Well, here I sit and I have officially finished my first week of observations as an English teaching assistant in France! This week, I started at the middle school in Estaires, France called Collège Henri Durez (yes they call their middle schools “college”) and it was a very interesting and fun week. My first day was Tuesday and I had to be at the middle school by 8:30 and I take a bus that is about a 10 min walk from my airbnb in Lille. It was pouring out and I honestly had no idea where I was going and I had to ask a couple people where the cent dix (110) bus was picking up. It was funny because I actually ended up asking someone who worked at my school. I haven’t seen her take the bus after that first day but many teachers are pretty shocked that I commute 45 minutes to get to the middle school. Lille is a lot more exciting and much much bigger than either of the cities my schools are in so I sacrificed and decided to do a 45-minute commute. I really don’t mind it at all, and getting up early has helped me figure out my sleep schedule which is something I have been struggling with since I arrived.
How the week was going to pan out was that I would observe 3-5 hours of class a day and if the teacher wanted me to I could come up to the front of the class and answer questions about myself that the kids ask in English. Most of them asked questions such as How old are you?, Where are you from? and of course What is your name. I also received questions like Why are you here, What is your favorite movie and practically every class asked if I had a boyfriend (I answered it but they asked for his name and I said that was TMI haha). I basically ended up doing this for every class that I observed.
One interesting concept that I had to explain to the middle schoolers was the pledge of allegiance and I recited it to them, which to my surprise I could still do. They don’t have anything quite like this in France. Although, every time a teacher comes into the classroom or any adult comes to the classroom, they all stand up in respect to that teacher and can’t sit down until they are told to. Another interesting aspect that I hadn’t really witnessed before in a French school is that the teachers tell each student their grade for an assignment out loud in front of the whole class when they hand the papers back. I felt so bad for the kids that got humiliated and I was shocked at how harsh some of the teacher’s comments were and that she did this in front of the whole class. But I did notice a form of this “critique” when I attended Aix-Marseille University because when students would give presentations the professor would critique them right after in front of the whole class. I guess this just holds students more accountable knowing where they stand among their peers. Personally, I don’t really agree with it and I think that grades are a very personal matter but I found this to be really fascinating.
My “prof referent” aka my reference teacher is named Jean-Marc and he helped a lot in the first day I was there. He showed me around the school and the teachers lounge which is where I will spend most of my time when I am not in a class teaching.
The first day I observed I had forgotten a lunch and I had to wait for my bus ride home (the bus only comes once an hour) and one of the other teachers had brought an extra sandwich and he gave it to me and he explained how this type of bread was a specialty from his home town boulangerie.
As my week continued I took more and more notes on what I observed in the classes and what would be some good ideas for lesson planning. I have never really observed a class before much less taught one (unless you count small group tutoring??) but I’m excited to see if I have a passion for it, what areas of teaching I will struggle in and how I might actually surprise myself. Overall it was a great first week but I am very much looking forward to this coming week as I will be in Merville at College Henri Dunant with Emilie (prof referent I talked about in my previous post). Instead of taking the bus to Merville, one of my colleagues named Julie is picking me up at a metro stop very close to where I am in Lille. (Update: I wrote this about a week ago and forgot to post it and I will update on how my week at Merville wen very soon!)
À Bientôt,
Kristin
I am doing 12 hours every week of actual classroom time but I switch off schools every other week! So one week 12 hours in Estaires then the next week 12 hours in Merville and switching back and forth.
So, I don't understand the 2 schools in 2 towns thing - will you continue to go to both of them, or at some point will you be only at one?