#dea updates

[immersedinfrench]

I'm giving a presentation to my French class today please send me luck because I'm so nervous!

[immersedinfrench]

applying to jobs in a place I’ve never even visited will be the death of me

[immersedinfrench]

How I'm Preparing for Spring Semester French Class

This upcoming semester I'm taking a class on medieval French literature, something I know very little about. Classes start in 3 weeks, so I thought I'd do some studying ahead of time to ease my anxiety! Hopefully, this helps me and maybe interests you too!

Sources:

Mille ans de littérature française (1000 years of French Literature)

Lancelot, le Chevalier de la Charrette (Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart) by Chrétien de Troyes with a modern French translation

Lais by Marie de France with a modern French translation

How I'm using each source:

The first source is a textbook that I used for a previous class. This time I'm only focusing on the Medieval Literature section. I'm taking notes on the historical and cultural context, as well as new vocabulary.

The second source is one of Chrétien de Troyes' famous poems. He wrote 5 Arthurian Romances which are still well known today. In class, we are going to read one of Chrétien de Troyes' romances so I decided it would be helpful to familiarize myself with his style; I am going to read Lancelot because it's the story I'm most familiar with (or at least I think I am, however, I only know about Arthurian tales from pop culture).

And finally, the third source is a collection of Marie de France's Lais. Lais (lais are an old poetic form, that's about all I know at the moment). I'm going to read some of her shorter works because we will be reading her Fables in class. Like I'm doing with Lancelot, I want to familiarize myself with her style.

In both of these texts, I will be taking note of major plot points, poetic/literary techniques, and vocabulary, grammar, etc. I will adjust my method if I think there are other things I should be taking note of.

Scheduling:

It's winter break right now and I'm not working for the next 3 weeks which means I have more time than usual. That said, I'll work 1 hour a day, 4 days a week (unless I feel like studying more that day). That leaves me a minimum of 12 hours before school starts to become acquainted with this content. I am setting a low time goal for this project for 2 reasons:

One, I've been dealing with burnout for years, and I don't want to burn myself out before the semester starts.

And 2, my goal with this project is not to become an expert, but to feel more comfortable with this period of French literature and to go into class feeling confident!

[immersedinfrench]

i'm writing an essay about langblr for one of my college classes. sometimes college is so silly goofy

[immersedinfrench]

My French lit class starts next week. I’ll share my method for survival when I figure it out myself haha. We’re reading 4 books this semester!!!

[immersedinfrench]

I started to make a post about how I study vocabulary from the books I read but it’s going to take me hours to write down my process. It’s going to be a monster of a post omg

[immersedinfrench]

I finished D'un monde à l'autre !

Like every other French book I've read, the first half was significantly more difficult than the second half. Once you get used to how an author writes, it's way more comprehensible and enjoyable. Overall, I'm really glad I reread this book. It had been a year since I first read it and I hadn't been practicing French much in the latter half of 2021.

I understood the story much better after reading it the second time. There were little things I missed the first time that I think made the second equally as interesting as the first, if not moreso.

My next book will be the second installment of the series: Les frontières de glace !

[immersedinfrench]

I Need A Break

Things aren’t going too well in my life right now so I’m taking a break from making posts. I’ll probably still reblog things here and there.