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Willie Wheeler
Rebecca Agosta
UWRT 1101-009
15 February 12, 2015
French 1
Freshmen Year I woke up at 6:30 to catch the bus for my first day of high school. Id
never been so nervous for anything before in my life. As I rushed off the bus to get to my first
class of my high school career, I scurried into the big, unfamiliar building where there was two
floors of classes something new to me. Hallways twisting and turning this way and that way,
shortly I forgot what my first class would be. I panicked, as I thought that if I arrived late to this
unknown class that Id be seen as a joke, the puny and lost freshmen who is scared out of his
mind which was exactly what I was at the time. Quickly, I pulled out my scheduled and tried
to find the class room number. After much running around the school, up and down stairs and
hallways, I arrived to my first class of my high school career. As I ran to the back of the room,
the teacher began the class Bonjour classe!. I then realized (as she began to rant in French for
a while) that I was in my French class.
Everyone in this class were upperclassmen; there was only four freshmen in which I was only
friends with one of them at the time. In really any foreign language class, you are required to
talk a lot, whether its reciting a poem or simply announcing your French name. Many
presentations are given, all of these things in which I was not prepared for. Due to all of these
different issues that I faced upon entering French, I did not think it would be anything that I
would excel in. rather, I wanted to avoid the class, run far from it in fear of embarrassing myself

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as I had already done many times in that class. Honestly, French was my hardest class for during
my freshmen year. It wasnt much of the material (which wasnt easy to say the least) it was the
fear of just being in the class room. I felt like an awkward outcast in that class and I didnt know
how I would survive in that class for an entire semester.
But someone was extremely encouraging to me. This someone was unexpectedly nice to me
during my entering the course and honestly, I didnt know why, but it was much appreciated.
This someone was my French teacher. I really didnt know why she was so kind to me. It was
as if she had already knew me or maybe heard about me? Either way, it was refreshing, yet
weird. But because of her, I was able to get myself to stand on my feet in that class. I consider
myself to be shy around strangers, so it was difficult for me to come out of my shell. But in due
time, I had become very social with mostly everyone in the class and I stopped being so scared to
enter the class room. I must credit this change in attitude to my French teacher for giving me
that needed push of motivation. I often thought to myself Why is she so nice to me compared to
others in the class? Is it because I dont cause trouble? Maybe she sees potential in me?
Whatever it was, I decided to take this as a means of motivation and that maybe French wasnt so
bad. Maybe I would continue to pursue French. She was a great teacher, especially compared to
the Spanish teachers at my school at the time (I literally didnt take Spanish at my school because
the teachers were so terrible). My philosophy was that if Im going to take a second language,
which is required of high school students, I want to actually learn something and maybe be able
to say a thing or two. This thinking would be the beginning of my French career.
French 2
Most people take their language classes in the same year in order to get it out of the way.
I decided to take each level each year because I thought spreading the levels out with every year

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would make me remember it better. Fortunately, when I took French two, there were more
sophomores like me so I knew everyone. That automatically made things easier. My progress in
the class was still about the same as I was making in French one. I didnt really think too much
about being a top student in any of my classes at the time. I just wanted to be close to the top
because I didnt think being the top was realistic. I often thought about how I would use French
in my life. I mean, Spanish is the local language so I could see how learning that could be
beneficial. But learning French? What can I really do with French in North Carolina? There
wasnt really a demand for French teachers. The French to Spanish teacher ratio at my school
was 1 to 6 (including the new and old Spanish teachers during my time in high school).
Although I figured it was nice to learn a different language, I became discouraged of how it
could be beneficial to me. I couldnt see myself traveling to France or the rest of the world,
where this language would mainly be used. I didnt have international dreams, only local as Ive
lived in Concord, NC my entire life. Nevertheless, my teacher and peers continued to push me.
My exam grade was about two points higher than my exam grade in French 1. I looked at this
process as a reason to maybe continue French 3. It was an honors weighted course and I
needed all of the honor and AP classes I could get, or at least pass.
French 3
Junior year, entering French three, I was a little anxious to be perfectly honest. Mainly
because of the reason that most people dont go pass any language class of one and two unless
theyre serious about it or think they can handle the material in order to boost their GPA.
Needless to say, this was French three, so it was much more difficult compared to French one
and two. But this was year in which my passion for French really ignited. One day in class in
which we had free time after our lesson was over, I just stopped to observe the class room. I

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noticed paintings here and there and figured it was the same as any other class room with posters
in various places on the walls. It was that day in which I realized the room was nothing like any
of the class rooms in that school. The room was colorful filled with different expressions in
French. French cultured filled the room as it was seen on every wall and corner of the room with
French artifacts, souvenirs, and teachings that all brought me closer to a French world. It made
me want to go to France and experience the culture for myself. That was when a desire to travel
and see the world started. The thought became real to me, and I realized that it was real if I
worked hard enough. Of course, you dont have to speak a foreign language in order travel, but I
figured that if I was to travel, Id want to learn everything about that culture and be able to
communicate to them in their language. Why does the world have to know English but we cant
learn how to speak the basics of someone of a different language? I began to really absorb was I
was learning in that class, practicing my pronunciations, memorizing words, and doing better on
tests. I started to consider it more seriously than just an easy honors credit. Soon, everyone
would call on me for help and they saw me as the top student a name given to me that I had
never received and considered foreign. When the time came to take the exam, we were all
nervous and didnt know what to expect. This was French three after all. After we had
completed the exam, we all talked about how difficult it was and guessed what our scores would
be. None of us wanted to see our exam grades, but I was in for a delightful treat as the teacher
told me I got the highest grade a 99%. I laughed. Ha. I dont believe you. She proceeded to
show me the exam and there was only one error that I made. As everyone discovered my score,
they were shocked as much as I was in disbelief. This was a big deal for me because I have
never nearly scored a perfect 100% on an exam in any class Id ever been in. This is when I
realized that French could be something serious for me. Maybe I shouldnt give up on this.

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French 4

Will write about how passion grew


Passion solidified
Career plans changed
What it did for me in terms of other classes
How I looked for opportunities to speak French
My experience in French 4 (probably first point to speak about)
Maybe introduce new chapter? Title names..,graduation?
I had a dream
Now Im on a path
Never give up on a passion or let it simmer, continue in pursuing it
End closing paragraph with incite and lesson, encouragement

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