Evaluation and introductions
On the morning of my evaluation call, I was nervous. There was nothing to prepare, and no one to impress, I told myself; I’d at least be able to say “bonjour,” and if all went downhill from there, then eh bien. (Oh well.) It’s where I needed to be.
But still, I felt like I was heading into a school language test unprepared…. or worse, showing up at a 1642 tailgate where I couldn’t just make excuses for myself, as I always did, that “high school French was just too many years ago.”
Nope; this time, I had to try.
And try I did.
The evaluator (who, by the way, was very kind and non-intimidating) asked me to introduce myself in French, recite the French alphabet, and give him my phone number in French. I struggled through the alphabet (mispronouncing, I realized later, G, H, J, W and Y), I slipped in a few German words, and let’s just say that if it was an unwanted flirt in a bar asking me for the phone number, my answer would have been spot-on.
So, I was assigned to Module 1. But you know what? That was totally fine. I was just excited to get started. If anything, I’d be less intimidated going forward.
My evaluator told me that the next step was my first meeting with my tutor, who would orient me to the portal and explain the process and expectations. Again, there was nothing I needed to prepare.
So, on a Tuesday morning, with my two young daughters settling in to their brand-new kindergarten and second grade classrooms, I settled in for a Teams call with Saly, my tutor. She signed on with a French greeting that I was able to respond to, then switched over to English to give me a tour of the online portal and an overview of our upcoming work together.
She and I would meet weekly for 1 hour to review the lesson I had completed the week before. For every 1 hour of tutoring, I was expected to complete 3 hours of self-study, during which I would read and study that week’s grammar and vocab (nicely summarized in a “What’s New” sidebar that’s accessible at all times within the portal). If I had time, I could also explore the video dialogue scenes and work on the multiple-choice self-study exercises.
After each week’s review, Saly and I would then have our own conversation incorporating the essential phrases from that week’s lesson. Finally, after our meeting ended, she would send me a little report on my performance with notes on the areas I needed to improve.
OK, I said. D’accord.
One thing I noticed right away, as we clicked around in Module 1, was that the themes of the lessons were much more “grownup” or professionally-focused than what I remembered learning in my high school classes. The dialogue scenes were all about a man moving to a new apartment, meeting the building manager and his neighbors, and meeting the new director at his office – who, he learns, has just moved into the same apartment building. (Vraiment!)
I couldn’t wait to learn more about this highly coincidental online world.
One other thing I noticed about the dialogues: the little animated characters seemed to be giving out their phone numbers to everyone they met. I guess after I complete this module, the next time someone asks me for my phone number, I’ll be able to give him the right answer.
(This is a little friendly challenge for my husband, who said he would join me in my online lessons once things settled down for him at work.)
A bientot, Tayt! ;)