Glug, Glug

Yesterday, I took a French immersion course. It was... interesting. This was the first formal French course that I had ever taken, and I didn't know what to expect. Would it be a review of grammar? A free-form conversational environment? Would I come out of the course feeling more comfortable in my ability to speak French?

Initially, waiting for the class to start, I was stunned to hear the casual conversations in French that were going on in the waiting area. I thought I'm in big trouble -- I probably won't last two hours, if that, before they're way beyond me. That turned out not to be the case. The people in my Basic class were at roughly the same level as I -- one or two clearly knew more, but that didn't translate into better proficiency, while one or two were more graceful in their use of the language, but didn't know concepts that I did know. As for me, I felt that I was in the right class in terms of my level. I had to struggle to keep up, on occasion, while at other times I felt at ease -- I either knew the concept being taught already (at least, generally), or the instructor explained it clearly enough that I was able to use it.

I didn't come out of the course speaking more clearly, which is what I'd hoped to achieve, but I did come out of it with a certain amount of improvement, as well as a better grasp of some of the basic concepts. For a one day class, I think that's quite a lot.