A Little Something About Work

Vir and I reading Jane Austen on the way back from a day in Paris
(totally unrelated to this post)

Some of my blog silence lately has come from frustration with my job here and being overly aware about how much I've already complained about the disorganization, too many students, and general functioning (or not) of the lycee.  I'm grateful, I really am, and so hate when I find myself complaining with the other assistants or friends. This post is pretty honest about my job (I'm not even going to get started on the apartment...), just be warned; I'm not really looking for sympathy, just wanting to share my experience with anyone out there.

Back up: I am the only English assistant at the high school (lycee) here in Semur.  There is another English assistant that works at the primary school but no one for the middle schools.  There are assistants for both German and Spanish classes at the lycee and middle school.  All students are required to take English class throughout middle and high school and then choose from Spanish or German in addition.  Also, the lycee is technically comprised of two schools: the professional (think technical skills and hospitality) and the general (regular studies, more like a US high school).  There are 5 English teachers at the general school and 3 at the professional school, plus a handful of other teachers dedicated to subjects like business and teach in English, but I can't work with them.  I work with 37 or so different groups of 10-17 students, which amounts to almost 500 students.  However, I am only legally allowed to work 12 hours a week.  Doesn't quite add up does it?  Well, it works out that I see each student about every 4-6 weeks for 50 minutes.  Some I work with some every 2 weeks for 25 minutes ("Hello, what did you do this weekend?  Oh, class is over already, go back to your teacher!")  Doesn't make sense does it?  Nope.  One week ago, I worked with a group of students for the first time EVER--it was the middle of January, but due to my ridiculous schedule, holidays, and testing, we only just met.  Ridic.

When organizing my schedule, the English teachers basically just gathered all of their classes and divided my time in a way so as many students as possible get to "work" with me, which might be good and promote equality in some ways but proves to be completely ineffective and a waste of time.  I don't have a partner teacher and never actually work with the teachers (at the general school).  I work on my own with a bunch of sophomores, tons of juniors, and just a few groups of seniors.  For the most part, the sophomores and juniors are nice and somewhat interested in participating but the seniors are, for lack of better words, the bottom of the barrel--a step above the pro school but not taking the same bacc (exam) as the rest of the seniors (whom I do NOT work with).  Some aren't even being tested in English.  When I asked to work with the seniors being tested in English as well as the classes of juniors specifically studying English (they have an extra few hours of English instruction each week, by CHOICE), I was told that I "don't have the right" because it wouldn't be "fair to the others."  For the record, most other English assistants in the region work with these groups that I'm not allowed to.  Yea, I don't understand it either.   

Do I work hard and try to plan interesting and culturally-relevant lessons in English that the students will learn from and maybe enjoy?  Yes.  Do I think the students I see once a month for 50 minutes actually retain much that helps their English in the long term?  No. 

Like any good citizen of the world (ha!), I'm learning to adapt instead of getting/staying mad.

Instead of stressing about language level improvement and a crazy system, I am focusing on giving my students a bit of cross-cultural awareness.  They walked away from the Thanksgiving lessons knowing that we eat a strange dish called pumpkin pie and watch football, which is something, but I doubt it ultimately helped their English levels.  The same goes for my lessons on MLK Jr, Shel Silverstein (I taught the students the words "aint," "wanna," and "gonna" and we reviewed other contractions), and French-American stereotypes.  I think many of the students like coming to my class because it's something different from their regular lessons and I usually stand in front of the group acting ridiculous in an attempt for them to understand what I'm saying [through this I am also gaining a deeper appreciation of my high school French teacher].  After years on the SEAS mission team and Senegal, I don't have a problem with being a little silly and getting people to laugh with me.  They seem to enjoy the silly pronunciation exercises and tongue twisters I give them and are amazed when I explain about the costs of university in America.  After a funny class on US-France stereotypes, the German assistant ( my roommate, Monika) overheard one of the students saying "Vraiment, l'assistante d'Anglais est franchement cool!" (apparently I'm really cool, haha!)  This was a great compliment and made me smile about my silliness, but I wish I felt like I was actually able to help them improve their English rather than just being "cool."

After having such a positive, though difficult, but ultimately extremely productive Peace Corps service, it has been frustrating to find my attempts somewhat blocked here in France, without anyone much caring.  Relationships and community are important to me, which I think is part of why seeing the same students so rarely is tough for me.  Not seeing the students very often means it's hard to get them to open up to me and real discussions are that much harder to come by.

For the record, I think that most of the English teachers are very nice, and a few I truly like a lot.  I know whose students are the most motivated and excited to work with me (though I see them less often than I wish) and I am genuinely sad that I rarely get to see them.  I started a kind of English club discussion group (off my contract) as an opportunity to see some of these students more often.  We sit around and chat about n'importe quoi, which I really enjoy because it allows us to all relax a little and get to know each other.

I'm glad that I came here and tried out the job.  The town is great as are the other assistants.  However, I will have a lot of feedback and suggestions for the teachers, lycee, and rectorat (kind of like the regional district) about how to make the work of the English assistant in Semur a little more effective (two assistants, or just one or two levels of students at a time, more frequently).  This has definitely been a learning experience and is getting me excited to hopefully start grad school in the fall (prayers for that please!).

D'accord, that's all I've got for you!