Mon, Oct. 23rd

Today marked the beginning of my second week of teaching and I already feel like I have been doing this forever. Based of my vast experience (one week), teaching is a lot like babysitting, just with 25 kids instead of 2. I really do have the best job- I get paid to draw pictures, color inside the lines, play matching games and sing songs, much like babysitting, but I can be the cool, young, fun teacher who comes in twice a week and doesn’t have anything to do with boring math or discipline issues. Ultimately, in addition to teaching my kids basic English, my goal is to instill a desire to continuing learning English, especially after I leave at the end of this year.

I have learned that the French school system is very different than in the US; instructors don’t really believe in positive feedback for elementary kids, or for any students for that matter. The teachers are very strict, occasionally screaming at their 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. During my first day of observation, teachers openly pointed out to me, in front of their students, which ones would give me trouble, saying “this one is the worst…this one is intolerable… this one is my favorite...” Part of me was appalled, but part of me was happy they did it, because now I try extra hard with those “problem” kids, so that they can perhaps excel in English and feel like they aren’t worthless anymore.

Just as with babysitting, my kids have attention spans about 30 seconds long. Therefore, I am also learning that lesson planning takes a lot longer than I expected, in order to keep the lesson fresh and interesing. And, so, I find myself singing and dancing and acting and transforming into Super-Julie when I am in front of my kids. It must be quite funny to observe.

My favorite song to sing so far is about the days of the week, but “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” is a close second. After Halloween break, we start a new song about the weather, which makes me laugh everything I listen to it, so we’ll see how that goes.

Speaking of Halloween break, we have 10 days off for All-Saints Holiday. Therefore, I finish this Wednesday, October 25th and I recommence Monday, November 6th. Not a bad way to finish my second week of teaching.