Questions for Me

Today was my last day teaching as an assistant. Technically I still work tomorrow, but it's just the one class with the teacher who barely has me do anything. It's really not work. It makes me a little bit sad to be done, but I'm SO excited for next week. I don't know if I've mentioned it on here or not yet, but I'll be teaching what I am calling "English language camp" four days next week during the school holiday. I'm free to do whatever I want, with no teacher to report to, no grades, no homework (not that I had to deal with grades or homework before). Just me and a bunch of motivated students. Motivated enough to come to school during vacation!

Anyway, one of my classes today had a lesson for me. I was halfway through the one I had brought for them, and someone told me they had a game for me. Okay, so we stopped and played their "game!" Each student had written a question on a small piece of paper. I was to draw the questions one at a time and answer them. I really had no idea what to expect. But once I realized what they were up to, it was really fun. Please allow me to share my questions, responses, and comments on each one. It was a nice little way to end this gig. It was like a little test to see how much I really know about the real France.

1. Name 5 French singers.

This was the first question I read. I realized these kids were about to test my true knowledge of their country. And what better question than this?! I have SO much French music. I could make a longer list of French singers than US singers! (Okay, maybe not really.) I did song of the day for nine weeks while student teaching, and I've bought close to 40 CDs while here in France. But you know what? My mind went blank. The pressure of all these real French kids waiting for an answer was awful! What if I named someone I thought was cool and they all laughed at me?! But I had to go for it. And it was harder than I thought. My first response was Christophe Maé. And I made sure to tell them I'm going to see him... NEXT WEEK! (By the way, I can't WAIT!) But could you do it? All you Frenchies out there. QUICK! Name five French singers! And what's funny was that just an hour before this, I was online uploading songs for a friend. So I thought back to lunchtime and finally answered with:

1. Christophe Maé

2. Pascal Obispo

3. Lara Fabian

4. Quentin Musimann

5. Patrick Fiori

2. What food did you like most?

New foods? Easy! Raclette. And escargots, but those weren't new to me.

3. Name five monuments.

Uh oh. This again. This should be easy, right? Okay Betsy, think Paris. You can name five monuments in Paris. No problem. And you can do it fast! Ha. Didn't go so fast, but I named the basics:

1. Eiffel Tower

2. Arc de Triomphe

3. The Louvre

4. Sacre Coeur

5. Notre Dame

4. Where is the French President?

I thought this was a trick question. So I admitted I don't know, but guessed the United States. Turns out whoever wrote it meant who, not where. Okay. Easy. Nicolas Sarkozy.

5. Which French food do you prefer? Do you hate?

I'd already mentioned escargots, but I had to stick to that one again. And as for hating... I couldn't say I had really had anything I hate. But I said I don't like how EVERYTHING comes with tomatoes. Yeah I know, they're not exactly French.

6. How do you find the countryside?

Haha! Funny and random question. I said I find it very green, and it reminds me of home because we have lots of fields near home. But I really don't like animals, so I don't enjoy being in the countryside, just looking at it from the trains.

7. Name 3 French traditions. Do you like these traditions?

Took a while, but I didn't feel bad for having to think about it.

1. Carnaval. Yes!

2. La bouche de noel... the Christmas log/cake they eat at Christmas time. Yes!~

3. Mmm... Strikes! Yes again. It's cool that they're widely accepted. Although, I must say I think it's stupid when people strike just to strike.
4. Poisson d'avril. It's their version of our April Fool's Day. They stick a fish on someone's back. I wanted to add a fourth because they seemed not to think that striking was worthy of being called a tradition.

8. What didn't you like?

This was kind of tough. Truly, the things I didn't like were having to plan lessons for students who might not appreciate them or who might not even participate in them. And I didn't like being so bored and lonely a lot in the beginning. But I wasn't going to admit either of those to them. So I just said I didn't like not having a lot of stuff to do in Lure, especially at the beginning.

9. Can you name five French actors?

No. And that's actually what I said. They laughed. The only one I could name was Gerard Depardieu, because I swear he's in every damn French film. I tried and tried and tried to name Audrey Tautou, but I couldn't for the life of me think of her name. Neither could the students, so the teacher looked it up online.

10. What memories will you keep?

I'll remember the students, for sure. I have no pictures of them, but I know I'll remember them. I'll remember everything around me. My city. My room. My friends. The teachers. The stores I frequent. The train station. And the feeling of being away from home for so long!

11. Name five French foods.

Okay. What do we teach kids in French 1 at home?

1. croissants

2. baguettes

3. escargot

4. tarte

5. nutella!!!!

12. Can you name five French movies?

I reeeeeally had to think hard. I have 20+ DVDs in my room right now. And more at home.

1. Amélie

2. Les choristes

3. A la folie, pas du tout

4. Hors de prix

5. Tout ce qui brille
I totally should have said Brice de Nice. I don't know why I didn't.

13. Would you like to come back later? Why?

Why yes, of course! I love France! I told them about my goal of visiting the capital of every department. They thought I was nuts. I just think I'm ambitious. :)

14. What surprised you most?

As I read this, the bell rang. So I quickly said it was surprising to me that they don't have bells like we do in the US. They have no passing time. It's just a bell indicating they need to change classes. I know this was changed from last year, but it still surprised me. But did it surprise me the most? Probably not. But I didn't say so.

Then they gave me a French soccer jersey that they all signed. I'm super excited about it and will be hanging it on my wall when I get home. Or maybe once I get a job. I might be a little bit sadder than expected to be done with that class in particular. They really were great kids! And smart! If only my class next week were those exact kids...