Tessier Writes Home

[KC15 340]

 

Dear Mom and Dad,

 

It feels kind of strange writing to you in English, but since you asked me to do so in addition to our weekly phone conversations so that you can practice your English, I guess it is ok. I mean, it’s more than ok – I am happy to help out. It is just that I am not sure practicing English with your non-native English speaking son is as much help as other things could be. But it does help me, too, as I try to get better communicating in this very difficult language.

 

One of the things that really throws me for a looper (Is that the right idiom? My roommate, TheCheese, isn’t around right now to ask, so …) is the spelling. There don’t seem to be any rules at all and you just have to memorize so much. I had a journalist who was learning French tell me that it’s our language is the hard one to spell, but she was really just talking about how you have to learn how a sound is spelled since it is different in different languages. But in French, once you learn that, it remains constant.

 

But I use this as an example: GHOTI is a legitimate way to spell the English word “fish” by using the way those letters sound in some words, but not all. Here is how that works. The GH can sound like “f” in words like “rough”. The O can sound like a short “i” in words like “women”. And the TI can sound like “sh” in words like “nation”.

 

And while we are at it, what is up with how “gh” together is sounded. It can be “f” as in rough. It can be “ow” as in bough. And it can also be “oo” as in words like through. My head hurts!

 

Anyway, I should talk a little about the season just passed since that is what occupies most of my time over here and it would be great for you to get comfortable with the English way of talking about this great sport. It would help you understand the articles you are reading online and if you watch any of our games on SkyNet, it will also help understand the commentators. That is, if the broadcast is coming out of England.

 

So, a huge highlight for me is that I was just named to the VHL All-Rookie team! They only name a starting 6 players so I was nominated as one of only three forwards. Of course you know that I scored the most goals of any rookie this season – not the most points, you understand, but the most goals. I am really happy about that, but it also means I have to work on my playmaking and passing skills to truly be better at my chosen position.

 

Another thing I need to work on is my faceoffs. I led the VHLM the season before coming up, but apparently I was dead last in the VHL in my rookie season. I expect to struggle early on as I get used to the higher level game, but that is absolutely embarrassing! Coach says not to worry about it and to concentrate on improving some other parts of my game first, but I can tell you – I will be taking a lot of extra faceoffs whenever I can get an experienced center or a coach to give me pointers. I’m also watching lots of film of Taro Tsujimoto.

 

Well, I had better get this in the mail so I’ll stop here. Je vous aime beaucoup, tout les deux. Je vous téléphonerai à midi (temps français) comme d’habitude.

 

Votre fils,

Luc

 

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