MANNERS AND OTHER MATTERS

Villefranche-sur-Mer, as seen from  Cap Ferrat (Photo LP 2013) After almost seven weeks my sojourn in France is ending in a few days.  Having spent short holidays in France over the past 30 years, I wanted to stay for a longer period and to have the opportunity to live like a local, albeit a transient one.  My month long course at the Institut de français in Villefranche-sur-Mer enabled me, for five weeks, to mix within the welcoming community of that ville...to share their market, their boulangerie, their boucher, their inclement weather, and their daily greetings as I would commence my walk up the hill to my "school" each morning.  The teachers and administration personnel at the Institut were, each and every one of them, encouraging of we students, even while they corrected our language and at times laughed with us over our mistakes.  The two teachers who conducted my class, Intermediate 3, over the four...

Language schools are notoriously difficult to choose. Does one want an intensive learning experience, an experience which offers a range of opportunities to complement language with culture, a school which offers a style of teaching which suits the adult student,  a school which encourages the modern vernacular of the chosen language, and immersion? When I was selecting the language school with which I would invest my time, and money, all of these considerations were paramount for me, no one more important than the other. The Institut (photo LP 2013) My research led me, via numerous internet bypasses, to the   Institut de Français  and I have been a student now in the four week immersion course for two weeks.The program is unique in its approach to language learning...writing notes is discouraged, and speaking freely without fear of mistakes is encouraged. Grammar is incorporated, rather than being the primary target of the learning experience. I...

The beach at Guilderton, Western Australia, February 2013 (photo LP ) I have spent a few days recently at my beachhouse studying my French lessons, but more specifically the “wonderful world” of French pronouns in all their various guises. Pronouns, both in English and French are fraught with difficulty and having an afternoon cooking yesterday, while simultaneously watching a cable cooking channel, I was annoyed by the number of presenters who used " we" when speaking to their television audience: "Now we take our eggs, break them into our bowl..."  We, the audience, are not there with the presenter; they are joined by a camera operator, lighting operator and others to assist in their presentation, none of whom are helping with the actual cooking process. By the time "We are now plating our meal..." was announced, I was so removed from the whole experience that irrespective of how delightful the menu appeared, I was distracted and uninter...

A local Kanak  family at the monthly Kanak market day (photo LP) I have recently returned from a  séjour linguistique  in New Caledonia at   CREIPAC  ( Centre de Rencontres et d'Echanges Internationaux du Pacific (Centre for Meetings and International Exchanges in the Pacific).I attended an intensive two week French language course and revelled in the atmosphere of Noumea...it's intrinsic "Frenchness" and it's Melanesian, Pacific Island colour. The Coat of Arms of New Caledonia Some background on New Caledonia. It is one of Australia’s nearest neighbours, located 1,470 kilometres northeast of Brisbane. It comprises the island of Grande Terre (where the capital, Noumea, is situated), the four Loyalty Islands (Ouvea, Lifou, Tiga and Maré), the Belep archipelago, the Isle of Pines and some remote islands. Some 250,000 people live in New Caledonia. Approximately 44 per cent are indigenous (‘Kanak’). CREIPAC...in the old convict area of Nouvi...

Lucinda in front of the lemon tree The weather today is beautiful.  A mild day of about 18 degrees under a very blue, Western Australian sky.  The jonquils under the Chinese Tallow Tree This morning I noticed that the first of the jonquils had burst into flower underneath the still bare Chinese Tallow tree.  The snowdrops are flowering around the chilli bush, above  the vincas, which have very bravely hung on through a bleak winter and around the roses, only pruned a week ago and still nestling in their very sandy soil.  I will build it up with manure as their leaves start to sprout. The chillies keep the aphids off the roses! And around the pool the bougainvillea and geraniums are bursting into colour to brighten my day.  The bougainvillea is showing off ! In the courtyard Lucinda gazes down on a bare soil which will soon be planted with white primulas, but she is comforted I’m sure by the background lemon tree which is heavy with lemons after the genero...

I have had an extraordinary experience today...courtesy of  an elderly, terminally ill  Chinese lady and her elderly Vietnamese carer. I was visiting my sister, who is very kind to her elderly Chinese neighbor, a Buddhist, with a daughter who is a nun, and a son who is a monk.  Unexpectedly there was a knock on my sister's front door.  A tiny old woman stood there in tears, explaining in broken, Vietnamese English that she was the regular carer for this sick neighbor and she was from the Chung Wah Association of Western Australia. We invited her to enter the house, she did after removing her shoes.  And when she explained that she could not get the old woman in her care to answer her phone or receive her at the door she became frightened that the old lady had perhaps "passed". She was scared and very brave in asking for our help. I have spent time in China and Singapore with The Percy Institute and I was able to speak a tiny bit of Chinese with her to put...

I'm leaving in a few days for a holiday in the UK and Europe.  I can't wait!  Having finished my end of financial year "necessities" a few hours ago, my mind is already moving towards the northern hemisphere, warmer weather, a very special friend...and language. I have been having some interesting conversations with fellow Aussies - family and others - about languages.  There is an increasingly strong policy move in Australia towards mandatory second language tuition in schools. We are very monolinguistic here.  Few opportunities to speak, or hear, a second language, day to day, make it a fairly natural situation. But it's very frustrating when travelling. I have been studying French informally now for a couple of years, and I love it - the mental stimulation, the ability to listen to the French news without subtitles, and "get" most of the stories; the recognition of dialogue in French movies while  trying to blank out the subtitles...and the speaking...