So we rock up in Nice, hangovers from Denbigh finally
evaporated (Ellie’s jagerbombs and strawpedos with Richard probably not a good
idea before a flight but hey ho!) we were met by Gemma and Christophe at the
airport who were really welcoming and turns out they are genuinely totally nice
people too. They took us on the bus to our accommodation pointing out some
sights on the way, on arrival we found that they had arranged for us all to go
to Nice on the first Saturday and to St Tropez by catamaran on the 3rd
Saturday….above and beyond the call of duty and a really nice surprise.
I have been working in a state school with Ben, Joss and
Grace, a nice half hour stroll from the apartments. On our first day we were
given an introductory all singing all dancing presentation including Powerpoint
slides from the headmaster and deputy head…all in French. I got the gist of
some of it but luckily Gemma was on hand to fill in the many blanks. We met our
teachers; I was put with Estelle Boyer who has been absolutely amazing. Asking
her what she wanted me to do on my first day, she replied ‘What would you like
to do? Whatever it is, do that’, what a hero.
My first day was OK, I say OK only because I didn’t ‘wow’
myself or Estelle. The lessons were just ‘Getting to know you’ so they went
fine and I was into the swing of it by the end of the day, I just felt pretty
nervous and not sure what to expect from the kids, however, they did all turn
up the next day with some great homework, a written paragraph about me. On my
second day I had some new classes so did ‘Getting to know you’ again but this
time with some games at the end so they all left with smiles, not sure if that
was because of the games or if they were just happy to go but a smile is a
smile and they seemed genuinely engaged.
In my second week I have been able to do some more meaty
lessons, Estelle wanted me to do ‘can and can’t’ with the year 7’s so we did a
little bit from the textbook, a few games of my own then I cracked out the
superhero lesson. The vocabulary was amazing ‘he can fire lasers with his
eyes’, ‘he can stop time and control magma’….so now my classroom has some great
drawings with annotations all over the walls.
With the year 10 groups I was asked to do the 2nd
conditional so we really got into a lesson about political and environmental
issues the outcome of which they had to say what they would do if they were the
President. One boy wrote that everyone would be allowed to smoke weed and play
Call of Duty all day and that having ‘bitches’ would be the norm; usually I’d
be a bit disappointed but apparently this boy is on the verge of being expelled
and is usually totally disinterested but I got him to write something in
English so I hi-fived myself instead. At
this age they are really keen to talk about crime and pollution and other world
issues so I then went onto ‘My ideal world’. I told them that Estelle is the
Queen of the whole world but she has to take a holiday for a month, in groups
the students had to write her a letter telling her why they should be allowed
to take over her job, we will be having an election this week.
I have found that noughts and crosses games, Bingo and
matching games where they can work in teams are really good, they are very
competitive and really get into it. I’ve had a couple of girls who are all fake
eyelashes and lipgloss but (conveniently ;)) one of them won Bingo so I think
I’ve won them round. The lessons are going really well and I have a lot more
confidence with my class, mainly thanks to epically good ideas from Michael and
the freedom and guidance I have been given by Estelle.
Aside from teaching, so far the whole experience in France
has been amazing, there are some really nice people in the group, everyone is
always ready and willing with advice for new lessons or a bottle of wine after
a bomb lesson. Michael is like a big Geordie bottomless pit of ideas and
information and Gemma and Christophe are so sweet and helpful, always giving us
great feedback, liaising with our schools and pointing out the best places to
go.
I’ve been living less than a minute walk from the beach, numerous
bars and restaurants, 2 minutes from the train station as well as going to
beautiful Nice where we ate two 3 course meals in one day, the Grand Prix circuit in Monte-Carlo AND
I’ve seen Alec Baldwin in Cannes ….. it’s only week 2!
The next two weeks will bring more lessons, hopefully a bit
more French speaking for me, my first conversation club at school and a trip to
St Tropez. Why am I going back to the UK again?!
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