Kati, Divonne-les-Bains: WordDive is an excellent choice for a stay-at-home mom

We suddenly had to move from Helsinki to Central Europe last spring when my husband started a long work project in Geneva. We heard about this on May Day, and before the end of May, we were already living here in Divonne-les-Bains, a small spa town in eastern France near the Swiss border. I had no time to think about language issues then. It struck me only when we arrived. My French is horrible, so I started to look for an online course right away.

I have two children, of whom the older one is already attending a local school. I’m at home with the younger one, a one-year-old. I wanted to find a language course that I can complete at my own pace. I heard about WordDive from my friend and decided to try. Now I’m hooked! I study in the evenings, when the kids are sleeping, usually no more than half an hour at a time. I can recommend WordDive to all stay-at-home moms who have little free time. WordDive is excellent for short exercises.

I started learning French practically from scratch, but I have made good progress. I understood at least a third of what was said at a parents’ evening. The WordDive method suits me very well. I’m also taking lessons from a French teacher, and I think these methods complement each other. I learn the words with WordDive, and then we focus on discussion during the lessons. We have planned to stay here for at least a year, and my goal is to become fluent in French in that time. Of course, it helps a lot that I hear French all the time.

Although the people living here on the Swiss border may have better than average language skills, I still need French daily, for example, in offices, shops, and school. The officials speak English very poorly. Language learning has always been a pleasant pastime for me, and I’ve lived abroad a lot. Travelling and living abroad increase motivation, because I always want to chat with the locals. I also use foreign languages while working as a team assistant for an international company.

Now, when the kids are so young they wouldn’t even be attending school yet in Finland, is a perfect time for longer trips abroad. French is one of the main languages in Europe, and I believe it will benefit me in the future, even if this trip only lasts for a year.

Kati Haahti-Työppönen