When it gets towards the end of November (or really as soon as Halloween ends), people tend to start thinking towards the holidays. In France, the streets start getting decorated with festive lights, and all the shops put up their holiday lights, and decorations, to signal the start of the season. Even though in the US that’s usually delayed slightly by Thanksgiving, the lights going up signaled both a joyful feeling of excitement to see them lit up (and the fact that it means the holiday break is getting closer), but it also came with a twinge of homesickness, and longing for those we hold most dear (I sound like a Hallmark film right now, but if you’re not sappy at the holidays, when will you be?) When I was in London, I remember feeling saddened by the fact that I would not be at home for Thanksgiving for the first time in my entire life, but also that I was relatively alone in a season where we’re supposed to be surrounded by family, and friends, and although my circumstances this year are different, some of those same feelings did surface. 

I wasn’t expecting it, but this year at Thanksgiving, I did get a pang of longing to be at home, seeing family, and eating pumpkin pie (there aren’t many American foods I miss, but this one is something I truly miss dearly). Even with this feeling though, this didn’t mean that I let the holiday slip by unnoticed. I did a couple of Thanksgiving lessons in my classes, complete with hand turkeys, and the kids longing to eat all the food I was showing them. Even though during my year abroad I worked through Thanksgiving, and gave it no second thought, this time, I feel like I was more aware of the date itself. However, just because the day went by without celebration, that didn’t mean that it all went by without any notice. Many of the American assistants in Angers got together and held a Thanksgiving dinner the day after Thanksgiving (we all had to work Thursday/Friday so it made more sense to do it that way). We had to substitute the turkey for chicken and ham (which seems more appropriate for France anyway), but we had mashed potatoes, someone managed to throw together some stuffing (which was quite impressive considering the ingredients at our disposal), vegetables, and even some homemade pumpkin bread! It was such a lovely way to acknowledge the holiday, and to be able to feel slightly less far away from home. 

Once Thanksgiving had come and gone, the only thing on everyone’s mind (or at least, almost everyone’s mind) is Christmas and the holiday break. There are lights all throughout Angers, and I’ll frequently see them on some of my bus rides back into town considering that the sun is setting earlier and earlier at the moment. There’s a Christmas market in the main town square, along with a Ferris wheel and an ice skating “rink” set up, which makes Angers feel very lively. There’s something about lights that make me smile, and long for a nice, hot chocolate. The castle in town is also lit up, and if a medieval castle can get into the spirit of the holidays, it stands to reason that others can as well.

The Christmas market in Angers isn’t a remarkably large market, but it gives the town a certain je ne sais quoi which makes it feel more like home (in a way that can’t really be described because it’s not as if Portland holds an annual Christmas market or as if it’s a long standing tradition in my family). There are homemade goods, food (tartiflette, and crepes galore), vin chaud, and even a merry-go-round all in one area. Not to mention, they blast Christmas music, which tends to be in English ironically, which gives you a bit more of that holiday spirit (yes, I have danced in the streets when Mariah Carey’s All I want for Christmas is you came on, but honestly, what else was I supposed to do?) I was initially going to check out some Christmas cheer in Paris over a weekend, but due to the unfortunate collision of my weekend and the fourth weekend of gilets jaunes protesting, I had to cancel my quick trip.

What I find baffling (in a way,   although not really) is that all the teachers have asked me to do lessons on Christmas, even though France has laïcité, which is essentially a mandate that there is no religion in school, in any way, shape, or form. Even with that, I told my teachers that I would talk about Christmas in the US, but that I would also be presenting a little bit about Hanukkah, because that’s what I do during the holidays (even though some of them couldn’t seem to grasp initially why I didn’t celebrate Christmas.) The fact that I don’t celebrate Christmas seems to be fairly shocking to many people (I had one student quite frankly exclaim “oh, la pauvre” which essentially translates to “you poor thing”), and most of my students had never heard of Hanukkah before. I decorated my door with a paper menorah (since I don’t have a real one with me), and sincerely wish I had the patience, and time, to make latkes for myself here. 

My schools put up little decorations here and there, one of mine has a full-on tree in one of their doorways, and the children at the other school had to learn Jingle Bells for their school Christmas market. The oncoming celebration of Christmas, however, means that the students have endless energy, and are excited for a break they know is shortly arriving, which can sometimes makes lessons difficult. The last week of lessons consisted mostly of coloring, crossword puzzles, and games (which is something I definitely remember from my childhood but being on the other side, I can 100% see why teachers do it…) The teachers (along with the students) have been bringing chocolate to school, so I can’t complain there, and I got to partake in an end of year lunch at each of my schools (which included alcohol, for one of them IN the building… only in France). The best part though about the approach of Christmas and the holidays is that I get to see my parents when they come to visit (which has been a long countdown for me, let’s be honest). Here’s to the rest of the season and happy holidays to you all!!

I’ve completed my first two weeks of being an English language assistant, and in no way can I say that this is an easy job. Sure, I only work 12 hours a week, but those 12 hours are contact hours, not the total amount of hours I spend in a school. I’m usually at each school from 9:30am until either 2:30pm, or 4:10pm, depending on the school (although I do start at 1:30pm on Monday, so can’t really complain about that too much). When you factor in a half hour commute each way, and having to leave in the morning an hour before I’m due at school in order to catch the bus, it can make for a very long day! Not to mention, you’re constantly speaking (or yelling), and trying to find creative ways to explain activities both with words, and without. Now, because the French education system values time off, we’re already on vacation (thank goodness because I’ve also already gotten sick): two weeks off for Toussaint. I’ll be writing all about my adventures during those two weeks in a separate post, but I thought I’d give you all some of my thoughts from my first two weeks working in France. I do apologize in advance for the length.

Initially, my schedule didn’t seem too daunting, but in practice, it’s a little bit more so. Although 30-45 minutes doesn’t sound like a lot of time to be up in front of a class, it can definitely feel like it’s lasting for an eternity (or can feel like you’ve snapped your fingers and time is up). I’m working in two schools, one in Les Ponts de Cé, and the other in Mûrs Erigne. Both are a little outside of Angers, and definitely in quieter places (they’re very pretty areas, I would recommend a quick google image search if I were you, but that’s just me). When I go out to Ponts de Cé, my stop is the last on the bus route and I’ll sometimes spend the last 10-15 minutes alone on the bus waiting for the terminus, but hey, at least I can take a quick little snooze in the mornings if need be. I alternate days at each school during the week, with Wednesday as a day off in the middle of the week. In both schools I work with students from GS (kindergarten) to CM2 (fifth grade). Obviously every grade level requires different material, but what makes some classes even more challenging is the fact that they have split classes where you’ll get CM1/CM2 together or even CE1/CE2/CM1 (2nd, 3rd, 4th) in one classroom. Most of these classrooms do English all together, which is great on one hand, but stressful on the other because there is a very large difference between vocabulary skills in CE1 and CM1.

Week one was very much figuring things out, and either doing very little in the classroom, or being left to lead an entire lesson, not knowing what on, and with nothing planned (funny how things always end up in extremes). By the end of the week I was leading activities with smaller groups of students, and I have to say that is much easier to manage than an entire classroom of students. I had to make a little presentation about myself for the kids, and then was subjugated to all the questions they could muster including whether I’d been to New York (yes), do I have a swimming pool in my backyard (no), and oddly enough, whether I had voted in the most recent election (an emphatic yes to that one). Some honorable mention questions include one child asking me if I had ever seen the Eiffel Tower (but the one in Vegas, go figure), and another asking me if we had color TV in the US.

I’ve spent a lot of time outside of the classroom looking for activities, coloring pages, and songs to use with the students to help engage them better with English, and to have lessons be more than just a session where I speak at them. Who knew there were so many songs for so many different topics? I say this in awe, but also through slightly gritted teeth because they get stuck in your head very quickly, and then you’re singing a song about how to introduce yourself for the rest of the day (someone suggested using baby shark to learn family words, and I’d love to do that, but don’t know if I could handle tens of children singing that to me all day after class ends). I will say though that it’s lovely to work with the younger students (GS/CP) because they still view learning optimistically, and love being read to in English, even if they don’t understand every word I’m saying (not that the older kids aren’t lovely to work with, though). Even with a bad day, their energy is pretty infectious, and it’s relieving to feel like I’m not doing everything wrong since they don’t seem too put out by it all.

The biggest hurdle for me has been figuring out how to teach material in English when I’m only supposed to speak English. Obviously this makes sense because of the immersion factor, but when many of the students can only say “hello, my name is…” or only have a very vague comprehension of basic words, it can be pretty complicated to find the words to say what you need to say (there’s a lot of gesticulating going on as well, which can sometimes feel like a misguided game of charades but you really want your teammate to get the answer correct). The easy way out is to slip into French to explain everything, but in my couple days of observation, this is what the teachers seem to always do and consequently, most of the English lessons are in French, which would be counterproductive to the whole reason why I’m here. When I’m only being used for pronunciation, it’s not a complicated affair but I’ve had to lead a few lessons, and sometimes all that greets me after a sentence is blank stares (which I always hope is from post-lunch fatigue, but those blank stares are sometimes accompanied by a confused facial expression as well so…).

It’s only been two weeks, but it would be a lie to say that all my classroom experiences have been great, and that I feel at ease with what I’m doing. Most of the classes are big, chatty, and can seem pretty uninterested by the prospect of learning English. Teaching is definitely a skill, and we have had very little training when it comes to how to instruct others in learning this complicated, and new language. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I learned English as a child, so of course these things come naturally, but that doesn’t mean that 27 French students will understand the concept of “tomorrow” and “yesterday” while learning the days of the week. It’s really easy to get frustrated with myself for not being good enough, or explaining things well enough, but I know that it’s a learning process not only for the kids, but also for me. It’s a steep learning curve, but in just these two weeks, I feel like I’ve gotten a little bit more sure of myself, and confident in what I’m doing (although a lot of that is “fake it ’til you make it” but we can pretend I’m actually getting better at this thing). It’s really easy to get overwhelmed with everything going on, but I’m hoping that having two weeks off will help refocus things, and allow me to get on top of all my planning. Either way, it’s only been two weeks so I don’t feel like I can hold myself up to such high standards (even though we all know I’ll still do it anyway), but hopefully it will only get better from here!

It’s been a week since I arrived in Angers, and what a week it has been. I’ve been walking a lot (for those of you who like to keep track, my average has been well over 10K steps a day), and getting used to the city that I’ll call home for the next seven months. If you don’t know Angers, it’s a pretty decently sized city in La Maine et La Loire, about 2.5 hours west of Paris. It doesn’t feel too big, but it also doesn’t feel too small. It has a castle (as many cities in this part of France do), museums, two universities, and plenty of good food to eat. I’ve had pretty good weather since the moment my train pulled into the station, and I’m hoping it holds out for a little longer! The evenings are starting to cool down, and fall is definitely in the air, but the French are still eating (and drinking) en terrace so we can pretend the weather isn’t changing… yet.

I don’t need to go over everything bureaucratic I’ve had to endure since arriving, but I will say that the French LOVE their paperwork. I don’t know how many forms I’ve signed, dated, resigned, copied, and finally been able to turn in… I’m partially worried I’ve filled something out incorrectly, or have accidentally signed my soul over to the patron saint of baguettes (not that that would be such a tremendous problem, let’s be real). I had to set up a bank account, which involved going to a bank, making an appointment, then returning to said bank to open the account (not to mention the FIVE banks we visited before one would allow me to open an account easily – Mon Dieu)! I’ve officially moved into a foyer, which is a sort of living accommodation for working 16-30 year olds. I have a studio with a small kitchenette, and I’m currently acclimatizing to the very European idea of sleeping only with a duvet, and with no top sheet (I know, what a very American thing of me to say). I’m trying to make it into a space that feels a little bit like home, and it will definitely take some getting used to, but I’m hoping it will be a success, and a place I’ll be content with for my time here. It’s very centrally located, so I definitely can’t complain about that.

Of COURSE, I can’t speak about France without talking about food. Grocery shopping is going to be an adventure as there aren’t a lot of one stop shops in Angers (although many stores do have a lot of what you need on a daily basis). There are the grocery stores that get bigger as you enter them (it’s some special French magic), and then your specific boulangeries, poissonneries, and your ever important cheese shop. I’ve been loving my breakfasts (although eating in a patisserie every morning will definitely not be convenient once I start working), and creating any excuse to devour a pain au chocolate, or a crepe (or two). Honestly, it’s a good thing I’ve done so much walking! (I will probably dedicate an entire post at some point to the food in Angers because I have had some truly heavenly things in only one week so it can really only go up from here).

This next week is going to be a taster of the seven months to come, but with it being so jam-packed, maybe I’ll be able to forget about some of the stress that comes with moving to a foreign country for an extended amount of time. I’ve had part one of my orientation (signing lots of paperwork), and I’ll be spending two days this week observing in my two schools to get the lay of the land, as well as having another orientation specific to lesson planning, and what to bring to each class session. I’ve met some fellow assistants, so hopefully we can work with each other to make the adjustment easier, and I’m glad to have people with whom to experience this city, and this program. My schedule will definitely be a busy one, but I’m excited to get going, meet all the students, and start helping them with English! As Annie once optimistically sang, “I think I’m gonna like it here.”