Grey weather put the damper on a Monday morning. Things got better, though. I started my Monday talking about Columbus for the final time. It was unfortunate that I was not able to show my movies or pictures, which made the presentation more boring than usual. In addition, the group was very rowdy-- about 14 students. It was a little rough. This was the first time I had seen this group and I wasn't sure what to say exactly. By the end, I just gave up and let them go to lunch early (about five minutes before the bell). I felt a little defeated. For one thing, I'm going to have to be more firm with them and tell them to be quiet when I'm talking. And for another, I need to make sure that all the technology actually works before I begin talking. Such things will help me to maintain quorum with these students.
After coming home for lunch, I went to Orange Telecom to get my SIM card to put into Emilie's (Bastien's girl friend's) old cell phone that I will use to make calls. I then bought a calling card that will permit me an hour of talking before the middle of December. Now, I can make calls and I feel much safer with a cell phone.
When I arrived back at school, it was raining and I had to slush through the rain. I got my lesson plan together and I finally got my list of students in each of my classes! Marc Esnault put the lists in my mail box, and now I know who's supposed to be in my classes.
I brought my materials to my assigned room and started class with the terminales. They were a little rowdy at the end of the day. But they listened to me. I showed them first a slide show of pictures my brother took when he went to Hollywood. This was my introduction to the cinema lesson. Josh had taken pictures of Beverly Hills, the Chinese Theatre, Kodak Theatre, the Hollywood sign, and Universal Studios. So, I explained to them what these sites meant and then proceeded to talk about films. I handed out a sheet that explained how to describe different films, and then I asked the students to get into pairs to talk about their favorite films. When they were finished, we discussed the films. I explained my choice: The Prestige and showed the trailer of the movie to them. They were enthralled and asked me some questions about the movie. I went around the room asking each pair to talk about their choice. For the movies that were American, I showed the trailers. Everyone seemed to enjoy watching the trailers. At the end, I asked them if they wanted to talk about movies again. They replied, "Yes!" So, it looks like cinema may be a central topic that we will examine. We can talk about scenes, the plot, and character analysis and development. There's so much I think that they can learn about American cinema, and I'm glad to provide the means of showing them movie clips and scenes. This makes me excited!
I'm looking forward to talking to the middle schoolers about Halloween in America tomorrow. Hopefully, they will listen carefully. Until tomorrow.
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