Today I had to report for another appointment regarding my immigration to France. The purpose of today's meeting was to assess my level of French. One of the requirements for me to stay in France is that I have to be working on acquiring the language and at some point I will have to be tested and succeed at a certain level. No pressure!!
I arrived at the meeting today and was in the company of 3 other women (2 of which had their husbands with them which I quickly found out was because they spoke almost zero French). The person leading the meeting today(who I believe is one of the French instructors) only spoke in French! She asked for basic information about us...where do we live, our phone number, and do we have any children. I was surprised by how much I understood as she asked these questions and was explaining all other details. She went on to explain that we would be doing a written test and that she would use that along with our verbal interactions today to assess our current level of French.
Prior to the meeting today, I had read that the maximum number of hours offered by the government to acquire the language is 400. The teacher reported that the maximum that they would be assigning people was 330 hours.
She reviewed our written tests (in front of everyone and making comments as she went). She then gave each of us the number of hours we would be given. She explained that they will assess us throughout the process and that if we progress more quickly we can take the exam without finishing the hours. I was given 250 hours! Seriously, that is a lot of French in my future! Of the participants in the group today I was the highest functioning with the French language (sad but true that my level was as good as it got today). At one point I even had to translate information from French to English for a Thai woman, no joke!
The teacher shared that classes would be held on Monday, Thursday and Fridays for 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon. Uh, slight problem, I have a job! I shared this information with her and she stated that I would have to provide them with a copy of my work contract to prove this. She then stated that they will try to offer me a class on Saturday mornings but need a minimum of 5 students to hold the class and they do not have that at this time. Regardless, I have to participate in at least 1 class each week and to figure out which day works for me. While I am excited to improve my French I am disappointed that this will affect my work week. I have just finally gotten my teaching hours filled up and now will have to figure out how to rearranged and juggle both of these things.
Classes are held at 2 different locations, neither of which are easy access to the house so I will rely on James to take me when he can and otherwise will have to figure out the local bus system or walk (30-40 minutes). I thought I was already a professional at mass transit in this country but I haven't used the bus system yet. That may soon be changing. The classes start the beginning of January. I am sure there will be many experiences to share about this process so stay tuned...
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