Things are going well here otherwise. As predicted, the rain felt unforgivingly and my clothes that were still on the line are soaked. Beginning this week, I am adding force to my french learning, reverting back to the Chinese way of learning languages. I had depended mostly on immersion, which I am not getting enough since there aren't any kids to talk to at my house. I've started reading grammar books and French Verbs 501 religiously. I am analyzing the heck out of grammar points and giving logic to everything. I am digging my brain for the ways I was taught to learn English back in Taiwan, and applying it to the French language. The American way of
learning language is completely ridiculous and inefficient. I absolutely disagree with "French only" way of learning French. Last semester at SLU, I took French 115 and the professor refused to explain anything in English. People didn't have a clue what he's saying and he didn't get what we were asking. The same thing is happening here in the Peace Corps. We rotate language trainers and I am on my third one. While all the trainers are Cameroonian, the first two taught in that same manner. We wasted more time trying to understand each other than learning anything productive. My trainer this week has a master's degree in English and French. I learned more in today alone than I did in the last two weeks. She explains things in English when needed, and can adequately translate many of the idiomatic expressions. Just because you speak a language doesn't make you a good language teacher. In Taiwan, my language school paired a
Taiwanese teacher with a native English speaker. That's the way it should be!
Alright, end soap box. I find out my post in two days! Stayed tuned! Let's hope I don't end up in an Anglophone province!
2 comments:
As soon as I am done moving (read: as soon as my books are unpacked) I can tell you the workbook we used in my intensive writing class--it's just exercises, over and over and over again. Sounds like it's right up your alley! :)
Freezing in Cameroon
good luck getting your clothes dry :)
Post a Comment