Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Big Baby

Yesterday I almost cried as I was handing out the superlative awards to my third to last group of Euro Students.  I've been having my last classes for 3 weeks now.  It's really sad.  I've gotten way too attached to these kids in a way too short a time span.  After my first last class with Chloé, Titouan, Lisa, Angela, and Anna, in which we talked about American high school and I gave them superlative awards and cupcakes, Chloé came up to me to tell me I was a great assistant and to thank be for the cupcakes because the cantine food is disgusting.  I didn't think that Chloé had any particular fondness for me, so I was really touched.  The next week, Lola won the best speech award (because I had them give fake graduation speeches, and the winner got a CD), and she emailed me that afternoon to say she liked most of the music on the CD and to say she liked the lessons we did.  It's easy to see why people are teachers.  So rewarding.  But it also makes you into a bowl of emotional jelly.
            Today I almost cried because my students were not cooperating at all and it was basically a waste of time.  I considered sending them back to their teacher, but it seemed like such a waste since the hour was almost over.  It's annoying (and often embarrassing) to feel like a group of high schoolers can get the best of you.  Honestly, after 30 minutes with that group, I can't wait for my contract to be over.  Can I be a teacher with only well-behaved students?
        
In other news, I recently saw Favorite Anaïs smoking, which made me judge her.  I should mention that I have a lot of a respect for French people who don't smoke.  It takes tremendous strength of character to "just say no" when everyone around you is smoking.  They have a 20 minute break at 10 am and 4 pm, and the majority of students spend them en fumant (smoking).  It's kind of ridiculous since you can't buy cigarettes if you're under 18 and nearly everyone at the lycée is in that category.  But everyone just totally accepts it.  Shame.

Pathetically,
Yess

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