Comment dit-on «bungee jumping» en français?

[compilerbitch]

I had my first French lesson at the language centre last night.

For some reason, I got put into the Intermediate II group, which seems to be the most hardcore taught course that they currently run. To my considerable shock (and I wasn't alone), the teaching was entirely in French, with no English used at all. I amazed myself by actually managing to keep up, but by the end of two hours I was a nervous wreck. Being picked on first to describe my conversation partner in French scared the living bejeesus out of me, it having been the first time anyone had made me do that since 1983. Yep, 22 years ago. I have been working at de-rustifying myself for the last month or two, with some moderate success. 2 months ago, I was hazy on the difference between avoir and être, so to already be (just about) coping at this level is rather more than I'd have expected.

To be honest, the material covered in the lesson was pretty basic, but the fact that it was covered entirely in French meant that I had to go into concentration super-overdrive. If you're a Dragonball Z fan, imagine Goku powering up into Super-Saiyan mode. I don't think I went blonde (although I probably came across that way, albeit in deed rather than actuality), and I'm farly sure my eyes weren't glowing, but that was me.

I am officially the Worst In Class. And it gives me a buzz like bungee jumping. Or, at least, like the buzz that I'd imagine I'd probably, in theory, get if I did attempt bungee jumping in an ideal world. A more likely reality would be being terrified out of my mind, shaking in a corner for several days. Thinking about it, I think that would have been a more sensible response to the French class too, but one does what one must.

Comments

[taimatsu]

Oh, this sounds like my first class of BSL level 2. I was a wreck, had a headache before we were half-way through (despite there being almost complete silence in the room!) and didn't make it through more than five lessons before giving up totally. A lot of that was because the teacher was rather intimidating and unapproachable, though - I hope your class goes better than mine!

[liv]

Mais félicitations! Tu as du courage.

C'est vrai que tu as déjà écrit les deux tiers de ta thèse? Ton truc ne ment pas? Je ne m'en reviens pas!

bungee jumping

[liv]

La phrase officielle: le saut à l'élastique
En véritè, l'on dit plus souvent le benji, à ce que je crois.

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

I studied French for 12 years in Canada.

I always learned most in the classes which were taught entirely in French with no use of English. It helps if the teacher uses body language and diagrams and so on as well, though.

I also found a beginner's Spanish course taught the same way was very easy to grasp - of course at that point my French was very advanced and Spanish is not all that far away, so I suspect I relied heavily on my French skills for that.

I have similar problems with 'in' and 'out' channels, now - when I'd been studying 12 years in a row I could think in French, conversation wasn't a problem even when I didn't know all the vocabulary because I always knew enough to explain what I meant using other words. Now I can understand a lot of spoken French and even more written French, but speaking it and writing it are very, very difficult. I can't access the vocabulary in the opposite direction, and I go into 'thinking-in-French' mode and can't think because I don't have any words. It's difficult to explain to anyone who hasn't experienced it.

I ought to find some French blogs and add them just to get back into the habit of reading the language frequently.

[pinguhateseng.livejournal.com]

Seems like they're using similar ideas to TEFL, which makes sense. All TEFL classes are English only, even beginners (adults at least. Very young kids here have a Russian-speaking assistant, although I have taught children as young as 5 without one and without using Russian in class at all).

My Russian classes have been the same in the past.

Ouch is all I can say :)