entretien du francais

Veronique, my erstwhile french prof from Rennes, had encouraged me to sit the DELF french proficiency exams while I was over there in May. Unfortunately, a combination of laziness and a general focus of my efforts elsewhere meant that I didn't do so. Upon getting back to Australia, one of the things on my long list of tasks was to sign up for french lessons with a view to sitting a proficiency exam in the near future.

Thus, last week, I signed up for lessons with Alliance Francaise Brisbane. After some cursory evaluation, they decided I'd be best off in the DALF class, which surprised me, since this was above the level Veronique had suggested I might take. The first lesson was last Saturday, and in fact the level seemed fine. I felt like I spoke at least as well as anyone else in the class, and better than some. We tried a sample exercise, which I thought may have been intended to scare us, but I figure I managed a pass mark, even if I didn't exactly ace it. More importantly, the people in the class seem nice, which might give me some future avenues for social circle work. It was notable, though, that I was the only guy there, reminiscent of my high school italian classes.

To back up the class, I wandered along on Wednesday to Mercuriales, AF's weekly conversation group at a South Bank cafe. This week proved exceptional in that Anne, apparently a regular, was having her birthday. As such, we wandered up the hill to a greek restaurant for dinner instead of drinks. Much fun was had by all, mainly in french, although we switched back from time to time particularly to accomodate beginners or non-french-speakers.