We are settled into our small apartment, all eight of us, here in Sancerre, France. We are gradually learning our way around this beautiful historic town.
The picture above shows where we attend language school for 3.5 hours each day. We have an amazing teacher who somehow manages to keep 3 adults and boys from age 8 - 14 engaged in learning. Going to class as an entire family is a unique and enjoyable experience. The boys are quick learners and we adults have some advantage in that we have all taken some Spanish classes in the past. The younger kids fit right in and are surprisingly not very distracting. The learning is a team effort that, so far, has been good for everyone I think.
We started at the very beginning with the alphabet and numbers and have been adding pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and essential phrases. We have been here for about a week and a half now and I am very excited with our progress. I am impressed with the immersion aspect and how it affects learning. Our teacher teaches only in French (we can ask for English explanations when needed). Each day we go on a "mission" to places like the local brulangerie (bakery), charcuterie (deli), or la poste (post office), etc. to practice our French and become more functional here. We usually incorporate a game (the first one was Uno) to keep it fun and facilitate more practice. There is of course homework and all the daily life stuff of trying to keep kids (age 2 months to 14 years) sane in a small apartment.
Just to survive though - you are forced to learn quickly. The google translator app is a real life saver at the supermarket, reading cooking instructions, talking to security (another blog post) and just understanding signs to keep yourself out of trouble. I'll write more about that stuff later :).
We are thankful to be here and think this is an essential step toward being able to help more effectively in Togo.
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The photos below show our apartment entrance (blue door with a big tower in the background), our walk to class and a pic from the first day of school.
