What have I learned so far?

I have taught for just over a week in my two schools and that means I have taught in over 12 classes.  So - what have I learned so far?

• The male students will always ask if I have a boyfriend.  I don't have to answer, but I do anyway - if only to keep them quiet.
•  Once a student has found a common interest with you, such as a favourite TV show or singer, they will talk to you voluntarily rather than wait to be picked on.  I recently had a student come to me after class instead of running out as soon as the bell sounded and she asked me to give her some recommendations for good TV series to practise her English at home.
• It is very hard to get a class to be quiet if there are more than 12 students.  Just now, I had a class of about 18 students, and they were constantly chatting or whispering to each other.  However, because I was a strange new person in their class, they were curious enough to ask me questions throughout the hour.
• Finding activities to interest the students is hard.  They have compulsory grammar exercises from their teachers, which are never fun, so it's up to me to find or invent games and activities for them to become involved in.
• Never underestimate how a simple reading exercise can help improve their speaking skills.  For one class this morning I worked with pairs of students and asked them to individually read through an article they had studied on London.  Not only does this help their confidence when reading aloud, but it enables you to pick up on commonly mispronounced words.  The main ones I encountered were "law", "cultural", "abbey" and "height".  For some students, I wrote the difficult words out phonetically as best as I could. 

I really think that I will have more ideas to help my students after this week, especially after getting to know their levels of English more and more.  At the moment, I can only remember a handful of names; I hope after the Halloween holidays I will remember lots more!

 On a side note, my flatmate and I visited a language exchange run by "Franglish" on Sunday evening, in Paris.  This was a great opportunity to meet new French people and we were given lots of recommendations of places to see and shops to visit.  The idea of the event was to pass amongst people - much in the style of speed dating! - and talk to each other for 7 minutes in English and 7 minutes in French.  I received lots of compliments on my French which was definitely a confidence boost, and definitely want to go again. (The only downside was that it costs 12€ to go, but in this price you receive a drink!)  To the right is a photo of the inside of the café in which the event took place - L'Autre Café in Paris.  It had a very homely and quaint atmosphere.

For now, I have one more class left and then it is time for me to go home.  Tomorrow and Thursday I am in my second school, and then I am on holiday for 2 weeks - so I cannot complain!

Bonne chance to any readers who are doing the same job as me :)

Update on life as an assistant!

Hello again to any possible readers I may have!

I realise this is only my second post, but I have been extremely busy here in France.  A couple of weeks (and several croissants) later I have officially started my post as an English language assistant in both of my lycées. 

So far, the students have been really friendly - all of my first classes consisted of meeting the students - introducing myself (in English) followed by them introducing themselves to me and answering any questions they may have.  So far, the best questions I received were "are you maried", "are you friends with the royal family" and "how often do you eat fish and chips?" (no, I wish, once every couple of weeks).
I have a feeling my most difficult class will be the class of 19 boys, all aged 18, that I have every Tuesday afternoon.  Luckily, I don't think I will ever be without the teacher!

I am currently writing this before my first lesson in school, so I shall continue this post once I am home - and recall what I have learned so far!

Moving to France!

Hello and bonjour à tous!

As of 3 days ago, I have moved to France to live for a year in order to work as an English language assistant.  As you may or may not know, I have wanted to live in France for more than just a holiday period for a very long time - since working in a château last summer, specifically!  Since being here, I've had beautiful fresh croissants every day - hence the thoughtful name for my blog.  Not très imaginative, I know, but better than nothing at all...

My housemate and I have finished unpacking our belongings into our beautifully quaint old French mansion-turned-apartments, with ours being the same level as a beautiful garden 'à l'anglais' and slightly above the courtyard with its resident guard dogs (Babouch, the owners' family dog, barks at pretty much anybody walking past but has now started to roll over for a tickle whenever we arrive or leave the grounds).

Today, I opened a French bank account and felt very grown-up and official.  Since arriving a few days ago, I've felt slightly homesick and - more often than not - nervous to meet my new colleagues and the students I'll be teaching.  Tomorrow, I have my first meeting at one of my two schools to receive my timetable and meet some people - which is daunting in itself, but my friends and family have been encouraging me constantly so I'm trying not to worry too much!

The trains from where I am living are fab - beautiful rainbow-coloured seats and air conditioning, too.  Quel luxe! 

Here are a few objectives for myself over the next week or two that I'd like to accomplish...

• Speak more French.  I like to think I can speak French fairly well, but I want to have conversations in French as much as possible, even if they are only a few seconds long.
  
• Make new friends!
  Hopefully this will be easier once I've had my induction days, and my starting days at both of my schools, but even talking to people if we go for un café or un boisson in the evening - thinking about meeting new people is pretty scary in a completely new place.
  
• Become an expert at the trains.
  I've figured out most of the routes I'll need to take for work, but I'd like to become more adept at train times and directions - I've never been good at this even back home, so this is a challenge!
  
• Visit new places.
  This could be from a new café to an entirely new part of the region I live in, or Paris, but I'd like to explore as much as I can - budget allowing!

For now, I'm off to plan an outfit to wear for a meeting at one of my schools tomorrow...and set the table for dinner with my housemate.  I hope to keep this blog updated as much as I can with any sorts of information I can think of...thoughts, feelings, recommendations, recipes, news - who knows!

For now, à bientôt!