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by Monty Laycox, teaching in Lyon
If you take the teaching methodologies class, you're taught that circumlocution is a wonderful communication strategy for getting around gaps in your foreign language vocabulary. May I add an ' Amen' to that: elementary French classes provide an adequate grounding in the basics of names dealing with an apartment-for example, mur, bureau, chambre or téléphone-But when I first moved in to my new apartment, my lexical lacunae were made evident. After a careful search, I realized I couldn't find the phone jack. Of course I had no idea what It would look like, there being no reason that a French jack should resemble an American one; perhaps they were identical to electrical outlets (which my apartment has in abundance, there even being some inside the food cupboards)? I went next door to ask my neighbors, but just what is the word for 'phone jack' in French? Luckily, my neighbors were able to comprehend that I meant by, "the place in the wall you put the cord from the phone so that you can make calls."
Not everything revolves around acquiring new vocabulary words. As not even full professors have offices at the university - we go to campus, teach our classes, then leave-there is little opportunity to develop camaraderie among the instructors, nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to make friends with several of the French teachers, and even same of the students. One of the English majors decided that simply reading 'Death of a Salesman' wasn't good enough-he anted to produce it, too. So every Monday night since October, we gather in the home of one of the actors and rehearse. But this is France, and each rehearsal is preceded by dinner and one (or two) bottles of wine, which makes rehearsing after a day of teaching less of a chore. In February, we all spent a weekend in the country, at the home of the director's parents. His parents were amazing: the mother spent most of the weekend in the kitchen preparing lunch and dinner for 15, and the father brought out the video recorder on Sunday and taped our efforts at emoting a tape which is hysterical, and will be seen by no one not in the cast.
Besides new words and new friends, I have found that spending a year in France is something that every French major should experience, if only to realize that French is not just a row of (overpriced) books in the university bookstore, but is also a living language you use to buy apples at the grocery, to talk to people at cafés, or to tell students to be quiet in class. Everyone of you should seriously consider at least one year abroad before you graduate
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