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.