The Downside of German Class

[jamesq]

One of the reasons why I am taking German is to confront my social phobia. Being forced to talk to people, and to do it in front of other people is exactly the sort of thing I need help with. Unfortunately it's also exactly the sort of thing that's going to terrify me.

Case in point. The instructor was having a conversation with me. It was all going well until he asked me - something. I had no clue what he was saying, my mind just drew a blank.

Later I fucked up during an assignment and got corrected in front of everyone. And the thing I fucking hate is that it's stuff I know if I were writing it down. I would do great on a written exam. But I haven't internalized any of it yet so I get flustered in conversation.

During the break I went into the stairwell and just had a little nervous breakdown for a few minutes. I was very close to just grabbing my stuff and taking off, but if I had done that It would have been an awful setback.

I went back and the rest of the class was OK. I must practice conjugating my verbs more.

Comments

[petranef.livejournal.com]

I get you. I knew my Arabic numbers backwards and forwards (there's a LOT of time to memorize on the train from Luxor to Cairo) until they asked me to recite them in class. And then I choked, which made me really mad at myself.