{"id":34747,"date":"2022-07-26T05:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-26T03:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=34747"},"modified":"2022-07-21T02:00:23","modified_gmt":"2022-07-21T00:00:23","slug":"lets-start-at-the-very-beginning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/lets-start-at-the-very-beginning\/","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s start at the very beginning\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

As they say, it\u2019s a very good place to start. It turns out, it\u2019s also a good place to end. After 6 years \u2026 and over 300 posts! \u2026 this will be my last blog for Transparent Language.<\/p>\n

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Me at the Pont Alexandre III, 2012, with the Grand Palais in the background<\/p><\/div>\n

All good things\u2026<\/h3>\n

My French journey began way back in 1981 when I was in the 7th grade. My local\u00a0college<\/strong><\/a> only offered French and so I – \u00a0and about 30 of my classmates – got our first taste of foreign language from the fabulous Madame Rankins. Despite a boring old textbook (in which we followed the adventures of John Hughes, an American living in Paris \u2026 and from which I still remember the phrases \u201cVoici une lettre pour vous.<\/strong>\u201d1<\/a><\/sup>Here is a letter for you.<\/em><\/span> and \u201cMa faute? Comment cela?!!<\/strong>\u201d2<\/a><\/sup>My fault? How can you say that!<\/em><\/span>) she made learning le fran\u00e7ais<\/strong> fun!<\/span><\/p>\n

In the intervening years, I had the pleasure of crossing paths with Madame Rankins more than once. She taught my step-daughters French in the mid \u201890\u2019s, and in the early \u201800\u2019s I worked alongside her at the same school where she initially taught me French, when I taught French myself!<\/div>\n

I had so much fun learning French that in 1985 I left my hometown and moved to France for a year! It was an experience that, as I shared in my first post for Transparent Language way back in March, 2016<\/a>, completely changed my life.<\/p>\n

Since that first trip over 35 years ago, my French family has grown. I still love going to visit people in France as often as I can (like I did here<\/a> and here<\/a> and here<\/a>) but now I also have extended family in Canada and I love visiting them and the wonderful places they live (like here<\/a> and here<\/a> and here<\/a>) to keep my French skills up and immerse myself in the nearest thing I can find to France this side of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n

And I owe so much to two more people. My high school French teacher, Madame Wheeler, who encouraged me to pursue my passion for French in new ways and to the whole team at Transparent Language who not only gave me the opportunity to share that passion with all of you these last years, but also helped set me on my career path with my first job!<\/div>\n
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My son and I, Champs de Mars, 1995<\/p><\/div>\n

And I have so enjoyed our time together these last 6 years sharing my love for French literature(like here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>), films (like this<\/a> and this<\/a> and this<\/a>), television (here<\/a> and here<\/a> and here<\/a>), and songs (like this<\/a> and this<\/a> and this<\/a> and this<\/a> and this<\/a>).<\/p>\n

But toutes les bonnes choses ont une fin<\/strong>3<\/a><\/sup>All good things come to an end<\/em><\/span> but as another famous song says, ce n\u2019est qu\u2019un au revoir<\/strong><\/a>! And so, until we meet again, mes amis<\/strong>, keep learning, keep loving the wonderful gifts of language, of cross-cultural connections, and keep growing! Write your own love letter to France<\/a>, keep falling for France<\/a>, et vivre heureux!<\/strong>4<\/a><\/sup>live happy<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

And if you\u2019ve enjoyed reading me these past 6 years (or you\u2019re just joining the journey) you can revisit my past posts here<\/a>. I\u2019ll miss our weekly connections but I\u2019ll still be immersing myself in all things French!<\/p>\n

\u00c0\u00a0la prochaine<\/strong>!5<\/a><\/sup>Until next time!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n