I had a great day back to work.... thankfully, before my long 2 week break, I planned a good first lesson for my unit on the Gingerbread Man (which amazingly has a lot of good English language learning opportunities). However, I did not intend on using the book with every class, just the older kids. I ended up reading the story 5 times today, to everyone but Sabine's CE1 class. It was awesome to see how the book could be differentiated to fit the CP level to the CM2 level... (wow, that was a really nerdy teacher thing to say, but it's true).
Besides getting really good at saying "Run, run, as fast as you can... ," I had fun seeing my kids, talking to my colleagues about their break and mine (they were so excited to see the ring hehe), and reading the postcards from our penpals in Ms. Caitlin Varley's 5th grade class (thanks again Caitlin!). The class was ecstatic.... they had no idea what they said, or whether or not the names were "girl" names or "boy" names.... but they were excited to have something addressed to them with a real postcard from America. I read a few to give them an idea of what types of information the cards contained (they could figure out most of it once I read it.... I guess we do mostly do oral listening type lessons at this age and very little written.... still what a great language/cultural experience for them!). They thought the names were cool and they were surprised at how bad some of the handwriting was, lol. *Sorry French kids, we don't have them start practicing cursive script in preschool.
I had a nice big school lunch (salmon lasagna, potatoes, baguette, cheese, salad, and yogurt) and talked more with the teachers. They talked a lot about Japan and all the different stories they've heard on the news. One of my teachers said one her closest friends was just in Japan for a week with her kids on vacation and left a few days before the earthquake happened.... said it really shook their family up. We also talked a lot about the nuclear plant explosion.... it hits a little too close to home for the French because they are the 2nd largest producer of nuclear energy in the world.... there are like 5 nuclear power plants in the Rhone region alone (around Lyon)... although we don't have a lot of earthquakes or other natural disasters.... there is still always the potential danger for something to go wrong. Apparently there has been a lot of discussion on the news about the dangers and the reasonings why they have so much nuclear energy in France, etc....
Anyway, I left school and walked a good part of the way home because it was a bright and sunny afternoon. I had a nice long video chat with Victor who made it safe and sound last night. He enjoyed watching the in-flight movies, but was very tired when he got home. Since it was so nice, I went for a run in the Parilly park after my chat... it's the one where I went bike riding with Corinne's family. It has really nice running paths and workout stations along the way..... an excellent place to workout, but I am now pooped and ready for bed! (I still haven't written my last Italy blog! What a slacker I am!)
Besides that, nothing much going on over here in France! I have exactly 45 more days until I come home! I am planning a trip to Nice/Provence in April with some of the girls, so that's exciting! I'll have to keep you posted.
Ok, must get my bag ready for tomorrow! I'm fading fast!
Reste cool:)
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