Anglais

Typical English homework

Nothing could possibly make you second guess your American high school French education as much as English class in France. Whether or not it's your teacher calling a photographer a photo grapher or pronouncing "status" "stuh- tus" it really makes you wonder what you have been learning in French class.
Now, don't get me wrong, I do like my English class here. I pretty much just smile the entire time. And of course it's super fun to correct the teacher. "Umm excuse me but that makes absolutely no sense!" And you're not even being annoying, you're being helpful!
My favorite moments in English class have consisted of:

• When my teacher said that it was hip to call the year 2007, twenty-seven, or 2009, twenty-nine.
• Having to read extracts from Confessions of a Shopaholic for our "Advertising and Consuming" section.
• Learning about Black Friday and how "it's common for people to kill others for deals."
• Having to explain Wal-Mart to my class.

Of course there are many more but that is all that comes off the top of my head.

An English test

I have also learned how complicated English is. There are so many rules that I have never even heard of, but somehow I just know them. Like did you know that the rule for when you add an "er" to the end of a word versus a "more" in front of the word depends on the syllables? For instance you say "nicer" because "nice" has one syllable, but you say "more amazing" because "amazing" has three syllables. I was talking to one of my host sisters about how annoying and confusing it is in French that all objects have a gender. She told me that it wasn't that hard. One gender just sounds right and the other sounds wrong. She said "un voiture" just sounds wrong, it's "une voiture!" To which I responded, "yes, sure that works for you but they both sound fine to me!" 

Other than having a fun time, English class here has really helped me improve my French and better understand how the mind picks up new languages. It's truly amazing how differently my mind processes the English being spoken by our teacher, fellow students, and recorded tapes then how native French speakers process it. They hear "mucher" where I hear "mature," they understand "choice" when I say "chores." Like have you ever thought that sheet, shit, short, and shirt all sound kind of the same? Or symmetry and cemetery?
But, I must say that overall, my favorite thing in English class is hearing all my classmates speak English. It makes me feel so much better about my French!

Thats all for today! I only have one more week here, so be expecting all my last minute blog posts soon!