Kermesse

Yesterday was a long, long day. As ready as I am to say good bye to my students, there was a big event at the school that they wanted me to attend. Kermesse is like a carnival of sorts with games they can buy tickets to play, food to eat, and prizes to be won. But the purpose for the event performing the dances each class has been preparing for a couple months. You'd think June would be able to provide decent enough weather to hold an outdoor event - wrong. The weather was a back and forth mixture of windy, downpour and warm sunshine. One minute, I'd be soaked, I'd dry off, and then the rain came back... But the show went on and each class performed their dance (twice). The event started at 11:30 and didn't get over until just before 4:00pm, to give you an idea of how long it was. I was exhausted before I even got there and was on my feet all day long.

I hung around with Françoise, her sister in law Gigi, nièce Marine, and Nadia. (I don't know where my head has been but Nadia works at Paul Bert and I've never seen her...) Mid-way through the event, the girls and I were starving. We realized that although Nicolas had said he would end the event around 1:30, that wasn't physically possible. We scrapped our plans to eat after the event and decided just to get lunch there. The problem was, they'd by then sold out of just about all the sandwich fixings and I don't consider fries a lunch. Surprisingly delicious, I ate half a baguette with a merguez sausage, which did nothing to sate my insanely ravenous stomach. That was it bread and meat - they were out of cheese, condiments, and I don't think they had veggies to begin with. 

These are the innocent looking ones from one of my worst classes. The blondie with glasses is a sweetie. 

Enzo, Quentin, et Nicolas - Love these guys! 

Rodolphe and Françoise. He loves to tell jokes to try to embarrass me but he doesn't succeed. He also loves blondes.  

Silvia's class. I love these guys.  

Simon always runs clear across recess to tell me hello. He's precious.

Noah and Hugo make me smile from the inside. And they're super tiny, too! 

Maxime and Axèl. Maxime may look innocent but he randomly shouts out random syllables all throughout class and can't easily be contained. 

Fanny's class danced to Waka Waka. I don't even have her students but they're probably the most polite students to me. They always call me by name and respect me as they do other profs. Other classes show their "respect" much differently. 

Laurence's class. Simon and Matthieu are on the far right and I love 'em to pieces. Matthieu is maybe the tiniest kid I have but he doesn't act like it. He and Simon are two of my best CE1 students.  

Céline's class had the best dance overall - Mamma Mia. They're smart kids but I they have no energy at all in class. They're almost boring but that doesn't mean it takes less energy to teach 'em! They're kind of just too cool for school.

Michel's class... I've got three sessions left with them and the idea of it makes me want to gouge my eyes out. I think I lose a little of my integrity each time I step foot in this class.  

When Kermesse was over, my day was only beginning!
Bisous,
-kelse


La kermesse - the fête
Une nièce - a niece
Une merguez - a spicy sausage 

It continues...

If you read my last post, you'll remember my back and forth discussion with Océane on whether or not my name was Kelsey or Cassis. I had two similar conversations today... one of them was with Océane. I was helping another student and from across the room, she kept yelling "Cassis! Cassis!" (This really gets on my nerves, they don't understand that I can only answer one question at a time and I can't even answer one question if they won't all shut up!) Anyways, I looked up at her and said "Je suis occupée! Et rappelle-toi que c'est 'Kelsey'." She shook her head and repeated Cassis. I give up. (Honestly, I don't care but I find it funny!)

In another class, I couldn't get Cassandra to stop talking, worrying about what others are doing, and drawing on the desktop and just do her work (and she wonders why I don't let her erase the board). She was trying to complain about another student saying my name incorrectly. I told her to worry about her own business and do her work, which she still hadn't started. The second I turned around, she was back to correcting Rémy on my name, telling him my name was Cassis. I looked at her and said "Non, en fait, je m'appelle Kelsey. Kel-sey." With a dead-serious stare, she corrected me "In English, your name is Kelsey. But in French, your name is Cassis." Oh really? I didn't know. "Bah, non. Kelsey n'existe pas en français. Je m'appelle Kelsey." I can't stand her. 

On another note, I taught them today how to conjugate the French words avoir and être in English, which are two of the the most important verbs in the French language. I gave them a few examples of phrases and then asked them to invent a few phrases using each. To get started, I had a few students raise their hand and say a sentence they planned to write. Quinten raised his hand and said "We are white." I thought that's what I heard but wasn't sure. He repeated it but I didn't want to embarrass him by having him say it over and over. I asked him to write it on the board, so he wrote "We are white." I didn't really know how to react, since a huge percentage of the class is not white... I just kind of skipped over it and went onto the next... 

I also had my youngest class literally undress me. Elyas grabbed my purse again and Caroline unwrapped my scarf and tied it around her neck. I will have to say that she looked adorable in it! Oh what a day... Only 7 class days left! 

Bisous, 

-kelse 

Je suis occupée! Et rappelle-toi que c'est 'Kelsey'. - I'm busy! And remember that it's 'Kelsey'. 

Non, en fait, je m'appelle Kelsey. Kel-sey. - No. In fact, my name is Kelsey.

Bah, non. Kelsey n'existe pas en français. Je m'appelle Kelsey. - Umm, no. Kelsey doesn't exist in French. My name is Kelsey.

avoir - to have

être - to be 

I stand corrected - by my students

Despite appearances, I am generally a smart girl. That being said, I'm definitely not perfect and would never want to be. In the last week, I've been corrected several times by my students with very firm beliefs that they are right. I can't help but laugh...

Writing in English, speaking in French, and doing both without getting chalk all over me is tough. Yesterday I noticed I had chalk on my boob and a handprint on my ass... Enzo caught me trying to get it off and couldn't stop laughing. Anyways, back to the writing thing! I've been going over adjectives and had a list going on the board. "Big, little, old, young, long, short..." Everything was going fine until Selyan raised his hand, "Miss Kelsey, is it 'little' or 'litte'? You wrote l-i-t-t-e. I think you forgot the other 'l'." Double-tasking got the best of me.  Students: 1 - Kelsey: 0

Then there's Ali; he tries so hard to speak English well but it doesn't always work out. This time, I was asking for a few extra adjectives that they use commonly to add to my list. I figure they'll pay a little more attention if they're interested... Ali raised his hand and said "une planète." After making him repeat it a few times to make sure I heard him correctly, I told him it wasn't an adjective. "Yes it is! Because it's 'UNE planète'. You see? 'UNE planète' is an adjective, I know it is." I was dumbfounded. "Ali... 'une' is the determinant and 'planète' is the object..." He opened his mouth for a rebuttal but then his eyes quickly widened with embarrassment. Students: 1 - Kelsey: 1

Saving the best for last, Océane can be a little brat. She wouldn't start participating in English until the middle of the year and now she thinks she knows everything. She also thinks the best way to learn is with her back turned to the blackboard. Yesterday, I walked into recess with a gaggle of kids shouting butchered versions of my name at rapid fire. "Keece! Cassie! Cassis! Keetzie!" I looked back at them with a blank face and firmly said "Je m'appelle KELSEY. KEL. SEY. K-E-L-S-E-Y." Océane shook her head and said "Non, tu t'appelles Cassis. Ton prénom est Cassis. Cuh-sis! (heavy emphasis on the second 's') Cassissssss!" About thirty seconds passed of me saying 'kel-sey' and her defending 'cassis' before I pulled out my driver's license to show her my name. The silly girl still wasn't convinced and I was now stuck in a crowd of kids staring at my wallet. Students: 1 - Kelsey 2? 

There were a few things that I got to correct this week... Perfectionist Clara was disappointed when I pointed out that her sentence 'I am ten fish red' was a little jumbled. I got a little scared when Selyan asked how to say un pistolet; I calmed down when he wrote 'My gun Nerf is funny.' But I totally loved it when students wrote (correctly) "Kelsey is pretty. Kelsey is nice and intelligent...." 

No amount of sweet sentences will diminish my excitement that I only have eight days left of work! Not to mention that I see my mom three weeks from today and get back to Seattle five weeks from today! 

Bisous,
-kelse

Une planète - a planet
Je m'appelle Kelsey. - My name is Kelsey. (Technically, 'I call myself Kelsey.")
Non, tu t'appelles Cassis. Ton prénom est Cassis. - No, your name is Cassis. Your first name is Cassis.
Un pistolet - a gun 

Un Mariage Années 80

I got to spend Thursday night with some of my favorite people in France. When Silvia invited me to her daughter's choral and drama class spectacle, I excitedly accepted. Her son, Raphaël, is in her class while her daughter, Laureline, is at the nearby collège. I have very fond memories of my years in choir (7th grade and all four years of high school) and looked forward to seeing the performance. After work, we picked up another co-worker of mine, Françoise, who is one of les dames de service and headed to Silvia's for coffee while Laureline got into costume. Pressed for time, we went for a quick dinner at Oh Roubaignot, a "rôtisserie - snack - friterie". My sandwich, La Petite Andalouse was nothing of the sort - it was huge but delicious! It was a grilled sandwich in a faluche with chicken breast, onions, red peppers, mushrooms, Mediterranean cheese, lettuce, and an andalouse sauce.  I ate a little too fast and was literally stuffed. We dropped Laureline off at the theater and stopped by Françoise's for another cup of coffee. 

Laureline et moi

Raphaël is by far my favorite student and I think he love's that he gets to spend a little time with me outside of school! If I didn't have a pretty awesome little brother already, I'd snatch this kid up! 

The title of the show was Un Mariage Années 80 and was a musical of sorts that the choir and theaters classes wrote. Basically it's the story of Alice and Pierre-Olivier who meet at a club in the 1980s, fall in love, and get married. Years later, when their daughters start going out to clubs and coming home at 3am, Alice recounts how she met their father. It was very creative, well done, and a ton of fun to watch. There were even a few former students now in high school who came back to join the performance. The songs were all top hits from the eighties; they sang mostly French music but did also sing an acapella version of Sweet Dreams by The Eurythmics with a decent accent!

It was a great night and I was really entertained by the show! I definitely miss choir performances of my own. We had an awesome choir director at my school and got to sing some amazing music; one year we even were in the musical South Pacific. Oh I miss things like this!  Anyways, we had awesome seats in the balcony and could see Laureline the whole time thanks to hear headband. I love Silvia's family! Yesterday I was thinking about how cool it is that I'll be home in two months and can see all my friends and family... But then I realized that I'm going to have to say goodbye to these guys, which makes me quite sad. 

Bisous,
-kelsey

Un spectacle - A show or performance
Un collège - A middle school / junior high school
Les dames de service - The cleaning ladies
Une rôtisserie - snack - friterie - A rotisserie, snack, fry shop
Une faluche - A type of bread specific to the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. It's a white bread that's soft, dense and shaped like a deflated soccer ball. Think pita with a fluffier interior. 
Un mariage années 80 - An 80ies wedding

Off to Berlin

It's 5h28 and I'm halfway out the door to Berlin with Pierre until Tuesday. We're driving there.. clear across Belgium and most of Germany. I can't wait! Nothing like a little European road trip! When I get back on Tuesday, I'll have tons of pictures to post before I take off again Wednesday morning to visit one of my close friends from home in Germany! 

Before I go, how cute is this little guy who insisted on carrying my purse to class for me the other day... Elyse, I love you! This picture really doesn't do justice to how freaking precious he is, nor does it play up his sweet puppy-dog eyes. He's by far one of my very favorites! (A little girl carried my coat for me, so at least I have a few students with manners! 

Bisous, 

-kelse

How cute are these guys?

I realized yesterday on my way to work that I don't have any pictures of my students... who are supposed to be the whole reason why I'm here! So I took pictures in three of favorite my classes. I planned to take pictures in my little CE1/CP class but their teacher was absent so I only got to chat with them at recess when they came up to give me hugs and bisous. Let me point out that the French aren't huggers... well, I am and I severely miss hugs. Getting big hugs from Caroline and Caïsse literally made my hug-deprived day! Or week? Anyways, without further ado... how cute are these guys?

Rodolphe's CM1 class

My little babies in Hélène's CP/CE1 class - my favorite class in Niveau 1

Silvia's CM1 class

Jean-Michel's CM2 class - by far my best class and my favorite in Niveau 2 

One class is notably missing because they're the bane of my existence. Yesterday, Pascal's class was so terrible that I had enough of their antics and gave the whole class homework (I don't give homework). At first I gave just one girl homework... then I gave it to the whole class except for Luca, who I told didn't have to do it because he's the only one who participates and respects me each day. I wrote on the board: "Trouvez la traduction du mot 'rude'."Their regular teacher is in the class 98% of the time and must enjoy playing invisible because he hasn't once tried to help me discipline the students. I talked to Silvia about it in the car and she encouraged me to talk to him about it but warned me that she hardly doubts he'll do anything to help. Apparently he's admitted to her before that this class is extremely difficult to begin with... that explains a lot. Great. At least my other students are freaking adorable! 

Bisous, 

-kelse

"Trouvez la traduction du mot.." - "Find the translation of the word..."

I spent another afternoon at FNAC today with Yannick and my dead hard disk... After I grabbed a service number, another guy called me up to his counter but when Yannick looked up and saw me, he said I was here to see him. When I asked how he was doing, he looked at his watch before looking up at me with a smile and responding "Well, now I'm doing great."Unfortunately, the program we hooked it up to no longer recognized my hard disk. He tried several different things and cords were all over the place but, sadly, had no effect. He downloaded a recovery program specifically for Macs and we found it funny that I had to show him how to drag it into the "applications" folder to finish installing it.We laughed again when he couldn't find it in the application folder, which I was able to point out to him. 

At one point, he said that he was about to try the last thing he'd be able to try before throwing in the towel. But after that, he still tried a few different things. After two-and-a-half hours, he wasn't able to retrieve any of the information from my hard disk. He wished me well and apologized for not being able to help before sending me on my way. Get this - I didn't get charged! Can you believe it? In total, he spent close to 7.5 hours working on my computer and I only paid 15€ for the service. What a steal! All hope isn't lost... it's just not going to come cheap. At least this time I was well prepared for the worst and there wasn't even the slightest threat of a tear. 

Aside from that, this week at work has been insane. On Monday and Tuesday, there were three teachers absent (plus a few striking on Monday) and only ONE substitute. One of the teachers will be out almost until the April vacation but let's hope the other two get better and can come back to school because classes are too full! 

I forgot to mention that Nicolas (le directeur) and I set the date for my final day of work: le 28 juin! I can't believe that I have less than three months left now! My mom, aunt, and I haven't officially nailed down details of their trip to come travel Europe with me but we've tentatively planned to meet in London on June 29th -three months from yesterday! Words to describe how much I miss them are hard to find; I'm super excited to plan our Europe adventure! 

Bisous, 

-kelse

Le directeur/La directrice - the principal

Le 28 juin - June 28th 

Valentine's Week

As a student, the last week of school before a vacation is grueling. Guess what? It's just as tough for the teachers. This week was tough and I hardly even taught anything. I decided to capitalize on Valentine's Day and make it into a quick lesson followed by tons of time to make Valentine's Day cards. That took up all of Monday and Tuesday and even extended some into Thursday! For the classes that weren't finishing up their cards, I played games with them to review what I've taught them thus far. 

I might not have been teaching the whole time (or even hardly at all) but it was one of the most exhausting weeks ever. Plus I had a student who wasn't feeling the love... When I asked someone to repeat something they said that I hadn't heard over the side conversations of a few other students, Inez thought it was appropriate to stand up and tell the class that they needed to speak baby French to me because I don't understand anything. She's just mad at me because I don't let her erase the board everyday. I almost told her off but I held my tongue and told her that if she would stop talking and people would speak louder, that my comprehension wouldn't be an issue. Students seem to think that if they speak quietly with their hands in front of their mouth and while others talk, that I will understand. Unfortunately, I wouldn't likely understand it in English... 

Valentine's Day in France is much different than in the US. Go figure... Rather than being commercialized to an extreme only known in the US, the holiday is mostly reserved for couples. Chocolates, roses, romantic dinners are all commonplace ways to celebrate. Forget about chalky conversation hearts and cartoon character valentine's because kids don't celebrate at school. Knowing this, I asked them how students celebrate it at school and got two responses "Rien" or "On travaille." They seemed bummed to hear that they were missing out on cards, candy, and a party at school but were excited to make their own. With a list of phrases on the board, they were required to use at least one English phrase. It was a great activity that shut them up and allowed me to walk around the room to supervise and correct spelling. 

One girl showed me the valentine she made me for her petit ami, where she'd written "tuer l'homme de ma vie." The pronunciation of what she'd written is similar to what she meant, which should have been "tu es l'homme de ma vie." The verb "tuer" means to kill and "tu es" means "you are" - quite a difference! Another girl was making her valentine for her best friend and written the phrase "kiss me" without my help. When she asked me what it meant and I said "embrasse-moi", her eyes bulged along with her dropped jaw. At the next glimpse of her card, I noticed a huge black blob covering it up. And then a glorious thing happened... the clock struck 16h30 and I was on vacation! 

Oh, and as for my Valentine's Day, I spent it in very handsome company. ; )

Bisous, 

-kelse

Rien - Nothing.

On travaille. - We work. 

Un petit ami/Une petite amie - boyfriend/girlfriend

Tuer - to kill

Tu es l'homme de ma vie. - You are the man of my life. 

Embrasse-moi. - Kiss me. 

New year, new students

After my second amazing vacation in Estonia, I had a really hard time with the idea of going back to work. The last two weeks of school before break were extremely taxing, both mentally and physically. So needless to say, I left work with a negative attitude; an attitude which remained with me until I got to work on Monday morning. I was nervous and scared that the students would be as agitated as they were before break and I just wasn't ready to deal with it. I just wanted to be back on vacation...

Kooraste

But my first class was calm and paid attention, as did the next, and even the next. By the end of the day, I was back in the swing of teaching and content that the students were so excited to have English class again! Even my class that is d'habitude the worst was focused and well-behaved (shockingly so). In one of my CM1 classes, Quinten told me that Julien was in love with me. Cute. Or awkward? Let's go with endearing. And then, to inspire me even more, I received a few sweet comments on my colleague's website. Sonya, one of my students wrote: "Bonsoir Kelsey Tu est une super professeur et tu enseigne très bien l'anglais je t'adore.Dommage qui a pas plus de devoir en anglais enfin, C'est pas grave. Au revoir, Sonya"  She's made a few grammatical errors but I copied her post verbatim. It definitely makes me smile. 

Tallinn

Tabivere

Almost all of my students seemed refreshed and ready to learn. One of my must aggravating students, Akram, was actually participating in class! When I checked his notes and saw that he was following along with the pace of the class, I told him I was proud of him! It was like I had a whole new student! Oh wait, I did... Two, to be exact. One of them seems to already have a great basis in English and I think he'll be a great student - maybe he'll inspire the rest of his class to follow suit? But the other, hasn't had any English and doesn't think it's important. Jean-Michel asked him "What's your name?" and the student responded in French with an answer to a completely different question... This guy's going to be tough! At least he's in one of the best classes!

Tartu

This is just one of the reasons why my week was off to a great start... and then I got sick. I actually stayed home from work today, which for me is difficult to do. Usually, I suck it up and go to work for as long as I can last. Except that for the past two days, I've been confined to the couch because the stomach pains worsen when I stand up. I even had Séb pick me up my mom's special cure for stomach aches - a plain McDonald's cheeseburger, medium fries, and diet Coke. (He already thinks I have weird eating habits and this request didn't help my case.) French McDonald's isn't as greasy as it's American counterpart, so it wasn't quite as effective as I'd hoped. I'm just hoping that I'll be able to leave the apartment tomorrow; sick days aren't fun when your mom isn't there to take care of you! 

Bisous, 

-kelse

d'habitude - usually

"Bonsoir Kelsey Tu est une super professeur et tu enseigne très bien l'anglais je t'adore.Dommage qui a pas plus de devoir en anglais enfin, C'est pas grave. Au revoir, Sonya"  - "Good evening Kelsey. You are a great teacher and you teach English very well. I really like you. Too bad there isn't more homework in English but it's okay. Good bye, Sonya" **Like I said, this was taken verbatim and not corrected. 

Did you just say what I think you did?

If it was possible to get any colder than it was, then it did. It's bitterly cold and I'm frozen from head to toe. I don't have the right clothes for this weather and I don't have enough clothes (in France, at least) to support the number of layers I've been wearing. How my students happily play in this weather at recess, I don't even want to know. In the "heat" of the salle de métiers, I can be found knocking back cups of black coffee. (Yes, I've taken to black coffee and I'm not proud of/enjoying it.) 

While I had no issues in getting to work (other than my toes threatening to fall off), today was an interesting day at work. Roles seemed to have reversed as my worst class was on their best behavior and vice versa. And then something happened that I don't know if I have words for... One of the adorable boys in my last CM1 class of the day was talking to his neighbor asking him a question. I walked up to them to see if I could help him out. Except the moment that I walked up, the conversation topic switched to me and I overheard him say "Kelsey est sexy!" He looked up at me right as he completed the sentence with bulging eyes and a dropped jaw. Busted! The other students at the table held their breath as they awaited my reaction. I asked him if he said what I thought he said and his facial expression was enough of an answer. His table-mates laughed the next five minutes straight and he couldn't look at me the rest of the class period. While walking behind him later on in class, I heard him say "I thought she was going to assassinate me!" Really, he's like ten years old! The French seem to get an early start! But I really don't think being covered in chalk-dust finger prints is sexy... 

Neither is the look I sported on my walk home from the tram. Wouldn't want to meet me in a dark alley, would you? Hah... 

Bisous,
-kelse

La salle de métiers - the teacher's lounge 
"Kelsey est sexy!" - Kelsey is sexy. 

Late to work...

I woke up yesterday morning dreading the idea of getting out of bed. Of course, since I had to get to work, I forced myself into the shower. Just before leaving, I noticed the rooftops of the buildings behind our apartment were frosted over. Moving over to the window, I realized that they were in fact couvert de neige! As was everything else - this rapidly changed my attitude! I quickly threw on an extra pair of socks and grabbed a mismatched scarf and flew out the door. It was a lovely fifteen minute walk to the tram; my street is pretty when covered in snow!  

La neige just outside my apartment and on Avenue Foch

In my excitement over the snow, I didn't even think that there could be interruptions on the bus lines until the tramway dropped me off at Euroteleport and noticed a larger-than-normal crowd waiting at my stop. The automated tracker thing said the bus would be five minutes but that later changed to 15 minutes and then one of the destinations dropped off the list... Eventually the bus showed up and we piled on. Unfortunately, tardiness wasn't my only issue with the bus yesterday morning... After a few stops, the conducteur pulled off onto a side street and declared "Terminus! Terminus!", thus signaling that we all needed to get off and start hoofing it... And I was several stops away from my destination. (At this point, I decided I should have just stayed in bed.) My cell phone was out of credits, so I needed to find an open tabac to buy a phone card in. After walking for half an hour, the fourth tabac was open and was able to call the school to explain my predicament. Ten minutes later I finally arrived. I was actually quite lucky to have found my way, since usually I have my nose in my book each bus ride and don't look up until just before my stop; there were a few minutes where I didn't recognize any of the buildings I walked past... Oh, and did I mention that other bus drivers on the same line didn't stop? Two buses passed me while I was in between stops... but it was far too cold to stand and wait for another to possibly pass...

Yes, those are leopard hand-cuffs, snorkels, and squirt guns... and yes, they are temporary

Today, I've been too cold to leave the apartment. Sébastien's work gave him their old artificial Christmas tree, which we spent the afternoon decorating. I introduced him to my favorite Christmas cd (Amy Grant's "Home for Christmas") and finally felt in Christmas spirit! It's a work in progress (he's going to try to grab a few other decorations from work tomorrow). I contributed all of the paper flocons de neige! It's not your conventional tree but it works, for now. I'm just hoping that tomorrow doesn't present the same difficulties in getting to work!

Bisous,

-kelse

Couvert de neige - covered in snow

Le conducteur / la conductrice - the driver 

Terminus! - end of the line or terminus (is that really and English word?)

Un flocon de neige - snowflake 

Yesterday was interesting...

Something was up when I rolled out of bed yesterday... What ensued was an interesting morning and a cold afternoon. Let me start by saying that one of the best gifts I've been given was a Kindle from my dad. I take that thing with me everywhere and in almost a year, still haven't actually paid for a book. So, I just barely caught the tram while I was buying my ticket and then had to stand for half of the ride. Picture me reading and standing at the same time, it's okay to laugh. Then, I watched my bus drive past as I was walking to the stop. The posted bus tracker-thing said the next bus would come in 12 minutes. No problem, I'd just started reading The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum and was happy to continue reading. Except there was a group of annoying teenagers running around and being immature. It was much to early to deal with listening to. Until I realized that one of them was standing right over my shoulder mumbling something to me. Slowly taking my beat up earbuds out and with a less-than-friendly look on my face, I respond to his question about my Kindle and we have the following conversation. 


"Ça marche bien?"                                                   "Does that work well?"

"Oui, ça marche. Je l'aime bien."                               "Yes, it works. I really like it."
"Vous lisez en anglais. Vous êtes anglaise?"                 "You read in English. You're English?"
"Non, je suis américaine."                                        "No, I'm American."
"Vous êtes belle. Vous êtes célibataire?"                     "You're pretty. Are you single?"
"Merci. Oui, je suis célibataire."                                "Thank you. Yes, I am single."
"Quel âge avez vous?"                                               "How old are you?"
"24"                                                                         
"Moi, j'ai 20 ans."                                                    "I'm 20." (Said proudly, like I should be impressed.)
"Vous avez un portable?"                                           "You have a cell phone?"
"Non."
"MSN?"
"Non."
"Rien?"                                                                   "Nothing?" (He seemed shocked and didn't realize I lied)
"Ah, voici mon bus. Bonne journée?"                           "Oh, there's my bus. Have a good day!"
"Faie la bise?"                                                         (Asked me to exchange kisses on the cheek.)
"Non." And then I ran onto the bus. He also mentioned something about noticing me while he was standing with his friends but I wasn't looking at him... Maybe because I was annoyed? And he wasn't cute? The lesson of the day is: don't hit on me before I've had coffee or if you're twenty. 


While on the bus, some weird guy sat on my while he was talking to his friends... for a few minutes. Man this day was going nowhere fast and this was all before 8h15... But I got off early because I had a mandatory medical visit at 13h30. Went straight there from school and got there and hour and fifteen minutes early. I guess I could have gone home but I knew I was one of many with the same appointment and it was first-come, first served. I was first... A quick and awkward chest x-ray, vision exam (yep, still sucks, even with glasses!), and an exciting little weigh-in later, I left with my x-ray and finally made it home for lunch at 14h30. (I ate breakfast at 7h00.) At least I got to see some of my friends at the appointment - it was like a little reunion! 


The high points of my day were at work. One of my youngest students asking me "Why do you speak French with a French accent like me?" I thanked him but told him I didn't think he was right. If only he was... And then one of my favorite students told me he loved learning English because he has fun in my class. Oh Quentin, je t'aime! 

Bisous, 

-kelse

Twelve hours a week

Since I didn't have to go to work couldn't go to work on Tuesday because of the teacher's strike and the transportation strike, I went in quickly on Friday to get my finalized work schedule. I was excited when on my first day, the director told me that the last assistant hadn't worked Fridays so I won't have to either. Nice! Plus, elementary schools don't have school on Wednesdays... so here's my lovely teaching schedule: 

LUNDI et JEUDI 

8h30 - 10h00

10h00- 10h30: LA RÉCRÉATION

10h30 - 11h15 

11h15 - 13h30: LE DÉJEUNER

13h30 - 15h00

15h00 - 15h30: LA RÉCRÉATION

15h30 - 16h15 

MARDI 

9h15 - 10h00

10h00- 10h30: LA RÉCRÉATION

10h30 - 11h15 

11h15 - 13h30: LE DÉJEUNER

13h30 - 15h00

Days of the week in French: lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi, dimanche

Pretty nice, huh? A day off in the middle of the week plus three day weekends every week? I might be able to get used to this. I'm really looking forward to working with these classes! The students are adorable and are so proud to say "hello, how are you" when they see me at recess or in the hallway. Each class I teach is 45 minutes long and I'm teaching three different grade levels. Classes aren't called by the same names as we call them in the states. So, instead of Kindergarten, first, second... here's how the schools are organized in France: 

Level: Description - age group

Ecole maternelle --- 

( Cycle 1 - Initial Learning Cycle ) [This school is right next door to our school.]

Tout petits - 2/3

PS: Petite section - 3/4 ans 

MS: Moyenne section - 4/5 ans

GS: Grande section - 5/6 ans

Ecole élémentaire --- 

( Cycle 2 - Basic Learning Cycle ) [Anne is the director of this half of the school]

CP: Cours préparatoire - 6/7 ans

CE1: Cours élémentaire 1ère année - 7/8 ans

( Cycle 3 - In-Depth Cycle ) - [Nicolas is the director of this half of the school]

CE2: Cours élémentaire 2ème année - 8/9 ans

CM1: Cours moyen, 1ère année - 9/10 ans

CM2 : Cours moyen, 2ème année - 10/11 ans

I'll be working with each CM1 and CM2 class twice per week and then have four CE1 courses once a week. Oh man, are these kids super cute! Can't wait to get started! Oh wait... I have nothing prepared! Luckily, I have a training on Monday and Tuesday afternoon - hopefully it'll be helpful! Then the week after is vacation! Guess where I'm going???

Bisous, 

-kelse

la récréation - recess

le déjeuner - lunch

lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi, dimanche - days of the week, starting with Monday. 

ans - years 

1ère année - 1st year

2ème année - 2nd year