My week: CAE exam, Progress in French, and a Book review
Hello everyone, and welcome back to my blog. This week, I would like to share a few insights and reflections with you.
My goals have changed
At the beginning of August, I decided to prepare for a CAE exam, a notoriously difficult placement language test to take, but I’ve recently changed my mind. Believe it or not, those who talked me out of it were my own colleagues. One of them, who used to work as an examiner, said that such prep work and this test wouldn’t help me speak English brilliantly down the line. Another colleague who has already taken a CPE exam said that such exams are nothing more than a money-making machine. He told me that having received his certificate with grade A, he felt absolutely nothing—no joy or satisfaction—it was just a paper.
Pondering all of this for some time, I’ve decided not to force myself to take the exam but practice its format at a calm pace anyway. After all, such prep work can help develop academic skills such as analytical and critical thinking, reading comprehension, collaboration, goal setting, etc. And for one, I like solving riddles. Let’s see where it will lead me.
Peculiar situation at the English lesson
One of my students is so talkative that sometimes we don’t have enough time to practice the target vocabulary or grammar of the lesson. I am lucky that she works as a psychologist and is good at reading non-verbal signs when a person gets bored and a bit irritated with monotonous monologues. So, the following lesson was quite funny when she started talking about her sister and said: “It’s just one short story.”
My French lessons
Oh, guys! I am deriving a lot of pleasure from learning this language these days. I definitely have fallen in love with its melody, pronunciation, words, and phrases. I was lucky to find some live lessons that an online school, COCOÉCOLE, runs for free. It is not a course, just random classes for different levels. But the value of these lessons is that they are online, live, and free, and I can speak French and get used to hearing myself speaking French and communicating with others in it.
Last Saturday, I attended a French class devoted to preparation for DELF A2 (another placement test, ha-ha) and was surprised that I could understand everything and respond to a teacher’s instructions very well and fast. In short, I am absolutely happy about my progress.
A bunch of teenagers
Right now, I am living in the countryside, and from time to time, you can see groups of teenagers idling away outside. Everything would be OK if they didn’t use to hang out near our backyard. They usually make a lot of noise, smoking and fooling around. I understand that there is no place for them to hang out and get their life experience, but I don’t like them doing all this near my house. Their behavior stirs a wide spectrum of emotions: from confusion to fear. Of course, I am uncomfortable with it and would like to get rid of such triggers…But it has just dawned on me that maybe it is my lesson to learn? I mean, to stay calm experiencing all of these feelings and emotions? Who knows?
Book finished
Finally, guys, I did it — I finished a book by Isaac Asimov, Prelude to Foundation, two days ago. I read 1472 pages of the e-book in English, which I find really impressive. What if I wrote a book review? Drop me a line if you would like to read it.