In order to survive in France, there are some simple words and phrases one must know. They may seem simple to you, but really, they are the essentials!
The List:
Oui
Ca va (say twice for emphasis)
Okay
D'accord
Ca y est? (this basically means, it was okay?)
Ca y était? (same as above)
Je fais rien
Et beeennnnn oui
Beeeennnn oui, je crois
(you can combine any number of these whenever you feel like your answer needs more padding)
The most confusing on that list are definitely, "Ca y est?" and "Ca y était?" Why? Because you never know what they're referring to. Are they talking about this morning? This afternoon? The forty-five minutes you spent trying to make kids remember that green and grey are not the same color? Or that you do pronounce the H in hello, horse, he, here? I just want to say, "I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN." So, instead, I just nod and say, "Oui."
That's the extent of my vocabulary in France. However, my word of the month is "une punition" (yes, it is what it sounds like, a punishment). French teachers are quite fond of giving these out to students who do anything wrong. I don't give them out, but threatening to send them to the Maitresse for one gets them to shut up for at least a few seconds.
Students are particularly wild on Thursdays for some reason. I haven't fathomed why yet. I was supposed to read them Brown Bear and every single time a page was turned, they went into a frenzy. Seriously? It's Brown Bear. He's a bear, who's brown. Not real exciting. But I suppose when you're eight years old, a purple cat can really excite the senses. Ah, to be young again.
Oh man, my students are the worst on Thursdays too. And when I got to the picture of the creepy teacher in Brown Bear every single kid was screaming.
ReplyDelete