My job is still lovely! I really would recommend the assistantship for anyone uncertain what to do with their time in France. It allows you to not only be fully immersed in a language, but to meet new friends, colleagues and have enough free time to do as you please - all with a wage at the end of it! My job has given me a lot of opportunities:
- Meeting new people and my assistant group!
- Becoming part of yet another French family
- Travelling with colleagues to Paris and Bruges during October
- Going to a school trip to a Farm!
- Going to a school trip to the Louvre Lens - this is the 9th of December and I'm so excited!
- I've also been asked to a family meal at a PE teacher's house - Who I've only met twice?!?!
Even if I don't see my end goal as becoming a Secondary School teacher, it's a pleasure to teach such well behaved and intelligent pupils! My job has allowed me to take up private tuition, through a teacher wanting her daughter to have extra lessons - which has now lead to a lot of the staff wanting me to teach their kids too!
OK so I'm not a qualified English teacher, but by being able to speak two languages (quite well at the moment) I'm now viewed as a great way for French kids to speak, gain confidence in English and enjoy it outside of the classroom!
Speaking two different languages also has its downfalls at times...
I'm getting so used to speaking French, that when I now speak English with French people, I accidentally speak with a Frenched-up accent... It sounds a little crazy as when I have phone calls with my Mom or Matt, this isn't the case! Yet sometimes in class, I have to force my Bloxwich accent out...guess I'm spending too much time with French people! Odd but it now doesn't feel natural at all to speak English in the same way!!!!
Another fatal flaw with speaking half English half French in the same sentence is that occasionally you make HUGE MISTAKES that can cause your whole class to go into fits of laughter:
I began speaking about turkeys and how in the past they did not have the same chemicals to preserve the meat, as they do in big supermarkets nowadays. A huge mistake when flitting between two languages very quickly and not considering what I'm saying is that "preservatives" in English DOES NOT mean preservatives in French. Something I've known for a long time, yet my English brain didn't register fast enough...I was saying condoms and making sexual connotations about turkeys.
I also found this hilarious and very embarrassing, especially now every time the class see me they yell condoms at me...well there you go mistakes in other languages happen! Next time I'm going to avoid a "mélange" of the two langs in front of my classes..WHOOOPS. Note: Jess do not speak French when thinking in ENGLISH.... Nobody is perfect and it allows the classes to realise speaking another language is hard - even after 9 years of learning it! Turning everything into a learning curve or a joke really helps me in France, it's the best way forward!
So when I'm not in class what am I getting up to at the moment? I had a second successful trip to the hairdressers today, as well as spent a lot of time in the library! I've done a bit of baby sitting, I've done a bit of tutoring and I'm trying to power through Proust - his work is in the Guinness World Record Book for the longest set of books published - wish me luck! I've also began my Christmas shopping for French and English families so there goes my wage!
This weekend I'm hopefully seeing Zoe and the other assistants in Lille and then spending Saturday exploring the city centre! Of course dragging Zoe to museums and Christmas markets! LET IT BEGIN!
T-24 days until I'm home in Bloxwich...hope you're ready for me!
JR xxxx
all gifs sourced from: www.gify.com
No comments:
Post a Comment