This year's French class is SO hard?!?

Question

Last year i took academic french in highschool and i got excellent marks and it was all easy.. so im taking french this year again

Turns out that half of ppl in my class this year are taking enriched. (Im still academic french)

Today was my first french class and Oh my was it hard! I didn't even understand a THING! and now i'm really panicking. the teacher never spoke english, he kept on speaking french! and he spoke it so fast, that im really scared now. I really, don't understand anything!

OMG please help? i thought i was good at french before, but now i'm scared?

Answer 1

First, you should not panic. Chance is if you did not understand a single thing at least half of the class didn't either (personal experience). You should talk to your prof and tell him/her about you concerns. You should also tell him/her he spoke way too fast for you and most probably the rest of the class. Most teachers don't realize they speak too fast, especially if it's their native language.

You came back from vacation and probably did not practice so no worries. You just have to warm up and if it still does not work for you ask for a less challenging class if possible.

Answer 2

Buy French music CDs (try Patricia Kaas, or Enzo Enzo, they have great diction) and rent lots of French movies (and don't turn the subtitle on!). It gets easier to pick out what you're hearing after a while.

It's great your teacher only speaks French in class. You'll be grateful for that later on!