Eiko says...
I've been studying French as a third language, and although I have classified 'sticking to any one activity long-term' the epitome of the word 'impossible' long ago when I was still in nappies, I have successfully stuck to French for 2 months now! Although my study habits weren't consistent by any means, 2 months is an impressive chunk of time in my books. At least it's better than giving up after experiencing your first low which occurs within the week of starting any new activity--a nasty habit of mine.
To reward myself for this amazing achievement, I decided to find myself a French teacher. Fortunately for me, I didn't have to go on any long hunting trips to find what I wanted. The ever helpful Ken kindly offered to introduce me to his French teacher which he seemed quite happy learning from, and who he thought was a good teacher. Since Ken has the tendency to be quite picky, I was surprised by the high ratings he gave this guy, and decided to give him a go.
So, last weekend, I found myself sitting in on one of their lessons to see whether I thought he would be any good teaching a complete idiot like myself or if he was handicapped to teaching only pre-intermediate to advanced students of French. Although quite nervous and anxious over the fact that I hadn't the slightest clue as to what they were yapping on about, (the entire lesson was 100% in French) half way through the lesson I decided that I would gladly pay for this guy to be my teacher.
The reasons are as follows:
He's got very beautiful eyes--definitely worth paying an hour's worth for those to be staring at me. I liked his teaching style. He had a good aura about him, and held himself well. He rated low on the Snobbish Frenchmen Scale. He smiled a lot. He seemed relaxed and confident. He gave off a healthy young, energetic vibe. He was polite.
Our first official lesson took place last Sunday, and I was quite relieved that the lesson went smoothly, despite all the questions I kept throwing at him on a 30 second basis, and my poor understanding of only 30% of the lesson. He also was quite nice about all of my, "Je detest les nombres francais!!", which put me at ease. You see, what really threw a bucket of cold water on my efforts when I was studying French on my own were the crazy French numbers!! The counting system they have in the French language seemed like nothing short of pure non-sense and drove me bonkers! He made them seem like apple pie!
Give me 6 months, everyone. I should be able to hold a good conversation in French by then. That would be the case if, of course, I don't die from the morbid heat we're all experiencing lately!!
