I got up extra early so I would be ready to go to the school at 8:00am. I wanted to be set up before the kids arrived. My first class was from 8:30-9:15, their first class of the day. I started by introducing myself in English and then had them practice saying “What’s your name?” “My name is ____.” with me and then with a partner. We also practiced questions like: “How old are you?” “Where do you come from?” and “Where do you live?” It went pretty smoothly, actually. Then I talked about Oregon, showed them a US map with Oregon all colored in, and showed different Oregon postcards. I used the postcards to show them how diverse Oregon is: mountains, ocean, forests, rivers, cities, desert, animals, etc. They were pretty interested and asked a bunch of questions. And, finally, we talked about Halloween. I put up pictures on the board of a ghost, a witch, and a skeleton—and some trick-or-treaters. We practiced saying the words in English, then I told them what kids in the US do on Halloween. We practiced saying “Trick-or-Treat!” but for some reason it is really hard for them. I sat at the teacher’s desk and had each child come up and knock on the desk and say “Trick-or-Treat” (or, more like, “Twik-or-Twik”) and then I gave them a little bag with candy and a sticker. Then they said “Thank you”—which they had an easier time pronouncing. It was pretty cute and they were thrilled to get the candy and stickers. (Thank you to everyone at home who donated money for supplies!!!)
After that class was finished, I had a break before I had to go to the other school to teach. I just went home and vegged. I packed a lunch and Bruno drove me to École de la Lande at 11:30am. Turns out the teachers there don’t eat lunch until 12:30pm, so I spent my time waiting in the staff room, folding paper into name cards for my classes. I ate lunch with the other teachers, which mostly involved me listening to their conversations, and then waited another 20 minutes after they all scurried off to prepare their classes. It was very curious—when the teachers arrived in the staff room for lunch, one of them immediately said, “Is it true you were in a film?” I was extremely startled and said, “um, yes?” I asked how on earth she knew that (since I don’t know ANYONE at that school) and she said one of her students had told her. I have no idea how a student knew, because I haven’t even met any of the students at that school! Insane.
At 1:30pm, I was shown to an empty classroom and a group of about 13 students came in (aged 7-8). They were a handful. Really. For one, they didn’t even understand “What’s your name?” “My name is _______.” After I had them repeat it about a million times, they still didn’t know what to say when I asked them individually “What’s your name?” I tried to talk (in French, obviously) about Oregon, but they were not very good at staying even slightly focused. When I had them make name tags, none of them had any supplies (because this isn’t their normal classroom), so we had to go into their home classroom to get their pencil cases. Sigh. The class was only 30 minutes long, so we didn’t really get much done…
At 2:00pm, the older students (10-11yrs) came in for their class. As soon as they’d sat down, all of them wanted to know if it was true that I’d been in Twilight. WHAT THE HECK??? How did all these people find out?? Seriously. I MENTIONED it to my host mother and sister one evening while we were looking through dvds in our LIVING ROOM! I guess it’s a small town……
The older students were a bit better behaved and they definitely understood more. I had a lot better time with them. We practiced the same questions I did with the morning CM2 class and then I talked about Oregon. They made name cards and I had them choose an English name and write it on the backside of their name cards. That was fun because they all wanted to practice saying their names with an American accent. ;)
At the end of the class, the girls mobbed me and two of them had pieces of paper they wanted autographed. I tried to explain to them that no one would ever pay money for it, since I was a stinkin EXTRA, but they informed me they were going to hang them in their room. Well, as long as they’re happy! It’s definitely better having them like me than having them think I’m stupid.
Franck (the director of the school) gave me a ride home. In the future I’m going to ride my bike because it’s not very far (2 miles) and then I don’t have to bother people to drive me around.
This afternoon I taught a class of 9-10 year olds. They were fun—very interested in what I was saying and not overly rowdy. There’s always one student (generally a boy…) who doesn’t want to listen and makes lots of annoying comments. Oh well, the rest of them were super cute. And they were very excited to Trick-or-Treat (although they also had difficulties actually saying the words…). It’s kind-of a bummer for the kids who take Spanish, because they leave the room to go to their class with Pablo, and when they come back, everyone else has candy. I would give some to them, too, but I hardly have enough for all my English students! Too bad.
I was really tired when I got back from my last class. Perhaps it’s because I am finally DOING something during the day! Or, maybe it’s because I didn’t get a good night’s sleep…
After tea, I spent a few hours relaxing in my room. I wasn’t feeling depressed, I just needed a break from thinking and didn’t feel like speaking French. I had pesto pasta for dinner (they had a meat sauce) and then watched the news for a little bit. The Occupy Wall Street has made it on our news several times and I so wish I could be in the US to Occupy!! But, for now, I will content myself with watching videos from the protests and encouraging my friends and family to participate.
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