A typical Day at DialoguE

The day begins over breakfast in “l'Oasis” with a cheerful ‘bonjour' from Mme Godard and my fellow students. Even if I'd woken up unable to remember a single word of French, breakfast would summon my courage – with fresh yogurt, fresh bread, home-made preserves, fresh fruit, and, of course coffee.

From 9 until 9:45 I have a grueling lesson with M. Godard to refine my pronunciation, which is painfully unmusical. Under his tutelage I begin to learn to pronounce those dreaded French vowels.

From 9:45 – a lesson with Marguerite in which we read a book relevant to my profession. As I fumble trying to explain what I do, she writes down certain key phrases that pertain to the subject matter. At the end of the lesson she records these phrases on my personal cassette.

From 11:00 – 12:30 – lesson with Séverine devoted to “free expression”. Each day at DialoguE I pick a subject to speak about. As we go, Séverine corrects my grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. She too writes down and records a dozen key phrases on my cassette.

At 12:30 – lunch! All the teachers eat with us, so we can't get lazy and forget what we've studied during the morning. Lunch is delicious, with fresh salads, meats, and the heavenly cheese course.

After lunch, I take my daily constitutional, walking into the town of Spa, buying some chocolate and enjoying the ambience of this adorable Belgian town.

At 3:30 , I resume lessons with Geneviève. We work on my comprehension, by listening and watching a videotape documentary from the (vast) DialoguE video library. We play and reply each fragment of the film (about economic development in Africa) until I can hear and comprehend the individual words and phrases. Of course, at the end, Geneviève writes and records more key phrases to my tape.

From 5 until 7:30 – time to study! We're supposed to listen to our key phrases on tape 6 times! I generally get through about 4 repetitions... Shortly before 8 we gather in the living room to watch French national news. With each passing day I understand more and more of the material.

And, finally, at 8 – a magnificent dinner. M. & Mme Godard create an enjoyable atmosphere, filled with laughter and entertaining conversation. They are careful to include all 6 students, making sure that what the more advanced students say is pared down to the less advanced. Our conversation runs from comparative business practice in the US and Europe to the proper way to clear plates from the table, from stories of our childhood to politics. No one is left out of the conversation and even the most shy students find themselves drawn into the discussion.

Following dinner, a few more bedtime repetitions of my daily cassette tapes and a good night's sleep in my cozy room overlooking the fields looking forward to the next day's successes.

Cris Ratiner
Psychologist