XP-WWYD? School Troubles...

heyimbren

For those of you that don't know, I'm getting my minor in French. To do so, I have a general french class (emphasis on grammar) and a french translation class for this entire school year.

I've been having some troubles with some of the grammar lessons, even though I'm reading the chapters, doing the homework questions, and even doing some extra review on my own time. I'm not doing *terribly*, I just feel like I'm putting in a lot more effort than I'm getting out of this.

I can get through the class since there's only a couple months left, but I really want to improve my work. I went and talked to my professor, who basically said he couldn't help me. That this is entirely up to me to figure out, and if I do the readings and the work I should be fine. So I decided to look for a tutor, however, at my level of french there aren't any available for me through the school.

I have a friend from church who teaches elementary/high school french and also studied it during university. She's agreed to help me out, but when we met yesterday I realized that she knows about as much french as I do (at this level). I'm not entirely sure how helpful she's going to be, but right now she's the only option I have.

The thing is that I'm not sure what I don't understand about things. It isn't that I have questions, but I think I just misunderstand some of the picker details about the grammar without realizing it and I end up doing poorly on my homework.

So at this point, what should I do? My professor made it very clear that he cannot (or will not) help me with this.

calindi

Check out Craigslist - there's got to be a native French speaker in the area who would be willing to help you.

Honestly, as far as learning grammar, I've learned to just push ahead.  Things that might not make sense right now eventually fall into place - there's an "ah HA!" moment and it all just works.  Until then, it's rote memorization and repetition - it isn't fun but it works.  Get a good grammar book and go through it and do the exercises.

I always feel like knowing a second language is worthwhile, so I'd encourage you to keep going.  I'm sure you're capable of getting this, and it's probably just one part you're confused on.

Elle1036

Have you tried searching around on the internet for language teaching websites?  It sounds lame, but I used to have several favorites when I was working on my Spanish degree.  Unfortunately, I can't remember what any of them were; that was several years ago.  But if you take the time to look, you'll find that there is good stuff out there.  There's a lot of crap to sort through, but there are some quality sites, too.

heyimbren

I'm going to keep going with it, I'm determined to do that. I might look around to see what I can do. Actually, my youth pastor's wife at my church has French as her first language- she just acknowledges that she doesn't know enough grammar to help me out.

At this point, I know more French grammar than I do English grammar and I took grammar classes all the way through elementary and high school. I do have a couple other grammar books to help me out, so maybe I should try reading them more/again.

loves2shop4shoes

Hmmm... a few thoughts.

Is there anyone else in the French Department that would be willing to help you?  I don't think that if you told another professor your professor's response when you asked for his help, it would bode well for your professor.  I mean, the man is being paid to teach you and hold office hours to assist you one on one.  He's not doing his job.

That being said, what about graduate students at your university?  Grad students are notoriously poor, so you may be able to use one of them as a tutor.  Are there any French international students you could use as tutors?  If not, perhaps you could see if the French or Romance Languages department at your school has a Rosetta Stone program you could use.  (My alma matter had free Rosetta Stone at the language departments for all students to use.)

If none of that could work, perhaps you could look into buying some extra French grammar books off of Amazon?

niknik15

I went to France last Spring Break and one of my professor's is seriously dating a high school french teacher who went with us and I became good friends with. Also my BF taught several french students. So if you would like to get in touch with them I can give you their numbers or Facebook.They are all very nice and Francois has tried many times to teach me some french and in return I taught him how to two step.

bethsmiles

I would ask other French professors in the department for help. Honestly I would be really pissed if a professor was unwilling to help me in a class I was paying a lot of money for and I'd probably write the dean about it but I get bitchy when professors don't do their job.

Hazel_B

Bren - Is there a French group on your campus? I know I made use of the Spanish one on my campus when I was learning. Someone there should be able to help you out. In my Spanish ones there were native speakers and people who were learning.  I'd try that first.

That is irritating that a student going for help is told I can't help you you need to figure it out on your own.

sparkles88

One thing that I found helped me when I was learning German was trying to surround myself with the language as much as possible. It's not necessarily practice in terms of doing worksheets and exercises, but it helps a lot. Watching things like French films or TV shows in your free time might help learn a lot. The more you are exposed to it, the more you pick up on things without even realizing it, and it starts to come more naturally.

I also agree with Beth and Hazel. I would be upset if I was paying tuition money and a teacher wasn't doing their job of teaching. And as Hazel suggested, language clubs on campus often get together to practice speaking and the extra exposure helps.

niknik15

You should just go hang out in Paris for a month.

Blue & White

I would try to find another set of eyes to look over your stuff, even if that other set is "at your level"

I'd also rip your professor a new butthole on his evaluations.  A professor's primary job is to help his students, not do his research.

Feel free to report him to his department too.  Complaints don't go over well in these parts.  (you can do this anonymously)

jeanacorina

It sounds like your best bet at this point is to a) visit a French-speaking country and get down and dirty with the language, or b) buddy-up with a native French speaker and get down and dirty with them.



Or, just talk. You know.

Anyway, I majored in Spanish for several years in high school and the first couple years of college. Speak the language as much as you can, even with people "at your level," or even with people BELOW your level. You could even tutor lower-level French. I tutored high school Spanish when I was in college, and teaching another person really helped me get a better grasp on things myself.

You can get a French pen-pal via email or even do Skype or something. The world is wide open these days! Go find yourself a buddy!

jeanacorina

I just realized I didn't say WHY I suggested what I did. The thing is like this: there are little things about languages that are really hard to "get" unless you're a native speaker. Some things are just "understood" and aren't necessarily easy to learn from a class or a book or memorization. Things just come naturally when you REALLY understand a language. The closer you get to fluency, the more you immerse yourself in the language and even the culture (which is a very important aspect of language itself), the more you'll just... kind of magically "get."

It's that ah-HA moment someone else mentioned. You've got to go further than class in order to get that moment. It took me 3 months in Mexico (and a tropical romance... but that was so long ago it's not worth discussing, right?), speaking Spanish in college classes, teaching Spanish to my grandmother who was learning at the beginner level, conversing in Spanish with the everyday native speakers I became friends with... I was getting it from every direction, at every level, and when I ran into something I didn't understand my friends would EXPLAIN IT TO ME IN SPANISH.

There just wasn't much English for me during those 3 months, and it put me leaps and bounds ahead of the advanced college course I took when I returned to the US.

So, find a buddy. Or more than one. And don't speak English.