Getting Going

Sorry, I haven't updated this blog recently. Sabs St. Peter has demanded an update :) So Sabs, here it is.
Things have been going well in Pont-a-Mousson. I have been hanging out with the other four Pont-a-Mousson assistants as well as a few from Metz. A few Sundays ago, we had an assistant dinner with the other American assistant, the English assistant, the German assistant, and my roommate (the Spanish assistant). Ana and I had it chez nous (at our appartment) and we made tacos. Katharina, the German assistant had never had them before and she wasn't sure whether you use your hands or not. Overall, it was a big success--there was lots of food, wine and French speaking. The five of us have also gone out to the local bars--Jack's and another, Pub Thiers. At Pub Thiers we met a French woman who perhaps drank too much that night. She was very nice and she kept yelling "Yeah baby!" in English.

This past weekend, I spent a night in Metz and then went to Paris with the Metz assistant, Andromeda. Metz was fun--we had an assistant party. The weekend before I also went to Metz with Ana and Laura to go to Ikea! I have been to Metz a lot, but I really like it. Here is a picture of the cathedral, which is the 3rd largest in France. It has beautiful stained glass windows by Chagall that glow at night.

While Andromeda and I were in Paris, it was the rugby semi-finals England vs. France, which was pretty exciting (though France ended up losing). Andromeda and I watched the game in a very crowded bar behind the tallest New Zealanders and Englishmen I have ever seen. We also picknicked by the Eiffel Tower, went to the museum of the Middle ages, walked around the Jardin de Tuileries, and went to this expat fair (that had a cooking demonstration and a wine tasting!) We also went to Sacre-Coeur and walked around the Louvre lobby. I also took advantage of being in the city to buy school supplies. I couldn't find any in my small town and I needed notebooks and folders for teaching! On the train, on the way home from Paris, I sat by a family with a French father and an American mother. It was really interesting to overhear their conversations with their young son. The mother spoke to the child exclusively in English and the father spoke exclusively in French so the son would become bilingual. They were really nice and they gave me tips for things to do around Metz.

Paris Jardin des Tuileries and below that, Sacre-Coeur:



As for the job... This was my first week actually teaching. The past two weeks have been all introductions. The kids asked me questions like, "Do you know famous people?" "What do you eat in America?," "Which animals are you crazy? (she meant "crazy about") " "Do you love spiders?" "Do cheerleaders exist?," etc. Some of the classes had to take notes on the basic information, because they have to write a newspaper article about me, complete with my photo. Haha. The students have to describe me physically in the article and they have this sheet with physical descriptions. So they stared creepily trying to decide how they would describe me. I heard one student say, "She is not fat, she is normal." That's relieving.

Another student made a mistake copying down my date of birth. He said I was born May 25, 1885. It is interesting to notice the other kinds of mistakes the kids make because it is just the opposite of the mistakes I made (and still make) learning French. They always invert the question order, like "Have you any brotherz or seesterz?" instead of "Do you have..." (Edit: Apparently that is the British way, but they make other word order mistakes like Why come you to France?")

So, there was two weeks of the same song and dance and now I am actually teaching. This has been a little stressful because the teachers gave me little to no help or instruction on what I should do. Some teachers stay in the room and have something planned and they just want me to throw my "authentic" two cents in now and then. Others just leave the room and say, "do as you please." Others want me to teach specific things. So far I have planned lessons on the American school system (particularly American high schools), Ellis Island, Christopher Columbus and Columbus Day, jobs and professions, American Press/Media, and believe it or not Australian Aborigines. The last topic is not really my area of expertise, but the teacher requested it. For Thursday, another teacher wants me to plan a Ray Bradbury lesson. Alrighty.

So far I have taught the Columbus Day, the jobs/professions and the School system. I have a couple more worksheets prepared to teach on high school in subsequent classes. I plan to milk this subject as long as I can, because the students really get into it. They watch a lot of American movies so I tell them all the ways American school is different from French school. The girls are especially interested in learning about Prom and Homecoming. I passed out photocopies of yearbook pages and my scrapbook. That went over well.

I have been really busy doing all of this planning as well as preparing for the upcoming vacation. I am going to Prague, Budapest, Vienna, and Berlin with Laura, the other American assistant from Massachusetts. I am really excited!

Okay, I will update again soon!