Mon Premier Jour

I hope my students don't hear the shaky undertones in my voice that indicate my nervousness.  They are not much younger than me, and I hope that I don't seem too much like I have no idea what to do with them. I have no training. A fellow teacher told me to ask the students to talk about themselves. That is exactly what I do. And then… nothing… I've got no clue what to do, so I have them work on adjectives that they have on their worksheets. I'm speaking a bit too fast for them to understand, and my students are a bit shy. No worries. I understand how it is. They're shy to speak English in the classroom, just the same as I was shy to speak French. They don't seem to know what to do, so I talk (more slowly), and try to have them talk as well. The bell rings and my students are free to go. As am I. Here I am, once more in the classroom, this time on the other side.

10/1/2012

First Official Class with Planned Lessons

Last night, as I was planning my lessons, I remembered why I applied to this program in the first place. That fiery passion that I have for teaching raised its head as I thought of ideas that would better help my students learn, and rejected others that seemed unworthy of them. My teaching rule? I won't give my students anything I wouldn't want to do myself. Too many times I've sat in a classroom, bored up to my eyeballs, wondering why in God's good name the teacher thought the assignment would be the least bit interesting to do. Here with this program I get to have rules more relaxed than actual teachers and my job is to help students have fun, while learning English. Thus far, my job has been going well. And I am only too happy when the students, my students, call me over saying, "Teacher, teacher!" That's me. That's my title. This is what I was born to do.

P.S.

Did I mention how official I feel when I write on the whiteboard? I have my own set of markers. :does happy dance:


After one week of teaching experience, all I want to say to the teachers of the world is thank you, and I don't want your job. So what do I do with myself now?

10/15/2012

Scarves (Foulards)

The real reason why French people wear scarves is to protect their necks from the hazardous memory of the guillotine. These are a people forever scarred by the bloody history of their country's revolution. Thus, to keep their necks from being exposed, their poor delicate necks from thinking of the blades, they hide them with scarves.