Working
Trip Start
Sep 25, 2008
1
7
36
Trip End
Ongoing
Laon,
Picardy,
France
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Bonjour,
I just finished my first week of actually working. My schedule is going to alternate weeks. I will only work Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays. The earliest I start is 9:00, every other Friday. I will almost always work until 6:00. I guess it is more common to have language classes in the afternoon. I found out an interesting fact abut French schools, starting this year vending machines and soda are forbidden. The only beverage allowed on the school campus is water. I guess it is a proactive step to curb childhood obesity. I could see the benefits for American students. Something else interesting, whenever there is a commercial for a junk food or a snack, there is always a disclaimer at the bottom of the screen warning you not to eat too many sweets or to avoid snacking between meals. I don't know how effective it really is, but interesting to note nonetheless. So, let's get back to work. It was basically a week of introductions. In pretty much every class the students had to ask me questions to find out who I am. Most of them have homework assignments where they have to put together a short biography about me. I got most of the standard questions, where do you come from, brothers and sisters, pets, future plans, and blah blah. In almost every class they wanted to know who I was voting for. All the kids love Barack Obama, even though they do not know much about him. One boy asked me if I thought French boys were handsome. I was asked how tall I am, what my favorite color is, what I am afraid of, etc. It got to be a little tiresome explaining the same things over and over again, and I'm sure the teachers were sick of hearing about it as well. For the most part the kids are pretty shy. They speak very softly. In every class there were maybe 2 kids who asked the majority of the questions. Their English is all across the board. Some speak it very well; some have trouble forming basic sentences. The main reason for my being there is to get them to speak, so most likely I will be taking them in separate groups to do discussions over various topics. I originally thought there were 4 English teachers, but apparently I am only working with three, Jocelyne, Mariette, and Marilise. Jocelyne is the head of the department and my main point of contact at the school. Mariette is the youngest. She is only 25 and this is her second year teaching. Marilise is Dutch and has been teaching for quite some time now. They are all very nice so far. Jocelyne asked me to prepare a lesson next week for her classes about the elections. I am dreading explaining the Electoral College. The students that I know say hi to me in hall now which is nice.
On a side note about French high school, the students start at about 8 and go until about 5:30. They get a long lunch break and other short breaks throughout the day. The halls are narrow and sometimes it is hard to squeeze through all the students. They must wait outside the door of their class until the teachers lets them in and they must stand at their seats until the teacher tells them to sit. There are no lockers, and if there is a computer lab, I have not seen it. They all carry backpacks, but they all also have pencil/pen pouches they keep on their desks during class. There are some students that live at the school, but it seems like the majority do not. They go to school Monday through Saturday, but only have half days on Wednesday and Saturday. They have a block schedule, more similar to a college schedule than a typical American high school. I am still trying to figure it out, but they only have 2 hours of English a week. That's all I can think of for now. As I said before the first vacation is already coming up, October 25th. I have made plans to go to Valencia for a week, so I am really looking forward to that.
Au revoir,
Stephanie
