What is Class Like?

For those of you who are curious how we spend our school days, here's a quick synopsis:

For Eric:

Eric has spent the past several weeks learning the basics of the French language... structure, the sounds of the language/pronunciation, common/useful verbs and how to use them, basic vocabulary, numbers, days of the week/month, which words are masculine and which are feminine- just to name a few things. Anne-Marie will teach in English until after the school break at the end of October (1 1/2 week break) and then she will switch over to teaching in French. It's crazy to think of learning a language you don't know in a language you don't know. But, it works, however painful it is.

For Amanda:

Since I've had a few years of French (2 years in high school, 3 semesters in college) and understand some basics of structure, vocabulary, etc., I started out in the intermediate class, where my teacher spoke French from day one. Many days it gives me a headache, but I can certainly see how helpful it is. We usually cover the same things that Eric's class covers, but more in depth and we're required to converse in French. Some days we have discussions on various topics, debate, or make up skits using the concepts we're studying. We do all this, but at a very basic level...I'm sure we sound like 5 year olds. My classmates are all good sports, so that makes class not quite as painful as it could be (we laugh a lot- at each other and at ourselves).

Other Stuff

There are a few other things that we do collectively as a school. Monday, Thursday, and Friday we have chapel. Sometimes the teachers share and sometimes students in the advanced classes share (next year we'll be required to do that!). Fridays we have a music-only worship service where we sing French hymns and praise & worship songs (some are familiar & translated into French, others are new to us).

Also, we have chorus on Tuesday afternoons. This is quite a difficult task, especially for those who have no idea how to read music. Supposedly, it will help with pronunciation. Also, we're told it's good to learn French hymns because they're used throughout the francophone world (French-speaking countries).

Outside of that, I (Amanda) have a language helper I meet with on Wednesday afternoons. Her name is Helen and she was the cook here at the school for 20 years and is now retired. It's a bit of a nerve-wracking experience to try to use what I know, but she is a very gracious lady and, like many others here at the school, she sees it as a ministry and as part of building God's kingdom.

Hope that paints a picture for you of life here. We welcome questions!