Welcome all! Today marks two weeks since Barton and I have been in Deauville; we could not be happier to be here. I hope to provide you with a brief insight of our lives as TA's in Deauville.
Reflecting back, it's crazy to think it's only been two weeks since our arrival. Only two weeks since we were descending the train and rolling our bags to the city. Upon our arrival, we were surprised to be welcomed by rows of 50 stars, red and white strips hanging on every street and our friend Aaron who did a summer internship through sister cities in Normandie. At the time I didn't think much of the flags-- we were tired from our trip: first to D.C to Iceland, then Paris and now Deauville. So we went to our house, settled in and took relaxing walks upon the beach to catch up with our friend.
It wasn't until the next day when Ivan came to get us to set up our bank accounts that the mysterious rows of flags was clarified. At the beginning of September every year, Deauville hosts an American film festival, and we happen to be lucky enough to arrive just in the nick of time.
On our first day Ivan walked us through what the next couple of weeks would look like: week one get acclimated to the four different school, week two begin to train and work solo with child, week three complete a training with the teachers of Deauville and week four begin teaching our classes.
On the first day, the idea of leading a class was a bit of a scary thought, but as time goes on you realize how much Ivan really helps you out.
Yes, it's a lot of work. You plan your own lessons, you plan your own activities, you work the lunch times but you have even more preparation.
When it comes to planning a class there is a lesson guideline to start the path followed by a multitude of resources at your disposal. We still have one week of training remaining, and there have already been enough resources and materials to feel comfortable going into your own English class.
Activities are another story. Everyday the children do activities called APE, which are actives geared towards providing additional education in a fun way. Normally the activities come from the animateur's interests. Since I'm a yoga instructor back home, they thought it was only nature that my activity would be yoga.
Continuing down the list of our responsibilities, the next one is working lunchtime à la cantine, except in France lunch is a class where we learn the rules of life. You're really there to make sure they learn the rules, as far as "working" the kids serve themselves and clean up their own messes.
Everything I've described so far happens at the main primary school in Deauville, Fraccasse. So far this is where we have spent most of our time. Today, we did observations at the school for the youngest ones, l'école materinelle Tomorrow we go to observe teachers in the other two schools in Tourgeville and St Arnoult.
We have not yet decided who will be at which school, however we do know how it will work. One of us will be at Fraccasse with the older kids, another with the younger kids at Fraccasse as well as at materinelle, while the third one commutes to the other two schools that are few kilometers away( How far is that in miles again?)
I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say about the schools once we have finished training. Until then thanks and I hope you've seen a little into our wonderful world in Deauville.
Aaron and I on the beach the night we arrived
- Chase
