Wow probably the most frustrating day teaching. It started off all wrong. I was in my Marcel Pagnol in my CM2 class (about 5th/6th grade), and the first question out of my mouth to a girl in the front was, “What’s your name?” And then nothing…. Nada… Completely blank. Now I’m not being hard on them cause they have had English now for a few years, at least 2 probably 3 years. This is the very first thing one learns in an English class. The very first. I was like how do you not know this (don’t worry I really didn’t ask her this but I was thinking it). This pretty much set the mood for the rest of the day. By the end of my CM2 class, the teacher and I were completely frustrated and irritated beyond belief. At one point she asked the class what they learned last year, I mean they didn’t know numbers past 12, no colors, couldn’t tell me their name, age, nationality, or where they lived. Very simple questions that they should all know by this age. I was so disappoint because I really thought this was going to be my more advanced class. Needless to say my lesson didn’t work for them because it was a little too advanced. The same exact thing happened in my CM1 (3rd/4th grade) at Marcel. Luckily my little saving graces at Marcel was CE1 (around 1st/2nd grade), who were right on the ball. They could count up till 12 with no problems and all of them could tell me their names with no hesitation. And in complete sentences too!
Then I went to my afternoon school, Saint Berthevin “Le lac”. It sorta kinda started off the same way. There is one particular teacher there whose class never goes as plan. He is super nice and really hands on and the children are great and so cute but the class always turns out not as planned. The class is CE1 (1st/2nd grade) and it was so bad. My lesson was too advanced for them and I had trouble recovering from that. Then after that my class was CM2 and they are by far my noisiest class and won’t stop talking. It doesn’t help that there is around 30 students and they don’t even listen to the teacher. I have no problem reprimanding a child but sometimes I feel like I’m undermining the teacher. I mean she has trouble getting them under control. So pointless to say but my lesson didn’t go as planned. This was the common theme of the day and I’m beginning to learn that no matter how much I plan there is always the chance that it won’t work as I want it to. Fortunately I had two saving graces at Saint Berthevin as well. After CM2, I went to CM1/CE2; it’s a combined class of advanced 2rd graders to 4th graders. Those kids are brilliant, the best I have at all my schools. There teacher is great! Absolutely the best! She has taught them so much, they know number (1-30 that was the best I have seen in all my schools), colors, vocabulary, their names, age, nationality, and where they live. And get this, toward the end of all my classes I try and play a game about the lesson I just taught them and right before we started I asked them, “Are you ready?” and then in complete unison they all said, “Yes, we are!” I nearly fell over. I don’t know if you understand the shear amazingness of this, but this made my day go from horrible to great. Normally when I say this, the kids look at me as if I have six heads and then I have to explain to them in French that I’m just asking them if they are ready to start and there usually like, “oh… OUI.” So for me to not have to explain this to a class and for them to know this from the get-go is fabulous and amazing. My last class of the day was great too, they didn’t know as much as my previous class but probably my second smartest class I have. They knew number (1-20), colors, vocab, and their names and ages. And they too also knew what I was saying when I asked them if they were ready. I was so glad to end on a high note but I have to admit by the end of the day I was exhausted. I know I don’t work that much but these kids really do tire you out and I now understand what teachers go through every day.
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