Some activities I picked up this year - French
How is the French class going?
Fun, but could be better if I put in more practice time.
Earlier this year, I took some time off from work, Jan - June, (I was calling it a ‘sabbatical’). During that break, I picked up several things among them french, influenced by a desire to visit Paris, would be great to have additional language for research and someone close to me who speaks it and wants to improve (will be great to practice together). This is my fifth month in the A1 french class by Alliance Francaise. We have the classes twice per week and for 2 hours. The sessions have been humbling, entertaining, and above all a great way to end the day. I have fallen off the momentum severally, but the professeure has been patient, especially when all the french disappears!
It’s a great session, we get to be kids again. The advice we received when starting out is to not be afraid of being wrong, or shy about pronunciations. I still get nervous about joining the class if I have missed the previous sessions. Conjugation has been a challenge, gendered words were surprising and so was the change of pattern in numbers after 60. I thought I would put more time to practice on my own which I believe is the best way to learn but that has been challenging, mostly priority-wise. The class offers me a good camaraderie for now. We started off as a class of 12 but after the first two months, the frequent attendees are 6. Overall it’s been great.
Some online resources I have been enjoying
As the name says, learn french (the best) - https://www.youtube.com/c/learnfrenchwithalexa
Mostly because I enjoy watching house content and needed to break the seriousness of following a class, I watch this using subtitles - https://www.youtube.com/c/ParisianVibe
This was shared by someone from class, great micro nuggets - https://instagram.com/french_take_out?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=