March 25, 2021

Thursday

Catherine A came to pick me up at 8am. I would be teaching her students about Easter in the US. Teaching about holidays like this always makes me a bit uncomfortable. I know that a lot of my students are Muslim and I don’t feel like I should be shoving Christain holidays down their throats when their holidays are pointedly not discussed in schools.

In my first class with the 4eme, I taught the lesson on New Orleans. They acted shocked when I explained that the US has 50 states. I know that we’ve talked about it before and I can’t help but be confused that they don’t already know that the United States has states. I feel so frustrated because it seems like everything I say to these kids goes in one ear and out the other.

I was getting my presentation ready for my class with Noury and he suggested that we watch a movie instead. I thought it sounded like a great option, so I agreed. I got to spend the hour on my phone with the students watched Annie with Jamie Foxx. I’m not a huge fan of this adaptation, but I thought it was still a good choice to share with the students.

At the break, everyone sat in the break room together and chatted about the possibility of another confinement. It seems that that is the word on everyone’s mouth. I’m really concerned about it. If there is another confinement, I might just come home early. There’s not much good with me just sitting in a little apartment all the time if I can’t travel.

With the 5eme class, I talked about Easter. It felt like such a long class. They behaved really well, but wow they looked so bored. I tried to show videos but the internet refused to work. I really felt bad, they did not seem to care about Easter at all. They were shocked when I said that sometimes we put change inside eggs for kids and that we wear nice clothes to church. All of them just wear jeans. Chocolate is very popular in France for Easter.

In the last class, a little girl presented about her trip to Asia. She showed us pictures that she took and said most of the presentation in English. It was so cute. I applauded at the end. After the presentation, I shared the Easter slides with the 6eme. They were much more interested than the previous group. They asked a lot of questions and were really interested in the Easter Bunny. I guess in France, baby chicks are more often the symbol of Easter.

After school, Catherine and I got lunch from the boulangerie and took it to a park to eat outside. It was a really good lunch and I got extra dessert. We chatted about how little the students are motivated at local schools. Catherine said that they prefer to get all of their information from their phones, but it is usually not factual. She told me that many students in France believe wild conspiracy theories because no one monitors their use of the internet. Many of the kids believe that China created COVID on purpose because of a certain Twitch streamer, for instance. I was happy because Catherine told me that she wouldn’t make me come back after break. She thought the kids would be too rowdy and she wanted me to have a chance to travel.

I arrived home just in time to change and get ready for my lesson with Nawel. We went to a different little park this time. I enjoyed it a lot, except it was next to a school so there were tons of little kids screaming their heads off outside. We talked about her experience in France with jobs and education. She studied to be and worked as a vet for several years in Algeria. She came to France to complete a masters program and a PhD. However, she was unable to fund her PhD research. She tried for three years before giving up. She wanted to be a scientific researcher. Since that time, she has done odd jobs. However, her goal has always been to return to research. That is why she wants to get better at English, so a lab might hire her. After the lesson, we picked up some stamps at the post office and then she took me home.

I took an evening walk to get in some steps. The sun was absolutely beautiful and there weren’t too many people out.

At the end of the day, I packed my bags and got ready to go to Valence the next day. I planned to stay the weekend with the other American assistants there. After I was packed, I got to chat with my friend on the phone. I read a bit before bed and turned in.