Just my luck...
Last night was review night in my french class. Professeur Williams was gracious enough to get his hands on the final written exam and share obscure details regarding the content of the exam. I took frantic notes and will cram like never before AFTER the oral exam tomorrow night. I have no time to waste on the written french word because...no one else signed up to take the oral exam at the same time I did. Which means I am alone for the "role playing" portion of the exam.
When I asked P.Williams what his plan was for this obvious problem, he said, "No problem...I will be your partner!" He seemed really happy about this plan. I on the other hand, at this point, can only laugh at how absolutely unfortunate this is for my grade.
When you partner up in a foreign language class, with a peer, there is an assumption they know just about as much as you do. Of course, there are always the Phillip Deux's (we have two Phillip's in the class - and Phillip Un isn't nearly as clever as Phillip Deux who has traveled abroad extensively and currently lives with a french student). No, the Phillip Deux aside, working one on one with a classmate in a foreign language is a little like making eye contact with the person behind you in line when the person in front of you at the checkout counter pulls out her checkbook to pay for stuff. There's an understanding.
Having the instructor for the class as your partner, well, that's a whole other ball game. He will inevitably stray...ask follow-up questions to the only answer I was able to scrounge up for the first question, correct my every other word, and give me the head tilt, this is so sad for you look, I've been getting all semester.
I've decided to arm myself with a phrase that will require moving on. I will say it with ease and forcefulness and I will not smile sheepishly when I say it. I will pronounce each syllable if necessary to get my point across. Je ne comprends pas. Le question prochaine, s'il vous plaît.
I suppose there is the slight possibility, however, that it won't go like this at all. Maybe, instead, he'll forgo the test all together and we will have our first discussion in english. Perhaps he'll clarify all the jokes he told to us in french (that I laughed at even though I had no idea why I was laughing), or finally explain the difference between imperfect and conditional verbs in a language I use to understand difficult concepts. Maybe, just maybe, I will get to hear his non-french accent and meet the other teacher that's been lurking under the surface for 4 months. Maybe. Probably not. Back to studying.
When I asked P.Williams what his plan was for this obvious problem, he said, "No problem...I will be your partner!" He seemed really happy about this plan. I on the other hand, at this point, can only laugh at how absolutely unfortunate this is for my grade.
When you partner up in a foreign language class, with a peer, there is an assumption they know just about as much as you do. Of course, there are always the Phillip Deux's (we have two Phillip's in the class - and Phillip Un isn't nearly as clever as Phillip Deux who has traveled abroad extensively and currently lives with a french student). No, the Phillip Deux aside, working one on one with a classmate in a foreign language is a little like making eye contact with the person behind you in line when the person in front of you at the checkout counter pulls out her checkbook to pay for stuff. There's an understanding.
Having the instructor for the class as your partner, well, that's a whole other ball game. He will inevitably stray...ask follow-up questions to the only answer I was able to scrounge up for the first question, correct my every other word, and give me the head tilt, this is so sad for you look, I've been getting all semester.
I've decided to arm myself with a phrase that will require moving on. I will say it with ease and forcefulness and I will not smile sheepishly when I say it. I will pronounce each syllable if necessary to get my point across. Je ne comprends pas. Le question prochaine, s'il vous plaît.
I suppose there is the slight possibility, however, that it won't go like this at all. Maybe, instead, he'll forgo the test all together and we will have our first discussion in english. Perhaps he'll clarify all the jokes he told to us in french (that I laughed at even though I had no idea why I was laughing), or finally explain the difference between imperfect and conditional verbs in a language I use to understand difficult concepts. Maybe, just maybe, I will get to hear his non-french accent and meet the other teacher that's been lurking under the surface for 4 months. Maybe. Probably not. Back to studying.
Comments
Chances are it will work for you like it did for me and Dad when we tried to find a bathroom in Okinawa for the first time and they took us out back and showed us the sewer!!!
Bonne chance et mai Dieu vous Benisse! Je t`aime et je suis fier de vous. Maman