French Letters

Did that title intrigue you? If you don't know what French letters are, go look them up. But don't worry, this is not a post about anything indecent.

Some of you may not know this, but I was a French major in college. I haven't used the degree since, but to be honest, I never planned to. Instead, I was planing on going to medical school, so I balanced out the science workload with French. Upon graduation, I could speak pretty well, although not well enough in my opinion. However, I was a fluent reader and writer. I still love the French language and have thought about going back and brushing up on it.

A couple of weeks ago, the school sent home a notice that they would be offering French lessons to 4th and 5th grade students. We signed them up, and last night, there was a meeting for parents and students.

I wasn't sure what to expect, and so I was flabbergasted by what happened. The meeting, in a word, was phenomenal! The energy of the instructors, both undergraduate students and professors, was contagious. They walked us through a sample lesson, and the parents and students alike were having fun and -- get this -- learning. On the first night!

The instructors plan on immersing the students in the language, so even last night, only French was spoken. I am happy to report that almost 17 years after college graduation, I could still understand everything the instructors said, although I know they were speaking slower than they would in a regular conversation.

So now, not only are the kids energized, but so am I! I looked for my old French texts, and this morning, I was speaking French to the kids. We covered coffee, breakfast, boy, girl, little, big, and a few others. We sang the letters of the alphabet, in French, and we also pointed to parts of the body. All before 7:30 in the morning! Awesome.

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