I meant to write yesterday/Tuesday because Tuesday was such a great day. It started off a bit shaky since as I was putting on my cardigan (was there ever a doubt?), I turned around and walked into the corner. Don't worry. It's just a small scar on the very top of my forehead. Maybe even makes the moneymaker more moneymaking because of beauty in imperfections? Time will tell.
8am-9am: I went to school and basically followed Muriel around as she corrected these presentations that the students are doing on themselves, Bugey (the region), and Belley. It's to go on this website eTwinning that all the European Union countries seem to be on where they present themselves and everything. It's an interesting idea to get students interested in learning about other places. Is it effective? Don't know.
9am-10am: I went into the CDI (school library) to wait for Nicole to send me students to practice for the bac. The librarian told me that she had arranged for another class to come. She looked really surprised to see me there even though I have been using that room for the past 2-3 months. But I digress. I told her I'd just wait for my students and then we'd deuce it elsewhere. So I set to reading Obama's victory speech for my 11am class when who should come in and say she's working with me but Marie. (The MIXED French/Slovenian student in a MIXED relationship whose first language was English.) So I tell her the sitch about room switching and we go into the teacher's lounge secret computer lab. (It's not a real secret.) Then she says, "I have to be honest. I didn't bring a document."
Perhaps prematurely overestimating her, I say, "OH my gosh."
"Are you kidding?" Alright. Sarcasm came too soon. I told her I'm always joking.
So then she just launches into questions and we end up talking for basically an hour about everything under the sun: secularism, phone service providers, health care reform, why I'm in France, New Jersey, stereotypes of the French & Americans, which teachers are nice/what goes on in the teacher's lounge, and many things in between. It was a joy and a half, quite honestly. Obvio, we didn't manage to get to her analyzing a document, though I did have her look at one Bizarro cartoon and we talked about it for a minute. So, I did my job?
At one point she pulls out this Hollywood Styles gum and asks if I've tried it before. I tell her that I've seen it before but that I don't understand it. She asked me what I meant and so I explained that I have no idea what Hollywood has to do with gum. She said, "Oh. I thought it was American." Nope. Then I asked as I unwrapped the piece if she was allowed to be chewing gum as school. Without missing a beat, "Well, I do whatever I want." I love this girl.
As she left she said, "This was fun. I'll have to come back." I'm basically a party.
10am-11am: Then I went to the caisse to ask if I needed to have my meal card with me in order to get some grubs at lunch. Because, well, I couldn't find mine. (In truth, I had turned my room basically upside down searching for it. In vain, my friends. In vain.) She said that if I went sans card, I'd have to come back to the caisse at 12:30. Basically, Cathy told me, it'd be better if I went back to find my card. So I went back to the teacher's lounge (as it was during my hour break) and did some photocopying/printing/exploiting my access to the printer for personal use and then saw I had 30 minutes left. I quick-footed it back to ma chambre and again made like a tornado through my room. I realized I hadn't looked in the drawer with my giant travel kit and whipped it open to find my somber mug (the only kind allowed on official French documents) staring back. Success!
11am-12pm: Supervised half of Muriel's class as they worked on summarizing portions of Obama's success speech. Has there ever been a more popular president? Nah. (Maryse knows what I'm talking about here. I would link her blog posts on the subject as she's teaching in Paris but her blog is set to private. Which I should maybe do since someone posted an anonymous comment on the Fête post that says, "deja vu. xoxo." Who are you, mystery reader!? Reveal thyself!) During the lesson, this one girl kept on pulling out her phone. It's honestly really funny how slick people think they are. So on the third time she did it, I discreetly went over to her and said, "Could you please stop using your phone?" She said yes and tucked it into her pocket. I think I handled it well since I didn't make a scene or anything. But it's entirely possible she hates me now. Tant pis. (Too bad.)
12pm-1pm: Lunch. Omelet with potatoes on the side. Also some cheese. Also some terrible vegetable for which I did not care. Dessert was a chocolate pudding thing with whipped cream (chantilly) on top. IN THE PACKAGE. Camille Stanback needs to hit this place up. As I left, I saw a girl with a plate full of just potatoes. A tuber does not a diet make.
1pm-2pm: Class with the TSTG1 on drugs. I put together a lesson including music that mentions drugs. They match the lyric with the song and then we discuss the meaning of each lyric and how it relates to drug use and its effects. It is surprisingly effective for an idea that I made up in 30 seconds.
2pm-3pm: I actually don't know what I did for this period of time. Prolly read the LA Times and NY Times online. Actually, I am certain this is what I did. Because grown ups read the newspaper.
3pm-4pm: Class with the Premiere Com. I had to get them to talk about their goals. We played "I Like/I Love," which gave me memories of the Association of Black Students retreat I went to during my sophomore year of college, which was a mess but an entirely different story. They caught on pretty well, but Lucie didn't participate. So that was nice. The other activity I had planned didn't work out as well because I hadn't really thought it all the way through. Whatevs. They spoke!
4pm-5pm: Tutoring Aubane. When I left the lycée building to find Aubane, she was standing with favorite Charlène and her friends (including favorite Marie and other favorite Anaïs). (I just realized that none of my students can ever read this as it totally gives away my favorites and as a teacher I'm supposed to be impartial. Chalk it up to lack of formal training.)
5pm-6pm: Tutoring Charlène. When Charlène got home from school, though, I had a bit of an awkward moment when she started telling Aubane she wasn't working hard enough because we spend the majority of our lesson in French. Honestly, I don't know her comprehension level so I feel uncomfortable as I listen to the French argument. (On the bright side, I understood everything?) After our lesson, we get to chatting and Charlène tells me she was going to invite me to her dance recital but I'll already be gone. Was I tempted to cry because it's such a lovely thought? Yes. But I kept it inside because crying is only acceptable at funerals and the Grand Canyon. As I leave, she tells me Aubane spends too much time thinking about Zac Efron and Justin Bieber. Don't we all?
On Wednesday, I was meant to be working with some students in a classroom but Maria, the Spanish teacher, wanted to use it. So she came in and asked if she could use it. As she came in, Marie was walking by and stopped to pop her head in. I thought it was just a hello thing, and it was enchanting, but when Maria stopped talking she said, "I just wanted to make sure you understood everything because I know you said..." Naw. Tender. Obvio, though, I did understand. I'm taking over.
Tyrannically,
Yessica
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