Patrice Tseh
E101
Professor Jones
9/27/2017
Narrative Essay
“Les Langues et Moi” Since the time I was young, I learned the French language in school every year because it was a mandatory subject. I come from a country that speaks two languages. French and English were the official languages spoken in most regions of the country. Coming from a household that spoke only English influenced my lack of motivation towards learning French. Besides, I saw no point in Learning to speak or understand another language. However, knowing different languages has proved to be extremely useful in preventing misunderstanding between people and in building self-esteem. From the moment I started primary one, up until the primary six, I had a bilingual French …show more content…
On my first day in the French class of my new school, I walked into the classroom alongside my twin brother and sat at the back of the classroom. I had not yet seen the teacher, so I was a little nervous. A few minutes later, the teacher finally arrived. “Bonjour tout le monde” she said, as she walks in to find her way to her desk. Everyone responded, “Bonjour Madame.” Next, we began introducing ourselves. After everyone had introduced themselves, it was now my turn. So, I said “Bonjour, Je m’appelle Patrice.” That was one of the few things I had learned so far in French. Then, she asked me “Est-ce que tes jumeaux sont à côté de toi?” I did not understand what she had just said. I answered her by shaking my head from side to side. Someone said to me, “she’s asking if you are twins.” Then I said “yes.” She went on to say, “Qu'est-ce que tu dis?” and I answered “Oui, Oui.” In that moment, I felt like hide myself in a hole. For, I had just realized that my teacher could only speak and understand French. I thought to myself that I was …show more content…
Because this time, not only did I take a French course, I also took a German course in addition. This time around I had two bilingual teachers. Only this time, I was willing to learn both languages. Just like French, German was also difficult. Before then, I had only heard about Germans in history books. So, I had never heard about their language or seen anyone who could speak it. Consequently, hearing it for the first time was humorous. Even though the German teacher was bilingual, he mostly spoke only German. Making it hard to understand what he was saying. He was always full of energy during each class. He never sat down and never wasted any time before beginning class. He always carried a gigantic with him which he used to hit the board to get the attention of the students, whenever we started being too loud. He loved doing this thing where he says, “Was ist das” while pointing at something and we were supposed to guess the name of what he was pointing at in German. In addition, he included songs in his lessons to make us remember the lessons. One of the songs goes like this, “Eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben, wo ist Marcus dageblieben. Ist nicht hier, ist nicht da…” Seeing ow much passion my teacher had in teaching the language convinced me to become serious about learning the language. Thus, I tried my very best to stayed above average in both courses every year until I finished
E101
Professor Jones
9/27/2017
Narrative Essay
“Les Langues et Moi” Since the time I was young, I learned the French language in school every year because it was a mandatory subject. I come from a country that speaks two languages. French and English were the official languages spoken in most regions of the country. Coming from a household that spoke only English influenced my lack of motivation towards learning French. Besides, I saw no point in Learning to speak or understand another language. However, knowing different languages has proved to be extremely useful in preventing misunderstanding between people and in building self-esteem. From the moment I started primary one, up until the primary six, I had a bilingual French …show more content…
On my first day in the French class of my new school, I walked into the classroom alongside my twin brother and sat at the back of the classroom. I had not yet seen the teacher, so I was a little nervous. A few minutes later, the teacher finally arrived. “Bonjour tout le monde” she said, as she walks in to find her way to her desk. Everyone responded, “Bonjour Madame.” Next, we began introducing ourselves. After everyone had introduced themselves, it was now my turn. So, I said “Bonjour, Je m’appelle Patrice.” That was one of the few things I had learned so far in French. Then, she asked me “Est-ce que tes jumeaux sont à côté de toi?” I did not understand what she had just said. I answered her by shaking my head from side to side. Someone said to me, “she’s asking if you are twins.” Then I said “yes.” She went on to say, “Qu'est-ce que tu dis?” and I answered “Oui, Oui.” In that moment, I felt like hide myself in a hole. For, I had just realized that my teacher could only speak and understand French. I thought to myself that I was …show more content…
Because this time, not only did I take a French course, I also took a German course in addition. This time around I had two bilingual teachers. Only this time, I was willing to learn both languages. Just like French, German was also difficult. Before then, I had only heard about Germans in history books. So, I had never heard about their language or seen anyone who could speak it. Consequently, hearing it for the first time was humorous. Even though the German teacher was bilingual, he mostly spoke only German. Making it hard to understand what he was saying. He was always full of energy during each class. He never sat down and never wasted any time before beginning class. He always carried a gigantic with him which he used to hit the board to get the attention of the students, whenever we started being too loud. He loved doing this thing where he says, “Was ist das” while pointing at something and we were supposed to guess the name of what he was pointing at in German. In addition, he included songs in his lessons to make us remember the lessons. One of the songs goes like this, “Eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben, wo ist Marcus dageblieben. Ist nicht hier, ist nicht da…” Seeing ow much passion my teacher had in teaching the language convinced me to become serious about learning the language. Thus, I tried my very best to stayed above average in both courses every year until I finished