I’m currently sitting on the TGV (high speed train) on my way from Montpellier to Paris where I’ll fly out tomorrow morning for the US. Weather the past few days has been a bit precarious in northern France with snow causing some travel problems in Paris, a city not quite used to winter weather. We’ve even had an arctic blast of weather down in the South of France where daytime temps went from 12ºC (54ºF) to around -5ºC (23ºF) on some days. Apparently the South isn’t all beaches and palm trees as you might think. I’ve also been tracking the surprise blizzard I had not anticipated that just roared into DC and up the East Coast. I’m hoping I won’t face any flight problems with this since I leave about 24 hours after the snow will stop, but I’ll keep you posted on that one.
Unexpected as it is, this bit of winter weather is making for a nice journey northward as I look out the train windows: Christmas music playing on my computer, snow covered French countryside, and Christmastime at home getting closer and closer. Can’t beat it. See you all stateside.
In order to get my kids practicing their spoken English and learning important American figures, I’ve put together an activity I call “Who Are You?” In the game, each student receives a piece of paper with an answer followed by an unrelated clue. I start by reading my clue and whichever student has the answer to it on their paper stands up, reads it, and continues with their own clue. The game goes full circle throughout the entire class so that everyone identifies himself or herself until it comes back to me again as the last answer. These clues can range from historical figures to athletes to pop stars and other celebrities. I’ve also thrown in some important cities and events in the later, more difficult rounds.
My class and I got a pretty good laugh one day during this game when a student threw in their guess to a clue that was being read. The clue was “You were a former senator from the state of Delaware and are now the Vice President under Barack Obama.” Most students knew that it was “the other old, white-haired guy besides John McCain” but couldn’t remember his name. One brave and slightly misinformed student decided to volunteer her answer by responding, “I am Steven Spielberg.” I think they might be on to something. Money, popularity, diversity, and Oscar statuettes in the White House. Sounds like a recipe for success.
With about half of the school year finished, all of the Language Assistants have come to realize just how different the French education system is from our own, especially education in America. This post goes out to all the teachers and people working with young kids reading my blog- Mom, Jennifer, Wake professors, and L Rob to name a few.
The most noticeable difference in the French system is that it is very, well, systematic. The entire primary, middle, and high school experience is geared toward preparing the students for the Baccalaureate exam. The Bac is similar to our SATs, but way more intense and carrying much more weight on your future. One thing I do often with my students is to discuss texts on a variety of topics ranging from consumerism to fashion design to marketing, depending on their concentration. Without fail, every time I ask a student to present an article to me, their Bac training kicks in and their first words, as if scripted and ingrained into their minds, are “This is a news article from (insert source) written by (insert writer) published on (insert date). The title of the article is (insert title) and the subtitle is (insert subtitle).” While this may seem like nails on a chalkboard to many of us in the States, this is the preferred method of presentation when discussing an article in France.
Another major difference is how the teachers are allowed to treat students. While I haven’t experience this firsthand, several friends of mine in primary school have told stories of teachers telling their kids to shut up or even picking them up out of their chair and tossing them in the corner for punishment. Be reminded that this is public school. If that happened in America, teachers would find themselves in court faster than they could say “I am not a crook.”
One difference that I just came across this past week at our Fête de Noël (Christmas party) for all the teachers was that they do not shy away from bringing wine to school. The party was at noon on Thursday, and there were about 10 bottles of red, white, and rosé being passed around the teacher’s lounge. At 1pm, about half of the teachers cleared out to go to their classes while the rest stayed to continue the fête. Let’s try to introduce this to American schools and see what happens...
Different as it may be, each day is an adventure as I walk through the gates of Lycée Ernest Hemingway to see what awaits me . Ah, la France.
Being a Christmas buff and not able to put up many of my own decorations this year, it was a given that I had to make it to the Fête. As most travels in France begin, I found myself at the train station one Saturday morning with a few friends, bags packed and tickets in hand. We arrived in Lyon around noon only to find that, surprise surprise, there was a grève. For those of you who don’t remember, that means a strike. For those of you who do remember, you might be worrying. Don’t. Just another day in France. As we would say here, “pas de soucis” (no worries). Of course the only metro line that was on strike was the one we needed, so we found a combo of buses to get us to the apartment of the French friend we were staying with. Once there, we were off to explore.
Lyon is split into three quartiers by its two rivers: the Rhône and the Saône. The eastern most section is the more modern area known as Part-Dieu. Between the two rivers lies the Presque-Île, or the “Almost Island”. To the west sits Vieux Lyon (Old Lyon) and the Fourvière hill that overlooks the rest of the city (in this case, my “highest point”). I can’t do the Fête justice by describing it with words, so I’ll highlight some of my favorite parts and direct everyone to the pictures below and my Picasa photo account to check out the full experience.
Le Marché de Noël (Christmas Market)- an essential of any French city’s Christmas celebrations.
La Fourvière- seeing the city from above was amazing, especially on the first night of the Fête. Here, you can see the giant Ferris wheel, two rivers, and various other light displays below.
The light buoys in the Rhône- these flickered the entire night after dark and lit up one of the prettiest parts of the river.
The food and drink- From the mulled wine to the baked potatoes stuffed with goat cheese and peppers to the bouchon Lyonnais with typical Lyonnais dishes, we were without a doubt well fed on this trip.
To check out the rest of my Fête de Lumbers pictures, go to www.picasaweb.google.com/johncmcgowan.
Joyeux Noël et très bonnes fêtes à tout le monde! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!
Anyone living in France knows that one of the most inevitable parts of life here is the infamous grève: a strike. The French love to strike. Whenever. And wherever. Transport strikes, civil servant strikes, student strikes, even teacher strikes. Currently, most major museums in Paris are closed due to a museum worker strike, including the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, Versailles palace, and the Centre Pompidou- pretty much all the major museums you’d visit on a trip to Paris.
Ever since I started teaching, I’ve been receiving mass notices in my mailbox at school about an education reform the Minister of Education and President are trying to pass. As it were, teachers across the country are not happy about this. In a situation like this, first come the “manifestations”, or gatherings to discuss and show early dissent for whatever is going on. That happened both last month and yesterday. Then come the mass-mailings to the responsible party expressing dislike for a certain idea and threatening to oppose it. That happened today. The final step is the grève, which was hinted at in the latest notice I read this afternoon. In the form letter addressed to the Minister that the teachers’ union urged all of us to send, they said:
“We ask you to immediately renounce this reform, and we declare that we are prepared to take any action necessary to stop it, including a strike lasting until its withdrawal.
Hmm, a strike lasting until the federal government gives in? Could be fun… I’ll be tracking this one closely.
Since coming to Montpellier, one thing I’ve learned is that as a person under 26 who travels, teaches and likes going to movies and concerts, there’s a discount card for just about every situation I could find myself in. To be honest, my life is starting to feel more and more like an iPhone commercial. Need a discount on the train? There’s a card for that. Want free entry into museums? There’s a card for that. Reduced price movie tickets? Yup, there’s a card for that.
One of the many cards I’ve gotten is called a Tutti’Pass, something that gives me access to 4 “spectacles” on the 2009-2010 Languedoc-Roussillon Orchestre and Opéra calendar for only 15 . So far I’ve been able to see a production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, as well as a performance by the Montpellier National Orchestra (where I somehow ended up sitting in the third row). Although I’ve been to a fair amount of performances back home, I’ve never seen an applause ritual quite like what they do in France. At the end of both performances, the entire crowd broke into raucous applause, but soon all the clapping seemed to magically sync up until everyone in the entire theater was clapping in unison. While this seemed somewhat cult-esque at first, it was pretty cool to have a thousand people all acting as one. Not only do they do this, but the encore claps go on for about 15 to 20 minutes, which meant 10 curtain calls for the cast of The Magic Flute. 10. I think by the end the actors just wanted to get us out of there. On the bright side, at least it was applause and not booing…
Last week I was working with a few groups of students new students, so I did the traditional “Introduce yourself to me” activities including but not limited to favorite activities, sports played, places you’ve visited, places you’d like to visit, movies, and types of music. After giving me their likes and dislikes, a group of two 19 year old boys I was working with were interested in what type of music I liked, so I told them that I liked a lot of different types of music: rock ‘n roll (classic and current), jazz, pop, hip hop, bluegrass, and classical, to name a few. They were right there with me until the last genre, after which one asked, “Oh, classical? Like Michael Jackson?” Close, but not quite. I think he just missed that era of music by a few years…
I may or may not have to take a day to teach these kids Music 101: Introduction to Classical Music. Hopefully they’ll know Michael Jackson from Mozart by the end of the year. Maybe not.
