Say something!

My work week is over now, and I only have five left. It feels like five seconds ago I had six weeks left. If the remaining five go as quickly as this one did, then I'll be back in the States in no time.

On a typical A week (which this week was), I teach eleven classes. This week, I taught six. It never fails. Every week at least one class is cancelled. I guess this week there was a pretty good excuse. The students were testing. Important testing that means class gets cancelled. It would have been nice for someone to have informed me of this testing though before I went in. I mean really, it's not a big deal. I live at school and spend thirty seconds walking to work. And it's not like waking up at 9:00 is too much to ask or anything. Sometimes though it feels as though people forget I work there. They forget I plan my life around this job (that sounds dramatic, but I'm not trying to be) and always make sure I do the work, do it correctly, and show up on time. It's like they just figure I won't mind being ignored. And let's say I'd been traveling and would have wanted that extra day? I would have been mad. But in any case, that didn't happen. I showed up, and no one was at the classroom. So I asked another English teacher across the hall, and sure enough, I wouldn't be working at all that day.

Today I had three of my five classes. One of the teachers was absent, and that always means no class. At orientation, they told us if a teacher is absent, we're especially important so we can teach for them. But in actuality, we're not allowed to take entire classes, especially without the teacher there. (So don't ask me why they told us otherwise at orientation!) In my school, there's a bulletin board in the main hallway with a posting of all the teachers absent for that day. Students check it. If a teacher's gone, kids don't go to class. So why would I expect to teach or replace the teacher when I know there won't be any kids anyway? Also, it baffles my mind how they can just cancel class. No substitutes or anything. Just no class. And so the kdis wander the hallways. In the US? Never. Hall passes are all the rage over there!

Oh, back to my classes today. Um, this one class... I hate working with them. I hate to say it but they're just lazy and don't do ANYTHING. So today I was asking them something, and NOBODY would answer me, except the one kid who answers everything and is amazing at English. They just sat there staring into space. I'd try to ask the questions in different ways. Pointing to things on the board and their papers. Doing whatever I could to make sure they were understanding. Still nothing. So I asked very slowly, "Why don't you respond to me? Is it because you don't know the answer, or is it because you don't understand the question I ask?" I kept asking if they understood me. I mean seriously people, don't try to tell me you don't understand, "Do you understand me?" Still nothing. So I wrote the question on the board.

Why don't you respond?

Is it because you don't know the answer,

or because you can't understand me?

Still nothing. So I gave them this lecture about how my job is to speak English with them and to make them speak English to me. I reminded them that I am not allowed to speak French. They have to do their part, otherwise my lessons are useless. I don't want to make them feel dumb or uncomfortable. But they need to know that I don't know them very well, and I can't read their minds. I can't tell if they don't understand something. They need to be able to tell me they don't understand, and I know they know how. It kind of makes me feel a little bit stupid, though. You'd think with my degree and experience in TESOL and teaching French, I'd have better ideas (even on-the-spot ideas) for getting these kids to speak. But no. I'm seriously at a loss with these kids. All my other classes were able to complete the activity. At different levels, of course, but everyone else put in some kind of effort. Some of the other classes aren't super great either, but this one in particular is just bad. (Don't get me wrong... Their behavior is fine. They just don't like to think. At all.) In the end of all this, I told them we wouldn't be completing the activity. I attempted a simple discussion with them, but before anyone would say anything, it was time to leave. Oh well. I'll only see them two more times. Better luck next time!

I talked to the teacher afterwords, and she said they're like that ALL the time. She doesn't like working with them either. They do nothing for her. And it's a motivation thing. Not anything with the teacher not doing her job. The kids just literally will not do the work. It's too bad, actually. I had some videos online I wanted to show them about homecoming in US schools (which is what the lesson was on). Unofortunately, the internet in the school hasn't been working this week. So I didn't get to show them. And you know what? I'd rather have just shown them the videos the whole hour, even though they wouldn't be talking. At least with videos they'd be learning about culture. The lesson was planned to be a listening activity mostly, with discussion, and then watching videos to support the discussion. But since the net was down, there were no videos. And this class in particular would have benefitted way more from the videos than the incomprehensible text I read to them and questions they were supposed to answer (but didn't).

Moving on...

Yesterday I went with Mario, Kaitlin, and Corinne to this cute little presentation thing where these four kids taught us about some cultural stuff. We ate beignets and drank orange juice, and we chatted a bunch with some journalists and the super nice woman who hosts these things. Afterwards, the four of us sat outside at the corner bar, enjoyed some beverages, and talked about our vacations. All four of us did different things over break. I'm so glad I'm not the only assistant in Lure.

I went to the store today and spent the best 10 euros I've ever spent. I bought cranberry/raspberry juice, bananas, strawberries, cheese, chicken, and ice cream. I'm so happy. :)

My vacation plans are finally starting to fall into place. I'm telling you, after Easter, I'm going to be on the move. Constantly. I think in the month of May I'll be sleeping in my room a total of three nights. Wow! Last night I was on a roll with making plans. I try to make some progress every day, and hopefully soon here I'll be able to just enjoy looking at my filled calendar.

I'm finally getting into Italy mode. For those of you who might not know, my cousin Tony is getting married in Italy at the beginning of June. We're spending a week there to celebrate, and I'm so freaking excited. And get this: This morning, the alarm on my cell phone went off at 7. Normally, I hit snooze a couple times before waking up for good. Today when I looked at my phone to select snooze, all I saw was something in Italian. Like I seriously thought my phone was in Italian. I saw Z's instead of S's, and I was way freaked out and confused. Later on I realized I was just going crazy. I'm just excited!

Can I just say that three months from today I'll be waking up in my own bed in Maple Grove? I'm not sure how I feel about that. And speaking of beds, I'm definitely going to miss my super warm bed here. The bed itself is not as comfy as my own, but the bedding is better. :)

It's March 10th. I'm sitting with my window open, and there are birds chirping outside. I love it!