Stopping language classes ?

[Elefant]

I have been going to a language evening class but I'm thinking of stopping. I'm not really enjoying it . Do people have similar experiences ?

I have an elderly relative who is fluent in french and english is 4th language. I normally try and speak a bit in french. We have short conversations or I have to say something in english and get told it in french. I go every week at least to visit and normally speak some french. I decided to try and learn french to help. I did french at school for 5 years some time ago and have started with an online course (frantastique) which is really fun and have been doing this for 3 months. It is a very funny course and have little aliens and comedy but it actually teaches you grammar and tenses and I really enjoy it. I have gone from 2.1 to 2.4 (A2) but my communication is much better (2.8) than my vocal (2.1). It really has seemed to help but it is only a short course (15 minutes) 5 days a week.

I'm not really sure about the classes, it has helped a bit but I'm not really enjoying it. The group better than me as they have been doing it for a long time. They know how to form sentences and know very strange words, but they sound very english and struggle pronounce words so I'm not sure a french person would understand them clearly. So they are different for me as I know how things sound as I have had some exposure to french sounds from my family meetings.

If I'm stopping the classes, is there anything else that people find useful. My french is not very good at the moment so I cant watch TV
yet. I'm wanting something free that I could do maybe at the weekend that could replace the weekly classes (so I wont feel guilty for stopping!) Thanks x

[renaissancemedici]

There are many free things online, FSI for one. If you search around this forum you'll find plenty of suggestions. Don't feel guilty about anything though. You can do whatever you like with your languages. Personally I am so over stressing about such things.

You do need discipline if you decide to go down the self studying road, as many people here. Motivation etc. This forum is a great support system.

[DaveBee]

My french is not very good at the moment so I cant watch TV
yet.

You could start with some french language cartoons, "Lucky Luke", "Il était une fois...".

EDIT
How many evening classes have you been to so far?

[rdearman]

Elefant welcome to the forum. It would be helpful if you could put your native language and what languages your learning in your profile in order to answer your question. But I'm going to assume your an English speaker?

Classes can be dull, but also they can be useful. You'll have a teacher who you can ask questions of regarding what you might learn independently. I personally wouldn't advise you to quit your language classes, but rather to augment them with additional learning and resources. Also having a relative who speaks fluently can help you practice speaking and also when you have questions regarding grammar, or idioms, etc.

Here is a huge list of resources you can use to augment your classwork. https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=2914/

Since you are just starting out, I would recommend that in addition to your classes and leveraging your elderly relative, start with these:

News in Slow French which as you can probably imagine is the news read in French slowly. It also has a transcript for you to follow along.
Foreign Service Institute (FSI)French Course which will give you language drills to help with pronunciation, etc.
Radio Garden will let you listen to live French radio stations which are broadcasting over the Internet. You'll probably not understand much, but it would be useful to listen and try to pick out words.
Project Gutenberg has hundreds of books in French for free which you can download and read. Personally I like Jules Verne, but regardless it is worth getting a book at starting to read it, even if you have to look up every word at the beginning.

If you augment your class work with all this, then you'll shoot ahead of your classmates but the advantage of still being in the class is you have someone to answer your questions. And you will have questions.

[Tristano]

I found that for myself group classes are only useful between A2 and B2.
Before it is too easy, boring and slow and atrocious and after it focuses on things I can't care less.
I too have been annoyed by robotic pronunciations (the Dutch are probably better than the English native speakers but if I hear "je parlé fransey" another time I swear I'm going to make a mess ).

There is no perfect setting. Every situation (individual classes, self study, group classes) has its own good points and shortcomings.
Try to focus more on what a certain setting can do for you more than what you don't like about it, and if you can't find any good in it, maybe it is a good idea to try something different.

[Tristano]

Elefant welcome to the forum. blablablabla
LIST OF RESOURCES!!!!
.

I want to especially recommend this one: http://www.dailyfrenchpod.com/
It helped me immensely and I found it very enjoyable. At the point that I would use it again to refresh my French. And it is HUGE

[Xenops]

Welcome to the forum, Elefant! I hope you find a helpful support-system here.

I'm going to be (somewhat) contrary, and say that if you don't like the class, stop taking it. A bad class can make you lose enthusiasm for a subject (as Spanish college classes did for me). I'm not going to say that self-learning is easy, though. I can have discipline issues, and sometimes the learning doesn't get done. But if you are motivated to learn, you shouldn't have much of a problem, and it sounds like you already have a grasp of how French sounds, which is a big step in your favor; I'm finally getting it, but I've needed help.

[Elefant]

Thank you for all the help.

I have been attending an French class for 1 term but I am not enjoying the classes so I will stop.

I will look through the resources. I didn’t really understand lucky Luke cartoon but I think it’s a great idea. Is there a cartoon with subtitles in French? I normally can work it out if I have subtitles and if it’s easy.

The classes really sapped my enthusiasm so some of the resources I’m not sure I will keep doing

But I’m using a program Frantastique at the moment which is very funny which is like funny cartoons and have done this every day for 3 months now so I think I can learn French another way.

maybe some sort of funny cartoon with subtitles, is there one? Thanks

[dgc1970]

Thank you for all the help.

I have been attending an French class for 1 term but I am not enjoying the classes so I will stop.

I will look through the resources. I didn’t really understand lucky Luke cartoon but I think it’s a great idea. Is there a cartoon with subtitles in French? I normally can work it out if I have subtitles and if it’s easy.

The classes really sapped my enthusiasm so some of the resources I’m not sure I will keep doing

But I’m using a program Frantastique at the moment which is very funny which is like funny cartoons and have done this every day for 3 months now so I think I can learn French another way.

maybe some sort of funny cartoon with subtitles, is there one? Thanks

I think you will like this series. It is not a cartoon but it is fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaNqp4FXh-s

[Xenops]

This Youtube channel has various cartoons that are fan-subbed: https://www.youtube.com/user/buenovelazquez/videos

A recent forum favorite for tackling specific grammar points is kwizig: https://french.kwiziq.com They also have Spanish.