j'ai appris les grands mots

Salut!

You know the book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day?  Well, I thought of that book on Tuesday because I had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.  Well, maybe not too too terribly bad in the general scheme of world violence and such, but it was just a day of constant disappointment. 

Classes are currently “pourri” (which means rotten, but I like to think it has a stronger meaning than that).  Apparently the fact that they don’t have Thanksgiving between Halloween and Christmas makes the kids extremely restless.  Read “restless” as agitated, deaf, annoying, and chaotic. 

Well, unfortunately it wasn’t just Tuesday that the classes were like this…the week continued on in a “pourri” manner.  I continued to try to teach in English and French, and the kids continued to ignore me.  Doesn’t that sound like fun?  I guess since I had planned games that I thought would be fun and didactic, I was hoping that the kids would think so too.  I can assure you that they did not.  So I guess I was just consistently disappointed this week as class after class seemed disinterested and distracted.  So in a nutshell, that is why my week reminded me of Alexander’s bad day.

One of the few reassuring factors is that all the teachers are finding their classes to be much the same as I am finding them.  So I’ve learned by now to not to take it personally that the kids are so restless.  At first, I honestly wondered if my French had deteriorated and maybe that was why the kids weren't responding to me; however, a teacher at one of my schools reassured me that the kids are simply not listening and that even the native French speakers are having troubles keeping the kid's attention.  So that doesn’t solve the problem, per say, but misery loves company.

And thank you to those people who helped me keep my chin up throughout the week (you know who you are)!  I’m hoping that once Christmas gets closer, then the kids can focus their attention on something other than poking each other, tattle tailing to me, and doing all-around nonsense.  So Christmas exercises, songs, and vocabulary to come in my classes (quick side note: due to the secular government, the French talk about non-religious aspects of Christmas...because Hanukkah and Ramadan and other religious traditions don't have a popular non-religious side to them, they go unmentioned in the schools.).

Also, it is now officially December and guess what I have!?!  A Christmas calendar!  You know, the ones with the doors and each day you open it up and see what’s inside?  Well, I’ve got one that’s done by a chocolate company.  I took a picture this morning before opening up my first drawer and getting my little "bonhomme de neige" (snowman).  Laura has one as well, and so together we play festive music and make it into a daily ceremony. 

The computer inverted the picture, so the word is actually "Milka" aka the best chocolate ever

Don’t judge, its the little things in life that count when the kids are as pourri as they currently are.  And chocolate fixes everything!

So, here’s to chocolate, well behaved kids, and upcoming vacations!

Keep in touch!