School Daze Update

Things have been going pretty well at my so-called “job.” This position has given me a much better understanding of how much of a high school teacher’s day is taken with meetings, how many class periods can be eaten up by tests or illnesses. When you consider that all of the students have two hours of English per week, one or two missed periods can really throw off the curriculum. While the frequent vacations are nice, they don’t necessarily help the students to retain the information for the bac professionnel in June. I’ve been encountering some resistance, but I’m not personally offended by it. Most of these students aren’t interested in school period, and are quite upset that I insist on speaking English to them (quelle horreur!). I use lots of fun activities to promote conversation, but it’s like herding cats towards a pool. Today, for example, we worked on possibilities and permission (can, can’t, must, mustn’t, could, would, should). I asked them what they’re allowed to do at their own homes, how they would ask a friend’s mother for permission, and to write down 5 new rules for the school. Lots of: “You can smoking” and “You must love the drinking.” They know that my French is far better than their English, so they demand instructions in their native language. I usually refuse and repeat slowly with hand signals, sometimes while looking at a more competent student to help translate for her classmates. Even though they don’t enjoy it, they are learning. Several have had “a-ha” moments when they understand something I say. Back when I was learning French in high school, my amazing teacher used it all the time in the classroom. I didn’t know what every word meant, but as I acquired a better grasp of the language, I was able to recognize directions and objects more easily. Most of the professors here use French as the teaching language: “Vous mettez le ‘you’ avant le verbe” (“You put the ‘you’ before the verb”). That’s fine for basic rules, but it doesn’t help the students to understand spoken English. For the classes that will be going to England, we’ve been creating phrasebooks so they don’t feel so linguistically isolated. I teach them some new things (like how to say “straight ahead” for “tout droit”) and calling up some long-forgotten nouns from earlier grades (“fork” for “fourchette). These classes are a joy to work with: they’re respectful, dynamic, and not afraid to make mistakes. I certainly have a much better idea about what it takes to be a foreign language educator and I’m constantly exploring new ways to make the classroom a more stimulating (while controlled) environment. I’ve promised a few of the classes to do a song translation later in the year if they can agree to get through our scheduled program without too much fuss.