Above and Beyond the Call of Duty

I should say the usual things about my immersion with Clarisse and Claude in August 2023, for instance, that 1) Clarisse is a wonderful teacher, full of good humor, high energy, and great patience, that 2) Claude is gracious host, and that 3) Ile-de-Ré is an idyllic place to visit. All of it is true, of course, as can be seen by reading any of the reviews on this page.

But I had the opportunity to test the character of these lovely people in unexpected ways which illuminated their nature in ways that a standard immersion week might not have. And I am here to tell you that their care of me went above and beyond the call of duty. In addition to their competence as teachers (and I have to include Claude here as an adjunct teacher), I came to appreciate their basic humanity and capacity for compassion. In this way, they were truly ambassadors of the French culture.

To explain briefly, I came to Clarisse directly from another week-long immersion the week before. Clarisse was already proactive in calling my teacher from Week 1 to coordinate lessons so that they didn’t end up covering the same material. So that was nice. But just prior to my arrival, a knee injury that I had just before coming to France flared up to the point that I could not walk without debilitating pain.

So, on Sunday, when Clarisse was only supposed to pick me up and transport me to my studio and then spend a pleasant Sunday with her family, she spent an entire day sometimes pushing me around in a wheelchair, sometimes helping me navigate an unexpected conversation in an Emergency Room, and sometimes dragging my luggage all around so I could limp my way from one place to another. It was ridiculous that she would have to do that. I felt bad, almost embarrassed by it. But she did it without hesitation in a way that immediately taught me something about her character.

For the rest of the week, she and Claude both went out of their way to assist me in any way they could whether it meant driving me to the pharmacy, loaning me a ski pole to use as a cane, or escorting me to my departure train so I didn’t have to carry luggage up and down stairs.

All of this perhaps limited my sightseeing around Ilede-Ré, but it did not affect my immersion lessons, my pleasant nights with the family, or the simple joy
of playing guitar duets with Claude.

As a teacher, Clarisse will quickly discover the boundary of your French capacity and then push on it for the rest of the week in an attempt to expand it. There was a certain intensity to the immersion that I liked, but my sense was that Clarisse could easily
modulate that intensity based on a student’s level and wishes. I do have two cautions however: 1) Clarisse’s natural speech pace is a bit faster than other native speakers that I encountered. I came as a late A2 student which I think is the minimum level
to be able to take full advantage of the immersion. I know Clarisse would adjust to any level but A2 / B1 would shine in this immersion. 2) Ile-de-Ré, while
idyllic, is a place where even the French come for vacation in the summer. So, expect the place to be rather crowded. Bicyclists were as numerous as flies
on a summer day!

But in the end, my experience was more than a language immersion, it became a life immersion where I ended up feeling a part of a family and where I was permitted entry into the French heart. What I found there was natural kindness and compassion, and a ready willingness (as in my case) to go above and beyond the call of duty. You could hardly find nicer people to learn from.