Today was a good day. For months I've been working so hard to keep up with my French class, but today - after hours and hours of hard labour - my teacher put aside her indifference towards me and granted me a compliment, as it were!
We were supposed to write three little texts about holiday experiences and use several adjectives and adverbs (of about 80% of them I'd never heard before!). So like a good student I made them a week ago. Today she asked us to read them out loud. A fellow classmate asked me what the exact assignment was, seeing as how she - much like me - did not quite understand what she was saying. So I showed her the texts I had written and where they could be found. For some reason, the teacher interpreted this as me taking initiative to read them out loud. So I did. I read them, all the while knowing that when I've finished I'd be getting a shitload of negative comments and critisims about my writing, my use of vocabulary, sentence structure and of course pronunciation.
And I was right, though it was not half as bad as I'd imagined it. There were only 5 remarks (out of 3 texts containing 8-10 lines each!) and they were all quite constructive! When she was finished commenting me, she wanted to hear another student. As it turns out, none of the others (not even the nerdy, geeky, always-prepared-cause-they-don't-have-a-life sort of student!) had made this exercise. So there I was, the only one, in a class of twenty-five students. I, who suck so bad in French it's almost like I'm speaking a completely different language, I, who make Paris look like crap! Yet, I was the sole person to 'succeed' and I do use this term lightely, considering the teacher! After the teacher was done scanning all 25 names, in hopes of hearing another person speak, she sighed and started to say how disappointed she was, how we were the worst class in terms of scores, and how we could all benefit by making our assignments and coming to class prepared.
But then dear reader, then she uttered words that she had never uttered before! Kind words, encouraging words and most of all, it seemed as though she really meant what she said! The weird thing about it, was that she was saying them to me! Of course, I barely understood half of what she was saying, since my French is still terribly below standards, but afterwards people told me that she said I was a good student, that people should follow my example and that next time they should e-mail me when there is an assignment! This really is all that a student - or in this case, I - had to hear! How soft and kind she sounded when she was praising me!
Of course, it can't all be rainbows and butterflies since she finished my homage by saying: "Donc, il fait ses devoirs, parce qu'il sache que c'est vraiment nécessaire!", translated, this comes down to: "He makes his assignments, because, well, he knows that in his case it is really necessary to make them!" And with this, I saw a glimpse of the teacher I used to know: condescending, belittling, sarcastic and downright rude.
In retrospect, I feel kind off foolish for ever thinking I could get into that woman's good grace, there is just no pleasing her, nor will I continue trying!
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