Ma Vie in France

In the US regional differences are stretched out for miles and miles. Even though are regions and landscapes can be incredibly diverse, the change from one to another is fairly gradual and you often have to drive a long way before anything changes. Not the case in France. Just taking the area Lyon, you have to the east flatlands with small lakes and ponds, and if you go further, you run into the Alps. To the northwest, vineyards and rolling hills with naturally ochre colored stone for building constructions, and further west still the Loire river valley and then, the Massif Centrale, dormant volcanoes which make up a small, low, mountain-like range. Not to mention due south, where you can find prehistoric caves, or the north where you eventually leave the Beaujolais vineyards for Burgundy vineyards. All of these changes are within about a 2 hours drive of Lyon. But it's not only landscape we're dealing with, it's also regional identity, and of course food. Eac...

My days here in France are often spent straddling two linguistic worlds. My professional life ‘happens’ mostly in English, thinking about its mechanics, how to explain ‘x’ grammar point, and how to speak clearly to my students. My personal life revolves around French, which we speak at home.  In short, thinking about language is a large part of my day, and in this post I’d like to comment on some reflections I have about language and language learning. Since moving to France, the place of French in my life has changed. Whereas in the US it was a beautiful object to admire, to study, to practice, here it is my survival tool, my key to sorting out my life in every way from administration to asking for something in a different size in a store.  French is my lifeline. My command of it, on both a linguistic and a pragmatic level, can make or break many situations. This can sometimes put me at a disadvantage, but this is also something you have to acce...