I have now been working at my high school for 2 weeks. So far I have been to classes with students from 16 to 23 years old! lol Some are still here because they have failed or because they have changed their course of study. There are 20 something year olds because my school offers a vocational diploma after their high school diploma.
I have to say so far I've been very shocked with them. Some are very chatty and will talk during the entire period. Others down right insult the teacher to his/her face. Harsh words are exchanged like "ta gueule" (your trap) between teachers and students. This is something I never witnessed in my high school... =/ It's quite an experience. There are always a few students that try very hard and participate, but most are indifferent to the class.
I find there isn't much structure to these English classes. The read an article in a book or a print out and answer questions. They use a lot of FRENCH in class! too much! It goes a lil like this: Teacher speaks English and students answer/ask questions in French. Or Teacher explains everything in French and then students read in English and after that all the discussion is in French with a few words thrown in in English.
I'm only a assistant and I do as told. My tasks so far have been to read and correct students reading. In one class I got to take them out individually and discuss an article read in class. I only talked to 3 of them and most didn't really understand the article. In their favor the article had a lot of business vocabulary. =/ pas facile! (not easy!)
I haven't finished meeting all the classes and so I find myself telling the same story every time. "Hi my name is...I come from...I am...I like...I love...I don't speak French (to force them to speak English)...I am Mex-Amer...I was born in...I moved to the US when...I don't have a boyfriend...No, I'm not looking for one...Yes, I have a sister...Yes, I speak Spanish...I love Paris because..." etc, etc...All of this includes me drawing a map of CA and passing around my Driver's License.
As soon as I say I'm from California the entire class says "oooohhhhHHH!" "I lUVEUH Californee" LOL in their French accents. They all ask me if I've seen stars. The first city they name is LA. When I tell them it takes six hours to get there and there is no train, they are all in shock! =P They ask if I own a gun, if I eat at McDonalds, if I've ever seen a celebrity. They ask me if I watch the Kardashians, The OC, or One Tree Hill. In some classes I admitted to loving Twilight and half of them were outraged and wanted to throw me out, a handful of girls in each class were immediately in love with me.
If they stop asking me questions I have them introduce themselves: name, age, background. My school is very diverse. There are lots of North Africans (mostly Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco). I get the occasional Asian in one class and there are even a few South East Asians. They get very shy when talking about their background and that is why I'm very open about mine. I praise their bilingualism and try to throw in some of my knowledge about their cultures. Bollywood, pinoy food, random words in Mandarin, my basic knowledge of Arabic, etc...they are immediately very impressed and happy with me.
The teachers:
They have all been very welcoming. We have coffee breaks together (the teacher's lounge has a coffee vending machine with hot chocolate and tea available). Its a 50 cents a cup. At least once a week we have had lunch in the cafeteria. There is a table in the back where all the professors sit together. The cafeteria has real cutlery, dishes, and cups! It's a full meal! You have a salad, meat (usual med rare, but for American standards...rare!), desert, a bread roll, and cheese! It's a great experience! and in my opinion the food is good, but not very vegetarian friendly. The meal is 2.50euro. So cheap!
We have a small computer lab in the lounge, but the computers are pretty old the monitors are huge (no flat screens here!) and they are pretty slow. I have a small mail box and a decent sized locker, which I still have to put my name on. =) Some students say hi to me around school others look at me and immediately turn the other way.
Interesting to note: There are no school dances, no year books, no school newspaper, no student government, no clubs, and no sport teams. The closest thing to student government that they have is a class rep. The rep "defends" the students during teacher meetings about the progress of students and the school year in general. It's very different from an American high school. No teacher has a permanent classroom. They all have to move around every time. Tuesday all the teachers are here all day (about 60 teachers for around 500 students). As you might imagine finding an empty classroom on that day for your class is difficult. I ran around the building with a teacher for 15min trying to find an empty classroom.
