How many people are on Facebook now?
Something like the population of India + China + a few billion more?
Anyway, of all the people on the site, I’m the only Ryan Viguerie.
Viguerie is not a common name.
In the U.S.
In France, a little more.
And in the village of Heches, a lot more.
My dad and I drove there last week to look at the village my great, great grandfather left 169 years ago to start over to America.
Here’s how to get there. 1. fly to Toulouse 2. drive south for two hours 3. when you get to the mountains drive for another 30 minutes then turn off the main road 4. drive down a long hill, cross the river and stop. If you don’t stop immediately, you’ll pass the village.
There was a church, some houses, a cemetery, a mountain in back of the houses, a river in back of the church,.
We parked (not hard to find a spot), and immediately I saw the name “Rene Viguerie” on a post box.
Luckily, a little girl was walking by.
I asked her, in French, Excuse me, do you know Monsieur Viguerie?
Long story short, in about five minutes half the town was on the street, we had the key to the church, a lot of stories about Monsieur Viguerie (who was dead) and the Viguerie family, even some French candy.
So friendly!
And that wasn’t just in Heches. It was the owner of the Airbnb I met after keeping her waiting for 20 minutes because of an airport delay. It was the bureaucrat who found books and more books of old birth records for us to go through. It was the black bike messenger who interrupted his phone conversation to give me directions.
So why am I telling you this?
Because before this trip my attituted toward my daily French routine was… “Eh, let’s get this over with.”
But now it’s a different story; I want to do it, I look forward to it, and I want to do more.
Where I was last week before my trip to France is where I see so many of my students. They think “English” and they think about confusing tenses or an impatient boss or a stressful test.
Naturally, they don’t want to do English; it’s work; and consequently their progress is slow.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. Connect the language with real people, to friendly people, to music, to food, to adventure and everything positive… And you’ll discover you won’t have to push yourself. English will pull you.
How do you do this?
Go go England. Go to Wales. Go to the US. Go to Australia.
Do NOT sign up at a language school and sit in a boring classroom.
Instead, take a vacation and have fun .
You’ll meet friendly people.
And your English will be changed forever.