Practice, Practice, Practice

My French was definitely affected by missing last week's class, due to that weird bout of pain I was in. Words that I used to know eluded me, and so, again, frustration with learning the language resumed.

We did A LOT of talking yesterday, mainly by breaking off into pairs and creating a "conversation" or "exchange" that we had to present to the class. The conversation had to be full of questions, talking about who we were, and where things were around Paris.

The girl I worked with, by far, understands the language a lot more than me, and she was really helpful in teaching me a few more words that she'd picked up on her own. Even though I stumbled through a good chunk of the convo (my nervousness about speaking in front of a classroom - whatever happened to my days of debate?!? - contributed to words flying away from me), the conversation went well. We even threw a joke or two in; my partner was an actress, and I said goodbye with "See you in your next film!" How I said that in French, again, escapes me, other than "A bientot!" (See you soon). Another reminder I need to practice even more.

Next week is the last class, which I can't believe, considering how quickly these past two months have flown. We'll be taking a test over everything we've learned; it'll be both a verbal and written test. Yikes! Definitely need to study more.

I also have to decide if I'm going to hand over more money for the next class. The class has been super-beneficial for me, not only in the way the material and class is structured, but also in providing me with an opportunity to converse and practice the language, which is obviously key to learning any language.

BUT, $260 - or thereabouts - is A LOT of money to me... money that I need for my trip. I'm heavily leaning towards buying the $20 "Teach Yourself French" books and then just practicing with my sister as well as with my friends who are fluent. I'll definitely need to create a regiment for myself in this case, just as I do with my writing, so that I can keep practicing, practicing, practicing, and not lose everything I've learned in the past 9 weeks of French!

On a total writerly side note, you can find the first 100 words of my WIP by clicking here.
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