Tuesday
I felt like a kid again as I climbed into Madame Bodet’s car with her son and his friend in the backseat on our way to school. As we took the quick drive through the countryside, I admired the rolling hills and fields.
I arrived and went straight to Viri’s classroom. To my surprise, she had divided the class so I could take half of them. Having a smaller group makes it much easier for me to get their attention and to address questions. My lesson for the day was about heroes, as the students had been working on them throughout the week. I know that Marvel movies have made American superheroes easily identifiable around the world, so I decided to teach about some American folk heroes instead. My slides started with Superman and Wonder Woman as a warmup activity, then the goal was to discuss Paul Bunyan, John Henry, and Johnny Appleseed.
My first class really struggled. When we got settled in our new room, I asked them, “How are you?” They responded with blank stares. That certainly did not bode well for the rest of the lesson! Instead of going in-depth with the characters, I focused on easier “popcorn” answers. For example, I had a picture of Superman on the starter slide and I asked them what colors were in his outfit. They were able to shout them out and work on pronunciation together. Viri told me after class they had been completely lost.
My second class really enjoyed the lesson and breezed through it. I let them sit with their friends, but told them I would separate them if they got too rowdy. Luckily I didn’t have to. I did make sure to explain my “mask over the nose” policy. I told them it was extremely rude in the US to show your nose and that it was similar to wearing just your underwear in public (they don’t need to know about the anti-mask movement). All of them put their nose on correctly immediately afterward! I was able to teach the class about Johnny Appleseed, Paul Bunyan, and John Henry. One boy realized I didn’t know the word for seed in French, so I asked him to come write the word on the board. He was thrilled. He told me that he would teach me one new French word per class. I thought that was a pretty good trade! When his group passed me in the hall later he made sure to quiz me. The word is “pépin” when you’re referring to a fruit seed.
My third class was the worst of the day. They didn’t really care about speaking in English. It seemed like they understood what I was saying, but they didn’t want to engage. It was hard to get through the content because the boys in the back kept cracking jokes with each other. There were so many naughty kids it was impossible to separate them. Some kids refused to speak no matter how easy a question I asked. I was sooo relieved to when class ended.
The differences in comprehension levels on Tuesday are frustrating. All the students are in the same grade, but some of them can’t form a one word answer to a question. There is no way that all three classes are going to get the same content this year.
I got to ride back to Anthon with Mme Bodet at 12. She invited me over for lunch with her and her husband. We ate chicken, rice, salad, and fried potatoes.
I spent the rest of the night writing essays for law school before I met with my advisor. He confirmed I was ready to submit and I got half of my applications in last night! I’m so excited! Hopefully I can finish the rest by Friday.
I got to end the night with a call with some friends. Perfect!
Mary-Est-En-France 