Do Not Be Discouraged

Something that has been lingering in my mind for almost 2 weeks finally came to an end yesterday. As I mentioned in my post about my courses this semester, one of them involves discussion of Parliament in French. Now, I must admit that my French is not that well when it comes to discussing political issues. Of course, I guess that's why I'm taking these classes is to enrich my vocabulary with political concepts in French. However, seeing as 20% of my mark is based on attendance and participation, it's a large chunk; therefore, I must participate.

However, since stepping foot in that class, I've felt very discouraged and unmotivated to participate because the class is huge (for a fourth-year class) and I do not know a single soul in that class. On the flip side, I know the professor because he taught my second-year Canadian Politics class and gave me a A! Since I want a good mark in this parliamentary course as well, I know I have to participate. But how?! Everyone's French is soooo much better than mine and they could explain things so clearly.

Since I've been stressing about this for 2 weeks now, I decided I needed to speak with the professor regarding my situation so I went to see him yesterday in his office. We spoke in English, which made life easier. I told him that I wasn't looking for pity points, but rather I wanted him to understand my situation. So we chatted for a good 20 minutes and he said that he was glad I came to talk to him because if things weren't working out with me, he would consider doing something with me to accommodate my participation marks. And he didn't want me to come at the end of the semester and beg for extra marks. He clearly understood that taking such a class at this level is a real challenge and that he's happy I'm sticking through it. So we just chatted about ways to improve on my participation and he stated that he does not care if it takes me 5 minutes to make a point but at least I try. And he said if ever I get stuck on a concept, I could say it in English and he would translate it for me.

After speaking with him, I felt a sense of calmness come over me. I know I will have to try extra hard and give that extra effort to participate but at least I went to the professor to talk to him about my situation. At the mid-term point of the course, we will discuss again (if needed) how I can continue to improve on my participation or if something needs to be changed. I really hope I can participate more this coming Monday.