My First Day

My apologies due to my internet problems/crazy schedule, I haven't really sat down to write at all.

Here I go! Fingers crossed that it doesn't cut out on me half way through.

Yesterday was our first day in our respective schools and I have to say I was a bit anxious to meet the children and start. I had to get up at 5:35 am to get ready and catch the 6:21 train. Ugh, these early morning starts are going to kill me. The commute to Evry from Roissy-en-Brie takes me 1h 30 mins and 3 different trains on the RER. At 8 am I met some other language assistants at la gare de Courcouronne and we walked over to meet our Conseilleur Pedagogique at the inspection together which was nice. I feel like I would have been completely lost on my own. I was pleased to see that my schedule allows me to have long weekends; I work Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8h30-16h30 each day with an hour for lunch. I work at two schools not far from one another. Yesterday we were there just to observe the classes and determine the level of their English, etc. etc. I was a bit shocked when the principal took me to the first class. The teacher looked about my age (she told me later that she is in fact 25, "but, shhhh, don't tell the students"). The kids are 10 years old and in the French equivalent of the 5th grade. Luckily for me they are quite respectful, listen to their teacher and even stand up when an adult enters the room. At one point one student was causing some mischief and got sent out into the hall. When he was allowed to come back in he had to explain what he had done and apologize to the class (not without a few tears, the poor thing).
The English lesson was hilarious. The teachers are obliged to teach the English classes themselves and it became apparent that they really need the help of an English assistant (I'm not really one to judge though at the moment, my accent in French is terrible!). The teacher began to play some games with the students in English for their half hour lesson and spoke to them almost all the time in English. They played "Simon Says" which they seemed to really enjoy. I didn't want to say anything because I was just there to observe, but there were several times I wanted to correct the teacher.

"Simon sayes to bwush yo 'eir" or "Simon sayes to dwink a coca cola"

I had to bite my tongue, but it was adorable.

At lunch I went to the caf with the students. The principal told me that I would eat lunch there for free that day, which I tentatively agreed to as I wasn't too keen on eating caf food, but also wasn't going to turn down a free meal. I should've remembered I was in France. I was served a hot lunch of ORGANIC beef stew with noodles, fresh frisee salad, a hunk of baguette with chevre, and grapes for dessert. Canadian schools take note; you need to start doing lunch like the french. Seriously.

And then it was off to the other school where my day got better and better. I have to say I love my second school already. The students are so eager to learn English and they have the advantage of having a great teacher. Thankfully he speaks English really well and I was welcomed into the class immediately. When he told them it was time for their English lesson, they all grabbed little decorated name tags and placed them on their desks. I soon realized that for their English class they have all adopted English names of their choice. One little guy called Mamadou, preferred the name "Bob" for his English alias, another girl chose "Cindy". We played some games together, one of which was a huger success. The teacher wrote some celebrity names on the board like Michael Jackson, Christian Ronaldo, Bruce Lee, etc. and then I student had to come to the front of the class to act out a person of their choice while the other students had to guess and then ask "who are you?" Needless to say, all the boys are completely enamored with the football (soccer) players. One little guy exclaiming "Renaldo is my brotha!"

By the time they had their gym class their curiosity about me had reached it's peak. As we walked together outside, their neat lines of two quickly developed into a swarm around me. I was bombarded with questions: "Do you speak French? How old are you? Are you married? How long are you going to be here? How long does it take on the TGV to get to Canada? and my favourite, "Can you stay with us forever?" My celebrity status only heightened when I accidentally answered "yes" to a girl who asked me if I had met Hannah Montana and Beyonce in really life (in my defense it really did sound like she was asking me if I knew of them). Before I could correct the mistake she was already half way down the hall informing all her friends that I knew H.M. and Beyonce personally. I'm not sure I have the heart to tell her otherwise. Plus, this type of appeal might come in handy for me...

The icing on the cake was at the end of the day the day the Principal insisted she drive me to the train station and told me that if there was ever a Train strike (apparently they happen all the time. (side note: this is a country of strikes...even the Lawyers here go on strike. THE LAWYERS!))that I was welcome to stay at her house and she would drive me to school. How is it possible that I've found people in France that are nicer than Canadians?!

All in all, a good start to the school year.

Now if I could only find a place to live in Paris...