French - Beginner

I am often asked from where I get my interest in language learning and I really don’t know yet I have an idea.
My great grandparents were born in Italy yet I have never learned Italian although I understand a fair bit. But it wasn’t this. I believe it was my father’s job. Some would say it was a dream job but he worked extremely hard to become one of the UK’s top wine experts. He trained both as an oenologist (a wine science expert) and a Master of Wine. So, he understood both the science and the enjoyment of wine. And he was passionate.

I remember hearing French words at home such as “dégustation”, “pétillant”, “sommelier”, “vendange” and so on. I progressed fast when I started French lessons at school and it was through French wine-connected colleagues of my father that I was lucky enough to have part of my secondary education in France. Firstly, some terms at Lycée de Vincennes (it had a much longer official name than this!), a grammar school in one of the eastern suburbs of Paris followed by university at the Sorbonne (proper name Panthéon-Sorbonne although nowadays people are calling it “University of Paris”. No comment). I graduated with a degree in French without a clue about a career.

One of my favourite places in France is connected to my education there. It is Le Touquet on the Côte d’Opale which sounds a little more glamorous than “along the coast from Calais”. From the family home in Brighton, I used to “commute” at the beginning and end of term. The journey was something of a fairytale and I loved every aspect of it. An aircraft with 50-70 passengers (depending on the aircraft type) flew us from Gatwick to Le Touquet in around 35 minutes where a train waited to take us to Gare du Nord in Paris. Known as The Silver Arrow service (I preferred the French name “Flèche d’Argent”), it actually started from Victoria station whereas I always joined at Gatwick. It launched in 1956 and operated until 1980 when it was discontinued due to a much faster successor called Eurostar which would start 14 years later but which would involve works affecting “our” line.
I try to return to Le Touquet often and despite it being known as Le Touquet-Paris-Plage due to the number of Parisians who came for hunting and fishing and who had summer homes there, it has an extraordinary mix of architecture, gastronomy, history and cultural heritage together with one of the best beaches in France. I am happy to bore for the world about “my place”. I love the adjective deriving from the name - “touquettois” (masculine) and touquettoise” (feminine). So, “le jardin touquettois” and “la maison touquettoise”. This was great showing off material for an English teenager!

I fell in love with French singers too and some of my favourites are France Gall who passed away in 2018, Jeanne Mas, Patricia Kaas and, more recently Mylene Farmer, who hails from Quebec, and Zaz.

I came into teaching via journalism both broadcast and print (both in French) and have taught French to teenagers and adults is many different arenas. From students at summer schools to company executives with a learning deadline and even airline pilots. One of my most interesting assignments was teaching French to EasyJet pilots who were complete beginners. They were being relocated from UK bases to new ones in France and how they worked! Five hours of lessons daily, Monday to Friday. It was so rewarding and was deemed a great success by EasyJet and more pilots were sent my way the following year! Whole day immersion days, are, in my opinion, a great idea plus they build confidence and fluency.

As for hobbies and interests, two are connected to France: wine (with a father like mine, how was that going to be avoided?) and cooking. While in Paris I did three Escoffier courses. Ask my friends about my choux pastry and yes, Coq au Vin was indeed traditionally made with Gevrey-Chambertin wine although other intense Burgundy wines work just as well and cost far less. Other passions include horses and dogs. And languages, bien sûr.

Due to some work which took me to beautiful Croatia for long periods, I decided to learn Croatian around eight years ago. Mad or brave? A question often asked. Possibly both since the Slavic languages are one of the hardest groups to learn. I’ve passed advanced exams of the University of Rijeka so I am happy now. I speak Spanish and German too, though not totally fluently. It wasn’t so long ago that I too was a beginner when I embarked on that Croatian, so I have great admiration and respect for adults who decide to learn a foreign language, for whatever reason and there’s always some fun and surprises along the way!