My first day in a French école elementaire (elementary school) was so much fun, but equally exhausting! I began my day at 6:45am, which is much earlier than my most recent wake-up-whenever-I-feel-like kind of schedule. I got ready and went out to meet Sabine (pronounced Sa-bean), a teacher from the Les Marendiers school, who was giving me a ride for my first day. We got to school and she told me that I’d be in her class first, for 30 minutes, and then I would switch to another class for another 30 minutes and so on until my time was up. I met with 6 different classes today, so my initial idea that I’d only work with 3 classes a school went right out the window! There are 8 total classes at this school, so pretty tiny!
Sabine told me that she hadn’t told her class I would be her today, and that she wouldn’t say anything until a student asked. Then she would make it into a game of “Let’s Guess Who This Is and Why She’s Here.” So the student’s (a CE1 class… students who are about 7 years old and adorable in their little French clothes) came in, sat down, stared at me for awhile, commented amongst themselves about who I was, and then finally asked their teacher (Maitresse they say) who I was. She said, in French, “Well I don’t know! She was here when I came in and turned on the lights! Why don’t you ask her? Although I’ve already tried in French and she doesn’t understand ANY French, so you’ll have to try something else.” They caught on that I spoke English, and asked the 2 questions they knew how to say in varying forms (What is your name? Are you from England? Are you from South Africa? Are you from Australia? etc.). Finally, they guessed that I was from the United States, I showed them on the map, and then I helped them with a little matching exercise in their cahiers (notebooks). Then- on to the next class!
The next class was a CE2, or 8-9 year olds. They were supposed to know at least the English phrases that were being introduced in the CE1 class, but they didn’t seem to remember much other than, “What’s your name?” After that, the teacher pretty much allowed them to fire question after question at me, in French. I got everything from, “Do you eat nutella?” to “Do you ever see the stars?” This last question… I didn’t really get until later in the day after I had been asked by several other children if I had seen the “stars.” At first, I just said, yes, I’ve seen stars… but then later realized oh, they mean like movie stars…of course! That’s all they know when they think of America- big buildings and movie stars like they see on tv. Duh. So then my answer became, yes, I’ve seen Obama before… because I did once at a campaign rally… and I tried to explain that I was from Virginia near Washington, D.C…. so it was sort of relatable. I also got this question in this class, “Do you like to dance,” for which I responded, “Yes,” and the girl went a step further saying, “Well dance for us.” I kind of felt like a traveling circus performer, and I was the freak who could speak English. I did not do a dance, just in case you were wonderingJ
After this 30 minute segment, I went down the hall to a CM1 class of 9-10 year olds. This teacher had no idea I was coming at that time, and I later found out that she was actually a long term substitute for the director of the school, who is also the teacher of this class. It was her first day… so I was kind of thrown into the front and asked to introduce myself, and then because we had nothing planned for today (I was told I would just be observing all day), I asked the students if they had any questions for me… which of course started up a firing squad of questions. There were many similar ones from before, but this time they added in, “Does America have the biggest hamburgers in the world?” and “Do you watch the Simpson’s.” The students were henceforth very interested to know that I, in fact, not only watched the Simpson’s, but I just so happened to live in one of the many Springfield’s America has to offer. This class was a little overwhelming on the behavior front, but I assume it will only get better once the teacher has a better handle on her students.
Then, I was given a 15 minute break while the students were ushered outside for a 15 minute recess break (the whole school in fact). This was also a time for the teachers to make their tea and coffee in the lounge.
After the break, I was shown my next class, a CM2/CP class… which was odd. The CM2 level is like 11-12 year olds and the CP group is 6 year olds. For some reason this teacher had a mixture of both, but they were separated on different sides of the room and the little kids had smaller desks. It was actually quite interesting how the little kids listened and learned English through the older kids. This class presented me with little dramatizations of what happens when you meet someone for the first time. The CM2’s would go up in pairs and go through the same dialogue: “Hello. Good morning. What’s your name? My name is… How old are you? I am…? Where do you live? I live in… Nice to meet you. Goodbye.” We’d clap and the next set would go up. They were so cute… they had the hardest time saying “How old are you?” because the “How-old” part would sort of run together.
After their little dialogues, they sang me a “Hello” song (both CM2 and CP). Then, the firing squad…fired up. The most interesting question from this class was, “Do you have black and white tv?” And I was most impressed that some of the CP’s were asking intelligent-ish questions… like “How did you get here, in a boat or a plane?”
Next, Sophie (the last teacher) followed me to a CM1/CM2 combo class of 9-11 year olds because she and the other teacher switch for English. The other teacher teaches the students German at the switch. With this class, there were no dialogues, but they did sing me a song. Then- yep you guessed it, more questions. Pretty much everything they asked had already been asked in one of the other 3 classes so I was ready. A few times I’d have to look to Sophie because I didn’t understand what they were saying… especially a little boy who went on and on about something before he actually got to his question. But, these kids were so cute. As I left the room they were still yelling out questions.
Finally, I met with a CP class (all 6 year olds). These students pretty much only get to the “Hello/Good morning/Goodbye” stage of English… so I only meet with them for 15 minutes before lunch. They were by far the most adorable… looking up at me with their big eyes, dressed in their little mini-me French people clothes. The teacher said with this class I’ll usually read a book in English and then explain it in French afterwards.
And then it was lunch time! The teachers invited me to stay for lunch (and I said yes only because I had intended on being there until 12:15 to fulfill my 4 hours at this school). I didn’t bring a lunch, so I went to the cantine (cafeteria) with the students. Let me just say, I will be forgetting my lunch every time I go to school. I got a baguette slice, cheese, apple, fish (like nice white fish with a sauce), green beans, and a tart for desert. Yumz. And! The teachers apologized because the lunch is usually much better! HAH!
By that time, I had reached my French speaking abilities. I felt like I did a pretty awesome job communicating with the students, they understood me, I understood them for the most part. I even had one kid at lunch tell me that I had excellent French skills for someone who doesn’t speak French, hehe. But now, I was with the teachers, as they spoke fast and about more complicated things than what I do for fun in the United States… so I mostly listened and nodded. After the big lunch, I was also just ready for a nap. So I asked if they could help me find the bus stop, and I was on my way home.
So- it was pretty much an awesome day. The kids were great, the teachers were very nice, and I’ll see them again in 2 weeks after my in-service next week.
After a nap and some video chatting with Vic, I went on my way to find St. Jean (the church) again in old Lyon. I had seen the outside, but never the inside. It’s actually a pretty interesting church… it’s a very central landmark in the old Lyon quarter, with the Basilica almost watching over it on the hill. It has a medieval feel on the inside and outside, but also had a modern art exhibit up around the walls on the inside. I was there for the beginning of an evening mass, and felt a little out of place with my camera, but you could tell this was definitely still a place of active worship. The singing was beautiful and just soared up through the high ceilings. And at the front of the church was this old horlage, or clock/calendar thing. The plaque said that it could have been from the 1300’s! It ticked away and showed the time, but it also showed the date and the year which I thought was kind of amazing. The plaque said that it goes up to 2019… so I don’t know what happens after 2019, but I’m glad I saw it before then I guessJ After my exploring, I sat and drank a nice yummy cup of hot chocolate at a café overlooking St. Jean.
Now I’m home, while it pours down rain. My voice is sore from all the French I spoke today and my brain is tired… so it will be an early night for sure!
Reste coolJ
pictures to come when internet cooperates!
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