An Accomplishment I am Proud of
I studied French for a year in 11th grade and fell in love with the language. I didn’t even know at the time that I am of French descent. I took a national French test, Le Grand Concours, and scored 7th in the nation!! I was so proud of myself.
Then, in the Fall Term of my Freshman Year at Oregon State University, I took French again, but it was basically a review of the year of high school French I had already taken. I didn’t study French again for 11 years. In 1996, I had the chance to study abroad during the summer between my Sophomore and Junior years at Southern Oregon University. I went to CIDEF in Angers, France for a two-month immersion program. You take a placement test first and I couldn’t believe I placed in the second year! I didn’t even finish my first year at the college level, and I had not studied French for 11 years!!
How did I do it, you might ask? Well, to get prepared, I went to the library and checked out all the travel cassettes and videos they had in French. I also checked out any children’s books and music they had that were in French. Children learn language by singing all those silly songs, like “Alouette” and “Frère Jacques”, so I thought it was worth a shot. It really improved my listening comprehension and helped refresh my memory before I left.
Within about 2 weeks of immersion, I was starting to think and even dream in French! One time, when I called home, I spoke to my Mom in French without even realizing it. By the time the summer was over, I had completed the equivalent of my whole second year of French, and got Straight A’s to boot.
But the best part was when I went shopping in downtown Angers and the store clerk that was helping me mistook me for a native! I am a talker, and I had been just jabbering away with him for a good fifteen minutes when I must have made some kind of gaffe. Up until that point, he told me, he assumed that I lived in Angers. That, I think, really is an accomplishment to be proud of.
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