Still unsure about the next couple months. I'm hoping that I'll get to stay through the month of May. Signs seem to be promising, so I think I can have the peace of mind that it will work out. Paris doesn't seem to be on my radar screen this weekend. Knowing that my professor is booked makes things kind of awful. Plus, I have to pay him back for the play ticket I didn't even get to use... such is life. I'm not letting these situations bog me down. I have every reason to be happy, knowing where I'm going to be for the next six years. That, in itself, is a reason to rejoice in the Lord, seeing as I am a long-term planner who needs a definitive plan and direction.
Teaching continues to come with joys and challenges. Monday mornings are always the worst for me and this week, it didn't get any better than the last time. It was worse since the juniors (1eres) completely ignored my assignments and refused to work after telling me that they had lied about wanting to listen to Justin Bieber. Une blague! A joke. Well, of course, I was livid. This is my least favorite group of students to work with at the high school and they just had to put the cherry on top of a nice gotcha sundae and throw it in my face! Powerless, I just didn't know what to do. So, I asked them what they wanted to listen to. Dissenting opinion echoed in the chamber and I was forced to let them talk and head out the door without a lesson. Most of the time, with this group, they don't give a s*** so it kind of rubs off on me... I'm just going to show them a movie for the next three weeks before we go on the London trip. Maybe that will shut their little mouths up, especially since it's a suspense/psychological thriller that I have shown to my terminale students, "The Prestige."
As for the terminale students, it's always a good time. I talked about the issues of masculinity and femininity as they are depicted in popular culture starting with Disney movies. The students started by listing stereotypes of men and women in French culture and then we proceeded to watch (1) a video with Disney male characters and their stereotypical six-pack abs, strong, mighty heroes who objectify women, (2) a commercial showing the man as a beer drinking person who uses women to his own benefit, (3) a movie that talked about women and their role according to the media. Using the ideas about masculinity and femininity, we talked about two striking images that would help these kids to formulate ideas surrounding documents for their English oral exam. The first image showed a group of manly men looking at the reader with a message, "Are you man enough to be a nurse?" The students responded to the image. Next, we looked at an image of an over-muscular, almost steroid-taking looking woman and contrasting that with a man with his shirt off sunbathing and having a massage. From both of my groups of terminales, I got some good responses and it was encouraging.
Tonight, my secondes said goodbye to the Accompagnement Personnalise. Still trying to figure out what exactly the title of this course is supposed to mean... I assume it simply means an oral production class. Anyway, the activity today was almost 95 percent the students doing. I gave instructions and gave advice. The students plunged in and imagined their future lives in the year 2025. They created an imaginary profile. Then they each acted as journalists and documented interviews between each other asking each other questions. It was magnificent. A time-tested success story that was a good way to end our "oral production in English" or just English conversation class.
Tomorrow, I will have a chance to say goodbye to the German assistant as she's leaving this Friday. We're having a night for the assistants at the Creperie Saint Martin across the river. Looking forward to some fellowship and fun. The following night, Thursday, I will get to go to a church member's house for dinner and some more fellowship. This seems to be the week of these enjoyable soirees, anything to brighten my once dampened and dimmed spirits.
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