Bonjour tout le monde!
So today is probably the least active Sunday I have had
during my stay in France. Typically,
Sundays are devoted to family life. For
example, with my host family, we typically go on hikes or small day trips. However, this weekend, I was left at home and
had to cook for myself (Yikes!).
I’ve been here for three weeks now, and I really can’t
believe that it’s been that long. Some
days, time seems to pass very slowly, while others are gone within the blink of
an eye. This week has been rather
uneventful, so I guess I’ll describe the situation regarding the courses I am
taking.
The Placement Test
Upon my arrival in Grenoble, I had to take a placement test
which is given to all international exchange students at the university which I
am intending, the Université Stendhal—Grenoble 3.
Now one thing I have found out in my life is that I am
absolutely awful at any form of
standardized testing. If the test is for
a grade in my courses, I typically pass with flying colors. But as soon as someone hands me a piece of
paper which has a greater impact on my future, of course I choose this time of all times to perform poorly.
So about that test… it was AWFUL. And by awful, I mean pretty ridiculously
terrible, and I had no idea what was going on for most of it.
The first part of the test was an interview with a professor
at the university to assess my oral production skills. Prior to leaving for France, I would have
assumed that this would have been my weakness, but it turns out that I’m not half bad at speaking the language. I got my point across, and still remain confident
that I performed well during the interview.
And then, the written test began, with 35 minutes worth of
oral comprehension. An audio tape of “episodes”
was played, and each episode was played twice.
After each episode, the questions became a bit more difficult, and by
the end of the audio tape, we were listening to a full-blown French interview,
during which the only word I could actually understand was l’eau. At this point during
the test, I remember distinctly thinking to myself, fantastic job Mike, fantastic.
Out of the hundreds of words spit out during this interview, you
understood one?
Then, FINALLY, the writing section was given. This section I felt fairly confident in, although
it was a bit tricky. I can write fairly well if I am given the topic to
start with, but I am absolutely awful at finishing other people’s
sentences. And sure enough, that’s what
I had to do.
My Placement
Ordeal
After the test was over, we received our results the next
day. I was placed in Niveau B1.3, which was much lower than I
had expected. Here is a brief
explanation of how the Nieveaus work:
A1- Low Beginner
A2- High Beginner
B1- Low Advanced
B2- High Advanced
C1- To be honest, I’m not exactly sure what this level is
actually called, because barely anyone ever tests into it. At this point, students start taking classes
with actual French students, instead of being isolated with the other exchange
students.
C2- For all intents and purposes, you are essentially fluent at this level.
Now I knew that I had not performed as well as I would have
liked at this point, but I was expecting a little bit higher. After two days-worth of sitting through the
most BORING classes of my life, during which our teacher repeatedly drilled les adjectifs, le passé compose, et l’imparfait into our heads, I spoke with her and asked if
I could change levels. Sure enough, they
moved me up into B1.5, which is a much better fit, although still not as
challenging as I would like.
Well, I guess I’ll describe the classes at some other point,
seeing as this entry has become much longer than I had intended. Jusqu’à demain, mes amis!
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