"French is now part of my life"
Making new contacts and finding your way in Belgium: language is the key. You don’t need to convince Valentyna Valiushko of that. Learning French had already been on her wish list for a while. And when she arrived in Belgium after leaving Ukraine, she enrolled in French classes at Crescendo CVO on campus Tervuren.
Valentyna Valiushko: "I always wanted to learn French. I loved the language, its melody, its beauty. Nothing very original — many people feel the same way. But as they say, be careful what you wish for.
Because of the war, I came to Belgium. After a while, when I started to feel a bit better, I looked for a place where I could learn the language. At first, I found free classes on Telegram, organised by volunteer Ukrainian and Russian teachers."
Learners from different countries
"Then I discovered the French courses at CVO. I was able to start directly in level 2. I immediately liked the atmosphere in the classes. The students come from different countries. It’s really interesting. We learn together and become friends.
The teachers are also excellent. Each one has her own style, but all of them are passionate. They prepare their lessons well and also talk about current topics. You can see they put a lot of effort into helping us."
All the way to level 5
"Today, I’m already in level 5. I don’t yet know if I’ll be able to take level 6, since for now it only exists as an evening course for people who work. I truly hope more people will discover and enrol in these classes — that would make it possible to open more groups, with more flexibility.
In any case, I sincerely thank my teachers: Katrin, Katrin (yes, twice!), Anne and Veerle. Thanks to you, learning French has become an important part of my life here."