Monday, October 5
It was a cold and rainy morning. My program director person, Sylvie, (I'm still not sure what her title is or what to call her) drove me to my first school: Jean Moulin in Angoulins. I start in a CM1/CM2 class with the school director Madame Cousin.
I find it interesting that in each of my schools the director of the school also teaches a class whereas in the US the principal of a school doesn't teach. I don't know if it's from a lack of teachers or if that's just part of their job.
Anyways, I introduced myself and the students asked me some questions and then I observed for a little while. I was supposed to go to a CM2 class with Madame Parlebas next, but for whatever reason I didn't have that class (I think they were on a field trip, but I'm not sure). Since I didn't have my one class, I was early to my next class which was a CE2/CM1 class with Monsieur David, and I sat in the back and listed as the read a short story in French about a new student who came from England, which is a little ironic because I am an "new student" who speaks English. Even though I am here to help teach English, I am learning a lot of new words and expressions in French because all of my teachers speak to me in French, and I hear the students speaking French. My next class is a CE2 class with Monsieur Chivaille, and the teacher doesn't speak very much English, so it should be interesting...
In several of my classes students would ask if I have any kids or if I had a boyfriend. They would also ask silly questions like do we have pools in the US and which side of the road do we drive on and how do you say car (they would ask "voiture") or eye or summer, etc.
I had lunch all by myself in the tiny teacher's kitchen after my CE2 class. All of the teachers seem to go home or at least leave the school during lunch. I wished I had brought my book with me so that I would have something to do during my hour and 45 minute lunch break.
After lunch I have two thirty minute classes that will rotate throughout the year between three classes. These are the younger kids and they are in a separate building from the other students, which I find interesting. Apparently the schools were separated by gender, so the boys had one building and the girls had the other. Until December 14th, I have a CP/CE1 class with Madame Fergeau first and then a CE1/CE2 class with Madame Bulet. Then from January to March I will have the CP/CE1 class with Madame Fergeau and a CP/CE1 class with Monsieur Bodin. Then to finish off the year, I will have the CE1/CE2 class with Madame Bulet again and the CP/CE1 class with Monsieur Bodin. These are all younger kids so they don't know much of anything in English besides Hello and Goodbye, but they are really cute.
At the end of the day (which I end at 2:45pm) I took the bus home as I will do all year. As I was waiting at the bus stop, a car stopped in front of me and asked where some store was and I said "Je ne sais pas" I don't know because that was literally my first time in Angoulin and I don't know where anything is besides my school, the bus stop, and the post office, which is between the two places.
It was a pretty successful first day besides the fact that I started to feel sick after that first day. Crazy kids are already getting me sick!
Tuesday, October 6
Today I was at the school closest to my house: Paul Doumer, which is only a ten minute walk and I go past Porte Royale (mentioned in my previous post). At Doumer, I start with the younger kids and move up. First I have CP with Madame Hua and they were learning colors today. For some reason they all knew and were excited about the color black, but they kept mixing up red and green, which was so cute.
I have to go outside to get to my next class. It's interesting how the classrooms are in separate buildings; it's so different from back at home. My next class is CE1/CE2 class with Madame de Sagazan and she seems to want me to do the teaching and she will just help. I have never taught English or anything before so hopefully this year goes well because I don't know how to plan a lesson.
Afterwards I had my CM1 class with Madame Sabourin who teaches English to all of the CM1 and CM2 classes it seems like. She is really nice and has me get involved but she is the teacher and I just help with pronunciation and stuff. She and the CM2 teacher (Madame Arfeuillere) switch classes and Madame Sabourin teaches the CM2 class English, but she told me that she usually teaches them on Mondays, and then I will have half an hour with them on Tuesdays without her so that should be interesting. I don't think Madame Arfeuillere knows much English if any, but at least she will be in the room to discipline the students and make sure they pay attention.
Then I have lunch in the "Salle de Maîtres" which is the teacher's lounge. Some other teachers came in and had lunch with me and I just listened to them talk. Once again the director is also a teacher, and he is also Sylvie's (my program director person) brother.
After lunch, Madame Sabourin teaches English to Madame Moussion-Feld's CM1/CM2 class. It's a good thing that I like Madame Sabourin because I'm with her all afternoon. I get to go home at 2:45pm.
After school, I picked up my bank card from CIC, which is where I have a bank account. I just need to get paid so that I have more money in my account. On my way home, I bought some orange juice and soup to help me feel better since my throat was hurting.
Wednesday, October 7
No work today! It was nice to sleep in and get ready slowly. I hung out with Thea and we walked around the market because it was extra big today. We had lunch in a café over by the Hôtel de Ville. Since it was a beautiful day out we got ice cream and sat by the port. There was a jazz concert going on at the port so we listened to them as we ate our ice cream. All of the musicians seemed very young, like high school students, but we didn't know what group they were or anything about them. We spent the rest of the afternoon planning trips for our first break which is the last two weeks of October.
Thursday, October 8
Today was my last first day because I only work three days a week. I took the 8:30am bus with my roommate Gabby because she also had school today, and her school is just a little farther than mine. My last school is Barthelemy Profit and it's in a more diverse area of the city. Several of my students speak French and Arab. The school is big and a little confusing so I didn't know where to go for my first class but luckily a woman showed me to my first class, which is CM1 with Madame Vannier. I introduced myself and then I just sat in the back and watched the class practice saying the days of the week and other vocabulary. Madame Vannier had one of her students lead me to my next class (CE1 with Madame Faure), and the student took me to the wrong classroom, but thankfully the teacher told me where to go. The students asked me a bunch of questions about how to say different words in English and other silly questions about the United States.
All of the schools I've been to have a brief recess around 10:15am, which is when my second class ends. So I sat in the teacher's lounge, and in the teacher's lounge there are large windows that look out at where the students play and some students were banging on the window to wave to me and say "hello" in there cute little French accent.
After recess, I have CP with Madame Naghdi-Djam, and we went to the gym to play a little game and introduce me but the kids were misbehaving and running around and not listening. This will probably be my hardest class. Then I was supposed to have a CP/CE1 class with Madame Bernard, but she told me during recess that I didn't need to come today because they were doing other things, so I went back to the teacher's lounge and hung out there.
Another common thing at all of my schools is that lunch is from 12pm to 1:45pm. Other teachers came in during the lunch break and they talked mostly to themselves, but I would listen in just to practice understanding French.
My last class of the day is CM2 with Madame Grignon. The students asked me questions and they practiced asking basic questions in English like what's your name? where do you come from? what's your favorite color? etc.
As with my other schools, I end at 2:45pm and as I was walking to the bus stop I saw the bus leaving so I had to wait for the next one which was probably a ten or fifteen minute wait.
After school, Arthur, Gabby and I went to the big grocery store farther out of town. Arthur drove since he has a car.
This whole week my throat has been hurting me and it would hurt to swallow. Gabby gave me some medicine to take but it didn't seem like anything was helping. I was drinking hot water with lemon juice and honey. On Friday, since I didn't work I took it easy to try and get better. I had soup for lunch and dinner and more tea and medicine. Nothing was helping. I was worried it was something more serious but I didn't want to go to the doctor's office. I took some Advil Friday night to help with the pain, and Saturday morning my throat didn't hurt as much.
Saturday, October 10
Today a few of us primary assistants went to Plage Minimes since it was a beautiful day (a little chilly but there wasn't much of a breeze) and it's going to start getting much colder out. We sat on the beach and talked for a while and then we went and got milkshakes because this is the only place in the area that makes real milkshakes with ice cream and not powder stuff. I got a chocolate and peanut butter milkshake that was delicious! Here are some pictures from the beach:
Lots of seashells on Plage Minimes
There were a lot of boats out today
Me, Thea, Camille, and Ruth
Me, Kayla, Camille, and Ruth
Sunday, October 11
Today I went to a new church—Eglise Protestant Unie de La Rochelle—it has a much more traditional service, but it is much closer to me than the other church I went to last week. The rest of the afternoon I was lazy and didn't do much but try to get better.
Monday, October 12
Day two at Angoulin. Today I took the bus at 8am to get there around 8:25am since I have to be at school by 8:45am and the next bus wouldn't get me there until after 9am. In my first class, I tried to use powerpoint to show pictures of Chicago and my family, but they didn't have powerpoint, but I was able to show some of my pictures. Then I had my CM2 class that I didn't have last week and I wasn't able to do my presentation because they didn't have a projector so I just talked about myself and the students asked me questions in French. My powerpoint presentation worked for my next two classes, which was good. Then I ate lunch alone in the teacher's lounge and I printed off some papers for my next two classes, which I didn't use, and my powerpoint. In my last two classes, since they are the younger kids, I taught them hello and goodbye and a song saying Hello what's your name? Then I took the bus home.
Tuesday, October 13
Day two at Doumer. I gave my powerpoint presentation in each of my classes, but I shortened and simplified it for the younger kids at the beginning of the day. In the afternoon, I had my CM2 class by myself just as Madame Sabourin said last week. I ran out of things to talk about with them so I just had them list as many family members they could think of and I taught them the word in English. I need to plan more for next week so that I'm not standing there awkwardly wondering what to do next. At the end of the day for me I tried to leave but the gate was locked so I went and found the custodian and he let me out. After school I ran some errands and did a little bit of laundry since I'm leaving on Friday for Nantes.
Wednesday, October 14
Today I slept in and I am finally starting to feel better. I didn't do much but some secondary assistants were having a light lunch at their house and Gabby invited me to go with so I went with her. It was fun meeting other assistants and sitting outside in the sun.
Thursday, October 15
Second day at Profit and now I know where I'm going, but the building is still a little confusing. I gave my presentation in each of my classes. My second class was cut short because they had a concert to go to at 10am so I sat in the teacher's lounge. I met the director's assistant and he spoke nearly perfect English to me so I asked where he was from and he said Paris, but he lived in NYC when he was 8-10 years old and he frequently returns to the US. My CP class was difficult just as I had expected: the teacher and I split the class in two groups to teach them "what's your name? my name is..." and I took a group to the gym and they would listen to me for about two minutes and then get distracted and run around and jump on the mats stacked up on the side. It is going to be an interesting year with these kids. Then I had my CP/CE1 class that I didn't have last week, and I gave my presentation, and they asked me questions in French. Then I had lunch with some of the other teachers in the teacher's lounge. After lunch I gave my presentation in my CM2 class and the teacher had prepared a map of Illinois and a map of the US for her students. I really like the CM2 class because they listen to me and they understand me even if I make a mistake in French unlike the younger kids.
After school, Thea and I went to the train station to print off all of our tickets for the next two weeks. It is going to be an exciting adventure! I'll update you on what I did afterwards.
Sorry if this post was boring. Don't worry the next one will have many pictures and more interesting things!
