One of last week's songs was one that I had at least remembered singing along to at church one Sunday. I couldn't begin to give a good translation of it, but the last line says "Sois mon ancre" which means "Be my anchor". At one point during practice, someone said "The words 'ancre' and 'oncle' sound so similar to me that I'm afraid I'm going to sing the wrong thing!" We had a good laugh about asking God to be our uncle instead of our anchor. Ah, theology and language learning! This could be why the need to say things precisely is repeatedly hammered into my debutant class.
School is great. It's a wonderful place to totally mangle your French and then repeat yourself on end until your teacher is satisfied with how you said it. We all laugh together because we are all are in or have been in the same predicament. We have met many gracious French people, to be sure, but it is also nice to be learning in an environment that is not critical in the negative sense. We are corrected often, but only out of a desire for us to speak well and make sense to the people we'll soon be working with. We are being equipped to do good works.
Learning a new language cannot be done without a large dose of humility and willingness to try, fail, and try again. Chances are, if you think you did well on that test, you probably didn't. If you gave it your best effort, you really can't do better. If you don't work hard, that will show too. Our level exams will be held in March. Many of us, including the teachers, have been sick. Pray that our winter break will be wisely used as we try to rest, get well, have fun, and study hard.
~ Nikki