Friday
Catherine had asked me to come in an extra day to celebrate Christmas with her students and I was really excited to go. I remember all of my elementary school Christmas parties and what a thrill they were, so I was really eager to see what the little French kids would be up to.
Before we went to Charvieu, Mme Bodet drove me over to Pont-Chéruy to fill in some of the remaining paperwork necessary to open a bank account. She seems hopeful that I’ll be able to receive my paycheck soon. This is such an important step in my journey. I’m really excited to have it be complete.
I arrived at MLK collège in Charvieu around 11:00. All the teachers in the staff room were excited to see me back again for ugly sweater day. Catherine gave me one of her sweaters to wear before we headed off to our first class, the 6ème students! I love this group. They are my youngest class, but they’re the most inquisitive.
One of my favorite students, Maxime, presented me with a Christmas card that he wrote himself. It was adorable. If I make a scrapbook, the card is definitely going inside. I shared my little presentation with kids and they were THRILLED with the pictures everyone shared. They were really excited to see everyone’s Christmas trees and everyone wanted to taste traditional tamales. When we were finished with the presentation, we went to the room next door for a Just Dance session. We boogied with Santa for a few songs before it was time to exchange “crackers.” I learned that this is more of British tradition where gifts are wrapped a certain way and then “cracked” open. On the count of three, they rushed around the room delivering presents. I was so surprised when I ended up having a little stack of my own to open. When it came time to “crack” the presents, I had some students help me out because I thought they’d enjoy it more. I got a ridiculous amount of chocolate, so I quietly gifted some to the boys sitting next to me.
I stayed through lunch so I could visit a second class at the end of the day. Catherine treated me to a little prepackaged meal from the nearby supermarché. It was pretty good! I’m always surprised by the quality of prepackaged foods here. They always so much more fresh than things you can find in the US.
I wandered around the break room for a bit during the two hour break and discovered a Secret Santa box. I thought it was really cute that the staff was exchanging gifts.
Our final class for the day was one of the 5ème classes from the day before. I love this group too. They’re a little more rowdy, but I appreciate how engaged they always are. They’re a little loud, but it’s always because they’re jumping to ask questions or make observations. I shared my presentation with them the day before, so instead we did a little Christmas vocab sheet before moving on to dancing. This group requested a lot of Frozen songs, so I sat on the side of the room with some of the more shy kiddos. When the dancing finally slowed, we moved onto the present portion of the celebration. I got a ton of cute things from this group. One of my favorite students, Arthur, got me a scented candle. His friend bought me a Kellogg’s coffee container and one of their other friends bought me a little wind-up car. The girls bought me a lot of chocolates. It was so kind!
I waited with Catherine after class so she could deliver some good behavior awards around the school. As we walked, I noticed a lot of BLM signs hung on the walls. I asked why they were there and what the general sentiment toward the movement was. Catherine explained that MLK was revered throughout France and especially in Charvieu because of his work on the advancement of civil rights. She said that he was especially popular there because many of the families and students are people of color and experience discrimination in France. The students at MLK were interested in the BLM movement because they see it as the rebirth of MLK’s work and they hope to see a similar movement gain traction in France. I was really touched upon hearing her explanation. It gives me hope to hear that students in France are thinking critically about racial inequality in a way that many adults in the US refuse to.
After distributing awards and candies to the students, Catherine drove me back to Anthon. I spent the rest of the evening relaxing and enjoying some peace after a long day with students. I was officially on Christmas break with no solid commitments until January.
Cheers to all the real teachers back home! You’ve made it through the semester, I hope you enjoy break 😊
Mary-Est-En-France 