Updates have been difficult to come by- considering I just snuck into one of my school's on a Saturday should be telling. Happens to be the school with not-so-modern 'quipment. The PC's hard drive is actually displaying all of its guts and I don't know how its working- but I know I can't download any photos- so use your imagination...
To sum up my teaching experience to date, I have cycled through various opinions of the education system in France, and reflected upon my own. The beginning of October, I was literally thrown into my job the first two days without any direction except to use a specific room to do my lessons. Not only was the language barrier an obstacle, but the fact that I literally had no prior tips or any resources on teaching. I was amazed at the trust, or apathy, the teachers had by allowing me to supervise such young pupils! I thought 12 hours was going to be an easy break- but it's 12 hours of constantly being on and trying to avoid injuries and actually teach these kids something- plus the time to prepare. No complaints, this is what I signed up for, but after the first 2 weeks of my "Emily is going to miraculously influence these kids to love and learn English in an alternative way, where they don't need rules and lame boring things because they'll love and respect me" method, I realized I should seek out helpful resources before I have an anxiety attack.
To get an idea, the first week I played "Hello, Goodbye" and made a game with it that turned into a mad peekaboo extravaganza with kids running behind curtains yelling goodbye and then slide tackling eachother as they jumped out to say hello... So my brilliant idea was to loop Max into it all the following week. He came and sang another Beatles song "All Together Now" turned into me leading all the kids around the class in a conga line as Max played guitar. Hilarious, yes. Educational? Probably not. That was the turning point when I sought help from my roomate who happened to be a valid teacher who knew what the hell she is doing.
Now I have a program to follow and it has made my life SO much better, and they are actually learning! Granted, it makes Max go crazy because both my roomate and I say the same things and gestures and repeat English words, but it's amazing to have control of the room. Moral of the story, rules are there for a reason. Otherwise, it's pure anarchy.
I bet a lot of you are getting ready for Halloween. Have fun!!!!
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Black Swan at the Jardin Dumaine- Luçon
This black swan was brought over from Moscow. It is a descendent of Rasputin's beloved "Angelica", his favorite pet swan. He used to have his tea every morning near her pond while he discussed politics with Tsar Nicholas II.
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