Alphonse de Lamartine (1790-1869) was a writer, poet, and politician who helped to define the makeup of France's Second Republic, and he was given the privilege of officially announcing the Republic's reign on the Hotel de Ville's balcony in Paris. In other words, he was super important to the development of modern day France's system of government. Today's government is the Fifth Republic.
Since I started working at College de Lamartine today, something had to go wrong. It just seems like that's the way things are lately. I arrived about thirty minutes early just to make sure I knew where to go and who to meet. While waiting in the teacher's lounge, another teacher handed me the morning paper and told me to read the front page. She said it would explain why today would be such a tough day in the school.
Late at night this past Saturday evening two young boys, ages 10 and 14, were riding their bikes in a Toulouse neighborhood. The 14 year old was killed within minutes after colliding with a car, and the 10 year old is still in critical condition. The older of the two was once a student at College de Lamartine, and he was a close friend to many in the school.
Needless to say, today was a rough first day. I only had one class this morning from 11 to 12, but I can already tell it's going to be a tough few months. Four kids in the front of class were reading through the morning news, obvious friends of the deceased, and my numerous attempts at separating them and/or engaging them in other ways only made them angry. Questions like: why are we here? who are you? and do you know what happened? came from the front row with fury.
As a 22 year old teacher, I already have less authority than most of my colleagues. Plus, I'm not French and I don't know much slang. I was an intruder this morning. I couldn't possibly understand.
Loosing someone so young and so unexpectedly is tragic and heartbreaking. I was surprised to learn that classes were still planned to go on as usual, honestly. I started teaching a classroom full of kids who's minds were anywhere but with me and the lesson this morning, and to make matters worse I was completely unprepared. Fifty minutes seemed like an eternity.
The teacher I was working with today asked me to come prepared with a personal introduction, and she would leave time open for questions afterward. Instead, I was given a classroom of my own and half of the English teacher's class and asked to work on introductions.
The levels of English are varying, but most of them at least know the alphabet and numbers. Some can say their name, where they're from, and describe a few likes and dislikes, while others had no idea what I was talking about.
I have three more classes at the same school tomorrow, but with different kids. I hope things go better tomorrow, but I have my doubts. I still have yet to hear about my schedule from another school. The saga continues...
On a lighter note I'm headed to Paris tomorrow night to see my Aunt Rez and Uncle Joe, and I'll be there until Thursday morning. Aunt Rez and Uncle Joe made it to the other side of the pond for a visit to Normandy and the City of Lights. Paris is always a good idea, and it's even better when you can share it with family.
No comments:
Post a Comment