Définissons d’amitié
Posted on January 19, 2009
I’ve been meaning to post stuff in French, but I’ve lacked easy topics. In previous classes, all or most homework was done in workbooks, but in this class (mais en cet classe) we will be doing more work in notebooks and on word processors.
The textbook for the class (first semester of second year French) is Controverses by Larbi Oukada, Didier Bertrand, and Janet Solberg. It’s probably not a coincidence that Oukada and Bertrand are faculty at the university. Anyway, the stuff below is an exercise from the textbook.
The chapter starts out with friends and friendship, including cultural differences in American and French views. They give a list of qualities that a person might look for in a friend, and we are supposed to select five or come up with our own. My list below is a mix of sorts.
Définissons
- Un ami est quelqu’un qui me comprends.
- Un ami est quelqu’un en qui je peux confier.
- Un ami est quelqu’un sur qui je peux compter.
- Un ami est quelqu’un en qui j’ai confiance.
- Un ami est quelqu’un avec qui je veux boire.
Since my French is still pretty shaky, what I meant to write is…
- A friend is someone who understands me.
- A friend is someone in whom I can confide.
- A friend is someone on whom I can count.
- A friend is someone in whom I have confidence.
- A friend is someone with whom I want to drink.
We’ll be going over this in class rather than turning it in. However, now I have to work on the stuff I do have to turn in.
Classes begin again
Posted on January 13, 2009
Classes begin again this week, and I had the first class of French FREN F203 today. It’s sort of a pain because it’s during the day on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but I have plenty of vacation time to cover a few hours a week for the whole semester, and I worked it out ahead of time at work. On Wednesday evenings will be English ENG W509, which is supposed to be about teaching English composition. That should be interesting because I’ll have to write a couple of essays in French class, so maybe there will be some ways to tie the classes together.
Last Semester, I earned an A in the Literary Criticism class and a C in French. The C was most likely due to my serious procrastination – I let it get the better of me to the detriment of my French grade. This semester, with classes Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I’ll have little time for procrastination, especially since the French classes are in the mornings.
The book for French class cost $150 + taxes, but it’s supposed to be used in this class and the next one. Still, it seems expensive given how thin it is. It came with an audio CD and a workbook, which were included in the price. The teacher wants us to type out our answers from the workbook, which seems a bit strange, but it should leave the workbook nice and neat, so that’s a plus. At the end of the semester, it sounds like we turn in all of our homework again, as a portfolio of sorts, so she can see our progress.
For the English class, one of the two required books is still on back order, so I guess I’ll have to wait for that one.
