Yesterday I got a note from Maud saying she wanted me to work with the Premier com class on the preterite. So then I looked up what that was an made up a lesson.
In the first activity, I had them ask yes or no questions about a made up story and I'd answer so that they could piece together the histoire (story). Basically, I'd just answer every 4th question with "no" and the rest with "yes." The first group didn't manage so well since they kept trying to figure out if it was Cendrillon, Shrek, or Raiponce. The second group, though, got this stellar interaction:
Alex: Was there a girl?
Me: Yes.
Houssam: Was she 16?
Me: Yes.
Houssam: Was she pretty?
Me: Yes.
Houssam: Did she have a number?
Me: No.
In the second activity, each person wrote 3 words on the board, and we wrote a story together. The second group's:
There was once a young girl who liked to run with her rabbit in New York City. But the rabbit was not beautiful and it had a secret: it was a red bird. But when she spoke with Houssam.... (and then the bell rang.)
Group 1:
There once was a girl in the mushroom who kissed a rabbit. The rabbit was born on a rainbow where he ate kebab. One day he ate the girl and she said, "O.M.G." A few minutes later, he invaded the chickens' world.
I don't know why they like rabbits so much.
Today I also went to Favorite Anaïs, Favorite Charlène, and Favorite Marie's dance final. They were doing it around the idea of the position of women in society today. So, obvio, I wouldn't have missed it for the world. I was supposed to meet Charlène by the gym at 2:05 (after one of my courses) behind the gym and she'd show me exactly where the performances were. Well, I was a bit late because I ran into Hasma in the hallway and then I had to go back for my keys, but that't neither here nor there. I kind of hemmed and hawed outside for a bit because looking inside, it seemed like they were in the middle of watching a performance. Little did I know that I was looking at a completely different room. Anyway, some girl came out and told me that I could go inside. And so I did. Frank let me in and I followed him to the room. We removed our shoes and stealthily (we had come in during a group's dance) went to find seats. That dance (featuring Lison, Marine, not Favorite Charlène, and some of my other students) ended and then another went on before Favorites' dance. It wasn't exactly what I had expected based on Anaïs and Charlène's descriptions, but it was good. It reminded me of high school a lot. But everyone seemed to be very serious in a way that I think something like this at NDA would have been a bit jokey. Considering that each group had developed/choreographed their dances entirely without the help of their teacher, I expected smiles when they made mistakes. But not these kids.
After the dances ended, the teacher called everyone to sit on the floor in a circle since she was going to have each student give his/her opinion of the trimester that they had just dedicated to dance. It was a massive group, honestly. It's sometimes easy for me to forget how huge this school is since I usually work with 5-15 students. But the circle was giant! Anyway, they all scrambled to sit sur cercle and I was debating whether to peace out or not. But then the teacher was all, "Let's have comment elle s'appelle sit with us!" (comment elle s'appelle=what's her name)
I was flattered but also super dubious. But how could I continue to be that way when my Favorites started saying, "Jessica! Jessica! Come sit with us!" The most popular girl at the ball! So I made my way over and sat with Favorite Charlène. Huge smiles on her, Anaïs, and Marie's faces. In fact, when everyone started going around (and obvio saying the same thing), I sometimes caught Favorite Charlène just smiling at me. It was tender. Eventually my turn to speak came up. I was super confused and not sure if I was supposed to speak in French. So I just said in English, "I didn't actually take this class." Everyone laughed because I'm frickin' hysterical. But then they kept looking at me, so I said, "Am I seriously supposed to say something?" Favorites said yes, so I did. "I think it's good that you're taking dance. It's great to broaden your résumés and horizons. The performances that I saw were good. Lots of unexpected movements, which was really nice. Good job." I may have left out some more bumbling, but that was the jist.
The weather is getting to be much nicer here. Some rain today, but I certainly can't complain.
Punxsutawney Phil-y,
Jess
P.S. When we were figuring out how I'd get into the gym, Charlène texted me: "I will take you behind the gym." Funny only because of the innocent but absolutely out-of-context predatory meaning.
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