Was It Something I Said?

It was, in various ways, both harder and easier than I expected. Like most teachers, il professore encouraged us to study everything, but did not actually include everything on the test. I don’t expect to get 100% on this, mainly because, as always, I am struggling with the inevitable prepositions.

One poor girl discovered, when talking with others outside the classroom, that she had somehow managed to not see an entire section of the test (material she could have done easily). She was on the verge of tears. Abby, who has been struggling with version 3 of the textbook, while the rest of us have version 5, told me it is because a family member took the class a few years ago, and so she is using the same book to save money. Her version is similar to ours, but has different page numbers and not all the same material. Further, she doesn’t have the workbook — which is really a pity, because it would have had her relative’s answers already filled in! She studies a little and makes some effort to learn the material, but will be content to get a C.

In fact, many of the students are happy to get a C. I know from experience that it’s not hard to do. I studied French in high school. The first year, I enjoyed the class and learned the material. But the second year was harder, and I didn’t like the textbook. Having memorized the rules of pronunciation, I was able to read aloud in class without the teacher detecting that I didn’t understand what I was saying. On the written tests, I was able to fake my way through, mostly by recognizing cognates, or just boldly guessing. I got a C without learning anything. In this class it wouldn’t be quite so easy. We have a lot of translation work to do on the tests that can’t really be faked. But il professore is not harsh in his grading, and he gives us the benefit of the doubt on small errors. I don’t know exactly where the breaking point is for each grade level, but it seems possible that someone who manages to remember at least half the material could get by.

The truth is, I don’t spend a huge amount of time studying. I always do the homework, copying each question from the book before writing the answer. I usually give myself a little extra homework, doing an exercise or two not assigned by the teacher. Often these exercises will be done as a group in the next class session, so I am well prepared. I read the questions and my answers aloud as I write them. I copy all the vocabulary words into my notebook, and occasionally write out a verb conjugation. This is my system.

Last night il professore gave us a list of things to study for the mid-term, tomorrow night. It was a frighteningly long list, but I soon realized that most of it was not very difficult, and most of it is material we have gone over many times. I gave myself a little extra practice, by doing all the workbork exercises that we have previously skipped. Other than that, I simply followed my usual habit. I generally do some extra studying the day before, and a light review the day of a test.

I faxed some of my notes to a friend who missed the previous two classes. In the early evening I got a phone call from another girl who had missed Monday’s class (I had assumed she had dropped out). She was suitably horrified by the long list of things to study. I know she’s a smart girl; if she takes the time to review this material she should do all right.

I will confess to having my share of anxiety about this test. I don’t feel very confident about the newer material, which is mostly about food. Strangely enough, despite years of exposure to Italian restaurants, my command of food words is not strong. I also wonder how my memory will perform when asked to recall details from some of the little stories in the book.

Returning from spring break, the class has shrunk to less than half its original size. There were about 20 people present tonight.

My perception was that the second test was harder than the first, but my grade was a little higher (99 vs. 97). There are still people in the class who are failing the tests. The mid-term test will be Wednesday, so that does not give them much time to catch up. People who sit near me have caught on to the fact that I am doing well, and they want to see my notes. I’m happy to share, and to answer questions. The girl with the good handwriting wasn’t there, so il professore asked me to write the answers to the homework on the board. There were a couple of small errors in my work. I still have problems with pluralizing adjectives. I know how to do it, I just don’t always remember that it needs to be done. And, of course, prepositions are a big problem.

The teacher asked us, in Italian, to describe what we had done during vacation. Most of the students were unable to come up with an answer in Italian. Some simply gave up and answered in English.

There are different reasons why some do well in class while others do not. Sometimes the answer is obvious. There are students who simply don’t study much, don’t do the homework, etc. Monty returned to class (why?) having “forgotten” his textbook yet again. “Abby” asked me how I knew which verb endings to use; apparently she still hadn’t grasped the idea of conjugation. To her credit, though, she listened to my explanation, and seemed to be improving. She is handicapped by having an older version of the book that doesn’t contain all the material the current version does. When I shared my book and workbook with her, she was an active participant.

I admire the people who sincerely try, even when they are having trouble. I really don’t understand those who are unwilling to expend any effort. Perhaps they don’t mind sliding by with C’s and D’s, but it’s hard to believe that doing badly here will help them transfer to a four-year college. I suppose some are doing well everywhere except this class, which is just a dull requirement they want to get through with minimal effort.

“Bruno” is a boy in the class who is determined to do well, even though it is a struggle for him. He told me that he wants to do the work, but that he is easily distracted. I don’t know what distracts him. He makes a point of sitting in the front and seems very focused on the book. It is clear that he finds the material difficult, but he perseveres.

Distraction seems to be a common problem, especially for the young men of the class. Il professore is often exasperated by people whose attention is on things other than classwork. After many reprimands, he finally told “Monty” he would have to sit somewhere else so he wouldn’t continue to pay attention to the cute girl next to him. Another boy was drawing some kind of sketches in class. Monty didn’t bring his book to class tonight, so I shared mine with him. I noticed that even during a short reading, sitting next to a helpful adult, he just couldn’t pay attention. He was doodling, looking around the room, and pushing buttons on his cell phone. The teacher finally had to reprimand him again. Monty is reprimanded at least once during every class session. I imagine this is not a new experience for him.

Spontaneous distraction is not a problem I face. The only thing that interferes with my attention is noise that prevents me from hearing everything clearly. For example, during group readings, one guy is always loudly confident in his mispronunciations. Hearing it wrong makes it hard to hear it right. Others have told me he bothers them, too, and we try not to sit too close to him.

Il professore teaches at another school, including a class that is supposedly the same as this one. This leads to some confusion on his part. Apparently we are not entirely in synch with the other class, and he doesn’t always remember which class has done which lessons. We find ourselves reviewing material we haven’t yet seen. He has a bag for each school, but on at least one night he brought the wrong bag. He doesn’t always have the papers he meant to bring, and he has problems with the copier. While he seems to be basically good natured, tonight he had a dreadful headache, which made him cranky and impatient.

Although it sometimes seems as though we are progressing very slowly, the truth is that we have covered a lot of material in a relatively short time. There is a large amount of vocabulary to absorb. We seem to encounter many more new words per page or per class than in other kinds of lessons I have taken.

In theory, new words shouldn’t be a big problem. I can learn new words in English, so learning new words in Italian should be just as easy. But there is more to it than that. For one thing, words in Italian are more complicated than words in English. Nouns are masculine or feminine, and sometimes have both a masculine and feminine form. In English we form plurals mostly just by adding an s. In Italian plurals are formed by changing the final vowel based on what the original final vowel was. In the case of words ending with ce, ci, ge, or gi, one may or may not insert an h to preserve the sound, depending on — what? There are rules but they have a lot of exceptions. Adjectives have to be made masculine or feminine and singular or plural, to match the noun. Italian prepositions are even more complicated than English prepositions. And so on.

In general, my reading and writing isn’t bad at this elementary level. But missing the meaning of just one word in a sentence can be fatal.

My biggest weakness is listening comprehension. I just haven’t internalized enough Italian to “hear” it clearly. My mind still needs to translate it, and I can’t do that fast enough. The sentences zoom by and I just can’t catch all the words. If I’m ever going to be fluent in Italian I need to understand what is being said to me.

Taking the extension course last summer and listening to tapes have been helpful to me. This becomes evident in class. In the beginning, certain things were great stumbling blocks for me: genderized nouns, pluralized verbs, seven ways to say “the”. Yikes! Those things don’t bother me much now, and I can focus on the next set of stumbling blocks: prepositions and word order.