Tag Archives: school

The school: Ecole Suisse de Langues aka ESL

date:  Mon, Jan 19, 2009
subject:  l’école
Bonjour mes amis,
Alors, je dois quelque chose à vous dire de l’école. After all, I’ve been here a week now, so I reckon it’s time to talk about the school: ESL, Ecole (Shouldn’t there be an accent over the capital e? Well, I would think so too; but there’s not one at their website; so I’m going with their version.) Suisse de Langues. For those of you who like to play with google map or google earth, the address is 6, Quai Jules Courmont, 69002 Lyon. It is located on le Rhone.  To get here (today I’m using their ordi because I can. Most of the students are gone and there isn’t a line waiting to use da kine.) I walk out the door of the apt. building (after going down the narrow flight of steps of course!), take a right, cross the river Saône which is on the LEFT on any one of the many bridge.

(Lesson of the day:  il y a le pont–regular bridge for cars and pedestrians and la passerelle–foot bridge only. When I asked la Madame if a person is allowed to ride their bike over a passerelle, she said, “Non, mais ouis, mais non.” So, it’s not allowed, but people do it anyway : )

After crossing a bridge I am now in the “main” section of Lyon. The most direct way to the school is to walk down la Saône until I reach rue Grenette, take a left, go till the road on the river (le Rhone) take a right and the school is just a little bit down on the right. I did that for the first few days until I began to feel a little bolder. Now I go any which a way because it’s hard to get lost with so many tall landmarks. First of all there’s le Crayon

(It’s this tall building in the middle of no other tall buildings with a cap on it like a pencil, hence le crayon, which in French is . . . . . you guessed it, a pencil. It’s also over the main train station called Gare-Part Dieu. La Madame told me that there is a cool bar on top of it. Anyone want to come over and check it out with me?)

Secondly, there’s le Fourvière, a beautiful cathedral on the hill on top of the “old” town (also easy to reach from where I’m staying. That’s another cool thing about Madame’s apt., it’s in such a good location.)

The locals call it an elephant lying on its back–it’s four legs are sticking straight up in the air! It’s a church dedicated to Jesus’ brother, Joseph. When I look on the map it’s official name is Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière.

Not far from the elephant en respos is the tour (or tower) de Lyon. It’s what greets me after I’ve climbed at least a thousand steps. (No, I haven’t counted them, but our teacher made us count them when we descended from another part of the hill. And for those who can’t sleep without knowing the answer, there were 248 on that particular set of steps.)

The tour really does look like THE tour in Paris. It’s just a LOT smaller, AND you’re not allowed to climb it. It’s a tower for communi-cation; I see lots of satellite dishes on it, that kind of thing.

Okay, so it’s easy to find your way around so long as you can get a sightline with one of the big landmarks. That is unless the pollution is so bad. And let me tell you, it IS bad here.

The few times I’ve looked at the weather report it was at the WORSE mark on the list! Yep, pour mes amis à Kaua‘i, lucky we live Hawaii.

To get in the school you have to push a button at the main entrance to the building (unless you come early like I have a few times and the workers are still cleaning up). It’s a lot like everywhere else in the world–except Kaua‘i and maybe Tennessee–where there are buildings with lots of offices and such in them. After getting buzzed in, you climb the dark and very broad stairway up to the 2nd floor (or first étage en francais). There is another buzzer there for getting in . . . unless you’re a student like me and they show you a secret buzzer to push for entry.
The school’s in a classic old building with high ceilings. There are peut-être 6 or 7 classrooms, all have pretty French (no, really) doors, complete with glass panels. The classrooms face the road on 2 sides so if you wanted to daydream you could look at some shops on the groundfloor and appartements en haut.
Here’s the routine of the day:
8:30 a.m. The school opens. You can come in and use the ordi, which are in the entry hallway, 3 on one side of the entry door, 2 on the other.
Dominique from Switzerland
They’re chest high, so you have to stand and step in close sometimes when someone need to pass by. You could also go hang out in the common room at the end of the hallway if you wanted to (or go to your classroom and start studying/working already if you’re a complete nerd! I’ve only done that once, and that was at 8:45, so I don’t think that counts.)
9:00 a.m. School begins. There are essentially two classes. I’m in the more elementary one (of course!). There are only 6 students in our class. Yes, I’m the only Americaine. Here’s the breakdown of the rest: one guy from Brésil who works in advertising, a young man de Suisse who works in construction, a lady from Finland who is essentially an aide worker who will be going to Kenya, a German woman who lives in Ireland with her Irish husband, and a woman from Nigeria who has 2 children who were born in Tampa (elle est très belle!)  Our teacher s’appelle Jean-Laurent.  He is a very handsome young man who is studying to get his doctorate in French (he later decided to nix that plan since he doesn’t need the degree to do what he’s already doing and enjoys) as learned by foreigners (comme moi).  He was born on a tiny island close to Marrakesh called La Reunion.  He is of African decent.  We’re all learning French for different reasons, some like me simplement pour plaisir, some for le travaille.  Those are the ones who need French in their work.
Jean-Laurent is a very good teacher.
Torun from Finland and Jean-Laurent
He’s incredibly encouraging and positive.  Also, he speaks very clearly; and, as those of you who have ever tried to understand native French speakers know, that is très, très important!  At the start of each day he writes les objectifs on the board.  We generally start each class with some discussion.  What are some of the topics you ask?  I’ll look in my notebook for today’s sujets. (sujets, the plural of sujet, which is . . . yep, you guessed right, simply subject in French . . . so MANY of our English words come from French ! )
1) Le devéloppement durable est-il à la mode chez vous?
No, it’s not a question of how many scoops of ice cream you want, but whether it’s fashionable to have/use self-sustaining products.  Katy, I told them how the biggest hotel on the island is now using solar panels.  Très cool! they replied.
2) Que pensez-vous du salarie des patrons?
Since I’m my own boss, or rather sometimes I am, sometimes Tony is, I just told them the on-going joke that Tony and I have that he hopes I’m embezzling.  They laughed.  But then the discussion moved on to Bill Gates.  I had to say that yes, people like that do make a crazy amount of money; but at least Bill Gates and his wife are incredibly généreux.  Oui, oui, Jean-Laurent nodded.
After our discussion (trust me, we are talking like first or MAYBE second graders!) Jean-Laurent pulls out some xerox copies for our lessons for the week.  There is generally a theme for each week.  Last week it was asking questions, present subjonctif, passé recent (venir de + infinitif), etc.  This week it looks like it will be comparisons (for nouns, adj., les adverbes, etc.).  We go around the table taking turns reading out loud and then we work on the exercises.  Sometimes le prof gives us each different little supplements to do on our own time.  I was quite happy last week Tuesday (my 2nd day) when he gave me a difficult worksheet to take home on the difference between passè composè et imparfait.  Passè composè is really pretty easy, mais imparfait, non!  I was quite happy when I managed to use imparfait once in a REAL conversation with la Madame. (okay, okay, you all know I’m a nerd . . . )  We were talking about my dear husband, that he was playing his gig at Trees Lounge while I was sleeping . . . . that’s. . .

(Oops! I hit SEND by mistake!)

p.s. The school is now called Alpadia.

a few corrections . . .

Here’s what I saw one morning en route to school . . . that’s one of the two collines (hills) in Lyon.

date:  sun, jan 18, 2009

subject:  un peu de corrections . . .
howdy all,
it is NOT the smallest elevator in the  world.  i’ve learned a few words in the past few days. it is not THE smallest, but ONE of the smallest.  i just missed that one (excuse da kine) word.
it is not tile next to the wooden shower basin but rather wide, blonde wooden planks like in the rest of the house.
it wasn’t arabic i was hearing, just my bad ears for french.
chique is the feminine version of chic. aren’t you glad to learn that?
won’t you be able to sleep well tonight?
nancy et roy, i hear from tony that you had a wonderful wedding!!!!
congratulations!!!!
saw some great senegalese music this weekend, it was super!! (thought of you adie!) (the group was led by tidiane gay, my hostess is a friend of  friends of tidiane . . . and that’s why she wanted to go . . . moi, i said, sure, i’d love to ! )
dreamt last night in french . . . . thank goodness there was no one looking over my should making corrections . . . . . . c’est tous pour maintenent.
au revior,
susan
la seule americaine ici
yep, the only american here

Am I stupid or what ? ? ?

date: Fri, Jan 16, 2009

subject:  3: La première semaine d’ecole c’est fini (pau)!
I °çé&’!!!!! did it again!!!!!!
Pardonez-moi, s’il vous plaît. At least now I realize what happened. The save button is right next to the send button . . . . Alors, I’m not putting your all’s email addresses in until after I’ve finished!
La Madame. She is an absolutely wonderful hostess. She’s about my size, smaller I think.  More thin.  But she has brown hair like me, a bit shorter though.  And she looks like, well, like a classically French woman. She knows how to dress just right.  The classic black on black. She’s a school teacher at a school only a few minutes walk away. I think she was a bit nervous about what I’d be like. I could see her visibly relax when she saw that I didn’t mind the cat, that I didn’t mind that she smokes now and then (I really don’ mind. They’re those tiny homemade/hand-rolled kind). She actually stood up a bit taller when she saw that I’d be alright—polite, respectful, and all whatever else those things were that she was nervous about.  (Thanks Mom for teaching me manners. They DO come in handy at times.)
L’appartement. Oh my goodness. How did I get so lucky?
(I did it again, hit send instead of save just now! But at least this time it didn’t go, no addresses in da kine. Maybe this monkey can learn something after all).
La Madame’s appartement is in a large building by a rock wall. We are on one of the higher floors. Part of the rock wall is exposed in my chambre. For real! The bathroom is directly across from my room. It also has part of the rock wall in it. Immediately on the right when you enter the bathroom is the shower. It has a wooden base with the drain in the center. The shower head is the completely hand-held kind, there is no whatchamacallit to hang it on.  You should see me (not really!) in the morning when I wash my hair and try not to get the water all over the tile part of the floor directly by the entrance to the bathroom.No. There is no shower curtain, or floor mat for that matter. Thank goodness I brought a pareo. It sure comes in handy. Since I only bought one towel, I want to save that one pour moi! not the floor.
The rest of the apartment is comprised of a large entry/great/living room and a kitchen.  La cuisine is directly on your left when you enter the apartment. It’s got a cool wall with opaque glass on top dividing it from the main living area. She has the normal things, a fridge (smaller than most in the US, but still big), stove and oven set like Tones and I have, sink and above but beside the stove-top is the heater for the apartment. Throughout the apartment are the wall type of heaters like I remember Bearden Elementary School having long ago. The one in my bedroom is unfortunately next to the window, so most of the heat hides behind the curtain at night when I close it. Fortunately, I brought the red flannel pj’s covered with dog heads that Jan gave me for Christmas a few years back (merci beaucoup encore Jan!).
La Madame is a very good sculptor. The apartment is full of many, many figures, which she has made. They are very good. The recurring theme is the human figure–male and/or female figures and heads. There was literally a head rolling in ma chambre the first evening I arrived.

I didn’t break it, I promise! Fortunately all was well with Madame (Yes, I told her about it!) She simply moved about 5 heads, really, 5, up higher on the shelf so that I could have a place to put my makeup and lotion.

The appartement is furnished like an antique store or art shop, but sparsely. The metal table with a class top, where we have our dinner, was made by her father (John, it reminded me right off of the bookshelf in your apartment in Brooklyn; the one that you say you threw together which is so cool). There are also some really neat chairs he made and a lamp.
We eat on square clear glass plates.  Really.  It’s très, très sheek/chique (at this moment I cannot begin to think how to spell that word. Tony, help?).
Okay, believe it or not (probably yes, if you’ve actually taken the time to read all this; and I do hope you’ve printed them rather than sat at the computer for so long; and read them somewhere else like John et Cat who read the last one on the train from Brooklyn to Manhattan; I love the image of that!) 2 hours, 50 minutes and 58 seconds have gone by.  Assez!  Enough for today.  And I haven’t told you one thing about the school except that the ordi are in the hallway and it’s bad manners to be a pig and not share . . .  but I will tell you this ONE thing.  Yesterday after Barbara from Switzerland wrote her address in my little rainbow colored book, I looked it over to make sure I could read it.  As I read her name and address and came to the street number (37), all I could think of was treint-sept.  I actually was trying to find sieben und dreissig (she’s Swiss after all) and could not.  Vraiment. That’s when I knew for sure that the school was working . . . . Alors, à bientôt mes amis!!!!