TA Freetime Activities

Whether its actually teaching courses, APEs or preparing lessons, as a TA in Deauville, a lot of our time is taken up by school. When we do get some free time, there are some activities to choose from in town, like Zumba class, choir, volleyball, walking on the beach, etc. However, I think the best opportunity we have here in our free time, would be the four two-week breaks spread throughout the school year.

Over these breaks, I have tried to maximize my time here by traveling. Since most weekends I spend in Deauville, with the exception of day trips in Normandy and time in Paris, I make sure to travel a greater distance for the two-week breaks. Traveling from Deauville usually means taking a train to Paris and from there connecting to other modes of transportation to continue the journey. The following are the trips I have taken so far.

October
Our first break I spent traveling in London, Edinburgh, Dublin and Galway. Despite having only been out of the USA for a couple months, it was still strange to walk around and hear people speaking English. I used pretty much the entire two weeks to travel around the United Kingdom and Ireland, trying to take day trips into the countryside when possible. When I got back, it was difficult returning to school, since I had not taken much time to actually relax. I recommend in the future making sure you have a couple of days in Deauville to rest before starting up at school again.

Connemara Day Trip from Galway, Ireland.

Cliffs of Moher in Ireland

December
The second break of the school year was around Christmas, and instead of going home to Kentucky, I decided to travel to Munich, Vienna, Prague and Budapest. I decided that, for me, it was more important to travel as much as I could while here, than to spend the money on a flight home. This was a great time of year to travel to Germany, Austria the Czech Republic and Hungary. In each of the cities they had Christmas Markets set up, so despite not being home for Christmas, I felt like I was still getting to celebrate it. I was in Vienna for Christmas, and chose to spring for a nice hotel, instead of my usual hostel, since I would be alone for the Holidays. I definitely felt homesick, but it was actually a lovely way to spend Christmas if I couldn't be at home. I came in and out of the hotel the whole day, alternating between art museums, palaces, cathedrals and FaceTiming my family at our various Christmas events. It was hard traveling through the Holidays, but I met a lot of great people along the way, and the adventures I had were well worth missing one Kentucky Christmas.

Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, Germany

February
The February break marked the halfway point of our time here in France. We were all fortunate to have loved ones visiting us over this break. My older sister met me in Paris, where we stayed for a couple of days before heading to Italy. We went to Rome, Florence and Venice, before coming back to stay in Deauville so I could show her around Normandy. It was a lot of fun to be able to show someone from home my little world over here, and to have her try all the French foods I love. It was hard to say goodbye, but not too bad, since we had turned the corner on our time here.

Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy

Le Mont Saint Michel

In a month, we will have our final two-week vacation. After that we have a couple of long weekends, and then it will be summer and we will head back to America. For my last hurrah traveling around Europe, I will be going to Spain, Morocco and Portugal. I have not planned the long weekends yet, but I am thinking I will explore more of France.

Even though most of my time here revolves around school, I am so grateful to have those long vacations to explore Europe. Taking the time, energy and funds to do so can be overwhelming, but I have not regretted one trip. When I leave for the summer I can go satisfied with my time here and its balance of work and adventure. My advice to future TAs is to seek those adventures when you can, because we have been given the unique opportunity that allows us to do so.

Salut Fevrier!

Salut tout le monde!

It is finally February here in Deauville and it never ceases to amaze me how quickly time flies! Currently we are all on vacation during our winter break, with each of us going to various parts of France and Europe to explore. Since last month, all has been going well, following our lesson plans, getting into the groove of things with our classes and after school activities.

One thing I wanted to discuss is what a TA might do outside of classes and other various TA duties. To be honest, there isn't nearly as much free time as one might think there is in your typical week: between lesson planning, teaching, APE (after school activities) and the planning you do for that, and other duties such as English Circle or TOEFL help, there's certainly plenty to do. However, there are certain things you can do outside of work. Two things I do are sing in the Trouville Choir and also I'm active in the contra dance (a type of folk dance) community in Paris.

In my undergrad I studied both French and also Vocal Performance, and so when I got here I asked if there was a local choir I could join- choirs are a great way to make new friends and also practice your language with some specialized and not so specialized vocabulary. The Trouville Choir is directed by Laura Rabia and they sing in multiple languages (especially in French and Latin), but the choir is open to many types of singers. We meet 2 times a week normally, and on occasion we'll also have outside of rehearsal get togethers to celebrate the new year or something. We also host several concerts throughout the year in various towns.

As for the contra dance activities that I do, that is something I've done for several years in the states and I've continued here in France. It's not as popular here as in the US, but folk dance in general is a very thriving community and another great way to meet new people and make new friends. Here in France I've helped instruct some dances and lead a workshop.

In my normal day to day downtime, I often do a lot of reading and watching of netflix (gotta love the netflix), or sometimes I'll just go out and walk about town or on the beach. Also, if you like to read, invest in an E-reader, but we also have a very interesting collection of regular English books and novels that have been left here over the years in case you don't have an E-reader.

Well, that's about all for now, until next time!

Extracurricular Activities for a Deauville TA

Coucou from Deauville! It's Rachael again, and this month I will be letting you all in on the extracurricular activities that we participate in as TAs!

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.

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!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

Hello from Deauville! It's starting get colder, lights and decorations are all around, and it's almost the end to the first trimester of school! At this point in the year, we've been working hard to get things finished before the next vacances, between lesson planning, APE, and the Christmas spectacles, it's enough to make your head spin.

Lesson Planning 
So one thing that I've grown a lot with is working on developing and creating my lesson plans, along with some research into ESL resources and learning activities. After first receiving some materials and resources from Ivan, along with the first month or so of already made lesson plans, by the third month or so the lesson planning is up to you, and while you are given several topics and items (basically proficiency tests/quizzes) the routines, methods, and specific vocabulary are left up to you.

Now, for me personally, I was teaching CLIS (the special needs class) along with CP, CE1, and a single section of CE2 at Fracasse. However, now Im going to be teaching all of CE1 and CE2 along with CLIS at Fracasse.

I will tell you, as long as you have a good game plan and you don't lose focus of what you want to have learned, you'll be fine. The fun part is figuring out what ways of teaching clicks with the students while they learn. One example is with my CE1s and CE2s, they love a good competition between their classmates, and it really motivates them to want to learn the material.

Another key in forming your lesson plans is to use all four major aspects of language learning: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Though, to be honest in grade school we focus much more on auditory and oral skills than with reading and writing (they are only 2nd and 3rd graders, after all!).

However, just like with all things, practice and getting to know your students will make it get a lot easier over time. I know that even though I've learned a lot, I'm sure I will continue to be enlightened by my students as the year progresses.

One other thing to mention: along with lesson planning for your English classes, you will also be in charge of 'lesson planning' for your APE after school activities. Don't worry, it's not nearly as involved as one might be for your English lessons, but it is something to keep in mind.

Christmas in Deauville!
Here in Deauville, the city loves to get into the spirit of the season, and they definitely went all out in celebration. For Christmas, one of the big spectacles they did was with the children from APE. The children came out to the city center with the mayor and sang 'White Christmas' (in French of course) at the illumination of the city. Since then, the town has been glowing every night.

Even so, this week at the maternelle (preschool), St. Arnoult, and Fracasse, there will be several Christmas spectacles along with the APE spectacle this Friday. The APE spectacle consists of a series of songs, videos, and other performances by the kids on the last day of school before the vacation. It's a very exciting time that definitely keeps us busy.

Final thoughts...
In writing this, I just want to leave you with some final thoughts:

If you think you'd be concerned about the lesson plans, don't be. Ivan gives a great tutorial during the two week preparatory session after arrival, along with doing observations later in the year to give us constructive feedback on our lessons and also in working with our students.

Also, Christmas is an absolutely wonderful time of year here, and the kids absolutely love learning Christmas songs and doing all the fun corny Christmas traditions with you.

Happy holidays and joyeux fêtes de Deauville!

A Day in the Life of a Deauville TA

Another month, another post...

Salut de Deauville! It's Rachael again, here to reveal what a typical day looks like for me here in France.

We are officially back in school after a two-week long break at the end of October. On the breaks, we are off from school and city duties, so I used this time and traveled all over the U.K. and Ireland with another one of the TAs, Mary.

The first month of teaching is behind us, and I think it is safe to say we have all learned a lot about teaching, time-management and French. Luckily, Ivan provided us with sample lesson plans for the first month and curriculum guides for the year. We also have a weekly English meeting where we can ask any questions we may have regarding student behavior, lessons, etc.

All lessons should start and end with routines—something the class does everyday. In between those routines we do different activities, games and exercises to reinforce the material we want them to learn. Ivan asks that all our classes be conducted entirely in English, which can be frustrating when students resist or struggle, but ultimately comprehensible input in the target language (English made to where the learner can understand the gist) is the best way for them to learn. Perseverance is key on this point.

Additionally, I like to plan my lessons as far in advance as I can, so that I can make sure my copies are ready well before the day I teach that activity. Some weeks that is easier than others, but I have found, especially with my placement, that being over-prepared is always better. Always.

Myself and my sidekick, Pineapple smiling for the camera. Pineapple is the puppet that fearlessly helped me introduce English to my preschoolers.

A Typical Day in the French Life of Rachael—pronounced Rah-Shell here:

My placement in Deauville, is actually at the two schools just outside of the city: St. Arnoult and Tourgeville. I teach all levels at each school, from preschool through fifth grade. My schedule changes from day to day, but consistently has me traveling (by car) between all three schools most days in the week. Below is a description of my Monday schedule.

I leave the warmth and comfort of our little brick house at 8:20, because if I leave ten minutes later, there won't be any parking at St. Arnoult, plus I like to have plenty of time to settle in before I bring the Moyanne Section of preschoolers to my classroom for a half hour class at 9:00 a.m. After singing and walking across the schoolyard to take the Moyanne Section back, I come back to my room to knock on the adjoining door and welcome the Grand Section preschoolers to another half hour class at 9:30 a.m. We dance and chant and count, before I return them to class and bring in the CP section at 10:00 a.m. for, yes, a thirty minute class.

Class schedules alternate depending on the level that I see. Moyanne Section through CP are for thirty minutes and CE1 through CM2 are forty-five minutes—don't worry you will understand the different levels when you get here.

The school I teach at in St. Arnoult is also attached to the Mairie. Here is a picture from the front of the school and town-hall.

I wave goodbye to St. Arnoult at 10:30 a.m. most mornings and head over to Fracasse for our weekly English meeting with Ivan. At 12 p.m. starts midi (lunch and recess) at Fracasse. I stay there to eat and monitor the first lunch service with the littlest kids until 1 p.m. , next, I leave to teach afternoon classes at Tourgeville.

At Tourgeville, I set up my classroom so that I am ready to welcome my combined Moyanne and Grand Section preschool class for thirty minutes. Next, I see a combined class of CP and CE1 for a forty-five minute class. Finally, I see the CE2 students for forty-five minutes as well. Are you tired yet? I find that packing a quick snack of cookies helps at this point.

After I wrap up at Tourgeville, I drive back to Fracasse to pick up the students I take roll for and take them outside for their snack before the after-school activities (APE) begin. The APEs last for one hour. They are enrichment activities for students and are separated by age group. On Mondays, I teach puppet-making with the CM age group.

After APEs, I stay for guarderie, or homework help, until 6 p.m. Since I have so many classes, I only stay for homework help on Monday and Friday nights.

As you can see, Mondays are fairly hectic for me. Later on in the week, I have more breaks some days, and less time on others. Wednesdays, we only teach in the morning and have afternoons off, assuming we do not have a meeting.

My days as a Deauville TA are full, and since I work at three schools, they have me running around a lot. However, keeping busy has made me feel like I have a place here in France. I cannot remember a time here I felt bored.

Pineapple and I dressed up for the Halloween festivities we threw for Tourgeville, St, Arnoult and the maternelle, Brenay. Notice Pinapple's mustache. Is it not dashing?

The first couple of months are already behind us, and I have learned oodles about my role in Deauville. I am sure by the time June arrives, I will have much more sage advice to offer, but for now, I leave you with this:

1. Plan, plan, plan: Don't wait until the last minute. Be ready for your classes so that you can maximize your free time during the week.

2. Be flexible: prepare yourself to think on your feet and to change plans when necessary. What do you do when you arrive to class and find you left your flashcards at home? Answer: You start body parts vocabulary early, since you always bring your arms, legs and head to class.

3. Stop to catch your breath: Sometimes when I am driving from one school to another, stressed about time or a lesson, I will glance out the window, and it hits me: I am living and working in France. The job can be tough, but the rewards are immense; stop and notice them.

Whew. I got stressed just looking at that Monday run-down. You get into the routine fairly fast, and it doesn't seem so crazy. It does keep me on my toes though.

Until January!

Month Two and Off We Go!

Hello and welcome once again! This month it is I (Michelle) who will be writing the blog post and telling you all about our adventures in Deauville thus far. As Rachael explained, there are 4 different schools with Fracasse being our main headquarters. As for myself, I teach at Fracasse with levels CP, CE1, and CE2 (1st grade through 3rd grade). I also teach the ULIS class, the special needs class at Fracasse.

So, after the first preliminary weeks of training, we are now several weeks into teaching our English classes and other various responsibilities. I will say that working with my classes has been incredibly challenging, but also very rewarding. At the beginning in of the year when we discuss lesson plans with Ivan, he has the first several months of each grade level planned out, in which you only need to establish your routines and your authority in the classroom. As the year progresses though, the lesson plans become less and less detailed, and you can begin to start working up your own lesson plans, depending on the pace and needs of your classes. No matter what kind of pace you maintain however, there is still a good outline for each grade about what topics should be covered and tested and when (if that grade does indeed receive tests).  Typically in primary school, lessons will often range from working with worksheets, to reading basic literature, to singing and dancing. The kids especially love singing, no matter what age! The greatest thing that helps in working with the students is communication with both Ivan and your teachers.

As for the other various responsibilities I mentioned, we of course have after school activities (APE), garderie, and sometimes we have morning garderie or bus duty. I myself have bus duty, in which I pick up the children from the bus each Wednesday before school starts. However, beyond the regular teaching and working at school, I've begun to find myself becoming busier with tutoring, babysitting and working with students and families outside of school (included in this is also English circle- which is a great way to make new acquaintances of people who live in town!).

One of the big events we have coming up in Deauville is the big Halloween parade and party at the schools. Halloween here is kind of a big deal. However, this year we will only be able to do it at Tourgeville and St. Arnoult (and maybe even at Maternelle). This is due to the fact that the fall break is very early this year (Oct. 17-Nov. 1), and so planning and prep is going to be very fast paced. Needless to say, I'm definitely looking forward to spending time with the kids. Some of the stations we're planning include photo booths, face painting, and bowling for ghouls! We'll definitely be sure to post some pictures and let you know how it goes in next month's blog post!

 Well that's all for now! À la prochaine!

Salut de la France 2015!

Hello and welcome to all potential and future teachers to the Deauville Program! Michelle and I (Rachael) are excited to keep you up to date on the latest goings-on of our teaching adventures in France. We decided to switch off each month on who will write our blog. This month—as you may have guessed—is Rachael's month, and I will be informing you about our first few weeks here in the lovely Deauville.

Since Michelle and I are both form Louisville, we decided to fly to France together so that we could share in any potential airport headaches together. We also decided to spend a day in Paris before we were due in Deauville. I did not fully appreciate this until we landed in Paris—my suitcase the only thing holding me up—and I realized I did not have to catch a train. We walked around the city and enjoyed a beautiful day before sleeping most of it away in our hostel. I felt much more prepared to make my way to the train station —Gare St. Lazare—the next day and to meet Ivan (our French supervisor) at the Deauville-Trouville station.

The first day we went to the house, picked out our rooms and were given the rest of the day to settle in and relax. Ivan took us to the bank the following day to set up French bank accounts, and we later met up with him at L'école Fracasse to meet the team members we would be working with this year and discuss our training and official positions. With that, we were given the entire weekend to explore and enjoy Deauville.

One of the gorgeous hotels in town, with a cow sculpture exhibition in front of it.
Welcome to Normandy.

Deauville is a small town, which makes pretty much everything within walking distance, and orienting yourself so as not to get lost takes no time at all. The city is well kept, and the buildings beautiful. We had to resist taking pictures of every single building, because they all look like they are out of a fairytale. It is located on the beach, which draws many tourists in the warm months, but its population greatly decreases in the winter.

Here is a picture from the beach on one of our first nights in Deauville.

We met with at the school again, Monday, to learn more about our responsibilities, some of which began the following day. Tuesday was the first day of school, and we began our work as les animatrices, meaning we assist during lunch and recess, and with after-school activities. As of now, we are paired with another experienced animateur/animatrice. We go with them and follow their lead at these times, and help monitor students. We also eat with the students at their tables, helping serve water and some of the food, before cleaning up.

Our training schedule changes each day, but we typically meet with Ivan in the morning at school, and then go with the midi team to help with the afternoon lunch and recess. There is usually a short break or another meeting with Ivan, and then we meet back up with the team to get ready for the after-school activities—A.P.E.

Our meetings with Ivan include talking about the French school system, learning about the different levels of English, looking at lesson plans, riding around in our car and seeing where we are supposed to get gas, etc. For the first three weeks we will train like this before our English classes officially start.

The following are items that you probably are curious about:

The House

One of the best perks about this program is that you are provided with a house. No need to scramble about trying to look for apartments. The house is walking distance from most places you will want to go, and is completely furnished. Rooms include: kitchen, dining room, living room, creepy basement, tiny courtyard, two bathrooms, washing machine, five bedrooms, and two storage rooms. Being in Europe, rooms are smaller than American standards, but we have found there is far more house than you could ever use. Utilities are paid for, and it comes with dishes, linens, oven, refrigerator, television, wifi, etc. We have only been here two weeks and it already feels like a home.

Our sweet little French house. How could we not be happy to live here?

The Schools

There are four teaching positions available, in addition to our work during lunch and after school.

L'école maternelle: Bernay
This is a position at the preschool. It is walking distance from the house, and like all the schools: adorable. We observed here one morning, and the kids were so excited to meet the Americans. We got lots of hugs and kisses and were happy to play games with them at recess. This position also comes with morning guarderie at Fracasse.

L'école Fracasse
There are actually two positions at Fracasse. This is also where you will conduct your after school activities, and your meeting point with Ivan. The first position teaches kindergarten, fist-grade and special education. The second teaches second, third and fourth grade. Fracasse is in the middle of Deauville, and beautiful. This is where you will spend most of your time during the training.

Here is a picture of Fracasse. Pretty much home-base for all things teaching.

St. Arnoult and Tourgeville
The final position actually works at two schools just outside of Deauville. This person naturally has the most access to the car—lucky for us it is no longer a manual. These schools are much smaller than that of Deauville, but run like well-oiled machines. The person in this position will actually teach all levels from preschool through fifth grade. It requires more organization and planning, but the schools you will work at are more than supporting.

In closing, I can say I am very pleased with my decision to come teach in Deauville. Each day I learn more about the city and my position in it, and am constantly welcomed by the people I meet. Our neighbor Patrick waves at us each time we pass his hotel, and the city invited us to attend the American Film Festival. We were welcomed by the mayor at city hall, and in a couple of weeks we will start conducting our English Speaking Circle with the city-employees.

We aren't even finished with September yet, but I can tell this will be a year filled with learning and fun.

Myself in front of the Marie. I told you the buildings are the stuff of fairytales.

Check back for more answers to your questions in the upcoming months! À la prochaine!