15/10/09
I took the students on my own for the first time today. The classroom I have to teach in is actually pretty nice. There are probably enough seats for maybe 20 students (although I’m never supposed to have more than about 12) and it gets good lighting from the three big picture windows on the far wall. My schedule at the lycée for Thursdays has me teaching five hours of classes which fall between 8am and 5pm. It’s kind of a pain to wake up for that 8am class, but at least I only have an 8am class once a week. I will also be working on Fridays at the lycée (4 hours of classes between 9 am and 4pm). Wednesday mornings will be spent teaching at the collège. Mondays and Tuesdays will be free :).
I think the classes went pretty well today. Some disciplinary rules had to be made clear so that the students would know that I’m still someone they have to respect even though I’m not their normal teacher. The students are mostly very nice, but it is still necessary to keep a handle on the discipline so that things still get done. The fact that I have recourse to report misbehavior to the teachers does hep to give me credit in the students eyes. Honestly, the only time I have to play the superiority card is when they misbehave, otherwise I like to keep things pretty casual in the class.
Tonight our neighbors, Elise and Marie-Lor (or Laure…honestly I’m not sure how it’s spelled) had a little party to celebrate Marie-Lor’s birthday. There were maybe 15 people there, all from the school. Both Elise and Marie-Lor are teachers at the lycée. In fact, Marie-Lor is a Spanish teacher so she is working with Rosa and Cesar. The party was quite fun. There were all kinds of yummy hors d’oeuvres and a nice selection of wine as well as some mojitos whipped up by the evening’s bartender, Cesar.
Unfortunately the cold night air coming in from the windows kicked my allergies into high-gear and I had to leave a bit early, but I still considered the night to have been fun. It was a bit insane to try to understand all of the mini conversations and French slang that was going around but I understood enough to keep up with the conversations. I don’t know, sometimes I feel like I do alright with the French and sometimes I feel like I’m barely treading water. I guess that’s how it is though. Practice, practice, that’s why I’m here.