Oct 2007

I was at my nice school today, my super class were super as usual, whizzing their way through clothes and colours and LISTENING. But my other two classes (one CE1 and one CM2 so the youngest and the oldest) just would not be quiet and pay attention.

In CE1 there is just a constant background noise...the children are either completely switched off/phased out, not paying attention (I had to tell one girl to turn round and pay attention about 20 times today!) or constantly chatting, waving their hands in the air, moaning at each other. It didn't help that even though I was already taking the whole class of almost thirty (with only a supply teacher for support) they decided that another 7 are going to join us from the other CE1 class too...actually these 7 kids were absolute stars and outshone the others at stuff I've been teaching them for 2 lessons but it's just too many for language learning and there's a stupid supporting post thing in the middle of the room which means I can never see all the kids at once. I'm not even trying any group/pair work with this class or games really...even just me asking one child to repeat a phrase back to make is taken as an excuse for the rest of the class to have a chat. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong...JP really did emphasise that if a class doesn't go well it's our fault, unprepared etc. And I'm sure these 6/7/8 year old kids should be excited by learning English and should shut up when I tell them I wasn't happy with their behaivour last lesson and I hope its going to be better this lesson.

Maybe I'm expecting too much?

Maybe I SHOULD be doing more games etc with them...maybe they are just bored of doing the same thing...but they still havent mastered How are you?'What's your name, so it's difficult to come up with games, and I've got a feeling they're going to learn even less then, and I'll completely loose control.

I'm pretty sure that I at least know what the problem is with the older students and thats that they are used to lessons where they sit and write/copy/learn/are tested...so for them a lesson which starts with singing a song and where there are times where I want them to all call out together (repeating words etc) is just an excuse for fun times. But I don't know what to do about this; a teacher yesterday told me there should be more writing (and its true that writing does quieten them down a bit), and the class teacher of CM2 today told me to threaten them with constant evaluations...but we've been trained against doing both of these things.

The next problem is that because of the whole discipline thing I am talking French way more than I should be...I don't think English would help? They'd probably just talk over the top of it. I'm using the whole standing in silence thing quite a lot and that does help but only temporarily and today I gave the CM2s a warning at the end of the lesson that I want the next lesson to be a lot better and that I wasn't very happy with them so hopefully that will help.

Ok, ACTION PLAN:
All classes:
Start the next lesson in saying "everyone"=you all repeat
otherwise you don't talk unless I ask you to or you put your hand up
Older classes:
really stick to absolutely no french after the song. wait in silence every time there is discipline prbs until I have their attention
Younger classes:
vary the activites more...introduce new stuff

Might also ask to sit in on some other classes to see their behaivour. As I said maybe I'm expecting too much, had just forgotten how much time is spent on 'be quiet' in primary schools...and it's difficult not really having anything to compare myself too...can talk to other assistants but hard to know really how their lessons compare.

The headmaster at my school is off for another week so have left him a phone message asking if I can do the Wednesday mornings instead of the Fridays so I can go home for Al's birthday/Xmas.

Am quite skint...and have realised that even when I am paid at end of the week, by the time I've paid rent/bought a plane ticket or two it'll all be gone again. :-(

Hate to write a moany entry. I am having a good time here, am a bit tired and feeling bit groggy today but am generally happy and at least its keeping me on my toes...always good to have a challenge.

Any advice appreciated!

X

We went to watch the rugby last night; such a contrast to last week it is actually unbelievable. We rocked up at the same cafe which was PACKED to bursting point last Saturday; they had kindly put the big screen up but we were THE ONLY PEOPLE to watch! Hilarious. Was fun and England put up a good fight (in my humble opinion) but we lost which was a shame. Some Frenchies did turn out right at the end to cheer on South Africa. Charming, but you can't really blame them.

Had to get an 8.30am train back to Bordeaux this morning (the only one to get Joe back for 2pm checkin). Had a wander around central Bordeax; it seems really nice, but everything was closed today and Joe and I both seem to have gone down with a tummy bug or something so not a great introduction to the city.

Not nice saying goodbye to Joe, had been such a cool weekend having him here and not sure when I'll definately get to see him again....for the first time I have this feeling of being all alone in a great big foreign country...but I think tiredness and yucky illness not helping the situation.

Better entry soon

X

1. The French have annoying yappy little dogs who prance around like they own the place.
2. There are way more hairdressers in Perigueux than its small population could ever possibly need.
3. The French don't understand the concept of traffic lights very well: if there's a green man it should be safe to cross i.e. NO CARS!

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Housewarming chez Lou and Lynn was awesome, very funny. Shots from candle holders. We need to find somewhere for dancing soon though.

Had a nice liein this morning, then went out for burgers and a glass of wine for lunch. Got a funny postcard from George; he'd gone to the trouble to write all the 'h's a la francais even addressing it to Lucy 'awker :-) . Am also happy to have heard from several people that they are enjoying reading my blog; I hope I keep doing enough fun/interesting/Frenchy stuff to keep it worth-reading. I was saying to Molly and Joe last night how cool it is at the moment that even if I have a sort of lazy, not-much-happening kinda day, I still feel kinda good because, well, I'm living in France, and thats kinda something to feel proud and grateful for. Hope to make the most of the Toussaint week and a half holidays coming up by travelling around the little towns in the area (and maybe Bordeaux/Toulouse) and taking lots of photos naturally! Also if I am going to truly feel like a good person (/if I want any chance of not totally fluncking (sp?) my degree in a year and a half) I need to start doing some Uni work. Every day.

Not going to be a happy bunny when Joe goes :-( . Parents are coming next week though so thats cool, looking forward to showing them my new little life and they're bringing me some more stuff from home! Next week I'm going to talk to my schools about having 21st December/weekend of Alex's birthday off.

Oxford mateys are going to bop tonight, and Jo is djing on behalf of Jucy. :-(

Rugby for us: Come on England!

Good: Joe's here! yay yay yay! Awesome awesome awesome to see him and show him everything and introduce him to everyone. He said my room was all echoy and empty so yesterday we found an massive, very cool home shop (not too expensive either) and bought some stuff to cheer it up. He cooked me yummy marinated chicken with salad and caramelised onions on bread last night. Overall all good....until he goes home, but we'll defo find a way to see each other again before Xmas, don't think I could cope otherwise.

Bad: Yesterday was not a good day. Was pleased that some of the CE1s had actually retained some stuff we'd learnt on Monday, but some of the older classes just would not shut up and pay attention, and one (where their teacher had left the room) just seemed to get so silly and out of my control. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong....maybe they're bored, maybe its because the lesson is singing/games orientated....so difficult though.

Good: Had an awesome morning. First class was a bit chatty but the teacher had a moan at them. Second class are my favourite of the week, did so well and responded fine to me talking English only for the central part of the lesson, and exciting news, one of the children brought in a little card from her parents inviting me to call them and go for dinner at their house! I was expecting problems with the third class as they were chatty this week and their teacher wasn't in today so it was just me with them, but they were brilliant. I was firm and separated the three painsinthebum, and yeah it was fine. I was in control.

I think I've just gotta get used to the fact that classes are going to have good days and bad days and how to deal with all the little things that can change the dynamic of a class.

Going to Lynn and Lou's housewarming tonight which will be muchos fun and Joe will get to meet Rachel and everyone else.

I already had a good feeling about today as the headteacher and his assistant had been so kind and helpful when I was last there, but I didn't sleep well (bloody Good Morning song going to haunt more forever) and so was a bit tired and blergh this morning.

When I got to the school I was told the headteacher wasn't in this week and there's a bit of confusion over which classes I'm meant to be taking but today I did CE1, CM1+CM2 mixed class and a CM2 class. The CE1 teacher gave me a little tour of the school and her class were so cute! Seemed really young, and were quite timid, but I think they'll get into it, and I'd rather have to work a bit to get responses from them than have them running riot.

I have been using a lot of French in this weeks classes, perhaps too much, and intend from the next lesson to use English as we were taught on the stage. But I'm slightly worried that the older classes won't accept this now that they know I CAN speak French and I think it's going to be very tricky with the younger ones. Even using French today I just COULD NOT get them to respond "I'm very well thank you" when I asked "How are you?", they just repeated "How are you?" back to me. Eventually the teacher just asked me to translate it, which helped a bit...but I'm presumably not meant to be doing that if just speaking English...I used pictures, gestures, facial expressions, not sure what else to do.

The next class was an absolute dream, there were a few knowitalls, but the whole class was very eager to learn and attentive and seemed to remember a lot from last year. At the end the teacher asked me a bit more about myself in front of the class like whether I'd been to France before and whether I had any French friends. She was really nice, and even gave me her number and email in case I have any problems and said I can join her and her family for a 'french dinner' at some point. One of the students in this class also made me a card which she brought me at the end of the; it said "My name ys Victoria. I'm 10. LUCY JE T'ADORE! I'm French. I'm very well. " So cute. Going to go on my wall as inspiration when I get fedup of lessonplanning. The lovely teacher then took me to the staffroom, where she introduced me to all the other teachers, made me a cup of coffee (&told me not to worry about the washingup!) and tried to involve me in their conversations etc which was so great. She was joking about how I will learn lots of 'argot' slang from her as she's from Paris. She also invited me to join them all for lunch at the end of term next week. I wish I had a better means to tell people who are kind to me (her, my landlord etc) how much it means.....merci beaucoup does not suffice really, hope they can see it in my smile! There was also a lady there who teaches English to her own class and who lived in Yeovil for a year; she was the first person in the whole time I've been in France to greet me with 'hello'....was quite weird, I was kinda taken aback!

The next class, CM2 (so the oldest I'll be teaching) were not quite so nice. Well actually there was a mix, a few eager boys who just had their hands up the whole lesson (I ignored them a lot today to try and get other people involved, but actually they're not bad kids and I don't want to loose their enthusiasm), but also some very annoying chatty/fidgety boys, and some whispery girls who just did not look like they wanted to be there. I really want to try and work on this class; this the age where we need to try and keep their attention. Amazingly the time when they paid most attention was at the end where I asked some of them who knew a goodbye song to those who didn't know it, so I'll have to remember that. Also all of the classes seem very interested in talking about cultural differences etc, so I'm going to ask my mum to bring over a load of Christmas stuff.

Very interestingly one of the teachers explained to me that in France the city centre schools, like this one, are full of rich children who's parents are architechts, doctors etc, and it did kind of seem that way today. I think it would be the opposite at home?

So, now I'm having lunch and waiting for Patrick the electrician to turn up...he's going to fix me a bathroom cabinet...I think. Tomorrow is a day off (as every Wednesday) and Joe is coming so if I'm all organised I think I'll head into Bordeaux in the morning and explore a bit before meeting him. Am going to cook meatballs for dinner (as taught by Rachel!) and have bought a nice bottle of Bordeaux red :-)

X