>>> Brad Johnston <[log in to unmask]> 12/15/09 8:25 PM >>>
--- On Tue, 12/15/09, Scott <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Brad's experience in France, if duplicated, indicates a sea change among the French in France.
The Book is wrong. I was invited into many homes by French I had known for several days to several months.
Bob Yates, University of Central Missouri
~~~~~
The context for my comments, (get this, Herb), without which my words don't mean what they should, is that I wrote of doctors, business people, comptables, and nuclear engineers, not students. When my notaire and I have lunch together, he speaks to me in French and I speak to him in English, which suits us both and helps us both.
Apropos of someone else saying he has drinks and hob-knobs with the French, The Book says the French are not likely to invite you into their homes until you are a friend, someone whom they have known for at least 10 years. True to that dictum, the aforementioned notaire invited me to his home to have a glass of Champagne with him and his wife, who I had not previously met, just about 10 years after he and I first met.
I speak not of students, back packs, and youth hostels but rather of notaires and their wives. She is an elegant lady. I would be surprised to know that her spoken French is anything other than what corresponds to the Standard English which is taught in our classrooms.
.brad.15dec09.
From: Scott <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: ATEG Digest - 13 Dec 2009 to 14 Dec 2009 (#2009-255)
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Tuesday, December 15, 2009, 12:47 AM
Brad's experience in France, if duplicated, indicates a sea change
among the French in France. Over the last 50 years, I have heard from
scores of exchange students who complained that, when they tried to speak
French in France, they were answered in often very poor English. My
cousin learned some conversational Welsh. According to her, every time she
spoke French, she was answered in English. She would look puzzled and spout
some Welsh. Then, and only then, would she receive an answer in French.
N. Scott Catledge
P.S. I am a mixed bag: I strongly favor English only in the USA but also
strongly support the teaching of foreign languages beginning in elementary
schools--not just Spanish. All elementary schools could not be set up in
large cities; however, both target schools and separate language academies
have been used successfully. A few districts did it by student perceived
capacity to learn.
Spartanburg (SC) City Schools had a fantastic French program in the '70s.
The highest ranked students started French in the 3rd grade with a French
teacher from France. In Junior High, the next best students started in 7th
grade with a mixture of French teachers from France and specially certified
USA teachers. The next group down started in 9th grade; the final group in
10th grade. Unfortunately, colleges were not prepared for students who
could easily exempt the first two years. After a student at Columbia
College exempted her first two years of French, the school would not allow a
Freshman to take Junior courses, so she switched to Spanish. We passed the
word to counselors about which schools the best students should avoid.
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