Zis. Is. English Class.

This morning at school I gave what I think is has been my most successful lesson of the year. The funny thing is, it’s the fourth time I’ve done this same lesson and never before has it turned out so perfectly.

This morning I clawed my way out of bed at 6am and made the hour-long commute to school, which involved taking two metro lines and saying a little prayer that I'd make the bus in time—much less get a seat for the 40 minute ride. How I survived four years of 6am orchestra during my own high school days I will never know. At least then my commute was better. In any case, usually when I arrive for my 8am Friday class I am not the most energetic language assistant in the world. It’s been a long week, and already a longer morning. But seeing the faces of my 5 female students eagerly awaiting me to say “good morning” (goot mourning) I have to admit, makes it worth it. This class is great. Just the fact that they come without being obligated. At 8am. Friday. They are a special group.

My lesson today involved watching a clip from a Friends episode (high-brow, I know) and then assigning each student a role and reading the script to practice phonetics and natural speech. At the end we dubbed the scene ourselves. Okay so it’s not earth-shattering stuff, but during this lesson not only did I give them the first help they’ve ever received in making the “th-" sound, but we talked about when to pronounce “tha” verses “thee” for ‘the,’ and even digressed into a discussion of the symbols on the American dollar.

I know I’m off on a language-assistant high, but today’s class was kind of inspiring. Sometimes it can feel like I am useless here, as most of my students I see only once every few weeks—not nearly enough to make any lasting impression on their progress. But leaving that classroom, I knew the girls would go home and practice putting their tongue in between their front teeth to say “th-“. And although zat 'zee' sound zey make when speaking English is charming, forming ze ‘th-’ is a big improvement for zem.

I have always known I wanted to work with young people. (Okay that’s not true; I’ve always known I want to be a writer. But I’ve known I want to work with young people since the day I figured out I didn’t want to lead the life of a prolific hermit). But having bounced around from museums to camps to high schools I haven’t yet settled on my exact niche in this field. One thing I know now is that, if the opportunity arises, I would love to teach french in America. Teaching language is not only interesting, but it is one of the most practically useful subjects today. Perhaps it's less relevant for anglophones, but it's probable that over 50% of my students at some point spend time in an anglophone country, for many it could be significant time. And believe me, these kids have no idea the level of competency they'd need to survive in America, which in my opinion is even more intolerant than France when it comes to immigrants or foreigners not speaking the native tongue. That's saying a lot; you should see the way my french roommate lectures me about proper accord concerning irregular present participles... I know, those grammar words confuse me too, especially when he says them in french. But hey, at least I'm improving. 

Without a doubt, the thing I will miss the most about being in France after this program ends will not be the cheese, or the amazing public transportation, or the adorable old houses, or even the baguettes (although they're a close second!). It will be talking about language, even thinking about language, on a daily basis. Learning and speaking french make living here a challenge every day. I think I have a changed view of the world because I have had the opportunity to live in a community that does not share my native language. I hope I can bring this interest and its implications back to whatever I choose to do in America, because we could definitely all use a bit more global understanding. 

Oh, here's a picture of me at the Cathedrale du Sacre Coeur for good measure. I went to Paris 2 weeks ago! Maybe I should write about something like that next time instead of pontificating on the importance of language? ....Hmmm, food for thought.

Eh Bien La Rentrée... or I'm Back Frenchies!

What is a proper excuse for not writing on this blog and so breaking a promise to myself? Would "living life" be acceptable? Maybe I should go with "the dog ate my keyboard". At any rate, after 3 weeks of cross-continental travel through snowstorms and the busiest month yet of my Toulousain life, here I am again.


Unlike many of the American assistants, I went home for Christmas. To me, there was not much of a choice to make when it came down to it. I could have travelled, yes, but the thought of not seeing my family for the holiday season that is most special to us was not a pleasant one. And so I braved the chaos of Heathrow airport the day their (barely) 4 inches of snow hit and sat on a grounded airplane for 5 hours-- a time period that exceeds legal limits in the US-- to get home for Christmas. And it was totally worth it. I spent the busiest 2 weeks of my life visiting friends and family all over the east coast, in between trips cramming in as much quality time with my family and Ken as I could. Totally worth it. 

Before I left for home in mid-December I had this creeping feeling there just wasn't enough time to do everything I wanted to do at home. How could I squeeze a year's worth of owed visits and quality time into 2 weeks, whats more with Christmas sitting right in the middle of that time period? This sense of running out of time stayed with me throughout my holidays, causing me eventually to extend them, thanks to a convenient snowstorm in Boston and an error on British Airways' website.


Since my rentrée en France, I have still not been able to shake this feeling that time is slipping by me faster than it should be. Before Christmas break everything seemed like an adjustment time. I made excuses to myself: why look for babysitting jobs now, only one month before Christmas? I need to deal with my immigration paperwork right away, I'll go to museums later.  As of this month, as one member of my bi-weekly dinner group pointed out a week ago, we are more than halfway through our assistant experience. We all froze in disbelief, our forks hanging in mid-air. How did so much time escape us? But this is the way most extended cultural experiences go; the first part is spent adjusting, the second making up for lost time.


Although it's depressing to think that I am racing toward the inevitable end of this experience faster than a TGV train, there are two distinctly positive things about being on the waning side of my assistantship: firstly, the future (by this I mean post-assistantship) is more tangible. Luckily, I have something to look forward to after this "job" ends, namely a (real) job as an outdoor educator at Chingachgook. I am truly lucky to have this to look forward to-- work I love doing, a wonderful place, and some of the people I love most in the world. This late in my program I'm able to make these plans, and hopefully ones for the post-post future as well.


The second benefit of being in the culturally and lingually confident second-half of my year is that I am thinking more and more of the things I can't afford to miss while I'm in Europe. Painful as it is to know that there are just too many places and not enough time or money to see them all, I've come to terms with this fact and decided that I will make the best of the the resources I do have. Eg: I will not worry about money. I will travel. Alone. With Ken (and hopefully Ellie). With the other assistants. To this end, this past weekend I went on a guided trip to two towns near Toulouse offered by the University of Toulouse; I am going to Paris alone this weekend and staying with a French friend who lives in Montmartre; and I have planned the vacation to end all vacations for my upcoming school break: Rome and Barcelona with Ken, followed by a week in Istanbul with my dinner group. And I still have 2 weeks of April vaca and myriad weekends to plan. No excuses, I will sight-see like a champion.


Voila, c'est parti!


I'll leave you with these pictures: 1) Lauren and me during our weekend trip to Albi... it may have down-poured all day but I would still count it as a success. 2) Me again the same day in a winery-- yep a wine tasting was included in the day's itinerary, and was thoroughly enjoyed by us in our damp state.