Only one day left in 2008… I often wonder “where did time go?”… Many things occurred this past year and I met some wonderful people… most of them are students: Susan, James, Alice, Seema, Jessica, Jay, Jenn…

Speaking of my students… Seema and her daughter, Sam, left for India three weeks ago to visit their family and friends. Of course, we stayed in contact… thanks to modern technology! I have to admit I was (and still am… a little…) concerned with Seema’s French… Being a beginner (although she can get her message across!), I thought she would come back with not much left… it happens to people who stay here! Yet I had not banked on Seema’s determination!…

Apparently she had an orientation trip from Montréal to Paris: she tried her very best practicing her conversation en français!… While traveling, people always have some comical anecdotes to tell and… Seema is no exception!

Seema is certainly entirely tuned to learning French!… She has been very enthusiastic from day one and she never got bored or depressed… although the mere idea of leaving work to attend a boot camp in February does not agree with her too well! She tried every single trick to avoid it… but she could not overturn her management decision. Oh well… no one can say that she did not try hard!

At the Pierre Elliot Trudeau airport in Montréal, when she went through the security checkpoint before boarding her plane to Paris, staff was obviously speaking French (it was what her brain was thinking at that moment anyways!) or English with a very thick French accent!

In her handbag, she had two small containers of hand cream… The security lady asked “two liquids?”… Seema who was then totally tuned to a French channel interpreted the question as “tu les quoi?” and turned to Sam for help… “what does she mean by tu les quoi or tu es quoi???”… Of course Sam could not help it and bursted into laughter as the lady was speaking English and asking “two liquids?”!… This travel episode became a joke all the way to India!…

When I read that story, I recognized Seema for sure!… So resolute to converse in French, she had put on her French hat before arriving to Montréal. This is a good example of the differences between a beginner and an advanced speaker… the latter can switch from one language to the other with almost no problems at all! But, for the beginner, this back and forth is streneous effort and, once geared to a language, it is almost impossible to switch quickly enough without losing messages… I certainly give an A+ to Seema for trying so hard though! And… eventually she will be bilingual!…

Sam also made mom really proud by helping some unilingual tourists in Paris: she spoke to the shuttle driver, so she could explain those Anglos where to go… Sam, like any other teenagers, is not keen to help mom with her French on a daily basis. Therefore Seema never really knew how good (or bad!) her daughter’s French was!… What a wonderful discovery it was in Paris!… And, even better, Sam has been speaking to her in French quite a few times in India… and for what purpose? Well… for the same purpose bilingual people use the language that is unknown to people they are with: in order to keep some things secret from them! Another good reason for learning a second language!…

I am now more confident regarding my students’ skills next week… Although they will be a bit rusted, I am not expecting some serious damage. I think Seema tried and used her French occasionally… and both James and Susan commented on one of my last posts telling me not to worry: they were moving on with their routine and doing their homework… I have not heard from Jay: I will see if his break did affect or not his French on Saturday… I do not think I will have to fix any major problems! Thank God! my students are the cream of the crop!

I WISH YOU ALL A WONDERFUL 2009!…