Overflowing

The weather the last few days has been gorgeous. Sunny and warm - perfect for sitting in the park with my ipod and journal and working on my tan... I've got to get rid of my ghoulish skin tone! But this change in the weather means that my students are a little on edge and other teachers are getting sick. I haven't gone much into detail in comparing  École Paul Bert to the elementary school I went to, which I'll try to get to soon (there are tons of differences!). One big difference that makes a huge impact is that there are rarely remplaçements when a teacher is absent - even when planned. Of course this is due to budget cuts...

On Tuesday, Rodolphe, the teacher for my first class knew he'd be out the following day for medical tests, so on Monday, he kept reminding his students that they didn't have to come to school the next day. At the end of the day, I could hear them telling their parents (and taunting their siblings) that they didn't have to go to school Tuesday. But on top of that, there was another teacher, Fanny, out sick on Tuesday. So all of Fanny's students and any of Rodolphe's that still showed up were dispersed into other classes. Many of the classes are already full at 28 students and have only 3-4 empty seats in the back of the room. 

Today, Fanny was still out sick and Silvia stayed home sick, too. (On Tuesday, she taught the entire day without saying a single word, since she'd completely lost her voice.) Two full classes worth of students where separated into the remaining classes; we were literally overflowing with extra students.  In addition to the gorgeous sunlight heating up the classroom and distracting my students, I  had side conversations from bored students to deal with. The displaced students literally sit and color and read comic books all day... Luckily a substitute came mid-morning and gathered up all of Fanny's students. But then after lunch, Jean-Michel was suddenly gone and our classes were once again overflowing and overly-agitated. In the middle of playing Pictionary with Pascal's class, I picked up my coat and purse and was about to walk out on my students. After telling them they needed to be quiet or else I'd stop the game and leave, I was more than ready to put some distance between me and the little twits. Thank god for three-day weekends! 

Bisous,
-kelse

Un/une remplaçant(e) - a substitute