Tuesday 3rd
CE2 – I began the lesson the same way I usually do with asking for the date and the weather in English. The class are getting the hang of this although they seemed to get ‘it is windy’ and ‘it is cloudy’ confused. This could be because they both end the same way and they are not as recognisable as sunny and rainy. After clearing this up, I continued with the topic of items of clothing. I went over the vocabulary using flashcards with pictures of clothes on them and ensured that the class were saying the right words and pronouncing them properly. I then asked them what they were wearing and they had to respond appropriately using full sentences rather than just the vocabulary. They found this easy to do but they have a tendency to copy each other’s answers, probably because it is easier than thinking of their own! I then handed out a simple crossword for the children to do which used the vocabulary we had been learning. The class found this straight forward as all of them had come across a crossword before and knew how they worked.
CM2 – the class teacher wanted to progress from our previous lesson about school in Scotland by getting the children to write simple sentences in English on the topic. I wrote out some sentences, that I thought would be at an appropriate level of difficulty for the class to copy, on the board. For example, ‘Beth’s school is very big, with almost 600 pupils’. The teacher explained to me that it would be too confusing for the children if I wrote in the past tense, so I kept all of my sentences in the present tense. Another issue that we came across, and that I find myself coming across a lot in the school, is that the children struggle to understand my writing. In France, the children learn two ways of writing. They learn the way we would learn in Scotland, but they also learn French script. This looks very impressive but it is also complicated to do. In Scotland, I would usually write on the board without my letters joining up so that it is easier for pupils to read, but in France it is the opposite situation. I need to write with my letters joined up for them to be able to read it!
CE1 – CP were out at a school trip to the local library at the time I usually go to teach them, therefore I swapped CE1 and CP’s English times for the day so I could still see both classes that day. With CE1 I told the class about Scotland and what my education was like. I began by introducing Great Britain to the children, and telling them about Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales. They found this confusing initially as these countries obviously have different names in French. I used a map on the projector in order to point to the countries and give the class a visual clue of what I was talking about I then told them that I live in Edinburgh but go to university in Dundee and I had to show them where these were on a map of Scotland. I showed the class pictures of my primary and high schools, and explained to them what age I was when I was to these. Again, they found the thought of wearing a uniform to school very amusing!
CM1 – I began a new topic with CM1 which Madame Royer had requested I start. This was positions of objects or things, for example, the mouse is in, on, under, behind, between, or beside the bed. Firstly, I used a box and a cross drawing on the board to demonstrate these positions, by drawing a cross in a box, the sentence would be ‘the cross is in the box’ etc. The class picked this up well, however it was clear that they were getting mixed up with between, beside and behind, as they look and sound very similar. These words needed some more repetition and examples in order for the children to understand which was which. I gave out a worksheet with two different tasks on it. The first task was to locate ‘Twit’ the clown. The class had to look at the pictures on the sheet and decide whether Twit was under, in, on, behind, beside or between the table/tables. I asked them to read out these sentences, as I could tell that they were going to find the words clown and table difficult to pronounce and I would need to give them help with this. They then had to write their answers on the sheet and as I walked around the room to see how they were getting on I could see that the class were still getting confused with beside, behind and between. In order to get the children to understand the difference I asked a few of them to stand up and demonstrate these words. For example, Person A is behind Person B, or, Person A is between Person B and Person C. This definitely seemed to be easier for the class to understand.
Wednesday 4th
Today, a few of the classes have sport, which is normal for a Wednesday. Due to this I did not teach any English, but I was able to observe my CM1 classes’ lessons. I was glad to have the opportunity to do this, as the timetable that the teachers created for me requires me to be in different classes all the time, which does not leave me much time to observe. The CM1 class were doing some French dictation, which they call dictée. This is something they do daily, and spend a lot of time on. It involves the teacher reading out a passage and the children having to write down what they hear. I feel that the children do a lot of French, and not much time is left for wider curricular areas. The CM2 teacher explained to me that in general, French children find French very difficult, as compared to English, there are so many grammatical rules and different tenses that the children have to consider. He said that due to this, French exam results across the country are renowned for being poor compared with other subjects. I considered that this was probably why it is so important for the children to have a lot of French in their daily schedule. He also said that this is why the children do not have that much English in their timetable in Primary school, there is not enough time to focus on English when their French still needs work. In secondary school, the amount of English that is taught increases from 1.5 to 5 hours, due to the children’s French being better.
Thursday 5th
CE2 – Today we began a new topic which was classroom objects. I have already done this topic with CE1 therefore I felt comfortable with the vocabulary and used the same method to introduce it, which was by picking up objects and asking them what they thought they were called. I wrote the correct names on the board, and quickly realised that they had done this topic before, as they were telling me the answers from looking back in their jotters! I asked them to close their jotters so that they could at least try to remember the words for certain objects. They found pen and pencil easy but had never heard of highlighters or sellotape before. Again, I asked the class to repeat the words after me because I feel it is important that they hear the correct way to say the words a lot. I then thought it was best that before they do any speaking themselves, they should write down the vocabulary in their jotters. As I walked around the class checking their jotters, I found that a lot of them were struggling with the spelling of certain words. I think it was mainly because of the way I write on the board, which is different to how their teacher writes. Certain letters look different and this confuses the children. I had to spend a lot of time correcting spelling which also meant I had to use the French alphabet, which is getting easier as the days go by.
CP – today was focussed on revising everything I have taught the children so far. The class teacher was keen for me to consolidate this and check for their understanding before we move on to any new vocabulary. So as each group came and sat with me on the carpet, I asked each of them their names and ages. I made sure to clearly pronounce ‘what is your name?’ and ‘how old are you?’, to ensure that they understand that I was asking different questions. I noticed that a lot of the children were saying ‘am I seven’ rather than ‘I am seven’, and were getting the words muddled up. After a lot of repetition, this was sorted out. After this I asked the children to count to 10 for me. Often, they try to do this as fast as they can which means that they are not really pronouncing the words properly, so to slow them down, I held up my fingers and that was their cue to say the number. After this I held up my fingers but in a random order, which threw the children off initially but I knew that if I did this they would have to pay more attention, rather than just chanting out the numbers in the normal order. I can tell that the children are recalling the numbers a lot faster now that we have done this exercise for several days.
CM1 – We continued with positions today, so I reminded the class of the words we learnt yesterday which were on, in, under, between, behind and beside. I handed out some worksheets for the class, which I thought could be quite challenging for them. The sheet was titled ‘Where are the Pets?’, and it had different animals located in different areas of a house. This meant that even more vocabulary was introduced to the children such as cupboard, bed, chair and fridge. Before going over this, I made sure that they were comfortable with the positions vocabulary, as I did not want the class to be confused. One by one, I read out the question and asked for an answer with the children speaking in sentences, rather than just saying the name of the animal. After we had completed the worksheet as a class, Madame Royer asked the children if they had any questions for me about the vocabulary they had learnt. This then encouraged the children to ask me for the English for lots of words that they obviously knew in French, like pillow, mattress, attic, door, vase, blanket…. The list goes on! I spent a while at the front of the class translating household items for the children, until eventually they were asking me about different words like star, spider, even moustache. It was then that Madame Royer thought we should probably end the lesson, before the class got off task.
Friday 6th
CE2 – The class teacher came to tell me at the beginning of the day that she needed to phone a few people as it was an emergency. She said she would be back to the class as soon as she could but otherwise the class was under my control. This daunted me because she is always usually in the classroom with me when I am teaching, and is my translator when I need it! I also wasn’t prepared for this, but luckily, I knew what exercise the class were supposed to be doing today. Unfortunately, the pages had not been photocopied, so I asked Jessica the classroom assistant if she could do that for me. Whilst that was happening, I filled the time by asking the children for the date and the weather in English. They are definitely getting the hang of this vocabulary now, which is probably due to us going over it daily. I then ensured that the class knew the vocabulary that was needed for the worksheet they were about to do, which were things like ‘teacher’, ‘desk’ and ‘chair’. They copied these words into their jotters after repeating them after me several times. I asked them to do this individually as well because it can be hard to tell if they are all saying the words properly when they all say them at once. I can tell they are not so keen to do this but they know it is just to help them with their pronunciation. After this, the class completed the worksheet that I gave to them, it was another crossword which included the words we had learned on Wednesday as well as today. They completed this quickly but again, there was a few queries from the class about my writing on the board. For the next two weeks, my aim will be to write so that the children can read it!
CM2 – I read the class a book called ‘The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash’ in English. I was conscious that I needed to read this book slowly, as a lot of the vocabulary and sentences were very difficult. Mr Apruncule explained the meaning of the title to the class, so that they would have a small clue as to what I was talking about! I read the class the story and afterwards I could tell they were all very confused, so the teacher went over the book in French with them. They could guess most of the nouns in the book, but it was the verbs like throwing, eating and crying, that the children found difficult to translate.
CP – I wanted to do a different activity with the children today, as we had been doing bingo for a while and I thought the children would start to find it too easy and therefore boring. I had the class in three groups as usual, and with each group I began by asking them all for their ages. I then asked them to sit ‘dans un cercle’ so that we could play the new game that I had thought of. Carrying on the theme of ‘Joe the Pirate’, I thought it would be fun to ask the children to collect “treasure”, using colourful building blocks. I asked each child one by one to find me ‘2 pieces of treasure’ or ‘7 pieces of treasure’ etc. The first group found this very easy, but the second and third group not so much. It took them a little bit longer to figure out what number I was saying to them. I can tell that the class teacher has given me groups of children in terms of ability, as the first group always seem to pick up new vocabulary and understand games well, whereas the last group need a bit more time and repetition. The next time I went around the circle, I asked the children to find me ‘one blue and two oranges’ for example. This meant that they were having to use their knowledge of English numbers and colours together, which I think they found difficult at first as it was double the amount fo words to translate. However, I think this challenging element of the game made it more engaging for them and they found it good fun whilst still practicing a lot of the vocabulary they have learnt since I have been at the school.
By the end of each week I am definitely noticing a difference in my understanding of French, even if it is just a few more phrases here and there. I feel that I don’t have to spend such a long time thinking about what someone has said to me, the words are becoming a lot more familiar. I also feel that I am very comfortable in the school now, this has been helped by the teachers and children, who have made me feel like part of the school from the very first day I got there. I am always greeted in the morning and at the end of the day by everyone, and I get the sense that the children enjoy their English time with me. When the children ask me questions I am much more able to answer them than I was on day one! This gives me a sense of achievement, and it means that I can communicate easier with the children which is important to me. I think that I am understanding the rules of the school and the way that things are done differently in France. For example, children are not allowed to ask to go to the bathroom during lessons, they must go at break times. This has been helped by the teachers, who do not hesitate to tell me all about how things work in their school and in French schools in general. Hearing their opinions about education and primary school in France is very interesting and it has encouraged me to consider how I feel about education in Scotland. I would say that there are clear aspects of primary school in France that are taken more seriously than in Scotland, like handwriting and dictation. On the other hand, in Scotland I would say we take the school image more seriously by wearing uniform.
