new semester brings new dramas

The first week of the new semester is over and done with, and no, I still don't have my complete schedule. German classes are scheduled at the same times as two of my other classes, and the secretary has thus far refused to acknowledge this fact. I've spoken to the director, and he said he'd figure something out with the secretary. So far, I have heard nothing. Today's latest email to the secretary has gone unanswered so far.

The best part of this semester's schedule is that it's almost completely done away with my English lessons. Oh joy. It's not like I need money or anything...

The classes I've had so far have ranged from okay, to boring, to "oh my God, I might hurt this teacher". My first class was a class called "Traduction consecutive anglaise". Basically, we listen to something in French and have to translate it directly into English. Easy enough, but things have a tendency to go in one ear and out the other (in English or French), and midway through the sentence, I can't remember the rest. Luckily, I did manage to get the first sentence down, because the teacher decided to call on me first as "Shannon" is such a pretty name (and very easy to pronounce for a British guy). I delivered it perfectly which surprised him. He was like "Oh, you're quite good." Everyone, of course, started giggling, and I had to inform him I'm American. How, he didn't get that from my accent, I do not know.

For the class I rocked last semester, Theme (French to English translation), I now have a new teacher. Long story short, I think this will be hell. Most of you probably say the "is/are $20 enough" discussion on Facebook or Twitter, so I won't go in to it again, but yeah, she doesn't like American English at all. And the one thing she was trying to tell me wasn't even British, it was just wrong.

Another class (that I will most likely be getting out of) will be about business communication in English. You know, like writing cover letters, emails, telephone conversations, and the like. Things I've actually taught while working as a lectrice. This week, we learned how to give a presentation in English. The teacher even wrote "Nice to meet you" on the board. The director was supposed to come talk to the teacher about me in the class, but of course, he never showed.

Last night, I ended up at some international gathering in Valenciennes. Not only did I catch up with the two women from last year's conversation group, but I also met a French woman who lived near Cleveland, Ohio for four years! We were both shocked. I'm most likely going to start working with her children so they can keep up their American English.

Even though this was a short week in terms of classes, I'm very glad it's the weekend soon! Okay, that could be because J will be here in a few hours.