Mission 1 Test 2 Unit 3 and 4

Laura van Bilderbeek, 18, had always wanted to learn French in Paris. She’d loved the language since studying it at school in the United States, but when her family moved back to London she was disappointed to find that her high-school French wasn’t good enough for her to take French A-level. [1] She wanted to pick it up in a real environment rather than attending a course in England, so she decided to go to Paris.

• During her year out, she decided to learn it on her own.
• At lectures she makes herself go up and speak to other students.
• A coffee can cost more than two pounds, and even food in the supermarket is more expensive than in London.
• Laura wishes learning French was not so slow and difficult, but feels she is making progress.
• ‘The classes are stimulating and you learn about literature as well as phonetics,’ Laura says.

Her first two weeks in Paris were a bit lonely, but then she met a couple of American girls who encouraged her to enrol at the Sorbonne. She loved it from the start. [2] ‘At the moment I’m reading Baudelaire for my oral exam.’

• ‘The classes are stimulating and you learn about literature as well as phonetics,’ Laura says.
• At lectures she makes herself go up and speak to other students.
• During her year out, she decided to learn it on her own.
• A coffee can cost more than two pounds, and even food in the supermarket is more expensive than in London.
• Laura wishes learning French was not so slow and difficult, but feels she is making progress.

She says her class is great fun, partly because of the mixture of nationalities. Because the students come from so many countries, however, there is a temptation to speak in English, which most of them know well. [3]

• Laura has managed to resist the temptation by insisting on speaking French to everyone.
• At lectures she makes herself go up and speak to other students.
• During her year out, she decided to learn it on her own.
• A coffee can cost more than two pounds, and even food in the supermarket is more expensive than in London.
• Laura wishes learning French was not so slow and difficult, but feels she is making progress.

She also forces herself to attend general lectures at the Sorbonne to improve her French. She is especially interested in the ones on art, philosophy and history. She says it can be a bit frightening sitting in a huge auditorium with lots of people you don’t know, but it’s the only way to meet French students. [4] They are not always very friendly at first, but she says it’s worth the effort once you break the ice. She adds that it’s lucky that she’s a bit of an extrovert.

• At lectures she makes herself go up and speak to other students.
• During her year out, she decided to learn it on her own.
• A coffee can cost more than two pounds, and even food in the supermarket is more expensive than in London.
• Laura wishes learning French was not so slow and difficult, but feels she is making progress.
• ‘The classes are stimulating and you learn about literature as well as phonetics,’ Laura says.

Accommodation in Paris isn’t a big problem, and the Sorbonne has an office which can help with finding lodgings. [5] Laura lives with a very old woman in Montparnassee. Laura says: ‘She’s 94 and she tells incredible stories about when she was young.

• They often place you with a family so you can practise your French.
• At lectures she makes herself go up and speak to other students.
• During her year out, she decided to learn it on her own.
• A coffee can cost more than two pounds, and even food in the supermarket is more expensive than in London.
• Laura wishes learning French was not so slow and difficult, but feels she is making progress.

She can remember when the pavements were made of wood and there were horses and carriages in the streets. [6] And if I lived with someone my own age, they wouldn’t be around all day to talk to me and help me with my homework.’

• I get a real sense of history talking to her.
• At lectures she makes herself go up and speak to other students.
• During her year out, she decided to learn it on her own.
• A coffee can cost more than two pounds, and even food in the supermarket is more expensive than in London.
• Laura wishes learning French was not so slow and difficult, but feels she is making progress.

She loves wandering around Paris in the daytime, and finds that the only problem in Paris is the expense. [7] Bars and clubs are also very expensive. She takes pleasure in going to the cinema, though, where students get a huge reduction.

• A coffee can cost more than two pounds, and even food in the supermarket is more expensive than in London.
• At lectures she makes herself go up and speak to other students.
• During her year out, she decided to learn it on her own.
• Laura wishes learning French was not so slow and difficult, but feels she is making progress.
• ‘The classes are stimulating and you learn about literature as well as phonetics,’ Laura says.

ecological | unspoilt | traffic | to whiten | orbiting | there is a need | severe | easily | forms | volcanic  

nature

ecological | unspoilt | traffic | to whiten | orbiting | there is a need | severe | easily | forms | volcanic  

chaos

ecological | unspoilt | traffic | to whiten | orbiting | there is a need | severe | easily | forms | volcanic  

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