| Although this teaching opportunity has developed into a character-building and satisfying experience, it has not been an easy ride. It took a lot of sweat and determination to carve out my niche in my schools. Nothing is clearly defined for the position in which we assistants are filling and so each one among us has had to sort of guess our way through it. Over time this has revealed itself to be one of the better aspects of the job, but in the beginning it was anything but comforting. |
| Despite the fact that I know my experience decoding the educational system here was less traumatic than some of my colleagues seeing as to how I can communicate easily, it was nonetheless a mess. I have no idea what the education national was thinking when they planned this "program". We were given no recommendations as to how we should initially approach our schools except that we should plan on stopping by to "present" ourselves to the directors of our assigned schools. All we had were addresses---no names or references whatsoever. So between the crazy apartment-searching and mass confusion, not to mention culture shock, we all just started stumbling around Marseille looking for our schools and ringing doorbells. There were three schools on my list and of the three, only one (E.E. Rue de la Paix) was expecting me. Luckily this was the first school I visited so I wasn't completely panicked. They were all very friendly and seemed excited to meet me although I walked out of that first meeting knowing no more about my job than before. Despite having asked all the questions I had written down so as not to forget, I somehow walked away without a single clear answer. In retrospect I realize that this was due to the fact that the schools were just as clueless as to what my function should be as I was. |
| The next two visits were not as reassuring. When I showed up at E.E. Candolle, I was greeted by the director who seemed alarmed when I told him I was their new English teacher. He apparently had no idea I was coming or that he had even been assigned an English assistant, although he was more than willing to work something out seeing as to how he said they had no one qualified to teach. (I later discovered that many French teachers are obligated to teach foreign languages in the absence of an assistant, regardless of whether or not they have any experience with the language.) He took down my information and led me to the door saying he would be in contact with me. Confused and with my sad little list of questions unanswered, I shut the door behind me and trudged to my next and last school. |
| It took E.E. Marius Thomas forever to answer their door and when they finally did, I was briskly taken to "see the director". I was nudged into a door and found myself facing 30 children, twisting around in their desks to see who was at the back of the class. Apparently the directors in elementary schools also teach classes, and the huffy lady who answered the door had taken me to interrupt the director in the middle of teaching her class. I had to explain in flustered French across the room and over the heads of these gaping children, who I was. It was ridiculously awkward and became even more so when she exclaimed---"I already have an English assistant and he started two weeks ago!" She rather peevishly abandoned her class and marched to her office, Jeremy and I in her wake, and immediately called the education national in front of me to complain. Right in front of me! I was so confused. When she got off the phone, she seemed noticeably meeker and told me she would be in contact with me about my work schedule. I later discovered that the education national had insisted that she let her other assistant go (seeing as to how she brought him in on her own rather than through them) and have me replace him. Oops. . .this was a less than ideal way to start a working relationship! |
| After a week or so of negotiating my schedule and re-negotiating between the schools and the education national which likes to meddle in everything, I was eventually able to appease all concerned parties and get my schedule signed and approved. This meant it was time to start. I was so nervous for my first day! I had no idea how to dress but decided it was better to overdress than look too casual. Poor judgment. I wore high heels and nice pants and proceeded to wobble my way nervously over cobblestones to my first school. The first thing I noticed was that all the teachers were in jeans and flat shoes. Oops again. As I teetered my way to my classroom, I was bombarded with kids who were trying to give me the traditional "bises" (a kiss on each cheek as a greeting) while at the same time shouting "Hello!", "Good-bye!", and any other English word they could muster, including "Coca-Cola" and "George Bush". Behind the silence of the closed door of my classroom, the second major thing I noticed was the platform in front of the chalkboard. I was not aware that French teachers stand on a 6-inch platform to teach. Hmm. . .hence the flat shoes. My nightmares of tripping off the edge were quickly interrupted by a bell and 30 kids racing in the room. They all ran to their places and stood staring at me standing next to their desks. The director who was apparently planning on observing me, sat down and just kind of looked at me. It took her way too long to realize that I had no idea I was supposed to tell the kids to sit. I clumsily gave them permission and watched them giggle as they sat. Something clicked in my head at this moment---These kids are tiny! These kids are kids! Why am I nervous to talk in front of kids? I felt myself visibly relax and just started talking. The sound of my voice over a class full of kids was foreign to me and I was surprised by how grown up I sounded. I could visualize my 9-year old self sitting in those little desks and part of me felt that in reality, that's where I belonged. . .not in front of the chalkboard teaching. |
| The ice having been broken, it was relatively easy to fumble through my introductions and first lesson plan. My lesson plan for that first week with each class was pretty basic. It was suggested that I introduce myself and where I come from and then play a game where the kids could choose English names. I peppered the chalkboard with maps and just started talking about myself in mostly French. Every time I would throw in an English word or sentence, they would all sort of look at each other. It was strange talking about Michigan in this way---like it is some faraway place. The kids were shocked when I told them about our winters and wildlife and all the lakes and it made me kind of proud. All in all, it was pretty successful as far as first impressions go---I didn't fall and I didn't do anything irredeemably stupid. |
| In total, I have been assigned 8 classes and over 250 kids spread out between four schools (a 4th one was added after my first week teaching---E.E. Roucas Blanc.) I see each class once a week for usually a little over an hour and have full discretion over the material I would like to cover, as well as the format of my classes. The hours are great (I mean, come on---12 hours per week and all the school vacations---where can you find a better set-up than that?) and more than anything, the experience has been very worthwhile. Because of my relative autonomy in my classes, I have had to come up with my own ideas for material (we were providing with nothing in the way of books or teaching aides) as well as classroom management strategies. Two words have been running through my mind since my arrival here: character building. That is how I would define my experience here thus far. From our wild goose chase for an apartment to our unpredictable experiences with the education national, I can feel myself changing. I feel capable and able to accept any challenge. Although at times frustrating, I sense that these adventures we are living here are shaping us into tougher people. I refuse to be bullied around. If you throw me out the door, I'll climb in the window. |
| First Impressions |
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