She looked down at her desk. The Alter Ego 4 book was still open to the very first dossier. But it didn't look intimidating anymore. It looked like a map. Camille smiled, picked up her highlighter, and began to read, finally ready to conquer the language.
Camille opened her eyes with a gasp. She was back in her bedroom. The audio track on her computer had finished playing and was emitting a continuous stop tone.
Camille blinked. She was no longer in her room. She was sitting at a tiny, round metal table on the terrace of a bustling café in Lyon.
"Alors, tu es d'accord avec l'auteur ou pas?" a voice asked.
The man smiled warmly and leaned forward. "A good start, but use your tools, Camille! Remember page 42? Use the subjunctive to express necessity. Try: Il est primordial que les entreprises fassent plus d'efforts. "
Every time she faltered, characters straight out of the textbook stepped in to guide her, pushing her to use richer vocabulary, correct her verb tenses, and defend her arguments. She wasn't just memorizing rules anymore; she was living them. Suddenly, a loud, sharp beep pierced the air.
"Listen," Camille said, stumbling. "I think... je pense que... wait, à mon avis ... the companies must make more efforts."
Camille looked up. Sitting across from her was a young man with a messenger bag and a sharp, inquisitive look. He looked exactly like one of the stock photo models from the textbook's listening exercises. In his hand, he held a cup of espresso. "Pardon?" Camille stammered, her heart racing.