Attended the last of my 2 weeks French Immersion Programme at Ecole France Langue on 15th June 2007.
Went for a final lunch with Takuya and Viola in the afternoon at Chinatown before arriving almost 40 min late for class. Well it was raining and in the confusion we took the metro to the wrong stop and had to make a detour!!
I felt kinda sad honestly.. it was a fun 2 weeks and I met many new friends.. great friends.. Viola the HK girl who studies in Cardiff.. Takuya who had so much trouble explaining to us that his occupation was a fashion buyer for UniQlo.. Masakazu who attended International School in Japan and interestingly told us that his English is probably better than his Japanese, Shigeki who is an accomplished musician in classical music, Juan who is a Professor back in Brazil, Mutsuko who is an air stewardess with a Japan Airlines, Rei who grew up in the Phillipines but is doing an exchange in Denmark now and many more..
And of course our two teachers Elise and Charlotte. Will miss Charlotte especially for her happy, bubbly nature when she taught us!
Aside from learning some basic French, my Japanese also got to improve leaps and bounds while I was in Paris which is a good thing because it has made me want to continue my Japanese studies from where I left it back in 2003.
While I come back to France one day? Most probably but I would so like it be a time where my French would have been fluent like Qian Lin.
To be honest, 2 weeks is too short to learn French properly especially when you have no prior knowledge of it like me. I actually thought it was a waste to buy the French text as I was only there for a couple weeks.
But being in Paris certainly forced you to practice some of it at times.. I actually found myself almost saying "Pardon", "Oui" and "Merci" out of habit when I went over to London!!! Having the teacher speaking French like 99.9% of the time was extremely frustrating not just for me at first, but even more so for the Japanese students but it was fun translating back and forth and this certainly helped us to form close bonds within the class.
Also it forced us to try and use the French language, no matter how much we mangled it. If you are wrong, you are just corrected and you learn and move on. But I would have liked a simple English translation of things at times to aid and accelerate the understanding process because at times we were tearing our hair out trying to figure out the grammer and usage of the language in its feminine and masculine form.
So yup... I would say an immersion is definitely the best way for one to practice the language. In fact, the reason why Qian Lin's French is so fluent now is because she had a ONE YEAR immersion programme. Holy Cow. If I had that, I think my French would be good too! But I am also proud to say that by the 2nd week, I could pick bits and pieces of what my host family said and understand the whole sentence!! That had to be a BIG accomplishment for me considering I only had a few French Lessons.
I really do think that going for a French Immersion Programme and staying with a host family is a good way to just understand the local culture. More importantly, it also it helps save alot on accomodation expenses since accomodation can get pretty expensive in Paris.
I think it was much safer too and I had alot of privacy since I was given my own room. Not to mention you get French lessons thrown in and yet lots of free time to explore Paris and its surrounding vicinities.. so it's a really good deal. You don't need to take a bloody expensive tour bus or package or stay in hotels like most ripped off tourists do!
Yes... I definitely think this is a much wiser option especially for budget conscious yet adventurous students like me who want to travel without busting our pockets!!
Honestly the Metro is so easy and convenient that by the 2nd or 3rd day, I was probably as familiar with it as most locals were. In fact, it is probably even more efficient and well connected than the MRT in Singapore.. where you have to sit through one bloody long loop just to get from Bishan to Jurong West. Sian. But it does get a little hot and stuffy during the summer though, but give and take! Give and take!
So yes, this is my honest evaluation of my 2 weeks stay in Paris. There were good times and bad times but thankfully much more good times. I met great friends whom I was really sad to leave on the last day. There may have been some language barriers but nothing a little body language would not have handled. My French is still half baked though so I urge people who are seriously interested in learning French to try going for a whole month if their can afford it.
I am really thankful for this opportunity (Thank you SMU Travel Club and STA!) and couldn't have asked for a better gift as a graduation present.
Before we move on to the photos,
here's a link for those who are interested in the various Language Immersion Programmes that STA offers.Hmm I should check out if they have Japanese ones. Hehe. Go check it out if you have lots of time to spare during the holidays alright? I think you would definitely gained as much as I did.. or maybe even more.
As an ending note, I would like to thank all the people I met during my 2 weeks there.. who made my stay so memorable. Not just my friends and my homestay family but also the numerous talented baskers in the Metro, the friendly restaurant and provision shop owners nearby my homestay place who always waved to me and greeted me when they saw me etc.
Thank you!
Miyara Shigeki
Me and a bag of chips!
Masai Takuya
Tomoko and Yumoto Masakazu
Mirko
Charlotte - our teacher in week 2!
Aya
4 strangers who became good friends
Laura on the right
Juan and Takuya looking on as I jot down notes
Final Class Photo =(( I miss them
Viola and me!
Hope to see you guys soon again...
Was making fun of Takuya the whole day cuz the orange label said "The Hero Is Here!"
So long. Till we meet again my bon ami.
