Last night I sat in on a Conseil de Classe at the high school I work at. It was a very interesting example of just how centralized the French system is, but before I talk about it I'll have to explain the school's structure a bit.
French high school students have their whole day with the same class of students. (Well, almost - some of them have different "options" to take special extra courses which wouldn't be with the whole class.) This idea is so foreign to me, as the last time I had my whole day with the same classmates I was 13 years old. The French high school has three years (not four) and the first year the classes are composed of mixed levels and abilities, it's just for them to get a "taste" of high school I guess and decide what it is they want to specialize in. For the second and third year, they pick a track - the three most popular are Littéraire, Sciences, and Economie Sciences. There are a handful of other tracks for less successful students, but I still don't understand exactly what all the different specialties mean.
So each class has a special code, the first year students are all "secondes" and their classes are a specific letter. In addition, each class has a "professeur principal" which is sort of like a homeroom teacher. This teacher keeps up on all of them, how they're doing in their other classes, and calls them in for special sessions if he thinks they need to be talked to about something. I sat in on the Conseil de Classe for the "2J" kids, who I work with for two hours a week, and whose "professeur principal" is their English teacher.
Now, the school year is divided into three trimesters and we are at the end of the first one right now. When people first started talking about Conseil de Classe I didn't get what the point was, but now I understand: they don't send out report cards for the students until after their Conseil de Classe, becuase they go through every student's grades in all of their classes and the teachers, along with the vice principal (who presides over all of them) decide whether to write that the student is doing well, that they need to work harder, or, worst-case scenario, that there is a "warning" because if they don't get their grades up they will have to stay back (and many of them are already repeating the year.)
First, each of the teachers made their opening remarks about the class. Most of them said that the kids were really nice, good kids, but that they talk too much and don't work hard enough. After the opening remarks, a spreadsheet of all the students grades for all of their classes was distributed. As I mentioned, the Vice Principal is like the emcee of this event, and he's also in charge of the mouse for the electronic projector that shows every student's grades in relation to the class average. We went through every single student - looked at their grades on the circle graph of averages, and teachers made comments about them. The Vice Principal had the stack of report cards and he is the one to write the overall opinion of the teachers, then he signs the report card and picks the next one in the stack.
While the process must be incredibly time consuming (they have to do this for every class three times a year - and the Vice Principal is in charge of every single one), I think it's a really good way to keep track of all the students and keep a surveillance of which ones might be slipping through the cracks. There is one glaring aspect of the Conseil de Classe, however, that I absolutely do not agree with. Two students from the class also get to sit in on the session, they are two students elected among the others (by their peers, not the teachers) to be the "delegates" from the class. This means that not only do they get to see all the grades of all their peers and listen to the teacher's commentary about them, but they are present while the teacher's are hashing out their own academic records. One of the two girls from this class got very upset while they were talking about her grades, one of the teachers actually asked her "I don't understand, do you work?" and she said [exasperated] "Yes, I work!" She cried a little bit. I felt really bad for her, it's really a sink or swim system in some sense.
The two students are supposedly trusted in that they won't share with their friends what happens at the Conseil de Classe, but come ON people, these are 14 and 15 year old kids! I don't think any secrets like that would have been kept my freshman year of high school.
So, that's the Conseil in a nutshell... I hope this entry made sense. It's hard to explain complex systems from one language to another, especially when I barely understand them in French.
What are the things in life that you're truly passionate about?
Submitted by Jess.
Traveling, experiencing anew, and learning. Living up to my potential. Being a good friend to those I care about. Helping to better the world by contributing to the education of others.
I could probably continue, but I'll leave it at that... maybe edit this at a later date.
I see each group of students only about once a month. The first week I was teaching by myself, I asked a lot of the kids what kinds of activities they'd like to do with me and what kind of music they liked (because I like the idea of bringing in a song they like and helping them understand the English lyrics.) Of course, there are certain kids I like more than others - kids that remind me of myself when I was in high school, kids I'd hang out with if they were closer to my age. Two such kids asked me to bring in the song "Roulette" by System of a Down. I've never liked System of a Down, so at first I was kinda like "yeah okay... what else do you listen to?" I had these kids in class again this week and they asked if I'd downloaded the song and I regretfully said no, so at the end of the class Hugo (one of the two) played a bit of it for me off his cell phone. It's not jittery and annoying like most of the System of a Down I've heard, but soft and pretty, so I think I actually will look it up and bring it in for them...
Yesterday I was walking down the hill into town and I knew the two of them were walking behind me, I could hear their voices and I had a feeling they were purposely walking slow enough not to pass me. After a little while I heard loud footsteps thumping towards me and it was Hugo, running to catch up with me. His friend Dorian ran to catch up and I chatted with them, of course they asked if I had downloaded the song... I had to say no again, but in fact, am downloading it right now. I hope I run into them soon to tell them the good news :) I was impressed because usually when I see students about in town or if I run into them coming back from Rouen, they only speak in French to me (word has gotten 'round that the American girl does, in fact, speak French p`retty well...) but Hugo actually tried to form phrases in English. I think next time I see him I'll just default to English.
In other personal news related to both music and high school, I am listening to Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness for the first time since I don't remember when... Sure, iTunes has hit up the occasional song randomly here and there, but it's been a long long time since I sat down and listened to it all the way through. It feels nice, it feels like I'm getting in touch with a part of myself that I haven't reached out to in a long time. Equally, I just read Jimmy Chamberlin's 6th "love letter" to fans on the internet and I have to say I'm somewhat terrified... he and Billy are in the studio with two others (I don't even know whom) recording new music under the name "The Smashing Pumpkins." But they're not with D'Arcy and James, so as far as I'm concerned they need a new name... I'll just have to wait and see if the music is any good.
Have you ever Googled your own name? How did you feel about the results?
Submitted by elen.
Of course I have! In fact, I do it from time to time. It's pretty strange to see my name with so many different identities attatched to it. I think the only one that is actually me is an article I wrote for my college newspaper.
One of my favorite things about being an educational professional in France is getting to eat at the high school's canteen. The word canteen = same thing as "cafeteria" in American.
First of all, the students could wait in line up to 45 minutes to get their lunch (but it's not grave because the lunch period is an hour and a half long,) but we teachers (ok I'm not really a teacher but whatever) get to cut the line to swipe our cards and again to get to the front of the food line.
The French canteen lunch consists of everything a good French meal should: bread, appetizer, main course, cheese, and dessert. The appetizers vary from cold shredded carrots or turnip salad, to paté or sausage with some butter or a pickle, to warm savory pastries with potato or hot dog filling. (Yes really, hot dog!) For the main course we have a choice of starch or vegetable (sometimes we teachers can ask for a bit of both) with a main meat serving. The starch is almost always pasta or potatoes (sometimes fried, sometimes not), and the vegetable is usually peas or carrots or green beans. For the meat choice, they really run the whole spectrum of options in France: chicken, turkey, rabbit, sausage, steak hachée (which is like a hamburger patty), boeuf bourguignon, veal, lamb, etc. etc... The cheese choices are always what I'll call "grocery store cheese" and not "cheese shop cheese". The different is that at the cheese shop, all of the cheeses were actually made at a farm somewhere - usually by hand and they're all regulated by some governmental standard of what cheese with that specific name has to be. At the grocery store, the cheeses are still tasty, but they are brand cheeses like Président. It's like buying Philadelphia cream cheese versus buying farm made cream cheese from a local store or bagel shop. The dessert options are usually yogurt, pieces of fruit, pieces of cake or pie (tarte), or pudding/mousse.
The best/most French part about the entire operation is that at the teacher's tables, we always have wine and cider. (Cider because this is Normandy, and it's a regional specialty.) The teachers have to go ask someone for the bottles - I have no idea whom - but if there's a half full bottle on your table you're welcome to drink some. I don't often have alcohol with my lunch, but on occasion I treat myself.
Today, because one of the two main dish options was choucroute, the place where one goes to get the alcohol was also offering beer. Many of the teachers I sat with enjoyed their lunch and washed it down with the german beer.
In addition, I really love eating in the
canteen because it has really helped me to become friends with more of
the teacers. At first it was daunting, I hated going by myself and
even if I went with Slyvie (the teacher in charge of my schedule), her
friends didn't always talk to me and I'd still feel lonely. I've found
that little by little, the more I go to the canteen and the more I hang
out in the staff room, the more I get to know the other teachers. One
of them has invited me to go to a movie tomorrow night (I don't even
know what she teaches), and some of the others have mentioned having me
over for dinner sometime. It's so nice to feel a part of the
community.
I have been a bad bad blog keeper. I think it's just that I've made too many internet committments to keep up with, and this one's been put on the back burner.
In any case, things are still gliding smoothly along in Fécamp. I went to Spain for my first vacation, it was incredible and I hope to go back sometime soonish (but to different cities). I haven't actually spent a weekend in Fécamp alone since the first week I arrived... I've either been in Rouen, or Paris, or Spain, or I've had friends staying here. This weekend I'll be spending the most weekend time here alone since September, I'm going to visit a friend in another town on the coast Thursday evening and Friday but I'll be back on Saturday to babysit one of the English teacher's children. It'll hopefully be some time to plan interesting lessons and finally finish the book I've been reading.
Additionally, I've become a photo-taking fiend with all this train hopping. I took more than 200 pictures in Spain and ever since, I've somehow gotten hooked. I guess it's better than some other things I could be wasting my time with - I've also been posting almost all of my pictures on my flickr account.
The most fun thing I did in the last three days was attend the Rouen Foire (Carnival). I felt like an enchanted little child, with all the colored lights, buzzing games, and shrieking thrill-seekers spinning around in the air above me. I rode one ride with Maggie - here is a priceless picture of us (I didn't know I was still capable of such a delighted grin), there are more from the foire that I'll probably post on flickr tomorrow. Enjoy:
Today I got my first "Do you have a boyfriend?" from one of the students, and when I said no he kinda smirked and said "Ah, that's a shame." Hah, hah. Silly little 17 year old boys.
I've been having issues with my mail. I don't really have a mailbox with all the other mailboxes for my building because, when I arrived, I was told the mailboxes were broken and rusted and that they were going to be replaced "soon". I was told that once they were replaced I would have a key to my very own mailbox. Well, they haven't been replaced yet, and while the mailman brought some of my mail from the bank to the main entrance of the school, another mailman decided to return it to sender... Today, the high school's handyman (I can't even think enough to come up with a PC term for that) put a nice sticker over one of the mailboxes that says something like "Please bring all mail for Jennifer Larsen to the school's concierge". Bon. I hope that none of my birthday cards (of which there will probably be 2..) get sent back to North America!
Tomorrow I have to leave my apartment by 6:30am to get my bum to the train station by 7. I have to be at the university outside Rouen by 9:30, and my train arrival options were either 8:36 or 9:41.... so 8:36 it is. I am probably going to loiter in a café for at least a half hour after arrival. I'm spending tomorrow and Saturday night in Rouen at Ashlie's place, we're going to fête mon anniversaire [celebrate my birthday] and possibly go to a hockey game on Saturday night.
Last week, when I went to Paris for my obligatory medical examination, I made my train by about one minute. I wrote a comedic poem I called "By the skin on my teeth - an ode". I think the title gives you enough of an idea, maybe I'll share the poem at a later date ;)
So I was in Paris on Monday and Tuesday of last week, and since I had already planned on going this past weekend (before I received the date and time of my medical examination), I went back this weekend. I spent more time in Paris last week than in Fécamp, and from that I came up with a couple conclusions:
The first is that my heart aches for Paris, especially when the sun is shining (which will be rarely as the winter is vast approaching). I appreciate Paris more now that I don't actually live there but still have the chance to go there often, and when I am there I don't take for granted it's splendor as I did when I lived there. Well... I do take it for granted in a way, as in I don't get up early and rush out to the museums, but I keep my head high and admire the beauty that is all around me every moment...
From that, I've decided I have a possibley unattainable goal to live in Paris again before I turn 25. Why 25? No real reason, except that it's fairly soon but still gives me some leg room of a few years to figure things out job-wise. I've begun to think that translating would actually be a cool profession, except I don't want to translate novels or legal/financial documents... I want to translate things like films, television shows, advertisements. We'll see, I should try and translate some things on my own first to see if I'm any good.
So, those are my conclusions, in long-format. Other important news in my little Norman life is that my internet and free calls to North America deal is fast on its way to being hooked up... everything in France is a long, drawn-out process (everything. the coffee machine, the washing machine, getting internet...) and now I have temporary dialup access while they work on completing my "haut débit" (high speed) connection. On Friday I have another training in Rouen, and I'm going to spend the weekend there with my friend Ashley... On Monday I turn the big 2-2 and I hope that at least one person in Fécamp remembers.
I'm on a France high right now. I'm sure I'll come down eventually, maybe after I spend 45 minutes in line at either a post office or a bank, or maybe if I really really need something on a Sunday and I can't find a damn place open to buy it... but for right now I am in love.
Everytime I go down into town (in Fécamp), I like it even more. I find some new charm that just makes me giggle. I love being in the center of town with the church bells start clanging their erratic, tuneless song. The sound of the church bells as the pigeons fly above and the townspeople walk buy with their achats and baguettes in hand really says to me "you live in Europe!"
Yesterday afternoon, two new friends of mine came to visit. Ashlie and Maggie are both Canadian and both English assistants in nearby towns, Ashlie was here last year in the same school but this is Maggie's first time living in France. I met Ashlie through the Assistants in France forum, and Maggie because my teacher is friends with her teacher and we're both the only assistants in our towns (so they kindly introduced us).
We had a delicious dinner at a tiny bistro along the quai; the restaurant was filled with maritime deco like wooden replicas of ships and boat steering wheels. Maggie and I each chose the crevettes sauvages au beurre et herbes fines for our appetizer, which literally means "savage shrimps with butter and fine herbs." I had sort of forgotten that in France, they always serve shrimp with the heads still on and you have to take them off before you eat them. When the shrimps arrived I had a sort of slow recollection of the fact, but didn't say anything. Maggie squealed "oh my gosh gross! The heads are still on!" I kind of laughed and showed her the easiest way to remove them.
Afterwards, we went to a bar on the other side of the bay. Earlier in the day Ashlie and I walked around town (and it downpoured) checking out the different menus in the restaurant windows, and also because I wanted to find the two bars I had seen before that looked cool. They both happened to be closed this weekend, but luckily the teacher I'll be working with had pointed out another that is off the beaten path a bit... We walked up to it and it really just looked like a restaurant from outside. Ashlie said jokingly with a really heavy accent "Est-ce que c'est un bar?" (Is this a bar?) and a guy happened to be walking in right then and turned around to say "Yeah, it's a bar" Although a bit embarassed we went in, and it was such a cool place! I was surprised to find such a nice bar in little ole Fécamp, and especially to see so many people my age. I hope more friends come to visit soon so we can go back there and hopefully I'll actually talk to some of the locals... it's tougher in a small town because everyone already knows each other, and I'm even farther outside their periphery as a foreigner than I would be in Paris.
The only downfall of the cool bar was the 30 minute walk home, half of it straight uphill. Ah well, I am getting used to it fairly quickly.
Today while I was at the high school I saw a kid with an anti-American sweatshirt. It was a black hoodie, and on the front there was an image of the American flag but with skulls instead of stars, and the bottom it said "Halte la Busherie!"
I don't completely know how I feel about it. I sort of wanted to be like "Hey awesome kid nice sweatshirt!" and then I sort of wanted to be like "Hey we're not all like that!" It's such a strange position to be in. I know that for the most part, French people are able to separate American politics from American people in that they strongly dislike my country's politics but they don't hold it against ME personally... I'm constantly torn between taking the disgusted European attitude towards the States or taking the ashamed defensive Bostonian attitude.
Aaaaannd I just saw a TV commercial for Ocean Spray cranberry juice and my stomach did a little dance. I wonder if they have it at Carrefour... (ohhh globalisation what a double edged sword you are).
