Tuesday
Started the day with my 9:00 class. I discovered almost immediately that it was a dress up day. Nearly everyone I encountered was wearing a Santa hat or reindeer antlers. There was a “photo booth” in the teachers lounge where everyone was taking pictures in their festive outfits. I wish that someone had let me know so I could have worn my green sweater instead of my purple one!
I used the same worksheet with my students that I used with all the kids the day before. Even though the Monday students are a year younger, they were able to complete the sheet on their own in 8 minutes. The Tuesday students took nearly the entire class time (25 minutes). When we were able to start the presentation, it was so difficult to get them to focus that we were only able to get 2 slides in. I’m not sure why these kids are so out of control compared to the rest of my students. It feels like there are a thousand little fires to put out every class period. The teacher I work with tells me to send back all the naughty students, but I can’t really send back an entire class!
In the future, I think I will try to do more vocab work, but I want to frame it as a game. Maybe Jeopardy? We’ll see. These kids really need some help with both vocab and sentence structure. I’m afraid that any games I try will end in chaos because of their lack of English comprehension and their refusal to listen to me explain directions in French.
Mme Bodet told me that she would pick me up around 14:00. She was sharing a lunch with other members of the staff to celebrate the retirement of the culinary teacher. I decided to use the free 2 hours to walk back to Tigneau to buy more yarn! The weather was abhorrent, but I didn’t feel comfortable sitting in the staff room for two hours during lunch. I took the half and hour walk over and enjoyed my audiobook along the way.
On my way back to the school, I stopped at the bakery to get lunch and a cute dessert. The students on Monday taught me that Christmas logs are very popular in France, so I decided to try a chocolate buchette (the mini version).
I hadn’t had the chance to walk through Pont-Cheruy by myself, so I took the opportunity to explore a bit. I saw their old church and some cute Christmas decorations.
I’m still struck by the treatment of Christmas by my students and coworkers. All of them insist that Christmas has no religious ties in France. They argue it is an entirely commercial holiday and therefore, celebrating it in school does not violate secularism rules. This argument seems incredibly weak to me. Though Christmas has certainly been commercialized and has lost religious significance for many, it is not a secular holiday. One cannot liken it to Bastille Day or Martin Luther King Day in the United States. Symbols traditionally associated with Christmas like the tree and holly have religious significance that trace back to their pagan roots. It is frustrating to see France privilege the traditions of Christians over those of the many Islamic and Jewish peoples that reside here. The majority of my students here are not Christian, yet there has been no mention in school of holidays significant in their religions.
I ate dinner with the Bodet family around 19:30. We had some roast potatoes and roast beef with red wine and a baked pasta dish. The principal at MLK (Thursday school) gave Mme Bodet some Christmas desserts, so we enjoyed those after our meal. We agreed that we’d love to bake together over Christmas break, so I’m going to work on gathering some of the recipes that my family makes together. After dinner we watched the news together and enjoyed some herbal tea.
I got to talk with my parents and the cat on the phone when I got home. It’s always really nice to catch up. It’s really weird that when it’s midnight here, everyone at home is just sitting down to dinner. (I do enjoy the excuse to have a midnight snack though!)
Mary-Est-En-France 