DATELINE: Montpellier, France
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I spent 2014-2015 in Montpellier as a student at the University of Montpellier-Paul Valery learning French. |
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With my "lost" luggage, departing Bellingham Airport August 2014.
MONTPELLIER MEMOIR #1
Published August 23, 2014
By Jennifer Karchmer
MONTPELLIER, France -- My luggage arrived today -- 10 days after my arrival which forced me to go shopping for an entire new wardrobe (shopping... my fav thing). I made it all the way from JFK to Dublin to Paris via Aer Lingus airline (Ireland) no problemo and picked up my bag at CDG in Paris. Trekked over to the Air France airline, checked my bag for a one hour flight south to Montpellier. Upon arrival in Montpellier, as we were disembarking the plane in fact, they made an announcement on the plane, in French... "blah blah blah Jennifer Karchmer... blah blah blah." All I could make out was my name. I thought maybe my friend Max who was picking me up was having a special arrival for me or something. Instead, a woman speaking English informed me my bag did not make it to Montpellier and gave me some paperwork to get it on the next flight and I should see it the next day. OH well.
A few days later, after calling customer service for an update, Air France reported the bag was actually lost due to some kind of airline strike. It really wasn't the end of the world as I borrowed some clothes from my friend Judith and shopped the entire first week. I completed a claim form online itemizing every single thing in my bag and frankly the most important thing were my form fitted ice skates. I was sad that I would probably never see them again, however the airline can compensate you about 1300 euros ($1700) so I was pretty psyched for a check. Bag is here now and I have everything I need.
My TEFL course is intense as it's 9:30a-4:30p Mon-Friday, homework everynight and we had our first grammar test today in fact. IF you know me, you know I am a grammar geek and pride myself in my understanding and adherence to English grammar rules. This class is hard! We are re-learning the present continuous ("I am walking"), relative pronouns (which/that) and writing complex sentences using subordinating conjunctions (before, although, since, whereas...). I'll report back on how I did on the test.
There are only three of us in the class, which sounds strange but for this type of degree you need to keep the classes small. I had expected maybe 8-10, which is the class size during the other more peak times of year, but August is a majorly SLOW time of year in France. The country is on holiday and many stores are closed altogether. Don't plan on looking for a job during this time of year. It is a great time to be a TEFL student since the class is so small we get individualized attention from the teacher. The other two people are both British women; Emma, 40, is half Spanish and is already a language teacher in Madrid. The other, Jemima, a 22 year old recent college grad, is in Montpellier with her boyfriend who is studying French at the university and she plans to work as an English teacher upon completion.
I'm staying with Khadija, a Moroccan/French woman who has a 2 bedroom apt just outside the main part of the city. It's a quick walk to the center city and another ten minutes to school. She's very accommodating and nice, giving me space. She is fluent in French and Arabic and working on her English. We have had many laughs in French and Eng over technology (her cable and Internet was on the fritz) and opening a bottle of wine with a faulty wine opener. Laughing is universal. :) She has been speaking to me in French only because she knows I want to learn French. Sometimes I need clarification, and again we have some laughs and also at the end of the day when I am exhausted and want to speak English we share new vocabulary and pronunciation in both languages.
Apparently Montpellier is having a cooler summer than usual which means the weather has been amazing 80s and cool at night. La plage (the beach) is only a 40 minute ride via public transportation so you can hit the beach after work or class, go swimming and get back home no problem. The Tram is the local way everyone gets around, and everytime I get on I think it's such a hoot. It's the cutest most chill way to travel (images below). Having lived in NYC with the frenetic subway, underground, hot and loud, the Tram has only 4 lines, each a different color (blue, flowers, brown and ?) and as it arrives you hear a melodious "don don dah dah..." No loud horns and it's above ground traveling right along the traffic. It think it travels only 15 mph. The attitude toward traffic is a little crazy here. Jaywalking does not exist in that everyone sort of just gets from point A to point B so you need to be on high alert for a bike, motorcycle moped or car coming out from nowhere.
Published August 23, 2014
By Jennifer Karchmer
MONTPELLIER, France -- My luggage arrived today -- 10 days after my arrival which forced me to go shopping for an entire new wardrobe (shopping... my fav thing). I made it all the way from JFK to Dublin to Paris via Aer Lingus airline (Ireland) no problemo and picked up my bag at CDG in Paris. Trekked over to the Air France airline, checked my bag for a one hour flight south to Montpellier. Upon arrival in Montpellier, as we were disembarking the plane in fact, they made an announcement on the plane, in French... "blah blah blah Jennifer Karchmer... blah blah blah." All I could make out was my name. I thought maybe my friend Max who was picking me up was having a special arrival for me or something. Instead, a woman speaking English informed me my bag did not make it to Montpellier and gave me some paperwork to get it on the next flight and I should see it the next day. OH well.
A few days later, after calling customer service for an update, Air France reported the bag was actually lost due to some kind of airline strike. It really wasn't the end of the world as I borrowed some clothes from my friend Judith and shopped the entire first week. I completed a claim form online itemizing every single thing in my bag and frankly the most important thing were my form fitted ice skates. I was sad that I would probably never see them again, however the airline can compensate you about 1300 euros ($1700) so I was pretty psyched for a check. Bag is here now and I have everything I need.
My TEFL course is intense as it's 9:30a-4:30p Mon-Friday, homework everynight and we had our first grammar test today in fact. IF you know me, you know I am a grammar geek and pride myself in my understanding and adherence to English grammar rules. This class is hard! We are re-learning the present continuous ("I am walking"), relative pronouns (which/that) and writing complex sentences using subordinating conjunctions (before, although, since, whereas...). I'll report back on how I did on the test.
There are only three of us in the class, which sounds strange but for this type of degree you need to keep the classes small. I had expected maybe 8-10, which is the class size during the other more peak times of year, but August is a majorly SLOW time of year in France. The country is on holiday and many stores are closed altogether. Don't plan on looking for a job during this time of year. It is a great time to be a TEFL student since the class is so small we get individualized attention from the teacher. The other two people are both British women; Emma, 40, is half Spanish and is already a language teacher in Madrid. The other, Jemima, a 22 year old recent college grad, is in Montpellier with her boyfriend who is studying French at the university and she plans to work as an English teacher upon completion.
I'm staying with Khadija, a Moroccan/French woman who has a 2 bedroom apt just outside the main part of the city. It's a quick walk to the center city and another ten minutes to school. She's very accommodating and nice, giving me space. She is fluent in French and Arabic and working on her English. We have had many laughs in French and Eng over technology (her cable and Internet was on the fritz) and opening a bottle of wine with a faulty wine opener. Laughing is universal. :) She has been speaking to me in French only because she knows I want to learn French. Sometimes I need clarification, and again we have some laughs and also at the end of the day when I am exhausted and want to speak English we share new vocabulary and pronunciation in both languages.
Apparently Montpellier is having a cooler summer than usual which means the weather has been amazing 80s and cool at night. La plage (the beach) is only a 40 minute ride via public transportation so you can hit the beach after work or class, go swimming and get back home no problem. The Tram is the local way everyone gets around, and everytime I get on I think it's such a hoot. It's the cutest most chill way to travel (images below). Having lived in NYC with the frenetic subway, underground, hot and loud, the Tram has only 4 lines, each a different color (blue, flowers, brown and ?) and as it arrives you hear a melodious "don don dah dah..." No loud horns and it's above ground traveling right along the traffic. It think it travels only 15 mph. The attitude toward traffic is a little crazy here. Jaywalking does not exist in that everyone sort of just gets from point A to point B so you need to be on high alert for a bike, motorcycle moped or car coming out from nowhere.
Golden afternoon sunlight down a narrow Montpellier street
Every single corner has a cafe and if you walk just a few blocks it's another plaza with a bunch of cafes each with large outdoor umbrellas abutting each other, sometimes you don't know which restaurant you're sitting in since they sort of commingle their seating. When it's really warm, every few minutes a fine mist sprays out from the umbrellas to cool you down. It's the opposite of those heat lamps you see in outdoor seating. For those of us with curly hair, it means an immediate hair poof (think Monica in Florida in that one Friends episode...lol).
You have to not mind cig smoking as it's a prevalent pasttime and all of the outdoor tables have ashtrays. No smoking indoors however. Food of course is delicous however as many of you know, I'm on a no sugar lifestyle so if you can believe it, I have not had a croissant nor chocolate since I arrived (nor in 75 days).
The main drag is La Comedie, a huge plaza (maybe the largest in Europe) where tourists and residents alike gather all day everyday among the restaurants, shops, outdoor vendors and it's a sight to see. Performers, musicians, protests and activists,kids on scooters, little tourist busses, beggars, people with luggage just arriving from the train station, everyone is flooding here and you can sit at one of the outdoor cafes, have a coffee and just people watch for hours.
I have met no Americans nor many people who speak English. I speak French at the stores making purchases and for the most part the store clerks respond in French since the expectation is that you speak French. Unlike Paris where it's an international city, Montpellier is like being in St. Louis or somewhere in the middle of the US where you would expect to speak English on a daily basis. Occasionally I get a response in English at which point I chuckle and say "Je suis une etudiante a l'universite de Montpellier Trois. Je parle francais un peu. Je suis une debutante." Google translate it... lol <I am a student at UniM3. I speak a little french. I am a beginner.>
After that anything I say in French seems to impress them since the few Americans they meet here know no French so I take my Ambassadorship here seriously :-) Also, those French who know Eng are truly excited to practice their Eng with a native speaker so we often have an interesting exchange and I'm finding plenty of language conversation partners.
I'm not usually a TV person but it's a great way to get exposed to the culture and language. Right now I have a French game show on the TV as I write and I"m flipping through the 700 channels of news, shows, movies to watch French as much as possible.
I saw "New York Melody" a new flick with Keira Knightly and Mark Ruffalo. In the states it's promoted as "Begin Again." First of all, don't see it. KK is totally miscast as a grunge girl singer. I believe she does her own singing and guitar playing in the flick, but it seems dubbed and I was surprised they didn't cast a real up-and-coming singer who's also an actor. I saw it bc it was the original version with French subtitles and I love movies set in NYC. Depending on the time of day, when you see a film here you can see the V.O. (version originale) which is what I saw. Or the French version means they dub French language over Denzel Washington and his lips are moving in English but you hear French (and maybe see Eng subtitles?). That's OK however if you're trying to learn French that's not too effective as we communicate through our facial and mouth features and the dub messes it all up. It is pretty funny seeing Denzel "speaking" French, which was one of the trailers (cant remember the flick).
Three more weeks of my TEFL course and then I jump right into university where I start formal French lessons. Can't wait. Looking for an apt now with the help of my friends Max and Judith. They have lived here for 4 years and are both fluent. In fact, Max teaches in French at the university. The three of us were all at the advanced beginner stage 4 years ago when they arrived. It was the same summer I spent 5 weeks in Paris and met them at the airport and helped them move. They are great friends and have been really helpful in (letting me borrow clothes amid the alleged lost luggage), housing me and helping me get a french bank account and phone (still working on both). I'm excited to get to that comfortable level where every interaction isn't excruciating but it will come.
I miss Bellingham and for those who know what a baseball fan I am, the Bellingham Bells are racking up an amazing season. I'm sad I'm missing the playoffs but am following their progress online. They are having a great season.
Last week I waited in line at La Poste to purchase postcard stamps (send me your address if you'd like a pc...). The entire time I repeated in my head: <"Je voudrais acheter des timbres pour les cartes postales aux etats-unis">. I would like to buy some post card stamps for the US... Finally I got to the counter and executed that one sentence. Accomplishment for the day!
Pro-tip: As you arrive and say hello, the greeting is Bonjour (good day, hello) whereas after your transaction and you depart you say bonne journee (have a nice day). Same with evening. Upon arrival "Bon soir" Good evening. As you depart "Bon soiree." Keep that one under your hat next time you visit France.
A bientot mes amies,
Jenni
You have to not mind cig smoking as it's a prevalent pasttime and all of the outdoor tables have ashtrays. No smoking indoors however. Food of course is delicous however as many of you know, I'm on a no sugar lifestyle so if you can believe it, I have not had a croissant nor chocolate since I arrived (nor in 75 days).
The main drag is La Comedie, a huge plaza (maybe the largest in Europe) where tourists and residents alike gather all day everyday among the restaurants, shops, outdoor vendors and it's a sight to see. Performers, musicians, protests and activists,kids on scooters, little tourist busses, beggars, people with luggage just arriving from the train station, everyone is flooding here and you can sit at one of the outdoor cafes, have a coffee and just people watch for hours.
I have met no Americans nor many people who speak English. I speak French at the stores making purchases and for the most part the store clerks respond in French since the expectation is that you speak French. Unlike Paris where it's an international city, Montpellier is like being in St. Louis or somewhere in the middle of the US where you would expect to speak English on a daily basis. Occasionally I get a response in English at which point I chuckle and say "Je suis une etudiante a l'universite de Montpellier Trois. Je parle francais un peu. Je suis une debutante." Google translate it... lol <I am a student at UniM3. I speak a little french. I am a beginner.>
After that anything I say in French seems to impress them since the few Americans they meet here know no French so I take my Ambassadorship here seriously :-) Also, those French who know Eng are truly excited to practice their Eng with a native speaker so we often have an interesting exchange and I'm finding plenty of language conversation partners.
I'm not usually a TV person but it's a great way to get exposed to the culture and language. Right now I have a French game show on the TV as I write and I"m flipping through the 700 channels of news, shows, movies to watch French as much as possible.
I saw "New York Melody" a new flick with Keira Knightly and Mark Ruffalo. In the states it's promoted as "Begin Again." First of all, don't see it. KK is totally miscast as a grunge girl singer. I believe she does her own singing and guitar playing in the flick, but it seems dubbed and I was surprised they didn't cast a real up-and-coming singer who's also an actor. I saw it bc it was the original version with French subtitles and I love movies set in NYC. Depending on the time of day, when you see a film here you can see the V.O. (version originale) which is what I saw. Or the French version means they dub French language over Denzel Washington and his lips are moving in English but you hear French (and maybe see Eng subtitles?). That's OK however if you're trying to learn French that's not too effective as we communicate through our facial and mouth features and the dub messes it all up. It is pretty funny seeing Denzel "speaking" French, which was one of the trailers (cant remember the flick).
Three more weeks of my TEFL course and then I jump right into university where I start formal French lessons. Can't wait. Looking for an apt now with the help of my friends Max and Judith. They have lived here for 4 years and are both fluent. In fact, Max teaches in French at the university. The three of us were all at the advanced beginner stage 4 years ago when they arrived. It was the same summer I spent 5 weeks in Paris and met them at the airport and helped them move. They are great friends and have been really helpful in (letting me borrow clothes amid the alleged lost luggage), housing me and helping me get a french bank account and phone (still working on both). I'm excited to get to that comfortable level where every interaction isn't excruciating but it will come.
I miss Bellingham and for those who know what a baseball fan I am, the Bellingham Bells are racking up an amazing season. I'm sad I'm missing the playoffs but am following their progress online. They are having a great season.
Last week I waited in line at La Poste to purchase postcard stamps (send me your address if you'd like a pc...). The entire time I repeated in my head: <"Je voudrais acheter des timbres pour les cartes postales aux etats-unis">. I would like to buy some post card stamps for the US... Finally I got to the counter and executed that one sentence. Accomplishment for the day!
Pro-tip: As you arrive and say hello, the greeting is Bonjour (good day, hello) whereas after your transaction and you depart you say bonne journee (have a nice day). Same with evening. Upon arrival "Bon soir" Good evening. As you depart "Bon soiree." Keep that one under your hat next time you visit France.
A bientot mes amies,
Jenni
MONTPELLIER MEMOIRS #2
Published September 4, 2014
by Jennifer Karchmer
MONTPELLIER, France -- I purchased my first French book, "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory." It may seem elementary, but it's a great way to begin building my vocabulary and getting used to reading in another language. Earlier this summer, I took a stab at the French (original) version of "Suite Francaise," a novel set in 1940s Paris, by Irene Némirovsky. A little overly ambitious for this French debutante: It took me an hour to read one page. I was translating every line. I'll work up to it but for now, a children's story that I'm already familiar with, along with the movie which I've seen at least 20 times, is a great start. (Go ahead and google "Suite Francaise" and find out how the author's daughters held onto their's mother's handwritten manuscript in a suitcase for like 60 years before finally publishing it. I'm excited to say there's a film version too coming out later this year, starring Michelle Williams and Kristin Scott Thomas.
We're in week 4, the final stretch of the 120-hour TEFL course. This Friday (September 05), we receive our certificates deeming us official TEFL instructors. (95% on my grammar test and 94% on my phonology test btw!)
Holding the TEFL accreditation comes with a high status worldwide. As a native English speaker (English mother tongue), I am also well positioned for work. Apparently, a non-native English speaker can earn a TEFL degree, however having English as your native language carries more weight for jobs. You have grown up immersed in the language, and that brings an entirely different level of proficiency and communication.
To see how languages are assessed, check out the European standard: <http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/cadre1_en.asp> Next time someone boasts he's fluent in Spanish because he backpacked in South America one summer, you may want to raise an eyebrow. Officially speaking, fluency is based on context and your ability to express an opinion, to persuade or present an argument, in both speech and writing. To determine fluency, it really depends on the context: are you a business owner convincing someone to invest in your company or at a restaurant with friends asking "what's for dinner?"
Another interesting point is that we are not "fluent" in our native language. For example, I am not fluent in English; instead it is my mother tongue. I could be fluent in French (a goal someday) because it is my second language, but it would not be accurate to say that I am a fluent English speaker.
Next week, I begin my French language studies at l'Universite de Montpellier 3-Paul Valery. I took the placement exam last week -- a two-hour written exam and a ten-minute oral exam. For the writing portion, there were 5 huge paragraphs, each with 30 blanks where you had to fill in the correct word (verbs, nouns, prepositions, conjunctions, etc.), each paragraph getting progressively harder. By the 2nd or 3rd paragraph, I was really reaching -- I was transported to Mme Verven's 8th grade French class, trying to get the nouns correct. Is "chair" masculine or feminine? (La chaise=feminine). That part was 150 points.
The next part consisted of a lighthearted one-frame cartoon with a family of four crouched on a bureau apparently afraid of their crazy dog which had trashed the house, ripped up shoes and other items. First, you had to describe the scene. Then write what HAD happened and what WILL happen (testing our verb tenses) and then in another paragraph tell a story of why the family was in this situation in the first place. It was a great exercise (45 mins) and I imagine the exam readers have a ball with the imaginative stories students weave. Under the test pressure, I came up with a tale about how the family sought refuge high up on their furniture to get away from their vicious dog. They were scared (d'avoir peur) of the pooch because he accidentally ate poison (kitchen cleaning fluid), which made him rabid so he decimated the home, including a bunch of items like shoes (des chaussures), eyeglasses (des lunettes), a lamp and cord (une lampe et un cordon). I couldn't figure out how to say "teddy bear" :)
For the oral exam, a very nice lady greeted me (en francais) and told me not to be nervous. She asked a few questions that I needed to answer with full sentences, not just "to study."
"Why did you move to Montpellier? How was your flight? Where are you from? Where is my pen? That last one tripped me up... I knew "stylo" however I needed her to repeat several times "repetez s'il vous plait?" Apparently, it was "in front of her," or "Here it is on the table." Against sterotype of the strict and stern French teacher, both women were very encouraging, sweet and friendly. I am looking forward to class beginning next week and know I can only improve. I imagine I'll be in the A2 advanced beginner stage, and find out my level (niveau) next week.
Back to the TEFL course, for those who are truly interested in grammar like I am: here are some quick points about what it entails to be an accredited TEFL teacher. First it's important that I am well versed in grammar details (i.e., conditional, past perfect, prepositions, coordinating conjunctions, MODALS!,), however this is not terminology that you would use with ELL (Eng language learners). In fact, during our three weeks of student teaching, we learned to create 50-minute lesson plans that are framed around topics and not grammar lessons. In other words, the topic of the day might be soccer (here = football). Within that topic, we practice prepositions: "She passed the ball TO her teammate." "He kicked the ball INTO the goal." "They play defense ON a field." This approach creates repetition and a higher level of retention rather than a straight-forward teacher lecturing on the grammar point and instilling memorization techniques, which we all know are worthless (Inside joke to friends... the prepositions are: aboard about above across after along amid among at, I can go on...lol).
This TEFL course focuses on the communicative method, a student-centered approach, which basically means you want to get the students talking as much as possible, even if they are struggling constructing sentences. THEY do the talking, not the teacher. For my loquacious self, this has been a challenge to just give directions, clearly and concisely, then shut up. Let the students ask questions, collaborate, problem solve and brainstorm together, in small groups, pairs or individually. Next post, I'll talk about the lovely people who were our English students.
Published September 4, 2014
by Jennifer Karchmer
MONTPELLIER, France -- I purchased my first French book, "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory." It may seem elementary, but it's a great way to begin building my vocabulary and getting used to reading in another language. Earlier this summer, I took a stab at the French (original) version of "Suite Francaise," a novel set in 1940s Paris, by Irene Némirovsky. A little overly ambitious for this French debutante: It took me an hour to read one page. I was translating every line. I'll work up to it but for now, a children's story that I'm already familiar with, along with the movie which I've seen at least 20 times, is a great start. (Go ahead and google "Suite Francaise" and find out how the author's daughters held onto their's mother's handwritten manuscript in a suitcase for like 60 years before finally publishing it. I'm excited to say there's a film version too coming out later this year, starring Michelle Williams and Kristin Scott Thomas.
We're in week 4, the final stretch of the 120-hour TEFL course. This Friday (September 05), we receive our certificates deeming us official TEFL instructors. (95% on my grammar test and 94% on my phonology test btw!)
Holding the TEFL accreditation comes with a high status worldwide. As a native English speaker (English mother tongue), I am also well positioned for work. Apparently, a non-native English speaker can earn a TEFL degree, however having English as your native language carries more weight for jobs. You have grown up immersed in the language, and that brings an entirely different level of proficiency and communication.
To see how languages are assessed, check out the European standard: <http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/cadre1_en.asp> Next time someone boasts he's fluent in Spanish because he backpacked in South America one summer, you may want to raise an eyebrow. Officially speaking, fluency is based on context and your ability to express an opinion, to persuade or present an argument, in both speech and writing. To determine fluency, it really depends on the context: are you a business owner convincing someone to invest in your company or at a restaurant with friends asking "what's for dinner?"
Another interesting point is that we are not "fluent" in our native language. For example, I am not fluent in English; instead it is my mother tongue. I could be fluent in French (a goal someday) because it is my second language, but it would not be accurate to say that I am a fluent English speaker.
Next week, I begin my French language studies at l'Universite de Montpellier 3-Paul Valery. I took the placement exam last week -- a two-hour written exam and a ten-minute oral exam. For the writing portion, there were 5 huge paragraphs, each with 30 blanks where you had to fill in the correct word (verbs, nouns, prepositions, conjunctions, etc.), each paragraph getting progressively harder. By the 2nd or 3rd paragraph, I was really reaching -- I was transported to Mme Verven's 8th grade French class, trying to get the nouns correct. Is "chair" masculine or feminine? (La chaise=feminine). That part was 150 points.
The next part consisted of a lighthearted one-frame cartoon with a family of four crouched on a bureau apparently afraid of their crazy dog which had trashed the house, ripped up shoes and other items. First, you had to describe the scene. Then write what HAD happened and what WILL happen (testing our verb tenses) and then in another paragraph tell a story of why the family was in this situation in the first place. It was a great exercise (45 mins) and I imagine the exam readers have a ball with the imaginative stories students weave. Under the test pressure, I came up with a tale about how the family sought refuge high up on their furniture to get away from their vicious dog. They were scared (d'avoir peur) of the pooch because he accidentally ate poison (kitchen cleaning fluid), which made him rabid so he decimated the home, including a bunch of items like shoes (des chaussures), eyeglasses (des lunettes), a lamp and cord (une lampe et un cordon). I couldn't figure out how to say "teddy bear" :)
For the oral exam, a very nice lady greeted me (en francais) and told me not to be nervous. She asked a few questions that I needed to answer with full sentences, not just "to study."
"Why did you move to Montpellier? How was your flight? Where are you from? Where is my pen? That last one tripped me up... I knew "stylo" however I needed her to repeat several times "repetez s'il vous plait?" Apparently, it was "in front of her," or "Here it is on the table." Against sterotype of the strict and stern French teacher, both women were very encouraging, sweet and friendly. I am looking forward to class beginning next week and know I can only improve. I imagine I'll be in the A2 advanced beginner stage, and find out my level (niveau) next week.
Back to the TEFL course, for those who are truly interested in grammar like I am: here are some quick points about what it entails to be an accredited TEFL teacher. First it's important that I am well versed in grammar details (i.e., conditional, past perfect, prepositions, coordinating conjunctions, MODALS!,), however this is not terminology that you would use with ELL (Eng language learners). In fact, during our three weeks of student teaching, we learned to create 50-minute lesson plans that are framed around topics and not grammar lessons. In other words, the topic of the day might be soccer (here = football). Within that topic, we practice prepositions: "She passed the ball TO her teammate." "He kicked the ball INTO the goal." "They play defense ON a field." This approach creates repetition and a higher level of retention rather than a straight-forward teacher lecturing on the grammar point and instilling memorization techniques, which we all know are worthless (Inside joke to friends... the prepositions are: aboard about above across after along amid among at, I can go on...lol).
This TEFL course focuses on the communicative method, a student-centered approach, which basically means you want to get the students talking as much as possible, even if they are struggling constructing sentences. THEY do the talking, not the teacher. For my loquacious self, this has been a challenge to just give directions, clearly and concisely, then shut up. Let the students ask questions, collaborate, problem solve and brainstorm together, in small groups, pairs or individually. Next post, I'll talk about the lovely people who were our English students.
I located an apartment in centre ville (see pics). It's on the higher end for price, but still a great deal as it's furnished, comes with Internet, TV/cable (so I can watch French TV), and a washing machine.
Given the warm climate, people typically don't need a dryer as air drying is cost-efficient and easy. I could have located something with a lower price but it would have been out of town and in a modern complex, not really my style. I wanted something with character! This apt is in what appears to be a 17th century building. All these years I've been dreaming of living in a French city, THIS is what I had in mind. |
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If you've done any road trips on the east coast of the USA, you've probably seen the bumper sticker, "Virginia is for L❤VERS." I've been to Virginia a few times and maybe have witnessed a peck on the cheek. But Montpellier -- now there's a city that needs the bumper sticker: "M❤NTPELLIER IS for L❤vers." It's not uncommon to see a male-female couple entwined in each other's arms, hugging or kissing. The PDA (public display of affection) is prevalent and lovely, but not over the top like people making out all the time or having sex in the parks. Also, I notice lots of pregnant women and KIDS everywhere. As a reporter, I'll seek out some exact stats from the hospital, but my guess is that there is a very busy maternity ward between March-May (nine months after the sunny sunny July-September months). Catch my drift?!
For fun: years ago I did a news story "Blizzard Babies" about upstate NY maternity wards being very busy exactly nine months after a Nor'easter <Scroll down on this page: <http://www.jenniferkarchmer.com/broadcast-news.html>
One more observation about language: many waiters and clerks in the stores WANT to speak English. When they hear my French with an American (New Yawk) accent, they toss in a few English phrases -- "I speak English little bit" and "Yey, Obama!" -- and talk about how they learned it in school but don't have anywhere to practice so I often get into some interesting conversations with waitstaff. When I make a request using the more polite "Je voudrais" (I would like...) rather than "Je veux (I want)," they are doubly impressed. Thank you Mme Verven.
As in the USA, summer is winding down here -- students with hefty backpacks flooding the streets and kids zooming by on scooters heading to school. Still, it is warm and sunny and daily wear consists of sandals, sundresses & shorts. For my Bellingham friends: unlike the PNW, Montpellier boasts more than 300 sunny days a year.
à bientôt,
Jenni
One more observation about language: many waiters and clerks in the stores WANT to speak English. When they hear my French with an American (New Yawk) accent, they toss in a few English phrases -- "I speak English little bit" and "Yey, Obama!" -- and talk about how they learned it in school but don't have anywhere to practice so I often get into some interesting conversations with waitstaff. When I make a request using the more polite "Je voudrais" (I would like...) rather than "Je veux (I want)," they are doubly impressed. Thank you Mme Verven.
As in the USA, summer is winding down here -- students with hefty backpacks flooding the streets and kids zooming by on scooters heading to school. Still, it is warm and sunny and daily wear consists of sandals, sundresses & shorts. For my Bellingham friends: unlike the PNW, Montpellier boasts more than 300 sunny days a year.
à bientôt,
Jenni