Hello world. I woke up at 6h30 this morning. Can you see the red in my eyes?

Another early start to a grim and grey day outside. My classes went pretty well. The first one at 8h00 was the better one, and I felt energized with coffee to talk with the students (1ESA) about facebook. It is a discussion-generator. On that point, I felt like it succeeded and even brought out of the shell some of the reticent girls in my subsequent TLA class (which is a class fulla girls). In that same class of girls, I have a native English speaker (Ellie), who comes from Wales, I assume on an exchange program. Ellie hardly ever participates in the discussions. In fact, never. And she spends time cutting up paper into patterns, etc. But she doesn't seem motivated to do anything in my class unfortunately. And to some extent, I can understand why. I am conducting an ESL class for French students (and she's not French but a native speaker). I wish she would contribute some to the discussion, but she seems to be in her own little world. What do I do to challenge a student that doesn't need the conversational practice? On one note, I could say give her extra things to do on top of what I'm assigning everyone else. But of course, that turns into something very nasty I like to call "busywork." I never like assigning busywork, because I hated it in high school. Perhaps, though, and I'm going to work on this: I can design an assignment that is complementary with what the rest of the class is doing, so that she can chime in during discussions and contribute meaningfully to our discussion. I don't know exactly what that entails. But perhaps I could ask her to contribute her perspective (British-Welsh) to the story. Anyway, I'm thinking "out loud." However, hopefully, there is something I can do to motivate this student to be in my class.

Aside from an early start, the rest of the afternoon was fine. I closed my shutters on my window, turned up my radiator, practiced violin, wrote emails, planned my middle school lesson (which entails US-France stereotypes), and talked to a friend about doing a weekend excursion in Rennes. So this weekend, I will be heading to Rennes to get a taste of a few museums, the Brittany Parliament building, gardens, monuments, and some tasty restaurants. I can't wait to get out of town just to enjoy some change-of-pace from the village life in Mayenne.