Nostalgia.
I took out the old papers gingerly and tapped them lightly to get rid of the dust that had accumulated over the years.
‘La conjugaison des verbes’
One of the papers read. I kept that one aside, that was one of the most important things to know when learning French.
Source
I began my French journey in 2012 at L’institute Français in Abuja after my junior WAEC examinations. I was just at home scribbling away at rough notes like I always did when my mom came in from work, excitement was written all over her face.
“Did you finally get a raise?” I asked after greeting her. She had been agitating for a raise with the newspaper company where she worked for about 4 months and her requests had fallen on deaf ears.
She turned to me with a lopsided smile on her face.
“No, and I'm leaving the job. I got another job not too far away”
I looked at her skeptically. If there was anything my mom knew how to do best, it was to leave whatever wasn't yielding results for her. Sometimes, I wondered how it was so easy for her to up and leave a place where she had found friends and certain connections.
“Then this new job must pay a lot. You look really excited”
She took a form out of her handbag and held it out to me.
“I'm excited for you.”
“What's this?”
“It's a scholarship form. You're going to study French at L’institute Français this holiday”
At that time, I didn't know the importance of learning a foreign language. What was I going to do with French? And why couldn't I learn the photography skill my mom and I had talked about learning?
I folded the form neatly after filling it out like she instructed me and kept it in the small beaded bag I took to church. The very next Monday, she woke me up at 6 am to shower and get dressed into the pair of jeans and chiffon blouse she had taken out for me.
L’institute Français was a whole new experience for me but nothing surprised me and my tutors more than how quickly I was picking on the French, especially for someone who had never been to summer school before.
By the end of the first month, I emerged as the 2nd best student.
“The best 3 students always emerge from our recurring students. I'm surprised to see that you haven't been here before and you already made it to second place,” Mrs Phylia, the coordinator for teenagers, told me as she handed my prize over.
My summer school sponsor had no choice but to renew the scholarship plan for another month. While I was at it, I began to tutor some of the other students who found it difficult to catch up. Particularly one who said that was the only medium through which he could make his parents proud.
By the end of the second month, I was speaking fluent French and emerged as the overall best student of the teenage group.
I tucked the papers away with a smile on my face and dusted my bookshelf, clearing out all of the papers and books that weren't useful anymore.
I was almost done when I stumbled on a rough book that read ‘Copywriting Handbook’. I shook my head as I turned the pages. I remember trying to branch into copywriting during the strike that lasted for a few months during my first year in school.
I heard about the copywriting class from a writer friend of mine and decided to join in at the last minute.
“Copywriting is not like every regular branch of writing,” he told me. “It's using words to market your services or other people's goods so that customers are compelled to patronize”
It sounded like fun to me, I mean, there had never been a writing job that turned out difficult for me.
Before the class even began, we were added to a WhatsApp group and handed out materials that would prep us ahead of time. Being the reader that I am, It didn't take me anything to go through the books, trying to understand the concept of copywriting and how I could delve into it to make some cool cash.
When the class began fully, YouTube videos and more books with evening classes were added to the schedule.
I wasn't just overwhelmed with how immersive learning could be, I also didn't follow up with the entire concept. Everything sounded alien to me.
I took time out to go over the books I was given again but the more I sat to understand it, the more I just couldn't get it.
Eventually, I had to reach out to one of the students who seemed to be getting it right so he could explain things to me.
Thankfully, he was way slower than our actual teacher. I began to catch up but very slowly.
At the end of the class, I emerged in 25th place out of a hundred students.
Immediately after I was awarded my certificate of participation, I dumped it in my Google Drive folder and never went back to it.
I smiled again as I tucked the book at the farthest part of the shelf.
French was not the only language that came easily to me, I picked up whatever language I decided to pay attention to. Sometimes when I am asked what other course I would have loved to study instead of Theatre Arts, I respond immediately with “Foreign languages”.
I learned that while languages came easy to me, marketing did not. Whether it was writing a sales copy or speaking to people about a product, I wasn't just a marketer and I didn't intend to be one, through writing or otherwise.