CHRISTINE L cours d'anglais de SAMI CHOUCHENE

Story of a confined “vulnerable” French woman 

who wants to stay in shape and improve her English

On June 2, written by Christine L., learning English at the « maison de la réussite ».  

For 2 months, all of us were confined at home due to a potentially deadly virus. According to scientists, the confinement was the only way to avoid the collapse of the health French system and keep alive the most vulnerable people. “Let’s stay at home” said the government. So, for 2 months,  as many people in different countries, young and old French people were totally confined.

Consequently, for 2 months, people like me, over 65 years old, were afraid to leave their home and get sick.

My life changed on March 17, 2020, and at just 65 years old, for the first time in my life, I felt like an old fragile woman. In my case, everything stopped on March 17, 2020: cancellation of a tour in Italy, no more cultural outings, no more group gymnastics sessions every morning, no more face-to-face weekly English lessons, no more weekly computer workshops where I did a few hours of volunteer work, no more freedom to come and go to see friends and family, no more possibility of running around the Grand Canal in Versailles or walking in the Queen's hamlet, no more possibility of planning my summer vacation I like to spend in the mountains to hike freely in the great outdoors.

Suddenly, my life slowed down. Should I get bored all day, far away from family and friends and survive depressed?

No, of course, I’m already young and in shape, isn’t it?

I organized my life in a different way : morning gymnastics with TV GYM DIRECT replays, 1 hour walk near my home, skype and Whatsapp with friends and English lessons to continue the effort started 2 years ago to unlock my low level in English.

Many free websites allow you to learn English langage on your own, but I had two appointments each week I’ve been looked forward to :  

- first with Dan and Catherine from BBC learning English with live pronunciation on facebook, there I’ve learnt how to pronounce difficult words as fifth, eighth or twelfth (be careful with TH !)

- second  with Sami, my English teacher at ‘la maison de la réussite’  and my classmates Christine G, Marie-Françoise, Natsuko and Michel. 

With Sami via zoom, we have done a lot of work on the vocabulary of health, disease and confinement, on the vocabulary of new technologies and their uses during confinement. We talked about new technologies risks to our health and to our freedom but also about holidays and British food. It was great. 

Thanks to Sami and my classmates for these weekly studious but pleasant moments. 

Now it’s time for deconfinement but not back to normal life. I look forward to do again all my activities even if I will certainly have to wait until September to restart face-to-face sessions.