The Formidable French Boys (French Love Stories 10)

Request

Thanks to my language school classes and interactions with my Aikido friends, I was able to achieve the third-highest grade in my class on the midterm exam.

I am happy to feel that my French is improving, little by little.

I don't know if that's why, but one day my homeroom teacher called me over and made this request.

"A friend of mine is holding an event next week to teach multiple languages at an elementary school. Would you like to teach Japanese to the French children?"

I had taught Japanese to French people before and enjoyed it very much, so I happily accepted.

Just then, my classmate Fahad happened to walk by and stuck his head in, asking with great interest, "What are you talking about?"

When the teacher told him about the elementary school event, he beamed with his charming face and volunteered, saying, "I'd love to teach Arabic too."

The teacher couldn't refuse and agreed, saying, "All right."

Fahad is an 18-year-old Saudi Arabian boy, but he is a force to be reckoned with; his French vocabulary and grammar are a mess, and he always manages to get by using only gestures.

He also said his grade on the recent test was near the bottom.

"Can he really teach Arabic to French children like this?"

...For some reason, I ended up worrying more about my classmate than myself.

Special Training

Since Fahad asked me for advice on how to teach, we decided to use our breaks and time after school during the week leading up to the event to plan our lessons.

I suggested, "Since you're teaching children who don't know any Arabic at all, why don't you skip the difficult stuff and start with content that will get them interested in the language?"

We discussed it and decided to teach "simple self-introductions, greetings, how to count, and simple words used in daily conversation."

Then, although I hesitated a bit, I pointed out some of the points in Fahad's usual French vocabulary and grammar that were particularly concerning, and advised him, "You should fix those for your future life in France."

Fahad thanked me sincerely, saying, "No one has ever told me that before, so I didn't notice at all. Thank you."

I thought, "As expected, this child is a well-bred Saudi prince."

While we were at it, we taught each other greetings in Japanese and Arabic.

Thanks to Fahad, I learned the words "Assalamu (Hello)" and "Shukran (Thank you)." I learned these words.

I never dreamed I would end up learning Arabic in France, so I truly felt that meeting people is a mysterious thing.

The day of the event

One Wednesday after school, I headed to that elementary school with Fahad.

When we entered the school building, the teacher and many children welcomed us with smiles.

The event seemed to have separate language classes for each classroom, and the children each went into the rooms for the classes they were interested in.

Fahad's Arabic class was scheduled to be held first, and since my class was starting after that, I decided to watch it together with the children.

Fahad's class began in front of about 15 children.

Contrary to my worries, Fahad, with his lovable personality, had firmly captured the children's hearts, which put me at ease.

Since we had prepared in advance, the class went smoothly, and thanks to our daily special training, his broken French had improved significantly, and there were no particular points of concern left.

Immigration issues are serious in France, and I had the impression that white people didn't think very highly of Arab people, but seeing this heartwarming scene, I keenly felt that it is not good to look at things based only on one-sided images.

Fahad's class ended in a great success, and the lesson concluded with warm applause from the children.

Seeing this moving scene, I felt from the bottom of my heart that I was glad I had helped with his class.

Now, it's my turn.

I moved to the classroom where the Japanese class was to be held and waited for the children to gather while I prepared.

Fahad, who had just finished his class, was sitting in the very back seat.

Twenty-five children gathered for the Japanese class.

At the beginning of the lesson, after I finished a brief self-introduction, I asked the children, "Why are you interested in Japanese?"

Then, the answer came back, "Because I love Japanese manga, anime, and games," and I thought that the popularity of Japanese subculture in France is truly amazing. (Hearing that, I briefly remembered "The Sweet Night of Le Mans".)

The class proceeded with content such as "how to introduce yourself, greetings, how to read numbers 1-10, parts of the body, and what to call things around you in Japanese."

The children were quick to absorb information, and they remembered and answered words and phrases so quickly that I, the teacher, was surprised.

The one-hour class was very fun and ended in the blink of an eye.

"Merci beaucoup!!"

I was filled with a sense of fulfillment and felt very grateful to have been entrusted with this rewarding job.

The French boy is formidable.

When I finished the class and went out into the hallway, I was stopped by a boy of about 10 years old who had been sitting in the front row until just a moment ago.

"Teacher, I have a question. Can I ask you?"

"Sure. What is it?"

I bent down to match his height.

"Comment dit-on "tu es belle" en japonais?"

He asked, so I taught him the Japanese translation, and then,

"Kimi wa kirei da (You are beautiful)."

He said the words I had just taught him directly to me, quickly kissed me on the cheek, and ran away looking embarrassed.

The French boy is formidable!!

Witnessing the custom of "complimenting women from childhood," which is not seen in Japan, I strongly felt the DNA of "France, the country of love."

On the way home

After finishing our greetings with the elementary school teacher and being given a grand send-off by the children, Fahad and I left the school.

As we walked home, we talked about our impressions of today's class.

"The class was fun, wasn't it? I'm glad it went well."

"I want to study more French, and I also want to teach Arabic. Reiko, why don't we go to the exchange meeting for the first time in a while next Monday?"

The exchange meeting was held every Monday, and I had gone twice in January, but when I started Aikido in February, it overlapped with my practice, so I naturally stopped going.

However, I felt like "it might be nice to go after such a long time," so I replied, "Okay. Let's go."

"Then, Junichishould come too," Fahad said.

Little did I know at the time that a fateful encounter awaited me at this third exchange meeting...