In the previous scene, Victor pretends to speak French so he can impress Teresa. Unfortunately, Victor didn't know any French, so he tried to bluff his way out by saying random words. The teacher was really confused, but Teresa was impressed by Victor's impressive French vocabulary. One of the major themes of the story is, "Honesty is the best policy." The first scene ties into this theme because Victor was willing to get embarrassed by the entire class just to get a chance to impress Teresa.