| Valérie: | Bonjour Michelle ! |
| Michelle: | Bonjour Valérie ! |
| Valérie: | Vous n’êtes pas en retard ce matin. |
| Michelle: | Non non, je ne suis pas en retard. I came here early; I wanted to review last week’s lesson. |
| Valérie: | Félicitations Michelle ! Congratulations ! Vous êtes une étudiante sérieuse. |
| Michelle: | A serious student ? Merci. |
| Valérie: | Vous avez des questions ? |
| Michelle: | Des questions ? |
| Valérie: | Oui, des questions sur la leçon ? |
| Michelle: | Non, non. Ça va, merci. J’ai a lot of questions about France though. |
| Valérie: | Ah bon ? |
| Michelle: | Oui. You see, Valérie, my husband is about to retire, and I’m trying to convince him to move there. |
| Valérie: | There ? |
| Michelle: | La France ! |
| Valérie: | What a nice idea! Quelle bonne idée ! Have you ever been to France? |
| Michelle: | Oh oui, many, many times. We went there on our honeymoon about... well, a long time ago. It was so romantic. Then we went for our 10th anniversary. And then... oh I guess that’s it for me. But my husband has been there on business trips as well. |
| Valérie: | I see. Is that why you want to learn French Michelle ? |
| Michelle: | Exactly! |
| Valérie: | Well, let me tell you, c'est une excellente raison. |
| Michelle: | I know! |
| Valérie: | Does your husband like France as much as you do? |
| Michelle: | Il y a un petit problème with my husband. He’s not really adventurous, you see. He likes staying in his comfort zone. Whenever he comes back from France, he complains that he can never get a decent cup of coffee over there, only espresso. |
| Valérie: | Et vous ? And you ? |
| Michelle: | Me, je suis très très adventurous. Je suis prête to try anything. Give me... escargots... snails to eat, and I’ll eat them... as long as they’re not cooked with butter... |
| Valérie: | Ah ? |
| Michelle: | I have to watch my weight... at my age. Butter is the number 1 enemy. |
| Valérie: | Bien. Bonne chance Michelle. |
| Michelle: | Merci, j’ai besoin de chance. But je n’ai pas de doute that I can convince him. |
| Valérie: | Parfait ! Well, let’s start today’s lesson. Remember our agreement, Michelle? |
| Michelle: | Yes, yes, it's a very good agreement! We can talk about anything as long as we use the grammar examples of the lesson in our conversation. |
| Valérie: | Exactly! And don't be shy switching back and forth between French and English! |
| Michelle: | Great! It's a conversation, after all. We would not want to pause to look for the right word, would we? |
| Valérie: | No, we wouldn't. Well, now, would you like to chat with me using être, avoir, il y a et il n’y a pas ? |
| Michelle: | Oui. J’ai une idée. J’ai un... I forgot how to say dream. |
| Valérie: | Un rêve. |
| Michelle: | J’ai un rêve. Je ne suis pas prête to live in the same place for le reste of my life, ma vie. Mais j’ai besoin d'aventures. But j’ai peur de changing everything as well. My husband says: tu as tort, Michelle. Tu n’as pas besoin d'aventures. |
| Valérie: | Très bien Michelle. Continue. |
| Michelle: | Il y a un beautiful country called France. There, il y a des cafés, des restaurants, il n’y a pas de Macdonald’s. |
| Valérie: | Well, in fact, il y a des Macdonalds en France. |
| Michelle: | Ah bon ? Vous êtes sûre ? Il y a des Macdonalds in France ? |
| Valérie: | Oui, je suis sûre. |
| Michelle: | Je suis... |
| Valérie: | Vous êtes choquée Michelle ? |
| Michelle: | Shocked? Just a little. Well, c’est la vie ! Il y a des Macdonalds in France! |
| Valérie: | En France. |
| Michelle: | En France, the country of my... rêve. |