Pretty simple Math

I'm been feeling rather attached to France lately and in fact Seb and I have been toying with the idea of returning after the Peace Corps and starting our family here. Granted, I'm not exactly bowled over by the French system of education but there are two things that really stand out about a child's living experience in  l'Hexagone.
First, the scouts are co-ed.  (Possibly still quite religious, I'll need to do my research) Mais, a little girl like me would have loved the chance to play with my friends doing cool stuff involving fires and knives...but no, I sold cookies.

 And then there is the chance to travel. You don't see a lot of young French people on those big American back-packing trips across Europe because they spent their school breaks traveling--and not necessarily even with their families. I have no idea of the price range or how universal it is, but all the French families I know send their children away to Turkey, Southern Spain, Ireland or wherever les gosses want for a few weeks of freedom and a chance to meet people that don't go to their school. Striking out on your own like that? Just think of the confidence-builder that would be.
The main reason I'm interested in staying, I mean aside from the education of my non-existent children, is the fact that I'm just starting to get good at French.

Relativement...

Let me ask you: what would annoy you most about learning a new language? No really, think about  

it if you haven't already, what would be the most frustrating thing to no longer be able to express?

Have you ever tried to say "I'm sorry the place is so messy, would you like something to drink?" in another language? Is that even what they say in this culture as way of welcoming?
How about, "We've missed you! What are your plans for summer?"

The goal is to be able to write in the  passé composé, imperfect, future simple, and present of these quotidian verbs in French:

1. to see 
2. to say 
3. to come 
4. to go
5. to have 
6. to be
7. to do
8. to miss 
9. to remember
10. to want

You're probably wondering why I can't already do them all given that I have lived in la Métropole for two years.  Little-known huge truth, I am profoundly pathetic at spelling in English... so writing in French for me had never been le but. However, in roundabout ways I can use most of the listed verbs orally. When you use the form "On" it conjugates the same (sound-wise) as the first person singular, so I can not only talk about myself but also as Seb and I as a unit. Malheureusement, I'm only comfortable with vous (formal "you") with certain verbs: could, go, think, please...

So, I'm totally studying and trying to write them for reals. Being a native English speaker, I have had a bit of an advantage over people who's first language has no Latin roots and the experts say I'd  pick it all up through osmosis if I just hang around and listen. Which would be fine except I can't complete my homework if I don't take a massive hike up learning-curve hill.

And like it or not, I'm a pretty terrible student. Right now, for instance, I could be studying instead of telling you how I      p  l  a  n      to study. I'm supposed to memorize all these verbs and their tenses and then practice them  on top of my actual homework. So how can I make the drudgery of memorization more palatable?

And if you don't know, then now you know.

When I taught sixth grade math, my ladies loved the Thursday before the test because we would always do math centers. The fun originated from  fact that I'm a vrai Geek moi and I brought in my dice to randomize some aspect of their calculations at the various stations.
So here's my game:

Alors, ten verbs...one for each side of a ten-sided die.

 A four sided die for the four tenses I will use!

A six sided die (that must have once belonged to a strategy game) for the personal pronouns. 

And there you have it. Take the output and corresponding meaning in French from each die, and build a phrase! Magic!! Add in the rest of my dice with their side-number values, and the permutations on this exercise become virtually endless.
.......
Can it, Little miss Pedantic,  I said "virtually," OK? And anyway, I can buy more dice.
Simple as that.

 Back to wondering what I should be twittering, I guess. Pacé.

You have read this article Cyprien / Kid Cudi / Les Geeks / math / Math is sexy / Polyhedrons / Simple as / The Adams Family / Wet Hot America summer / xkcd with the title Pretty simple Math. You can bookmark this page URL http://trendcelebrity2014.blogspot.com/2012/08/pretty-simple-math.html. Thanks!