date: Mon, Jan 19, 2009
subject: l’école
Bonjour mes amis,
Alors, je dois quelque chose à vous dire de l’école. After all, I’ve been here a week now, so I reckon it’s time to talk about the school: ESL, Ecole (Shouldn’t there be an accent over the capital e? Well, I would think so too; but there’s not one at their website; so I’m going with their version.) Suisse de Langues. For those of you who like to play with google map or google earth, the address is 6, Quai Jules Courmont, 69002 Lyon. It is located on le Rhone. To get here (today I’m using their ordi because I can. Most of the students are gone and there isn’t a line waiting to use da kine.) I walk out the door of the apt. building (after going down the narrow flight of steps of course!), take a right, cross the river Saône which is on the LEFT on any one of the many bridge.
(Lesson of the day: il y a le pont–regular bridge for cars and pedestrians and la passerelle–foot bridge only. When I asked la Madame if a person is allowed to ride their bike over a passerelle, she said, “Non, mais ouis, mais non.” So, it’s not allowed, but people do it anyway : )
After crossing a bridge I am now in the “main” section of Lyon. The most direct way to the school is to walk down la Saône until I reach rue Grenette, take a left, go till the road on the river (le Rhone) take a right and the school is just a little bit down on the right. I did that for the first few days until I began to feel a little bolder. Now I go any which a way because it’s hard to get lost with so many tall landmarks. First of all there’s le Crayon
(It’s this tall building in the middle of no other tall buildings with a cap on it like a pencil, hence le crayon, which in French is . . . . . you guessed it, a pencil. It’s also over the main train station called Gare-Part Dieu. La Madame told me that there is a cool bar on top of it. Anyone want to come over and check it out with me?)
Secondly, there’s le Fourvière, a beautiful cathedral on the hill on top of the “old” town (also easy to reach from where I’m staying. That’s another cool thing about Madame’s apt., it’s in such a good location.)
The locals call it an elephant lying on its back–it’s four legs are sticking straight up in the air! It’s a church dedicated to Jesus’ brother, Joseph. When I look on the map it’s official name is Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière.
Not far from the elephant en respos is the tour (or tower) de Lyon. It’s what greets me after I’ve climbed at least a thousand steps. (No, I haven’t counted them, but our teacher made us count them when we descended from another part of the hill. And for those who can’t sleep without knowing the answer, there were 248 on that particular set of steps.)
The tour really does look like THE tour in Paris. It’s just a LOT smaller, AND you’re not allowed to climb it. It’s a tower for communi-cation; I see lots of satellite dishes on it, that kind of thing.
Okay, so it’s easy to find your way around so long as you can get a sightline with one of the big landmarks. That is unless the pollution is so bad. And let me tell you, it IS bad here.
The few times I’ve looked at the weather report it was at the WORSE mark on the list! Yep, pour mes amis à Kaua‘i, lucky we live Hawaii.
To get in the school you have to push a button at the main entrance to the building (unless you come early like I have a few times and the workers are still cleaning up). It’s a lot like everywhere else in the world–except Kaua‘i and maybe Tennessee–where there are buildings with lots of offices and such in them. After getting buzzed in, you climb the dark and very broad stairway up to the 2nd floor (or first étage en francais). There is another buzzer there for getting in . . . unless you’re a student like me and they show you a secret buzzer to push for entry.
The school’s in a classic old building with high ceilings. There are peut-être 6 or 7 classrooms, all have pretty French (no, really) doors, complete with glass panels. The classrooms face the road on 2 sides so if you wanted to daydream you could look at some shops on the groundfloor and appartements en haut.
Here’s the routine of the day:
8:30 a.m. The school opens. You can come in and use the ordi, which are in the entry hallway, 3 on one side of the entry door, 2 on the other.
Dominique from Switzerland
They’re chest high, so you have to stand and step in close sometimes when someone need to pass by. You could also go hang out in the common room at the end of the hallway if you wanted to (or go to your classroom and start studying/working already if you’re a complete nerd! I’ve only done that once, and that was at 8:45, so I don’t think that counts.)
9:00 a.m. School begins. There are essentially two classes. I’m in the more elementary one (of course!). There are only 6 students in our class. Yes, I’m the only Americaine. Here’s the breakdown of the rest: one guy from Brésil who works in advertising, a young man de Suisse who works in construction, a lady from Finland who is essentially an aide worker who will be going to Kenya, a German woman who lives in Ireland with her Irish husband, and a woman from Nigeria who has 2 children who were born in Tampa (elle est très belle!) Our teacher s’appelle Jean-Laurent. He is a very handsome young man who is studying to get his doctorate in French (he later decided to nix that plan since he doesn’t need the degree to do what he’s already doing and enjoys) as learned by foreigners (comme moi). He was born on a tiny island close to Marrakesh called La Reunion. He is of African decent. We’re all learning French for different reasons, some like me simplement pour plaisir, some for le travaille. Those are the ones who need French in their work.
Jean-Laurent is a very good teacher.
Torun from Finland and Jean-Laurent
He’s incredibly encouraging and positive. Also, he speaks very clearly; and, as those of you who have ever tried to understand native French speakers know, that is très, très important! At the start of each day he writes les objectifs on the board. We generally start each class with some discussion. What are some of the topics you ask? I’ll look in my notebook for today’s sujets. (sujets, the plural of sujet, which is . . . yep, you guessed right, simply subject in French . . . so MANY of our English words come from French ! )
1) Le devéloppement durable est-il à la mode chez vous?
No, it’s not a question of how many scoops of ice cream you want, but whether it’s fashionable to have/use self-sustaining products. Katy, I told them how the biggest hotel on the island is now using solar panels. Très cool! they replied.
2) Que pensez-vous du salarie des patrons?
Since I’m my own boss, or rather sometimes I am, sometimes Tony is, I just told them the on-going joke that Tony and I have that he hopes I’m embezzling. They laughed. But then the discussion moved on to Bill Gates. I had to say that yes, people like that do make a crazy amount of money; but at least Bill Gates and his wife are incredibly généreux. Oui, oui, Jean-Laurent nodded.
After our discussion (trust me, we are talking like first or MAYBE second graders!) Jean-Laurent pulls out some xerox copies for our lessons for the week. There is generally a theme for each week. Last week it was asking questions, present subjonctif, passé recent (venir de + infinitif), etc. This week it looks like it will be comparisons (for nouns, adj., les adverbes, etc.). We go around the table taking turns reading out loud and then we work on the exercises. Sometimes le prof gives us each different little supplements to do on our own time. I was quite happy last week Tuesday (my 2nd day) when he gave me a difficult worksheet to take home on the difference between passè composè et imparfait. Passè composè is really pretty easy, mais imparfait, non! I was quite happy when I managed to use imparfait once in a REAL conversation with la Madame. (okay, okay, you all know I’m a nerd . . . ) We were talking about my dear husband, that he was playing his gig at Trees Lounge while I was sleeping . . . . that’s. . .
(Oops! I hit SEND by mistake!)
p.s. The school is now called Alpadia.
