Written Reflection

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The nature of my placement has allowed me to explore and learn about France’s culture, language and education system. I feel that my placement school has given me many opportunities to communicate and work with different people, whether it be children, members of staff in the school or parents in the playground. In this case, these are people that do not speak my language. This has been challenging but I feel it has had a positive impact on me. Being in France has allowed me to realise that communication with others is not always about the words we speak. Gestures, facial expression, and different aspects of speech such as tone and volume are what allow us to communicate how we feel about things. Being able to work in a teaching team and bring lesson ideas and plans to the school from a Scottish perspective has given me a sense of achievement and an increase in self-confidence. Presenting myself or standing in front of a class of children was something that I did not find intimidating before beginning the learning from life placement, but I had predicted that doing this with groups of children who speak French could be quite overwhelming. With the help of the teachers in my school, who I feel I have built good relationships with over the course of my placement, I have discovered that I can successfully teach English to French children. This has allowed my confidence to grow over the course of the 6 weeks that I have been in the school. I feel that this has shown in my teaching, as I have explored new ways to teach vocabulary and been more adventurous with tasks and activities as time has gone on.

My behaviour management has been tested throughout my placement, as this is an aspect of teaching that can be challenging. It was made even more challenging due to the language barrier between me and the children, which meant that I had to use all of my communicational skills, as my words were often not enough in certain situations.

In terms of the education system, I have been able to see a glimpse of what life is like in Primary schools in France. Comparing the French curriculum to the Curriculum for Excellence in Scotland, I feel that in France, the focus is very much on French and Maths as the two core subjects, without much inclusion of other subjects in their daily timetable. Through reflection and experiencing a different curriculum, I realised that my professional and personal preference is to have a wider variety of subjects taught in the day.

The main thing that I will take from my placement is the realisation that learning a second language in primary school is really important. I have learnt that through lots of speaking and repetition, even the youngest children in the school can learn a new language, it is not just for the older pupils.I feel that if a teacher shows enthusiasm for a language that they are teaching, the children in their class are more likely to be enthusiastic about learning this new language, and hopefully continue to learn it after they leave school. My LFL placement has heightened my enthusiasm for learning languages regularly, throughout the primary curriculum, and I aim to demonstrate this to my classes in the future.

CV

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Beth Arbuckle

b.c.arbuckle@dundee.ac.uk

07540 827 665

56B Reform Street, Dundee, DD1 1RX

Key Skills

Communication

  • Communicate effectively with teachers, colleagues and other professionals during school placements in order to meet the needs of pupils.
  • Politely and professionally, listen and respond to colleagues and member enquiries at my part time job as a kids’ coach at a leisure centre.
  • Communicate with the members of my university netball team on and off court by discussing tactics and implementing them through play.

Organisation

  • Able to manage my time effectively in order to meet university deadlines and take part in extra-curricular activities such as netball and golf to maintain a healthy study to life balance.
  • Plan lessons and teaching that meets the experiences and outcomes expected in the Curriculum for Excellence and that particular school.
  • Organise large groups of children aged between 3 and 11, plan activities and think through daily routines for the holiday camps that took place at my part time job at David Lloyd leisure.

Interpersonal

  • Create positive relationships with the children from my placement schools and part time job through inclusive practice.
  • Use behaviour management strategies and reward systems consistently to encourage high standards and positive behaviour.

Teamwork

  • Enjoy working as a member of a team with my university netball team, in schools and at my part time job as a kids coach.
  • Work efficiently with peers on my university course in order to create and deliver presentations.

 

Education

 2016-2020      University of Dundee        MA (Hons) Primary Education       On going

Education modules have included, discovering mathematics, teaching across the curriculum and Values: Self, Society and the Profession.

Additional module in Psychology.

2010-2016    Craigmount High School, Edinburgh

2016 – Advanced Highers: Geography and Physical Education (C)

2015 – Highers: Geography(A), Physical Education(A), Mathematics(B), English(B), Biology(B)

2014 – 8 national 5s including French and chemistry (7 As, 1 B).

Work Experience

 April/May 2017   Teaching Placement (as part of my degree), St. Andrews RC Primary, Dundee

I taught a class of primary 5 pupils for a six-week period. During this, I built a good relationship with my class and planned a wide variety of lessons to teach, including the subjects maths, art and science. I developed excellent time and behaviour management skills throughout this, having to sometimes deal with difficult behaviour and plan my days in advance. I was involved in the whole school show where I made props and costumes and encouraged pupils to perform well and enjoy themselves, which allowed me to display creativity and to set a positive example for the children.

November 2015   Teaching Placement (work experience), Corstorphine Primary School, Edinburgh

I volunteered at my local primary school twice a week for around six months. During this time I worked with a primary 2 class and able to observe a range of different teaching strategies and learn how to plan and deliver lessons to suit early years pupils. I worked well as part of the teaching team, offering help where it was needed and assisting the class teacher with activities that the class did. I developed excellent my leadership and communication skills by helping the class through tasks and activities.

September 2014 – September 2017   Kids Coach, David Lloyd leisure, Edinburgh

I developed excellent customer service skills by attending to customers needs and answering their questions. I learned how to work effectively within a team and with my other colleagues in the company. I am confident in delivering activities classes to children aged 3-11 and communicating with parents and guardians with any queries they may have, this means that I have good leadership skills and can communicate with people of all ages. My organisational skills were enhanced as I delivered birthday parties and holiday camps as part of a small team for members and non-members of the club.

Skills and Interests

Netball: I have played netball competitively since the age of 10 and I am now a member of Dundee University Netball club in the 2nd out of 4 teams. I also used to play for Edinburgh club and Edinburgh District at U15 and U17 level. During this, I have been placed into different teams with lots of different people and this has enhanced my teamwork and communication skills.

Music: I have a keen interest for live music, having been to various concerts over the past few years. As well as enjoying live music, I played the violin during primary school and throughout high school. I learned many musical techniques, for example being able to read music.

 

 

 

 

Identification of Learning Opportunities

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  • Being an English language assistant – in my previous placements I have taught English to my classes, but a new experience for me will be to teach English outside of Scotland, to children who do not speak English. The school I am going to is not an international school therefore all of the children will only speak French. Being an English language assistant is different to teaching English because the language will be a lot simpler, mainly consisting of vocabulary and short, useful greetings and phrases. It will also mean that I won’t be teaching other subjects such as maths and science, as the vocabulary will be too difficult for me to be able to teach.
  • Learning the French Language – having studied French at high-school to national 5 level, I feel that I have a good idea of the basics of the French language. In terms of conversational French, I think I will be very much a beginner. This will be challenging but I think spending 6 weeks in a French primary school will allow me to listen to how the language is supposed to sound and to practice speaking French in a friendly environment where learning is encouraged.
  • Primary Curriculum in France – during my first-year placement I was given a good view of how the Scottish curriculum (Curriculum for excellence) works and how it is implemented in schools. I was also able to practice this in my teaching and explore the different curricular areas. Teaching in a different country will mean that I will learn about the French curriculum and how it compares to the Curriculum for Excellence.

Identification of Skills and Knowledge to be Developed

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  • By using research and evidence that I gather I will be able to make decisions and make choices within my placement using a rational and critical approach.
  • I want to be able to create and justify my own opinion and personal stance on educational issues, particularly those surrounding my placement, by gathering appropriate research through reading, having different experiences, and listening to others’ opinions.
  • I will be able to self-criticise through reflection and set myself goals in order to improve my skills and knowledge throughout my experience.
  • Increase my understanding of education as a life-long process and not merely taking place in the classroom but at every opportunity.
  • Knowledge of the French language and curriculum is to be developed throughout this placement. I will do this through oral communication and by researching and having an active interest in my surroundings.

 

French Handwriting

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One of the first things that I noticed when I began my placement at L’Ecole Guernazelles, was the children’s handwriting. I was so impressed with my CM1 class and how neat and sophisticated their handwriting was. I compared it to my Scottish primary 5s last year, and considered that this was very impressive for their age. I couldn’t believe the style and detail that was put into every word and how careful the children were with their writing. I have noticed that on the wall of every classroom in my school there is a big poster with the alphabet on it, and how it should look in this style of handwriting. 

This is an example of what these posters look like. I think this handwriting looks very nice and definitely helps the pupils’ writing to become more sophisticated. But I wondered if this was really necessary. In my opinion, surely making sure a child’s spelling is at a good standard before trying to get them to write in such a complicated way. I tried this style of writing myself and have found it quite difficult. Obviously it would take a lot of practice.

I have also noticed that this is the style of writing that the teachers use to write on the board all of the time. This was problematic for me at the beginning of placement because it meant that the children could not read my writing if I wrote on the board. I knew that I would have to practice this style of handwriting and implement it in my teaching. I have been trying to write in my notebook using this style and I am starting to find it easier. The children are also able to see what I have written on the board a lot easier now, and this makes my lessons flow much better, as I don’t have to stop to spell words out nearly as much anymore.

I watched a video called ‘French – Teaching Handwriting’ which is part of a series called ‘How do they do it in….?’, which explored handwriting in the French primary school. It explained that in France handwriting is taught in a formalised manner that allows children to be creative; if their handwriting is good they won’t be held back in being creative. This style of handwriting has been used for sixty years and it comes from a font called “La Ronde”. Handwriting is seen as very important in middle school, and children can be marked down if theirs is not up to scratch. This is why handwriting is taken so seriously in French schools.

  • teachfind (2007) France – Teaching Handwriting. Available at: http://archive.teachfind.com/ttv/www.teachers.tv/videos/france-teaching-handwriting.html (Accessed: 15/04/2018)

Week 5 of Placement – 9th to the 13th of April

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Week 5 of Placement – 9th to the 13th of April

Monday 9th

CE2 – this morning I went into the class but they were not quite ready for me to begin as there was some registration issues that Madame Delaroche had to deal with. I began as usual by asking for the date and weather in English, which I write on the board and the class copy into their jotters. I think the children enjoy this challenge at the beginning of the day. I wanted to continue with classroom objects, and Madame Delaroche had a new worksheet for the class to do. It involved me reading out certain objects and saying, “Have you got a pen?”, “yes, I have” and “no, I haven’t”. I thought that this would be quite difficult to explain to the class but they seemed to understand what I was trying to say pretty quickly. They had to complete the worksheet and after this I asked them what classroom objects they did or didn’t have and they would have to reply “yes, I have” or “no, I haven’t”. The teacher then explained to me that her class and the CE1 class are going on a school trip next week and therefore this would be my last week with the class. Due to this, she was keen for me to move on to a new topic that the class have never done before, which was animals. I began with Pets and farm animals, as I thought the children would perhaps already know the English vocabulary for these. I used flashcards with pictures of animals on them to show the class, and they could have a guess at what they thought the word for the animal was in English. The class enjoyed this challenge, and as they said the animals, I wrote them on the board, in order for the children to copy the words into their jotters with the correct spelling.

CM2 – CM2 began a new topic today as well, which was actions. For example, “I wake up”, “I brush my teeth”, “I go to school”. I began by reading out all of the phrases on the worksheet to the class and they repeated them back to me. Mr Apruncule and I ensured that they were saying the phrases properly.  The class were then given another worksheet that had sentences on it which asked them what they did in the morning, at midday, in the afternoon and the evening. The task was to write appropriate sentences in order to answer these questions. The children found this straight forward although some children challenged themselves by writing more than one phrase for each question.

 

 

CP – I wanted to continue with the game that I had played with the class on Friday, as I felt they were enjoying it but there was room for the children to become more familiar with hearing the vocabulary come from me instead of reading it. The children recalled the exercise well, but today I felt that it wasn’t their understanding of the game that was the problem. I could tell that the children were excitable, even with the first group. This isn’t usually the case, as it is usually the last group that are restless because they have already been working for almost an hour. Problems that I came across with the children were them throwing the small coloured blocks that I laid out, shouting over each other and generally not being on task. I tried using all of my French phrases and told the children that they would have to go back to their seats if they didn’t listen to me. Eventually Madame Girault could see that the children were not behaving, and so she came over to the group and told them firmly that if they did not behave properly then there would be no English for today. This panicked the children, as I know that they enjoy it when I come to the class, and so after this I had their attention. It was a similar situation with the next two groups, where because we had done that particular game before, they did not feel they needed to pay as much attention. I feel that now that I am nearing the end of my placement, the children are becoming more familiar with me. Perhaps due to this they are becoming more relaxed and are falling back into a type of behaviour that they would not have demonstrated in my first couple of weeks. I have ensured that I build positive relationships with the children by always greeting them and trying to have small conversations in French with them, but not to the point of them seeing me as a ‘pal’. I find that no matter how firm I am with the children I still cannot get them to behave as well as their class teacher can. Perhaps this is because I have limited French phrases that I can use in order to get their attention! This is something that I will try to work on over my last two weeks.

 

CM1 – The class had been doing point plotting and directions in their maths lesson earlier on in the day, therefore Madame Royer asked if I would do a similar thing with them, but in English. She had printed off worksheets for me that were about an Easter egg hunt, where there was a grid with eggs hidden in it and directions for the children to follow. For example, they had to go “south-west to the tree” or “east to the statue” and write down the correct points (e.g. 6F or 8D). In order to make this task easier for the class, I began by checking that they knew what an Easter egg hunt was. Once they understood this, I drew a compass on the board and taught them the vocabulary for North, East, South, West and so on. We went through the questions one by one and it seemed easy enough at the beginning, however we found that we had made a mistake because one of the points did not align properly. Madame Royer and I managed to figure out where we had gone wrong, and made sure the children had the right answers on their worksheet. In situations like that I realise that it is a lot easier to communicate when you and the teacher can both speak the same language. We were able to quickly figure out what had gone wrong with the task and fix it so that the children could have the right answers in their books.

Tuesday 10th

CE2 –  Today I taught the class the vocabulary for wild animals, they found this fun because a lot of the words in English are similar in French.  I did this by using flashcards again, and then stuck these up on the board and wrote the word in English next to it so it was clear for the children. I found that today the children did not ask me how to spell the words as much as last week, which must have meant they could read my writing on the board! This gave me a sense of achievement, as I have been practicing my French handwriting. I gave out some more worksheets for the children to fill in that encouraged them to practice their wild animals vocabulary. I think Madame Delaroche likes the class to use worksheets, as they can stick these into their jotters after they have finished them.

CM2 – We looked at a new ‘Kevin and Kate’ script today which was called, ‘The Haunted Castle’. I could tell the children found this exciting as they often read out the same scripts over and over again. The teacher asked them to read the scripts first before I did, to see if they could understand any of it. I then read out the dialogue for the class, letting them hear the correct pronunciation of every word. They tried to give the dialogue a go but they struggled with pronouncing the words ‘this’ and ‘idea’. I had to explain that it is not “i-dee” but it is “i-dee-a”. The class practiced this a few times, standing at the front of the class in groups of three at a time. After they had got the hang of the dialogue for that particular script, Mr Apruncule wanted the class to practice saying the phrases we had learnt from yesterday, such as ‘I get up’ and ‘I watch TV’. One of the children had to ask the question ‘what do you do in the morning?’ for example, and one of their friends would have to read out their answer. There were some harder questions at the bottom of the worksheet such as ‘what do you sometimes do?’ which the class found slightly harder to answer, because they had to say, ‘I sometimes read a book’. I find that the class are quite good at saying sentences in English for their year group. I think this is because their teacher takes English seriously and ensures that the children are pronouncing words properly and speaking in full sentences rather than giving one word answers.

 

CP – I gave the class a presentation about Scotland today. The presentation covered where Scotland is, where I live, who I live with, my primary school, Scottish food and Dundee University. As I was giving the presentation, using simple English sentences, the class teacher Madame Girault was giving the children the translation in French. She would allow the children to try and guess what I had said before giving them the answer. They found this very difficult, as because of their poorer reading skills they could not read what I had typed on the presentation, therefore were just trying to make sense of what I was saying. They had a lot of questions to ask about my presentation. They wanted to know about my family, and they found the concepts of wearing a uniform to school and living at University very strange! They did not like the idea of living away from their parents. I find introducing Scotland and our school system to the children a lot of fun, as it is interesting to see their reactions to how things are done differently. I enjoy answering their questions and seeing that they are fascinated by Scotland and what school is like there.

 

CM1 – Madame Royer requested that I teach the class how to tell the time, but only using the phrases, o’clock, quarter past, half past and quarter to. They would learn all the other bits in between in CM2, so there was no need for me to cover this with them yet . I began by showing them how you would draw 9:00, 9:15, 9:30 and 9:45 on an analogue clock, and they seemed to understand this. Madame Royer and I then thought it would be good if I said to the class for example, “it is quarter past 8” and they would have to write this on their whiteboards in digital time (because analogue can be difficult to read and therefore is not an accurate way for me to see if they have got the right answer or not). The children found this very difficult, and got very mixed up between quarter past, half past and quarter to. We tried to explain this to the children using different visual aids and by drawing and writing the time in different ways. Madame Royer also explained this in French, so that the children might understand it better, but a few of the children were still confused. They found writing ‘quarter to 7’ and ‘quarter to 8’ etc, the hardest, as ‘quarter to 8’ is ‘7:45’, and the children could not understand why there was a 7 and not an 8. This was very difficult for me to explain to the class and even Madame Royer was starting to find it tiresome. We agreed that with practice the class would get better and begin to get their heads around the time in English.

CE2 – I had created a worksheet for the class to complete for the topic of school uniform in school. It was a picture of me when I was their age at primary school dressed in my school uniform and there were arrows pointing to various items of clothing that I was wearing. The class had to write the correct names for the clothes in English next to the arrows, including the colour of the clothes (black shoes, red and grey tie etc). They enjoyed the photo of me when I was younger and I felt it made them more enthusiastic towards completing the task! The class teacher and I had to explain to the class that in English, we put the adjective before the noun, so it is ‘black shoes’ and not ‘shoes black’. This was confusing for the children because in French, they would do the opposite to us, and write ‘chaussures noires’. Once this was cleared up the children were able to complete the task quickly as I walked around the room to check their spelling was correct. I find this class easy to work with as they are well behaved and enthusiastic about English, but find that I need to focus more, as their class teacher does not speak any English, I have to work hard to understand what she is asking me to do. It also means that there is no translator for the children if I do not know a word in French, so sometimes I have to improvise and use actions or draw pictures for the children.

Thursday 12th

CE2 – Madame Delaroche was keen for me to teach the class a new topic, because they will not be here next week. I felt that it was perhaps too soon to move on to new vocabulary as we had not really had time to practice animals, but I understood that we had limited time left. We began looking at rooms in the house, for example, living room, bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, garage, garden, toilet etc. I had a poster which I stuck onto the board this had a picture of a house on it with the different rooms. I used this to point and ask the children what room was where. I wrote the words on the board alongside the translation for the children to copy into their jotters. They also had a worksheet to complete, which asked “where is the boy?”, and they had to write down which room of the house he was in. They found the question “where is?” difficult to understand at the beginning but I explained it to them in French as best as I could.

CM2 – today the class had an English test. This was something that Mr Apruncule had created himself, and thought it was an appropriate way of testing the children. The test was on the topic of animals and also positions, so the children would have to look at an image, and write the answer, ‘the monkey is in the car’, for example. I thought the was quite a difficult test, as the class had not done this topic for a few lessons, they might not remember the vocabulary very well. Most of the children got on with this task fine but I could see that a few of them were struggling, which I felt was understandable as these were difficult sentences to construct with no guidance. I can tell that the teacher wants to challenge the children in his class as they are the oldest, as I feel that the work they do is quite advanced, looking back at what I was learning in French in Primary 7.

CP –  the class was even busier today, as the CE1 class had all been split up and put into different classes due to a teacher’s absence. This meant the classroom was very loud and I knew I would have to try hard to keep the children’s attention for the whole hour. We continued with numbers and colours by using the coloured blocks. In general, the children are all getting much faster at recalling numbers and colours, however some still need to use their fingers to count with or ask their friends for help. I did find the noise level difficult to work with but Madame Girault was in the same boat, so we both had to keep asking for quiet in the class. The class are better at responding to my demands in English now, but I feel that because I keep saying the same ones every day, they are not as effective. The children hear me say listen but it has begun to lose its meaning to the children. I will need to use different phrases to keep the children’s ears tuned in to me.

CM1 – some progress was made today in the topic of time with the class! Madame Royer had a new worksheet for the children which involved them writing the time in English in words, digital and analogue. I was apprehensive about this because yesterday, the children really struggled with the time. I understand how it can be complicated, because twenty to seven in digital time is 6:40, and if I put myself in the pupils’ shoes I would think it would be forty to six. The children found writing the time in words relatively easy, and we went over this question by question as a class. They were still getting used to writing the minutes and the hour a different in reverse to how they are used to. I thought I would consolidate this by asking them to put their books away and take out their mini whiteboards. They would use these to write down what time they think I have said in English, in digital time (this is what the children said they would prefer to do). They were getting good at quarter to/past and half past, but the worksheet had asked the children to write twenty to/past, five to/past and twenty-five to/past, so I thought I would try this as well. It was clear that some children had picked this up very quickly, as they were able to write down the digital time seconds after I had said it.Others found this much more difficult, so I made sure to do lots of examples so they could practice. When it came to drawing the hands on the analogue clock or writing the numbers in the digital clocks, the children struggled a lot more. We ran out of time before the bell for break went, so I suggested that I could go over this with the class again tomorrow, when we have more time.

 Friday 13th

CE2-  Today was my last day with CE2, as next week they are going on a school trip, and will miss my last day on Friday. This meant we had a lot to squeeze in to 45 minutes. I needed to finish of the topic of farm animals with the children, as there was a worksheet that we still had to do, we also needed to go over the rooms of the house again because we did not do that for very long yesterday. The children found the farm animal worksheet easy, apart from there was one word on it that I had not taught them. This was ‘cockerel’, and I explained what this was to the class so they did not get it mixed up with ‘chicken’. We moved quickly through that worksheet as I was conscious of what little time we had. I stuck the poster of the house on the board like yesterday, but decided to make the task more interactive today. I asked one of the children to come to the front of the class at a time, and I gave them a small bit of paper with a piece of furniture on it. They then had to use a magnet to stick it in the appropriate room in the house. I wanted the children to say, ‘it is in the kitchen’ or ‘it is in the bedroom’, after they had placed it on the board. They liked this activity, and I can tell that they have enjoyed the interactive activities a lot. After working on the pronunciation of the rooms a bit more, we moved on to a different activity. I decided to read the class ‘Dear Zoo’, which is a simple children’s book that I used to read when I was younger. The English in it is simple, so I thought it would be easy for the children to understand. It has animal and feelings vocabulary in it, both of which I have done with the class so it was perfect. Madame Delaroche thought this was a lovely idea for my last lesson with the children. They really enjoyed the book, as it is interactive with flaps and the children were able to shout out the animals they could see in English.

CP – Madame Girault wanted me to introduce the topic of family members to the children today, as I had spoken about that a little bit in my presentation about Scotland on Tuesday. I started by telling them what mum, dad, sister and brother was in French, as I thought this would be plenty of family members to begin with. By the end of the lesson I wanted the children to be able to tell me how many brothers or sisters they have. I gave my example in English with a clear, slow voice, so that they could hear what I was saying. I wrote the vocabulary on the board for the children to refer to, and helped them to create their sentences and be able to say them to me. I think they found this hard, as these were new sentences that they had to learn. Again, I felt that the pupils were very restless and were not as focussed as I would have liked. The teacher said that she thinks this is because there are so many of them, it is always noisy and this is not an environment where children can concentrate well. I have to try my best to get the children to be quiet and listen to one another, as it can be difficult to hear if they are pronouncing words correctly, and that they are all in the right order!

CM1 – Today Madame Royer was not here, she does not work on Fridays. Therefore, I knew I would have to tackle time with the class by myself. This was not too worrying, as I knew that the children were beginning to understand the vocabulary for this. We practiced writing the time in digital and saying it out loud. I think they prefer to write instead of speaking, as they often get their words the wrong way around. They would often say, ‘it is 5 to 25’ instead of ‘it is 25 to 5’, because of the way they say it in French. I feel that the class really enjoy my lessons because I allow them to come up to the board and write for me and it is interactive for them. From what I have observed, the children don’t get to do this much in their other subjects, which consist of a lot of textbook work.

School Trips

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On Monday (9/4/18), I was informed by Madame Delaroche that her class (CE2) and CE1, are going on a school trip next week (my last week of placement). She told me this because she wanted to squeeze in one more English topic before I leave, seeing as I won’t be there once they come back from their trip. I then went into CM2, where Mr Apruncule told me that his class were going on a trip to the theatre next week and I was welcome to join them. He also mentioned that the CE1 and CE2 classes were going to be away the whole of that week. He said that for his school trip with CM2 he goes kayaking, not far away from Orléans. The reason behind them not going very far is because the school do not want to put pressure on parents to spend a lot of money for their children to go far away on school trips. He said that even though the school is not situated in a deprived area, there are still some children in the school whose families cannot afford to pay for extravagant school trips, and it would be unfair for them not to be able to go.

Every Friday after school, there is a bake-sale, where the children can bring in money to buy a few things to take home. I had never questioned why they were raising money every week, or what it was for. Mr Apruncule explained that the reason for the weekly bake-sale was to raise money to allow every child in the school to be able to go on the trips that the school runs. So, if there is a child whose family cannot provide the money to go on a school trip, the school will use the bake-sale money to allow that child to go on the trip. I thought that this was a good and simple idea.

Week 4 of Placement – 3rd -6th of April

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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.

Placement Proposal

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Proposal

My chosen placement is at Orleans University in France, where I will spend 6 weeks in a French primary school as an English language assistant. This will involve me working with individuals and small groups of primary aged children, helping them with their English speaking, reading and writing. I have chosen this setting for my placement as I feel I would benefit from exploring a different culture (in this instance French), not only in a primary school setting but also in terms of food, celebrations and new customs. Being able to compare our primary school system to the French system in a hands-on, practical way would allow me to learn a lot about different teaching styles, learning spaces and a different curriculum. I would be able to work with children from diverse cultural backgrounds which I have not experienced before. Also, due to my placement being in France, I will need to be able to speak some French in the classroom and during everyday life. This will allow me to practice my French speaking in a very practical way, which in turn will mean I can use this new skill in future placements and in my career in teaching. In terms of what I can offer, I feel that I can return the favour and bring a sense of the Scottish culture to the French primary school pupils. Seeing as I will be volunteering in a local primary school and not an international school, some of the children may never have met a Scottish person before and I could give classes an idea of what it is like to live in Scotland and introduce them to some of our traditions. I feel that I am patient and supportive, both as a person and in my teaching, which is important for when children are learning a new language. Therefore, I think I would be a great asset to a French primary school classroom which is in need of an English language assistant.

 

Audit of Skills, Knowledge and Personal Attributes / Reflections on Experiences to Date

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Audit of Skills, Knowledge and Personal Attributes

  1. I can communicate and report effectively, both orally and in writing
  2. I am systematic, well-prepared, and capable of planning ahead.
  3. I can develop and manage effective relationships with others in the school community.\
  4. I demonstrate the capacity to work with and manage change by thinking on my feet.

Reflection on Experiences to Date

April/May 2017   Teaching Placement at St. Andrews RC Primary, Dundee

Over the course of 6 weeks I had varying amounts of responsibility for a calss of primary 5 pupils. During this I had to plan lessons and implement these to the class. I had to use various sanctions and behaviour management strategies in order to keep the class in order and to the standards of the school and class teacher. This was often difficult, and it took me a few weeks to ensure that the pupils respected me in a way that meant they would follow my instructions. I built a good relationship with my class and this meant that behaviour management became easier and lessons became very enjoyable to teach. I taught subjects across the Scottish curriculum, and found that I was most comfortable teaching English, Maths, P.E. and social subjects. I found that art and drama were my weaker teaching areas as I found it harder to control the class when using a more lenient teaching style. In order to better this, I made sure I was involved in the whole school show where I guided the children through making props and costumes and encouraged them to perform well and enjoy themselves whilst doing so. Doing this helped me to build a positive teacher to pupil relationship with my class and I felt the overall experience of my first-year placement was positive.

November 2015   Teaching Placement (work experience) at Corstorphine Primary School, Edinburgh

During my 6th year at high school, I volunteered at my local primary school twice a week for around six months. I was placed into a primary 2 class, and I would usually help the teacher with art and writing classes. During this I was able to observe a range of different teaching strategies and learn how to plan and deliver lessons to suit early years pupils. I did not get much experience of controlling the class by myself or using behaviour management strategies, as this was the class teacher’s responsibility. Due to this, I felt that the children often saw me as a friend rather than another teacher in the school. I also felt that this could have been because I only went to the school twice a week. I was well integrated into the school over the 6 months and I worked well as part of the teaching team.

September 2014 – September 2017 as a Kids Coach at David Lloyd leisure, Edinburgh

Over my 3 years working at David Lloyd I learned what it meant to work effectively within a team. I became confident in leading activities classes to large groups of primary school aged children, and this definitely allowed me to have confidence when I entered the classroom. During my time at David Lloyd, I had to communicate a lot with parents and guardians and attend to any queries they may have had. Again, I felt this prepared me for school placements well. I found this part of the job relatively easy however there were often times that I had to deal with difficult situations and complaints. I also organised and delivered many birthday parties and holiday camps for members and non-members of the club, which I really enjoyed doing and again, felt that this enhanced my leadership skills.