Chatting with Mallory, I realized that I may not have been terribly clear about my work here in Dijon. Here's more information on what I know so far!
So you're an "English Assistant," what does that mean?
I will be assisting English teachers in two high schools in Dijon, France. In this program, run by the French government, there are also Spanish, German and Italian assistants, as well as a few other languages as well. The majority of assistants are anglophones, with the next largest percentage being hispanophones. Our goal as language assistants is to get our students to practice their oral/spoken skills. Technically, we are only allowed to speak to the students in our teaching language. Assistants are assigned to both primaire (elementary) and sécondaire (middle and high) school.
Wow, is that as much responsibility as it sounds like?
Sort of - we are responsible for our students' learning, and how well we prepare for our classes can significantly affect their improvement. However, since assistants are native speakers of our teaching language (close to 100% of the time...), whatever interactions we have are legitimate and we don't have to be perfect. For example, whatever English I speak is "proper" American conversational English for someone from my region. It would therefore be theoretically possible to wing a class and come out fine, because the goal is for the students to be immersed in fluent, natural communication.
Wow, you've had to get into the swing of things really fast, yes?
The first two weeks of work, which started on October 5th, are supposed to be for observation only, which helps. Observation includes taking notes on teaching styles and activities as well as helping out with class. I've currently completed one week of observation, and I think some of my actual teaching will start during this upcoming week.
How are the kids so far?
Shy, in a word. Sure, there are jokers - and French students speak a lot amongst themselves during class, which is especially distracting in an English class - but they are hesitant to speak English. Which is, of course, why I'm here: to get them used to speaking English so they will improve. You can't improve without making mistakes - I learned that first hand while studying in Nantes in 2008 (E) - and I know I'm going to have to urge them repeatedly to speak in English, to speak louder, and to participate.
Why two schools?
At each school I'm the 2nd English assistant, and I work half time at each. Both schools have 1.5 English assistants, essentially and I'm the second half. Why? Because it was determined that these schools could benefit from/needed more than one English assistant, but apparently they didn't need two. Also, cleverly, both Katie and Kirsty are British so I provide a representative of another Anglophone culture to the students' experience.
Are the two schools you teach at different?
From what I've seen so far and what people keep telling me, yes. My "primary" school is Lycée Carnot (where I work with Kirsty) and my "secondary" school is Lycée Hippolyte Fontaine (where I work with Katie). Both of those links are French wikipedia, but you can change the language to English if you need. Henceforth I will refer to my two schools as C and HF.
The organization at C is being done by one teacher, Alain, who is coordinating our schedules and pretty much telling the other profs what's happening (at least that's the impression I get). So far almost all professor interaction that Kirsty and I have had is either through or thanks to Alain. For most of my classes at C, multiple teachers will send me 3 students each, so that I'll have 6 to 9 students each session. Meaning if there are three English classes of the same level going on simultaneously, I'll have 3 students from each class, all together in a classroom with me for an hour. C is supposed to be one of the top schools in Dijon - second only to Lycée Charles de Gaulle in languages, apparently - and it's relatively bourgeois. That means that the student population is not terribly diverse, and everyone is relatively well-off.
The organization at HF is doing done primarily by one teacher, Danielle, who also happens to be the responsable (main teaching contact) for all of the language assistants in the Burgundy region. Danielle is receiving significant help and cooperation from the other four English teachers at HF, and so Katie and I have a bit of contact with the other staff. At HF I'm going to be assisting the teachers more individually with their classes, meaning I will only see one teacher's class at a time. From what they've talked about so far, I believe they will want me to be in the classroom with them often, switching off who is teaching what half of the class within one hour. HF is also renowned for being one of the "rougher" schools in Dijon, with lower-performing and more minority students/cultural diversity. It is also a technical school, which means that there are some older students - Katie's and my age, actually - who are pursuing their technical degree to become, for example, mechanics.
Okay, I think that's a decent summary. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask in the comments and I'll answer them!
At each school I'm the 2nd English assistant, and I work half time at each. Both schools have 1.5 English assistants, essentially and I'm the second half. Why? Because it was determined that these schools could benefit from/needed more than one English assistant, but apparently they didn't need two. Also, cleverly, both Katie and Kirsty are British so I provide a representative of another Anglophone culture to the students' experience.
Are the two schools you teach at different?
From what I've seen so far and what people keep telling me, yes. My "primary" school is Lycée Carnot (where I work with Kirsty) and my "secondary" school is Lycée Hippolyte Fontaine (where I work with Katie). Both of those links are French wikipedia, but you can change the language to English if you need. Henceforth I will refer to my two schools as C and HF.
The organization at C is being done by one teacher, Alain, who is coordinating our schedules and pretty much telling the other profs what's happening (at least that's the impression I get). So far almost all professor interaction that Kirsty and I have had is either through or thanks to Alain. For most of my classes at C, multiple teachers will send me 3 students each, so that I'll have 6 to 9 students each session. Meaning if there are three English classes of the same level going on simultaneously, I'll have 3 students from each class, all together in a classroom with me for an hour. C is supposed to be one of the top schools in Dijon - second only to Lycée Charles de Gaulle in languages, apparently - and it's relatively bourgeois. That means that the student population is not terribly diverse, and everyone is relatively well-off.
The organization at HF is doing done primarily by one teacher, Danielle, who also happens to be the responsable (main teaching contact) for all of the language assistants in the Burgundy region. Danielle is receiving significant help and cooperation from the other four English teachers at HF, and so Katie and I have a bit of contact with the other staff. At HF I'm going to be assisting the teachers more individually with their classes, meaning I will only see one teacher's class at a time. From what they've talked about so far, I believe they will want me to be in the classroom with them often, switching off who is teaching what half of the class within one hour. HF is also renowned for being one of the "rougher" schools in Dijon, with lower-performing and more minority students/cultural diversity. It is also a technical school, which means that there are some older students - Katie's and my age, actually - who are pursuing their technical degree to become, for example, mechanics.
Okay, I think that's a decent summary. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask in the comments and I'll answer them!
wow, sounds like a challenge!
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