My contract officially started Saturday October 1, 2011 but my first day at the lycée was Monday October 3rd. I am one of two English assistants placed at my high school; the other is a British girl named Henrietta. (I am full time at Lycée H. Fontaine (LHF), and she splits her time between LHF and a different high school. Some assistants are placed in three different schools so I’m lucky to only be in one- less paperwork!!) Henrietta and I decided to meet up in the city center before heading to LHF at 2pm. We first got coffee at a little place off rue de la Liberté and after that got lunch at a different café nearby. I finally had the croque madame I have been dreaming about since I left Paris in 2009. A croque madame is essentially a fancy grilled cheese with ham and an egg on top. (A croque monsieur doesn’t have the egg.) My croque madame came with a little salad (just lettuce in France) and steak fries. It was really cool to get to know Henrietta and we even ran into a few other assistants at the café! Once we finished lunch we went to our school for our official “first day”.
The school (link: Lycée H. Fontaine) is really big (about 1,300 students!) so instead of just one building like a traditional high school there is more of a college campus feel with multiple buildings for different subjects/disciplines. After asking around as to where we could find la salle des profs (teachers' room) we nervously made our way there and met with two English teachers who then helped us with paperwork in the secretary’s office. (I had most of it done from when I went last week but it was nice to have a teacher with me to make sure everything was all set.) After that we sat in on an English class with students in their “terminale” year (aka senior year). It seems that I’ll be working with smaller groups of students to help them to speak in English as much as possible so they are prepared for a big oral exam at the end of the year. The students have been learning British English as the teachers have a slight British accent when they speak in English and their oral comprehension recordings are in British English, so for me it will be nice to have Henrietta to compare notes with. (As you saw in a previous post British and American English are quite different.) The teachers said we won’t get our set schedules until sometime next week but they seem pretty relaxed about everything so that is cool. I went to the lycée on my own the next day and sat in on two classes with younger students- about “sophomore year aged”. They were really sweet and asked a lot of questions. When I told them my name one girl said “comme la princesse!” (like the princess!)….needless to say she got brownie points in my book. They were really interested in the States and one class was really into sports and asked me about the Celtics when I said I was from Boston. They told me the Lakers were better….I told them this basketball season we would be rivals and they laughed! My first two days were really nice so I am pleased about that! In France, high school is only 3 years so my students will range from 15-18 with a few exceptions. I’ve found some good teaching sites on my own, through forums, and from other assistants in Dijon. I can’t wait to be in the classroom and start working more- it seems like it will be a lot of fun! It is an adjustment to see such a relaxed approach to my schedule- I only had 2 days of work and Orientation this week. (I will comment on Orientation later on in this post!) My contact prof said not to worry about coming in on Friday and gave me Monday off so I can relax this weekend…meaning I don’t go into school again until 10am on Tuesday the 11th. What I need to relax from I’m not exactly sure but I will go with it!
Orientation was an experience! It was 6 hours long and very unorganized….which seems to be a common trend in French administration. We arrived at 9:45am and were welcomed with coffee and breakfast pastries. Not a bad deal…but after that was tough! Yes, I was a French major in college and yes, I’ve been speaking in French every day since being here but boy oh boy nothing prepares you for 6 straight hours of being talked at (yes, talked at! haha) in French. (About social security, health care, and various other topics nonetheless!) I knew what was going on and followed along just fine but it got very tiring after a while. By the end, though, there wasn’t even a need to translate so in a way the "French language boot camp", as I like to call Orientation, was kind of good! In all honesty, the whole day could have probably been done in and hour or two but it wouldn’t France if that were the case! (Simple things tend to become complicated here! haha) I couldn’t help but think how different the scenario would have been if we were in the States….simple things like having an itinerary with the orientations’s schedule, receiving an e-mail preparing us with which documents to bring, and many handouts with resources were not part of the day here. It was interesting to see how the French operate firsthand…it’s one thing to hear they are a little unorganized when it comes to administrative things but it’s another to experience it! But that’s what this is all about- experiencing a new way of life! By the end of the orientation us assistants, as a whole, were tired and in need of a drink- luckily for us cafés are abundant and we settled in at one in Place Zola. (The café culture may be my favorite things in France as you can’t go anywhere in the States & simply order one drink and then stay and talk for hours.)
While I've only spent a few hours actually in the French classrooms I have a strong inkling I am going to like this job!
Word of the Post: le travail -- work; job
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