Winding Down at a Greek Taverna!

Once in a while, we all need to wind down and do something fun… Both teaching and learning French can be quite exhausting! And some weeks are more difficult than others… Ask Alice! She really needed a break away from the daily drill… Just try and imagine: five consecutive hours of French in the morning followed with two more in the afternoon! Anybody on such a diet five days a week for almost five weeks would easily break down: even Francophones! And Alice is one tough cookie!… So I cannot imagine what it does to frail individuals… I have seen people burst into tears for much less!

Seema and I decided it was time to go out on an “activité pédagogique” and we invited Alice to join in the fun. Except for Susan and Dave who had already made other plans, everybody attended our dinner at Theo’s Greek Taverna on Richmond Road.  Located in a stripmall, it did not look special from the outside… yet by 7:00 P.M. the place was packed with patrons (for me it is always an indicator that a restaurant serves real good food!). James had made reservations and we were given a table in an alcove: it was cosy, therefore easier to conduct our conversation in French… although we all kind of spoke back and forth in both French and English! Actually I was surprised of hearing Alice speak English quite often… usually she would religiously stick to French only!

Of course, these days everyone is a little tensed… The countdown is on since all of my students (except for Seema) are close to be tested on either their oral or writing skills… Susan and Jessica are scheduled to take their oral tests on October 1st, and Alice on October 9… Dave should have his date for his written test in a few days, same thing with James… Useless to say that there is some electricity in the air! Consequently last evening conversation gravitated more on less around being tested soon!

One would think that this topic would be off the table during a casual dinner in French! On the other hand, it is a good way to vent fears, stress, frustration and anxiety… All week long, I have been telling both Jessica and Susan to relax and see their upcoming tests as some rehearsal: this way they will be less anxious and chances are that they will sound more natural and get the level they are looking for! After all, not being successful the first time is not the end of the world! Yet it is probably easier to say than actually apply! I am really trying hard here because I do know for a fact that stress is responsible for most of the failures at the oral test!… If, in language schools, stressing their students is their strategical approach; it is absolutely not mine!

Not long ago, Elmadi had briefed us on the oral test by telling about his own experience… his description had certainly given confidence to my students… on the other hand, Alice heard people saying that they had been asked six to eight questions in the first part of the test while Elmadi had been asked only two or three… Does it depend on the assessor or does it depend on the required level (a B or a C)? Là est toute la question… Alice told us she was listening to tapes provided by Campus direct: all written expression and reading comprehension test samples are designed by them… I am a bit skeptical here because, for having worked with those samples, I do know they are quite different from the real tests!… Hopefully their tapes reflect reality, otherwise…

Anyways… everything comes down to speculation when trying to anticipate what the real oral test is about…

Thanks to Alice and her acute sense of humor, we all had a blast listening to her! She went on with her very personal suggestions “Make sure you plug an avant que, since it calls for the subjunctive, you’ll look smart! And don’t forget an après que because you’ll have to use the passé surcomposé, just imagine how impressed the assessor will be!”

Then she taught her peers a few useful idiomatic expressions, saying they would sound so French! Of course, she was joking because I would not advise anyone to use those during their oral examination… Stuff like “Je m’en fous! (I don’t care, I couldn’t care less), Fichez-moi la paix! (Leave me alone), Avez-vous fini? Il faut que j’y aille! (Are you finished? I have to go)“ … I do not know if my students will remember all the sacred mots-liens, but I know for sure they will remember Alice’s expressions!… Speaking of mots-liens, I had a student once who had not used any of those useless words during his oral test… he was on his way out, standing at the door and he said “By the way, I am aware I didn’t use any mots-liens… only because I had no place to plug any of them, yet I know them all!” and then he recited them in a list, one after another… Guess what? He got his C level!

To summarize, we all had a great time last night: enjoying excellent food and wine, joking, venting occasionally, laughing and relaxing… This was long overdue!… Now everyone is ready to face the coming couple of weeks… Let’s all cross our fingers and hope for the best!

The Merry Crowd! James, Jessica, La Dame dragon, Alice and Seema…

“Un système totalitaire est celui où les gens sont tous consentants.”

George Orwell