My REAL first day

Since Monday was a bust, I was really hoping Tuesday would work out since I was teaching 5 classes in a row. It was truly a trail by fire!

After arriving about an hour early (I wasn't sure what train to take and I didn't want to be late), I walked around Frontignan trying to kill time and not be nervous. I finally went inside the school about 25 minutes early and was lead to the teacher's lounge where I put my little lunch in the fridge and had some coffee very awkardly with 2 other teachers that I wasn't working with.

Finally the time came for me to start. Boy, you would never imagine how hard it is to teach in English when the kids don't really speak it. I was told by all of the program directors to speak in English all the time, so I vowed to really only teach the class in English and really NOT use French at all. This was my lesson plan that I repeated 5 times in a row:

• I introduced myself as Miss K
• Told them I was from the US (not England as so many had guessed)
• Had kids try and guess where California was
• Taught them how to say "My Name is..."
• Played a little game where one kid went out of the room, meanwhile, we chose one kid in the room to lie about what his name was. Then the kid outside the room came in and had to ask all the other kids what their names were to find the liar. This actually proved to be very entertaining to the kids ONCE they figured out what I was trying to teach them.
• Did a little evaluation quiz game on colors, numbers, body parts, family, animals.

It turned out that the kids knew WAY more English than I expected them to. I had planned on having to teach "My Name Is..." for like the whole lesson. That only took about 15 minutes. After I ran out of the "My Name is..." game, I had to find something else to fill my time since I teach for 45 minutes at a time. So, I had kids come up to the front of the class and I quizzed their classmates on what color her shirt was, what color are her shoes, who is wearing red, how many people are up here, etc. Even though I felt like I hadn't really taught anything, this first lesson was really good for me to figure out what the kids already knew. I certainly didn't want to teach colors and numbers for 3 or 4 classes if they already knew them. It was also a good reminder for them so I didn't have to reteach them stuff they already knew but may have just forgotten over the summer.

The teachers all stayed in the classroom but at their desks or in the back of the class. They are actually required to stay in the classroom unless I specifically tell them that they can leave. It's a whole contract thing they sign so we aren't just abandoned in the class and they can help us keep control in the classroom if necessary.

Most of the classes were really good. I didn't really have any discipline problems and once the kids figured out what I was saying, they really got into it. Now, we were told over and over again to NOT speak French in class and this was to be an immersion lesson. I really took that to heart and didn't speak French in class at all. All instructions for the games were in English and you cannot even imagine how many hand gestures and ridiculous amounts of jumping up and down I did to try and get the kids to understand what I was trying to say.

I had one kid start crying because he didn't understand me, one girl colored a picture for me in my last class and generally, I think the kids really liked my lesson. It was very rewarding and EXTREMELY exhausting. I was so tired by the end of the day and couldn't really bring myself to do anything once I got home. I had to write myself a little note on each class I taught just so I would remember what we did since my brain was fried by the end of the day. I most definitely didn't expect the kids to know as much as they did and they all pretty much knew the same things even though they were 2nd-4th graders. I was pretty surprised that they knew all the basic colors, school supplies, numbers 1-12, some body parts, animals and some other random stuff when I asked what English words do you know.

It turned out that in 2 of my classes, I had one girl in each that had a British mom. They clearly already understood what I was saying and teaching and knew all the answers. Instead of feeling disappointed by that since I am not really going to teach them much this year, I have decided to use them as teacher helpers with games and such so they aren't too left out. Obviously, I can't call on them all the time since they know everything and the other kids need a chance to play and learn too.

All of the teachers were pretty cool. Some were nicer than others and all were pretty surprised that I taught the whole lesson in English. I certainly ran out of things to do by the end of the day since I had done it so many times, I didn't really want to watch them play the same game with 8 rounds, I stopped some games a little earlier than I did with other classes and really did run out of stuff with about 10 minutes to go. That was the most scary, panicky feeling when you have to fill time and you don't know what else to do. Thankfully, I just kinda continued with my little quiz game of who knows what until the time was up and I could leave.

Lunchtime is 2 hours long which would be nice if I had $$ to go out or was interested in going someplace during lunch. Instead, all of the teachers stay in the school and eat lunch which was nice so I wasn't in the staff room alone eating but 2 hours is an eternity. This is especially hard since I only work another hour and a half after lunch and then I go home. There is not much I can do about that. Everyone takes the 2 hour lunch break and most of the teachers really do sit in the staff room the whole time eating and chitchatting. I didn't really talk much (I know, I know, this is a HUGE surprise). Instead, I just listened to the other teachers who are all pretty amicable at least.

I have certainly tried to learn how to not take it personally if a game doesn't work out or if I get a lot of "deer-in-headlights" look from the kids when talking to them. I had a lot of kids just stare at me but really, once they figured out what was going on, everyone got into it. And when some kids didn't get it, the other kids would be so enthusiastically trying to help them that they would be falling out of their chairs explaining and yelling at the kids who didn't get it. My favorite was when the kid who was supposed to be lying about his name kept saying his real name and the kids in the class were like "Pierre, seriously, Don't say your real name! What's wrong with you? We have done this 3 times. How do you not get this? Just say Batman or whatever!" Having the kids teach each other is, in my opinion, one of the best things to see because then I know they really understand what they are learning.

A funny side note, popular names in my classes; Boys: Quentin, Valentin, Fabio. Girls: Oceane (which means Ocean in English). Also, when the kids were naming animals they knew in English, one kid said "green pig". I was like, what? A bunch of the other kids backed him up too. It was after talking to Dawn, she figured out that he probably meant "guinea pig".

In all, it was a pretty good day. It was rewarding, surprising and very exhausting. Thankfully, I only teach 2 days in a row at a time because otherwise, I would probably go crazy!

Your British word lesson of the day: laundrette = laundromat In a sentence: Since my roommate is too lazy/cheap to get a replacement washing machine, I had to go to the laundrette to wash all my clothes for the 2nd week in a row. (This is actually true for my apartment right now.)