an encouraging start

our son joe got a really good grade on his first test in french class in his french school. it wasn’t top of the class but it was above average in a class full of french students. it would be sort of like a french student in the us getting a b+ on an english composition in the first week of school. but the thing is that french schoolteachers never give excessive praise. all praise is measured. and so joe’s teacher commented that this was a “début encourageant.” an encouraging start. i have been trying to amass a striped rock collection. this is what i have so far. in america this would be un début encourageant. in france it would be “un peu décevant.”  a bit disappointing.

striped beach rock from Sète