I feel like I am going to learn a lot more new vocabulary. We don’t write as much as you would think. We talk about how something could be written a different way. For example, we created acronyms for our initials. The first words that popped into my head was Nocturne Giraffe (Nocturnal/night giraffe) for N.G. I’m someone who likes to go out to soirées and giraffes are pretty majestic and cute so I decided to go with that interpretation.

Laboratoire:

In this class we sit in a room with a French speaker who listens to us speak and corrects us. We also repeat after her. This class is only an hour long. Last time the computer wasn’t working but we usually use head phones to listen to her and talk into a microphone for her to listen and send feedback on our pronunciations.

Compréhension Orale:

It’s only an hour long class but I stress a little bit. I just feel like I won’t do that great on the exams. We just listen to audio recordings and answer the questions the professor gives us. I do believe that I will improve. I think I’m going to download some podcasts to see if that will help improve my oral comprehension.

Compréhension et Expression Écrite:

I’ve only had this class once but it is pretty much just reading texts in a packet the professor gives you and there are questions for comprehension and interpretation. I consider myself a slower reader, but we get the whole class time for when we have evaluations. The first reading I did went well and there were only a couple spelling mistakes in my answers but the comprehension of the text is what is most important for this class. We are able to work on the packet at home as well.

TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language):

This class is being transferred over as a education requirement for my degree back home. I am working towards an ESL (English as a Second Language) certification and this counts as one of the courses. I will just have to make a portfolio to match the Pennsylvania State Standards. In this course I am making lessons and studying pedagogy. On Wednesday mornings I will be teaching a group of 15-16 high school students English all by myself! There are two groups that will switch out each week. They are in their second to last year before they graduate (Niveau (level): Primaire). I will have my first class this week. I will probably write about this more in depth in another blog later on. I’m really excited because this is the first time I’ll be able to actually teach a class. I’ve only done hundreds of hours (seriously at least over a hundred) of observation and a little bit of tutoring so far.

Linguistic Exchange

When I went on a tour of the university library the lady who gave me the tour asked if I wanted to do a language exchange with her. She did it with a student last semester and she said it really benefited them both. I agreed so now we meet up once or twice a week and speak either only French or only English during the hour we hang out. She’s super nice.

The Preliminary Language Course

The two week preliminary language course was held at a language institution near Parc du Tabor and not far from Saint Anne. I didn’t find it very intensive, but we went over some basics and discussed French culture. Some of the homework had us talk with our house parents about their views on Bretagne (Brittany) and then their views on American culture. We also discussed music and films. We reviewed how to form opinions, presented on some articles, and performed a debate. Our teacher also collected and corrected a couple writings.