Just read your post CLKD. I hope you went along and you found it a bit easier.
Have you considered buying a French CD also? Beginners? Conversational? Not to confuse you, but to keep the accent and language in your mind. You can practice bits. Does not matter if it is exactly the same as the class - it will all blend together at some point.
Hope you enjoyed the class better today.
I have to say, my mind is so full of lots of things that it seems empty of French the last couple of days. Ah well, c'est la vie!
Fx