class – Towards Reconciliation

Today was our first day of actual class. It’s about 2.5 hours in the morning and 2.5 hours in the afternoon. One thing about France – they take a long lunch break in the middle of the day. So the schools actually let out and the parents pick the kids up and then bring them back around 2. Many shops also close for a couple of hours in the middle of the day.

I will be attending full-time, and Kimberly part time for now. She’ll come with me in the mornings, and then get the kids for the afternoon. I’ll go over the lesson from the afternoon with her after the kids go to bed. She may eventually leave the kids all day in the nursery, but for now this works best.

The classes are very intense, with new material covered every day. There’s a test every 7 weeks or so to determine if you move up to the next level or repeat the current level. It will involve speaking, writing, and reading. We have been impressed with the quality of the teaching staff. Our teacher has a university degree in linguistics and has been teaching at the school for like 15 years. I think she will be a great teacher.

josh

Wow, crazy week. We’re finally feeling a little more settled. After the first few days here we started working on getting Judah to sleep on his own. Amazingly, it only took about 2 days of working with him (and listening to a lot of piercing screams) until he would go to sleep on his own in his crib. Praise the Lord! Now we lay him down, he cries a little, and then goes to sleep. Those of you who know how difficult Isaac was will understand our amazement and relief.

Today was our first official day at school, though it was just a tour of the building and a placement test. Well, as expected, it didn’t take long for them to figure out that we are true beginners. The school uses the standard European system of language learning that starts with level A1, then A2, B1, etc. Completing the A levels basically means you can survive in a francophone country, and although you may speak like a 3 year old you can perform basic tasks such as greeting people, buying food, asking simple questions, and so on. The B levels begin to deal with more complex skills such as expressing thoughts and feelings or constructing an argument. I don’t know how many levels there are, but I think we’ll be in B1 or B2 by the time we leave. The goal for us is to be able to perform tasks such as visa renewal, renting an apartment, paying bills, etc. We anticipate doing very little ministry in French, because we will be learning the heart language of the people we’ll be working with. But French is necessary for any dealings with government officials or more highly educated individuals

Isaac and Judah started nursery today. It went pretty well, although all Isaac talks about is that the teacher wouldn’t let him go outside. Hopefully they’ll be able to get outside some while the weather is warm. It’s in the 70s and 80s during the day here, great weather for being outdoors.

josh

our family's adventures in the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20)

Tag: class

First Day of Class

Thoughts from our First Week