Week 1 and Studying French -- by Dave

One of the main reasons that we came to France was to study French.  There is nothing like being in an immersion situation to make you improve quickly and consistently,  If you have to shop, ask directions, and order dinner in another language, you tend to figure it out pretty quickly.

We selected French in Normandy as our language school for several reasons.  First off, we didn't want to be in Paris.  Don't get me wrong - I love Paris.  But, I didn't want to live in a city of 11 million people while working on learning the language.  Rouen is a much more approachable city.  Second, French in Normandy has won several awards of distinction over the years - based on week 1, they are well deserved.

We took a verbal and written exam on the first day, and got moved between a couple of different classes until we were situated in one that was the right level of difficulty.  Students come and go every week, but in week one, we had one man from Indonesia, one man from Argentina, and two women from Japan.  Most of them spoke no English, and well, my Indonesian is even worse than my Japanese - and I don't speak Japanese.  So, clearly from the start, French would be our common language.

The classes are high speed and low drag.  When we get out of class, we are pretty brain-fried for a bit.  The instructors do make it quite fun, and really do manage to integrate speaking, listening, writing, and reading.  We wrapped up the week by doing some research, and presentations, on French musicians.  We then listened to a bit of their music, which was quite a bit of fun, except for getting a song stuck in my head...