First day of scheduled classes

Here’s another French mystery for you—no one is out on Sundays! I see about one tenth of the people I usually see on Place Sainte Anne on Sundays.

A thought from fellow assistant Caitlin’s father was that living in France is like living in the US in the 1950s. Hours are shorter for businesses, nothing is open 24/7, and most things are closed on Sundays!

I don’t think I mentioned yet that Christmas things have been up around here since before Halloween! I guess since Halloween and Thanksgiving aren’t here to break up the holidays, Christmas shows up a lot earlier. Besides décor and ornaments in shops, there are also gift wrapping tables outside the toy store and lights hung across all the main streets and squares. I’ll be sure to share photos when they get turned on.

Enough random thoughts. Today was my first full-scheduled day of classes, four hours worth. Lycée is the last three years of high school here called secondes (10^th grade age), premières (11^th), and terminales (12^th). What I learned today was that English levels are vastly different among these grades :/ My terminale class at 4pm on Mondays is considered one of the worst rowdy groups in the school, but they are my favorites because they are not afraid to speak and interact with me. Plus, they understand so much of what I saw that I need double the activities to fill their half hour. My secondes just stare blankly at me, and usually just one or two are clever enough to translate my questions into French for the others. They’re just so nice and shy, it’s annoying!

In talking with the more active classes, I think I will incorporate more music and tv into my lessons to keep them interested. Next week, I will do something on slang and texting/chat lingo which I hope they’ll enjoy.

Whew! One third of my classes are done for the week already! I feel so much better knowing when and where I have to go. I also like having the autonomy to do what I want with the kids.