My name is Elen, and I am from the UK. I study French and translation at university during the year, but I have been studying at EasyFrench language school in Montpellier, France for three weeks now. I have just one week left until the end of my summer French course. My time here has been interesting and I feel like I have learnt a lot of new French vocabulary as well as having learnt a lot about the culture in the South of France. In this blog post my aim is to give a realistic example of a typical day in the life of an EasyFrench french student.
Every day can be a little different, however this morning I woke up at 07:30. I decided to live with a host family to get real French immersion, so I often eat breakfast with my host. Today we chatted in French about our weekends. Over the weekend I had gone to a tourist spot ‘le Pont du Diable’ (Devil’s Bridge) to sketch and swim, and to the nearby town of Nîmes with my EasyFrench classmates.
After breakfast I got ready for French class, making sure to pack my vocabulary book (where I note down all the new words I learn) and I caught the tram into town. This morning it wasn’t busy and as the tram is air conditioned it was nice and cool. I got off the tram at Gare St Roch station and walked down one street to Rue Joffre where my French lessons take place. It’s a newer, comfortable building with AC and bright classrooms. I filled up my bottle and chatted to a couple of friends before heading into my classroom to learn some French: Salle Tielle.
My French course takes place in one of the C1 classes. Today we began by studying some grammar. We revised future tenses and did some conjugation before reviewing the answers all together as a group. It was helpful to revise the irregular verbs and it will let me be more precise when I express myself in French future tenses. We got the exercises done as a team and then progressed to some listening comprehension!
The topic for listening comprehension today was ‘Dopamine: How Uber manipulates its drivers’. I wasn’t initially convinced, however it turned out to be a very interesting subject of discussion. We all responded to questions on worksheets and then turned to group discussion. Here I learned French expressions relating to the psychology of consumerism, several idiomatic expressions, and how the company Uber has monopolised the taxi market in many countries.
The final activity was to label an image of a car with all the different part names! I had done that for body parts but never for car parts, so it was quite a fun and useful exercise. Once class was over however, it was time for some real french culture in the city of Montpellier- aka Une Crêpe.
Me and my friends often enjoy the crepes from the local stand located in front of the main EasyFrench building. They are well priced and delicious. My favourite has to be Banana & Nutella. Today however I went for a lemon crepe, and my friends got a variety of savory flavours. We ate together in the park by the fountain, and took in the sun as today it is very bright and sunny. Then we rested a while and read our books.
Because I have some homework due tomorrow, I left the park a little early to meet up with some other friends. We went to a cafe for some iced tea and to do some homework and that is what I am doing now! I completed my revision on today’s lesson and decided to write for EasyFrench, as in return for writing a blog post we are gifted with an afternoon activity or excursion. The activities with EasyFrench are varied and interesting, and a fantastic way of getting to see the region and learn about Provence culture. It’s also a super exciting way to make new friends and memories.
The final thing planned for today is that later, me and my new friends have organised a picnic at the Lac du Crès, a lake to the North-East of the city surrounded by beautiful nature. I look forward to swimming in the lovely sun-warmed waters and taking photos of the views, as it is a stunning spot for taking landscape photos and sketching.
In conclusion, I am glad to be writing this post for EasyFrench, as I’m very happy with the quality, attention and care that I have seen and received from my teachers Lou and David and my host Claudine. I am also very happy to have studied at EasyFrench specifically for my summer French course in France. the class is well adapted for my level and a small size with the right number of students to learn effectively. Montpellier is a fantastic place with lots to do, and I feel very lucky to have enjoyed the city this month and to have made so many new great friends and experiences.
Thank you EasyFrench!