Tuesday
Today is my day with difficult classes. I don’t know why, but all the classes on Tuesday are out of control. These students yell across the room, don’t wear their masks correctly, and don’t speak in English when asked. Working with them feels like trying to run through molasses. I’m not sure what to do, I hope it will easier. All my other teachers want me to take half the class and work alone with them, but this teacher wants to me to work with the entire class at one time while she is there. It is helpful to some extent, because their English is bad. She can explain things in French. However, I do wonder if they would be more manageable if I could only have half them though. For some reason, she has all the troublemakers sitting together. In the US, they would be separated so they couldn’t make noise together, but not here.
My first class I had worked with yesterday, so we did a new presentation about Halloween. They had a lot of fun learning about costumes. I hadn’t expected to work with the whole class, so my lesson only last half the class and I had to stall for 20 minutes. Very awkward.
My second and third classes learned about the 4th of July and American independence. These were the two naughtiest classes. My throat hurts from having to talk about them and from having to ask them to be quiet so often.
I was so thankful to leave for the day, I was drained. I was worried as I waited for the bus, it took 30 minutes longer to come today than it did last week. The woman running the bus lectured me about needing a card because it would be less expensive, but wouldn’t listen when I said I had an appointment to buy one for next Wednesday. I had to walk from the bus stop home and saw some cool things though.
I fell asleep for a few hours. In the evening I walked my trash to the receptacles at the end of the road. Then I went and bought a fresh baguette “flûte,” some milk, wine, and cheese. I am spending the night practicing French, writing law school essay drafts, and then talking with friends on the phone.
Mary-Est-En-France 