After over three months of living in Deauville, I can finally say I am settling in. I can’t say I can predict what each day will bring, because working with kids is never predictable. I can say with complete certainty though that every day at least one child will make me laugh, and at least one child will challenge me. The word challenge might seem like an inherently negative word, but a challenge can be the kids teaching me a new word in French, a correction of pronunciation, or yes, occasionally figuring out how to have a conversation with a student when they’re misbehaving. This took some acclimating to when I first arrived. The transition wasn’t perfect, but I don’t think anyone can expect to move continents and start a new job and have it be a flawless process.
What was very helpful though, was the training the teaching assistants received. We had about two and a half weeks where we were trained on a variety of subjects. Many had to deal with teaching the kids or lesson planning, but some of the meetings with our boss included projects such as setting up a French bank account, how to get to the supermarket, and how to put gas in the car. It was comforting to know that we weren’t alone to figure out some of the more practical life essentials on our own. Any time I felt silly, or nervous about communicating, that’s when I knew I could lean on my housemates or coworkers. This made my arrival and my initial impression of Deauville a welcoming one.
Deauville has not ceased being a welcoming place, the people and the community continue to impress me with their kindness and their ability to strike up a conversation. In my day to day interactions, it is one of the things I can depend on. With each day having a different schedule and group of students it’s hard to exactly explain what my day to day life is, but there are some common threads. I am going to use my Tuesdays as an example of what a day might look like for me, and how it relates to the rest of the week.
On Tuesdays, I start my day at around 8 in the morning. I wake up, finish up my lesson planning, and prepare for my 10:30 meeting with the animateurs. After about an hour to an hour and a half of preparation, I get dressed and ready for my day. I personally eat an apple every day for breakfast, so I grab one as I walk out the door and eat it on my walk to the school. The walk to school is about a five-minute walk, and I get to walk past the gorgeous Mairie which is quite enjoyable. While my schedule changes day-to-day, I can almost always expect rain in the morning thanks to Normandy’s ever-changing weather so my morning walk is normally a wet one. Once I get to the school I set my things down, and head to the meeting. The meeting is a discussion of celebrations we’re planning, and after school classes we’re teaching. For example, we’re planning a holiday celebration at the end of November, and we’re preparing for our new after school classes after the winter break which will be celebrating the 160th anniversary of Deauville. After the meeting, we prepare for the lunch break which is actually a large part of the day.
The school splits up into two groups for lunch. The big section and little section. It divides the students by age, so younger kids will play for the recess as the big kids eat, and then we swap. The English assistants aid in both recess and lunch. We supervise the kids with the other animators and ensure the kids are safe during recess, and then we eat alongside the kids at lunch. This is my favorite part of my day, not because I get to eat but because sitting down at a table and eating with the students is when I get to learn about them and hear about their day-to-day life. They love to practice their English with me during lunchtime as well, which is always really rewarding as a teacher.
After lunch, I grab my supplies and I head to my CE2 class. This is about the equivalent of third or fourth grade. On Tuesdays, I teach alongside the teacher in the class, but other days I take half the class to teach the students individually. Right now we’re learning about how to write days and months so that the students can write dates. I spend thirty minutes with one CE2 class and another 30 minutes with the other CE2 class. After CE2 I head to my CM1/CM2 class, the equivalent to fourth and fifth graders. The class lasts 45 minutes, and with an extended period of time, a variety of topics can be covered. After my classes, I have the APE’s at 4PM. On Tuesdays, I teach a class on embroidery to the older students. There are about 15 minutes where the kids get a snack and the animateurs take roll, and then at 4:15, I take my students to the sewing room where we spend an hour working on our embroidery designs. At 5:15 a majority of the students are picked up by their parents, but those that aren’t stay for the Garderie. Students work on their homework until it’s completed and the can play with their friends at the Garderie. I stay there until 6:15 PM, and then I walk back home. Once I get home I normally grab a snack and watch some Netflix before dinner. Once I cook dinner I try and work on some lesson planning or applications for graduate school, and I am hopefully in bed by about 11:30.
Again, it’s not easy to predict what each day will bring, but this creates a decent outline to describe what a typical Tuesday brings. What this outline doesn’t show, however, are the interactions with the students I get every day. It is incredibly rewarding to watch as the students improve their English or to see them gain a new skill. They are so excited and willing to learn, and I am constantly amazed by how fast they are able to absorb information. Getting to know the students and be a teacher has been incredibly rewarding so far and is what has helped really allow me to settle in and think of Deauville as my home for this year.
(left to right) Myself, Kira, and John at Giverny in October
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