The Loire Valley will do just fine

Après avoir appris que les billets pour l'Eurostar sont beaucoup trop chers, Tom et moi avons décidé de ne pas accompagner ses grands-parents (qui sont venus pour visiter Paris) à Londres. Donc, hier, nous avons décidé de venir à Tours, dans la Vallée de la Loire. Et nous voilà! Nous sommes arrivés cet après-midi, et les visites des châteaux commencent demain matin.

After learning that Eurostar tickets are way too expensive, Tom and I decided to not go with his grandparents (who came to visit Paris) to London. So, yesterday, we decided to come to Tours, in the Loire Valley. And here we are! We arrived this afternoon, and visiting the châteaux (castles) starts tomorrow morning.

Pictures coming soon! (Also coming soon-ish: more posts about everything else we're up to!)

appy alloween: So glad it's vacation

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve updated the blog. I’ve actually been really busy with 12 hours of teaching plus 8 hours of class (not to mention all the time I spend on the metro getting to and from class and work). Unfortunately, this post is not the most positive. I truly do have a lot of positive things to write about, but my current mood has led me to vent about the negative things that have occurred in the past week.

First of all, there’s the bank situation. During orientation day, bank representatives came to help English assistants open a bank account. It wasn’t mandatory, but I jumped at the chance because I’ve heard it’s hard to open an account without the most obscure documents I probably don’t have and without money to deposit. These representatives understood that we don’t have money and helped us through the paperwork. A month later, I still haven’t received anything in the mail. No welcome letter, no bank card, and most importantly, no RIB. The RIB is something I have to have to get paid, since it’s direct deposit. After probably having waited too long, I went to a branch in Paris on Wednesday. The lady looked up my name and there I was in the computer. She told me I would have to go to the bank in Créteil to get my RIB, since that’s where I opened my account. You can’t exactly do business at any branch like you can in the states. I called the bank in Créteil and explained my situation. This lady told me I’d have to come there with the documents I had already given them a month ago! At this point, I still don’t know if I even have an open bank account.

Second of all, I’m stinkin sick again. Maybe it’s better to be sick on vacation since I can rest, but Tom’s grandparents are coming on Tuesday and I don’t want to be a sick hostess.

Third and last of all, these children are already driving me crazy! A few classes in particular in which I have about 15 kids on my own. Maybe they were rambunctious because it was right before break. Maybe they’re taking advantage of me because they think I don’t speak French (since I’m supposed to stay in English as much as possible). Whatever the reason, they would not stop talking!

I think the best part of the week, though, was when I saw light bulbs go off as some of the students understood “Spiderman” for the first time. I was teaching about Halloween. I showed them pictures of American kids dressed up in different costumes, including Spiderman, who they all know and love, except they pronounce it “Speederman.”

Later I showed them the picture of a spider, and I got only blank stares. So I showed Spiderman again. “Spiderman.” “Spider.” The looks were priceless. One kid came up to me afterwards and said he understood why he was called Spiderman- because of the spider that bit him. He was so excited! So, maybe the kids will continue to say “appy alloween” despite my best efforts to teach the “h” sound, but at least they will remember the word for spider. Little victories.

Learning French from Kids

Après que je me suis présentée aux élèves d'une classe CM1, une fille a dit « Je n'ai rien pigé. » L'enseignant, Monsieur D, a expliqué que ça veut dire « Je n'ai rien compris » mais c'est familier.

ABC

Today I had my first “observation” day at JF. All of the teachers are super nice, and in fact I get to work in a team! There is a teacher’s aide who will be working with me in all of my English classes. She has never taught English before, but she is an experience teacher’s aide and she speaks English well. From what I saw today, I don’t think the kids will be too “difficile.” I did spot one or two troublemakers, but that’s expected. Most of the classes seemed excited when I said I was from the US and would be teaching them English. That’s the good news of the day.

The bad news is that I’m completely overwhelmed! At just this one school (and mind you I have two others), I’m teaching 3 classes on Tuesdays and 4 on Fridays, without seeing any of the same classes or kids more than once a week! On top of that, I’m not just teaching one level. No, no, no. I’m teaching CP, CE1, CE2, CM1, and CM2 classes. This is equivalent to 1^st-5^th grade. Yikes. That means preparation will take quite a bit of time.

I don’t actually have to start teaching at JF until the 20^th since I have more training days and observation to do. But in the meantime, I have to choose a méthode (curriculum/teacher’s book) to use. At this point, I think I’d prefer just to use the méthode as a reference, but create my own materials. On verra.

I guess another piece of good news is that, at least at JF, I’ll have a good amount of freedom and independence. For the 7-month contract, which I have, assistants are supposed to be mostly a support to the teachers. I was worried that I would be underutilized and bored, especially after having so much freedom and responsibility with my VISTA year at the Red Cross. Well, I certainly won’t be bored!

Highlight of the day: The directrice was telling me that the kids must vouvoyer me, to keep some distance and make sure they respect me. Another teacher who was there said that sometimes the youngest kids tutoyer their teachers just because they don’t know any better. One day she corrected one of her CE1 kids, who replied, « Mais pourquoi est-ce que je dois te vouvoie quand tu es toute seule? » (Why do I have to use “vous” with you when you’re all alone ?). Quick lesson for those of you who don’t speak French. There are two forms of “you.” You use “vous” when you are talking to more than one person or when showing respect (such as to a stranger, an older person, or a TEACHER). You use “tu” for friends, family, etc. Hahahaha, c’est rigolo ! I guess French grammar is hard for the French too.

And now I’m watching two French guys play a dancing Wii game to the Jackson 5 ABC song. What an appropriate song for someone who will soon start teaching the ABCs and counting. But also hilarious to watch. Yes, this day has ended well.

Cultural Awkwardness: La Coque

Before coming to Paris, I stumbled onto a blog belonging to the patron of a quaint looking salon de thé in the 13th called L'Oisivethé. Shortly after our arrival, Tom and I decided to try it out for lunch. This place is adorable, but not the cheapest place to have lunch. We both decided to order the cheapest thing on the menu: la coque. I wasn't sure what this was, but I mistakenly thought it might be some sort of grilled cheese sandwich. Now I know that I was thinking of Croque Monsieur. Not the same thing.

We were each presented with 2 eggs and mouillettes (strips of bread).

Here is an outline of my thought process as we attempted to deal with this strange new meal.

Oooook. So le coque is not a sandwich. So it's hardboiled eggs.

Let's see how to eat this. That lady over there took the top part of the shell off.

Ooooh, not hard boiled! Runny! Soft boiled. I guess this is why we have these tiny spoons.

Doesn't taste bad. But not great either.

Are those old ladies staring at us?! Are we doing it wrong?!

At least my tea- thé noir aux quatre fruits- is delicious.

We returned to L'Oisivethé on Tuesday, but not for another round of la coque. There is a French/English conversation group organized by Tempo Time on Tuesdays. We spoke in French for 45 minutes, played Taboo in both languages, then had 45 minutes of English conversation. That will definately keep us coming back! It was a great way to practice French and meet Parisians.

My First Non-Backyard Badminton Experience.

This will be short and sweet. Mainly because it was only a couple of hours of badminton.

Badminton reminded me of playing tennis. The motions and strategies are very simular. This was pretty much the same group of people I played football with couple of wednesdays ago. Although they did not yell at me when I messed up, no they laughed WITH me. So lets just say there was a lot of laughing at first. Once I got the hang of it and the strategy, I was doing great. I was paired up with an British person who I believe was half asleep. He was nice but not very into any game or conversation. Only a couple of people there were truly badminton players, which meant all rules and regulations were in. All other three minute matches were just plain having fun. It is awesome how laughter means the same in at least four different languages.

Tonight, Nuit Blanche

Next Wednesday of sports is Volleyball. Katie is signed up to play that one with me. So I am very excited for Wednesday. Someone pretty to translate for me. :-)

Mon premier jour comme assistante d’anglais

Note: For the English version, scroll down.

Aujourd’hui est le premier jour de mon contrat, mais ça ne veut pas dire que j’ai commencé à enseigner. Attendez, il faut reculer un peu…

Hier j’ai eu le stage d’accueil avec les autres assistants d’anglais dans l’Académie de Créteil. Pendant trois heures, les présentateurs ont parlé du système éducatif en France (dont je dois écrire plus tard), nos droits et devoirs en tant qu’assistant, et les choses administratives. C’était d’avantage les choses administratives, et effectivement ennuyant, mais en même temps brumeux. Pourtant, je sais que c’était nécessaire et les inspecteurs étaient très serviables.

Après le déjeuner, nous nous sommes retrouvés dans des petits groupes, organisés par département et degré, où j’ai rencontré deux autres assistants qui travailleront à Maisons-Alfort, mais dans des écoles différentes.

Alors, retournons à aujourd’hui. J’ai eu un réunion avec Monsieur H, mon conseiller pédagogique (qui travaille pour l’Inspection Education Nationale de Créteil et qui est très très gentil) et les directrices de mes écoles.

Je vais travailler dans trois écoles, mais deux sont voisines. Je vais les appeler PA et PB. L’autre est JF. J’ai vite appris que ces écoles, ce qui sont très proche l’un de l’autre, sont très différents. Je me suis sentie bien accueillie par une directrice. Mais, je m’inquiète que les autres seront un peu difficiles. Il me presque semble que quelques-uns entres les enseignants préféreraient de ne pas avoir une assistante. L

En tout cas, je vais travailler le lundi, mardi, jeudi et vendredi après-midi (il n’y a pas de cours le mercredi dans les écoles en France), ce qui me permit de suivre un cours le matin. La journée n’est pas passée trop mal. En fait, j’ai eu l’occasion d’aller d’une école à l’autre en scooter avec Monsieur H !

My first day as an English Assistant

Today is the first day of my contract, but that doesn’t mean that I started teaching. Hold on, we need to back up…

Yesterday I had orientation with the other English Assistants in Créteil. For three hours, the presenters talked about the education system in France (which I should write about later), our rights and responsibilities as assistants, and administrative things. It was mostly administrative things, and therefore boring, but unclear at the same time. Yet, I know that it was necessary and the “inspectors” were very helpful.

After lunch, we broke into small groups, according to our department and the level that we’re teaching. I met two other assistants who are going to work in Maisons-Alfort, but in different schools.

Ok, let’s get back to today. I had a meeting with Mr. H, my mentor (who works for the IEN- I really don’t think there’s an equivalent in the US- and who is very very nice) and the principals of my schools.

I will be working in three schools, but two of them are actually in the same building. I will call them PA and PB. The other is JF. I quickly learned that these schools, although very close to each other, are very different. I felt welcomed by one of the principals. But, I worry that the others will be a little difficult. It almost seems that some of the teachers would actually prefer not to have an assistant. L

In any case, I will be working Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons (they don’t have school on Wednesdays in French elementary schools), which will allow me to take a class in the mornings. The day didn’t go too badly. In fact, I had the chance to ride with Mr. H on his scooter from one school to the next!