I Came, I Taught, I Dominated

I spent the weekend basically in bed. Am I allergic to French fun?  Prolly.  I had a sore throat all day Saturday and a headache on Sunday.  On Saturday, I did go outside, though, to see if I could go to the market that’s on Saturdays.  1:00 was too late to start my day.  When I went outside, everything was plus ou moins gone.  So I made my way to the supermarché and got a lemon, a lime, and some honey so that I could baby my sore throat away.  (It worked.  But only to the extent that it was replaced by congestion on Sunday.  Alas!)

I really couldn’t sleep last night.  At first I thought it was punishment for a 20 minute nap earlier in the day, but then I guessed that it was because I was giddy like a little girl before her first day of school.  Once I did fall asleep, I awoke 15 minutes before my alarm went off.  I woke up with this song (Sorry about the video.  It was the only one that wasn't a community theatre production.) stuck in my head.  Fitting, right?

            As usual, a beautiful view from my window:

            So I went to the kitchen and read Orlando for a bit since my first class wasn’t to start until noon.  Then I decided that maybe I hadn’t put enough thought into my lesson plan and started scouring the interwebs for some interesting stuff about globalization since I had put everything together on Sunday sans the information superhighway.  I didn’t really get much more except for a poem from Canadian economist Gerard Helleiner:

The poor complain

They always do

But that’s just idle chatter

Our system brings rewards to all

At least to all who matter

I had it written on the board when the kiddies came in.  Marc had sent me 5 students: Batiste, Hasma, Pauline, Tomas, and Anaïs.  We played the food game that during Picture the Future led me to calling a girl Brandi Biscuits for a whole semester.  We had Banana Split Batiste, Hamburger Hasma, Potatoes Pauline, Tomatoes Tomas, and Ananas Anaïs.  (Ananas are pineapples in French.)  I was Jellybeans Jessica.  They didn’t know what jellybeans were.  Oops.  (Also, deprivation.)  Then we played 2 Truths and a Lie, which was kind of silly apparently because they all know everything about each other, which I should have anticipated because they’ve probs gone to school together since who knows when.  We proceeded to launch into our discussion.  What do you think of when you hear globalization.  The idea of a global village/marketplace.  The similiarities between cultures.  Who benefits from globalization.  Blah blah blah.  I had decided to share some music with them that samples Indian beats.  (This prompted Hasma to ask if I was Indian.  Shock.)  Anyway, I played them “Mundian to Bach Ke” by Punjabi MC.  Pauline and Tomas kind of started dancing in their seats, and everyone gasped with recognition.  Then I asked if they had heard the Jay-Z song that samples it.

            “Jay-Z?  He’s married to Beyoncé?” Pauline asked.  Really sad day for music when this is how he’s recognized.  But I confirmed.

            Then I played them bits from “Silsila yeh Chaahat ka” from Devdas.  They hadn’t heard it, but I told them that their library has Devdas if they want to watch it.  I’m expanding their minds, don’t forget.  Then I played them Chase and Status’s “Eastern Jam” followed by Wyclef Jean’s and Chamillionaire’s “Hollywood Meets Bollywood” mashed up with “Eastern Jam.”  Insane how much play this song has gotten.  The group had been pretty sedate, though participative, thus far.  As soon as I started writing down the artists for the songs on the whiteboard, though, I heard everyone scramble to get out their pens so they could write everything down.  Music is the way to these people’s hearts.  Solid.  Consider their hearts dominated.

            After that bit, I started to discuss the positive and negative effects of globalization but I really mean we only got to the positive aspects because then the bell rang.  First class: DONE. 

            Three hours later I was to discuss any cartoon with a group Marc was sending me.  When I got to the classroom, though, the door was locked and my key didn’t work.  I rushed back to the main building and got back with time to spare, but I’m constantly nervous that the students will show up and I won’t be there.  (Before the first class, I had to go down to the caisse, which is the school office that deals with all the money and classroom supplies, in order to get a dry erase marker that I will now be carrying around on my person.  So I had a few minutes of terror.)  Why am I so worried about this?  Because at our training last week, one of the guys said that for the entire hour that students are meant to be in your care, you’re responsible for everything that happens to them.  If you’re not there so they go outside and get hit by a car, their blood is on my hands.  Literal example that he gave.  

This time, Marc sent me four students: Lison, Laure, Tituon, and Marine.  We played the same games, ending up with Lasagna Lison, Lollipop Laure, Tiramisu Tituon (Camille’s soul mate?), and….now that I think of it, I don’t think Marine ever came up with a food.  I suggested meat, McDonalds, and one other thing.  I was Juice Jessica this time since I guessed they wouldn’t know what jellybeans are.  Again, they killed at 2 Truths and a Lie.  I’ll have to come up with new games for tomorrow. 

We talked about 3 cartoons about environmental consciousness that I had brought in.  Honestly, it was kind of like pulling teeth to get some of them to respond.  Tituon nearly always had the answer, but would whisper it under his breath.  Laure didn’t understand what I was saying half the time and Tituon would explain it to her in French (not that this wasn’t done with any subtlety).  Lison had no trouble speaking and was quite good, actually.  Marine, though, seemed really put upon whenever I asked her anything and didn’t really offer anything.

            After class ended, everyone peaced super quickly.  Except for Lison who came up and asked what I was doing here.  I told her I was here to teach English.  And she didn’t really understand. I said I was helping with oral.  (I had had this conversation with someone earlier in the day.  But that time it was just a random girl who came up to me and asked.)  When she asked if I could speak French, I said that I could a little so I was here to work on my French.  Then she smiled like she understood totally.  Then she kind of hesitated before saying, “I just wanted to tell you that you’re cooler than the other girls before.”  Why am I so gosh darn loveable? Aka I’m so glad that I’m not the bane of their existences already.

Looking forward to a desk covered in pommes (apples),

Juice