Being a TA in Deauville means not only, teaching English classes, but also dedicating some of your time to other responsibilities requested by the city. These responsibilities are as follows:
Midi
Midi responsibilities occur during the lunch and recess time for the students at Fracasse. The school divides the children into two groups (older and younger) for separate lunch and recesses. During lunch, TAs eat with the students and manage their zone in the cafeteria. This means ensuring that students are eating and generally behaving themselves.
For the recess portion of Midi, TAs monitor recess in the courtyard with other animateurs, playing with the kids and ensuring their safety.
APEs
APEs are the after school activities that TAs contribute to four days a week. They are an hour long and meant to be enrichment activities for the students. Each trimester has a theme to which the APEs can correspond, for example the current theme is Italy. Deauville TAs are responsible for planning and teaching these APEs either independently or paired with another TA.
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| The abstract Mona Lisa my CE2 APE created for our DaVinci activity. |
Guarderie
In the morning, guarderie consists of signing the students in and monitoring them as they work on a quiet activity, such as reading or coloring until the school day starts.
In the evenings, Deauville TAs stay after the APEs depending on their schedule, and help students with their homework. Often this means giving practice spelling tests, or listening to them recite poems.
English Circle
The Deauville English Circle is an opportunity for employees of the city to practice their English on a bi-weekly basis. TAs facilitate the English circle by preparing conversation topics or games to play with the group to practice their English skills.
TOEFL Tutoring
For two months out of the year, Deauville TAs host TOEFL tutoring workshops for high school students in Deauville and the surrounding area, preparing to take the TOEFL exam in order to study at an American university, many are working towards gaining a scholarship to study at the University of Kentucky.
During the workshop TAs may answer questions regarding the test, listen to students practice speaking, and encourage students to work with the study materials provided. TAs are used as a language reference for the students while the work to practice and understand the TOEFL test.
English Tutorials
Deauville TAs also have the opportunity to give English tutorials approved by the city. The frequency and nature of these is determined with the TA and the family. They can range from babysitting in English or focusing on English conversation with a student. TAs are paid by the family for these tutorials and not through the city.
Extracurricular activities make up a huge portion of our contribution to the city of Deauville and as American representatives.
I hope this information was helpful in giving a better picture of what we are doing this year in Deauville! À la prochaine!
