I was happy to find out that my teacher was back from her course and would be teaching the class today. I didn’t have any plans on my timetable to go into any other classes today, therefore I stayed with CM2 all day. I enjoy being with the CM2 class as they are the oldest in the school. It is very interesting watching and observing how they work and the lessons they participate in. As it was Thursday the French student teacher was also in to carry on her lesson that she taught two weeks previous. They children really engaged with her lesson the last time she taught, so I was looking forward to watching the follow up lesson in the afternoon.

I was happy to have the opportunity to speak to Amélie about my experience from teaching the CP classes. It was the first time I had had the chance to discuss what I thought went well as well as asking for advice regarding future lessons. I told her that I was anxious about going into the classes on Friday as I believed that the children had a good understanding of the topic of colour and didn’t want them to get bored of the same thing. She gave me some great advice and suggested that I do a song with them relating to the topic of colour. Throughout my time at Romain Rolland my class teacher has gone above and beyond to make my experience memorable. She has given me some great advice and ideas as well as providing me with various resources to aid my lessons. I know that my experience would not have been the same without her. It has been very helpful having someone who is fluent in English to converse with as there is such a big language barrier between myself and the children.

I used some of the spare time I had today to plan lesson with the teacher. We thought of various lesson plans for both the CP classes and CM2. I was informed that I would begin teaching the topic of ‘going shopping’ on Friday with CM2. I have never taught this stage before even though I am in the class most of the day. I have observed how they work and the level they are working at. However, I have only ever played sound games with them. I am very anxious about standing up in front of the class tomorrow and teaching them. I believe my nerves could be due to their age. CM2 consists of children aged 10 and 11. Being a very young student I am aware that I am only a mere 10 years older than them. I have gotten to know the children in the CM2 class over the weeks, so I am hopeful that I will be able to produce a successful lesson that they engage with.

I have realised over the past couple of weeks that I have been teaching, how important it is to use resources such as flashcards with children. Teaching a foreign language is very difficult, however, children learn best from speaking and repetition. Each lesson that I have taught so far has included the use of flashcards. Children respond very well to this and are able to recall the information when it is presented to them in this form. I plan to continue using flashcards in my lessons as I believe that it is best resource for teaching a foreign language. There are many games that can be played with flashcards, this allows the children to be involved in their learning. Ensuring that lessons are interactive is essential in keeping the children engaged throughout. I hope that in the coming weeks, I further develop my teaching skills, improving lesson by lesson.

The French student teacher was also in today as it was Thursday. She was teaching a science lesson. The children were very enthusiastic and keen to get stuck into the practical activities that accompanied the lesson. The children had to take an artificial product for example a can or mobile phone and turn it into something natural. A lot of the children thought of various ways to grow things in their objects. It was very interesting to see how the children thrived throughout this lesson. Over the weeks I have noticed that practical lessons get the best response from the children. It is clear to see that they love being involved in their own learning. This shows the importance of including interactive lessons in the curriculum. Because of this I feel like I must make sure to make lessons as interactive as possible. I plan to use games and resources to do this successfully.

Madame Zech, the class teacher was still on a course this day. Therefore, the children had their normal supply teacher Madame Pasquer. They children are used to having this teacher every Monday and therefore consider her to be their teacher just as much as Amélie. It was very interesting to see the change in behaviour from the previous day. The children were a lot more settled and got on with their work as soon as they entered the classroom. This behaviour was what I had been used to seeing over the four weeks I have been in the school. This allowed me to realise that although the CM2 children are very well-behaved, they are still children and when given the opportunity to have a joke or misbehave they will take it. No matter what country or classroom you are in, children are all the same.

I was prepared going into this day that I would not be teaching as it was a half-day. However, this afforded me the opportunity to plan various lessons for the coming days as well as next week. The topic of going shopping is something that the teacher is really keen for me to teach. I have been planning over the past week various lessons I could do with the class. I have resources such as flashcards that I can use to teach the vocabulary. I am anxious to teach this topic as the vocabulary in French is not something I am familiar with; therefore, I must ensure that I learn both the English and French translation. I spent most of Wednesday morning translating phrases from English to French, so I had a good understanding of the vocabulary myself before teaching.

I don’t enjoy Wednesday as much as other days because I don’t have the opportunity to involve myself. I never teach any lessons, neither do I witness any English taking place. I use the time for planning, but it can get a bit boring as the morning consists for three hours. However, I do get to teach a lot on the other days. I just need to ensure that I come to school on Wednesdays with a plan. I can use this time to work on my blogs as well as plan lessons.

After this week I will only be in Romain Rolland for two more weeks. I can’t believe how quickly the time is going. I am enjoying the learning from life experience and I am so happy that I decided to come to France. This is the one opportunity during university to spread your wings and travel out of your comfort zone. I am so glad that I have taken on the challenge of working in a French primary school instead of staying in Scotland. I have had experiences that I would never had had if I had stayed in Dundee.

Having been out of the school for two days I was ready to get back into teaching. I was looking forward to teaching the topic of colours to the various CP classes within the school. Seeing how enthusiastic they were about English on Tuesday allowed me to feel very optimistic about the lesson. My CM2 teacher gave me so great tips and ideas regarding how to teach colours to the children. She gave me flashcards as well as English books to read to the children. I believe that using these various resources will engage the children and allow them to develop their English vocabulary.

As my CM2 class were still out of school on their sports week I had the morning to sit in the classroom and plan my lessons for the day. It is good to have planning time throughout the course of the school day, so I know exactly what I am doing with each class. Planning was simple on this day as I was teaching the three CP classes. This meant that I would be teaching the same lesson three times. I wanted to make sure my lesson was engaging as well as interactive and fun. Having taught one lesson previously to these classes I was aware of the various ways in which the children learn best. Speaking is the most important aspect of learning a foreign language and therefore I must ensure that all of my lessons focus on this skill. The teachers like English lessons to be taught completely in the language, only using French is the children are very stuck. For my lesson on colour I made sure that there was lots of opportunity for speaking.

I felt confident going into my first class of the day because I was well prepared and knew exactly what I was going to teach the children. Having three different resources meant that the children would not get bored and that there were various tasks for them to complete throughout the lesson. I had flashcards with various colours on them, a book that had different coloured animals and a game that involved the children recognising different colours in front of them. As I only have thirty-minute teaching slots I divided the lesson into three sections all ten minutes long. I believe that having a well-structured lesson ensures success.

I was warmly welcomed into my first CP class of the day, they were all very excited to see me. This made me feel confident and happy as I knew there was nothing to be nervous about. One thing I did notice however, was that when I begin speaking in English the children tend to laugh. I think this is because they are not used to hearing someone speak English with my accent. With the CP class I have to make sure that I hook them into the lesson quickly as they can become irritable and restless. This means that lesson have to be engaging and interactive in order to hold their attention.

The children in CP were very excited to find out the topic was going to be colours. This is because colour is something they were already familiar with. This meant that I could build on their vocabulary whilst improving their pronunciation of the words. I found that during the lesson two colours that they seemed to mix up were grey and green. These words do sound similar, so I am not surprised they found this difficult. With the words that were clearly more challenging I got the children to repeat after me several times. Each time the found it easier to pronounce the word. As I have mentioned in previous reflections, the children adopt a Scottish accent when pronouncing various words that they haven’t come across before. I find this amusing as it makes me realise how strong my accent really is. 

I found the same pattern in all three classes. It was the same colours that the children found difficult to remember or pronounce. Green, grey and brown are the hardest colours for the children to recall. I believe this is because they find it difficult to pronounce words that have a br or gr sound. Think me be because in French these sounds are pronounced differently. Learning a foreign language is a difficult thing, however, I believe that the youngest classes in the school are the most excited about learning English and find it easier to pick up new vocabulary. The emphasises the need for languages to be taught from an early age. I wish I had had the opportunity to learn French was a was a mere six-year-old. I believe that is this has been the way I was taught in school I would have come to France with the ability to converse easily with natives. However, this is not the case because in Scotland we don’t begin learning until we are nearing the end of primary education.

I believe that this was one of the most successful days I have had thus far during the learning from life placement. I was very confident when teaching and believed I conducted the lesson in a manner which the children enjoyed. They were very excited and always eager to answer my questions. I really enjoyed being with the young children in the school. I also believe that working in the CP classes is giving me a taster of what my early years placement will be like next year. I have gotten to know the different teaching styles needed when moving between the lower and upper school. I believe that moving forward I understand how to make lesson interactive and exciting for the early years. The children have come out of their shells with me and therefore it is important that I continuously build upon these relationships.

Over the past week I have started teaching in the various classes throughout the school and it has been the best week yet. Although observing was very interesting and helpful, I am in the school to teach English. I have been given many opportunities throughout the course of the week to teach English to three CP classes as well as CM1. I feel that actually teaching the children has allowed me to get to know them better and build successful relationships.

On Monday I had my first experience in a CP classroom. Having spent the previous two weeks with CM2 I was very excited about observing and teaching various other stages within the school. Going from the oldest class to the youngest was a big change. It was interesting to see how teaching in the early years differs. The children in CP are aged six and seven. This is because in France children begin school at six, unlike Scotland where children can be as young as four years old.

There are three CP classes in Romain Rolland, however, I just observed one. The first thing I noticed going into the class was how young the children were, having gotten so used to working with the oldest class in the school this was a big jump. The day began with a

French lesson. The children were doing what we would understand as phonics. They were revising various new sounds before focusing on a new sound. I found this lesson very useful as I learned many new words. Because I don’t have a high level of French this basic French lesson taught me a lot.

In Scotland I believe that early years teachers adapt their teaching style to suit the younger children, taking on a more maternal role. I found that in France the teachers do not treat the younger children any different for the older ones. I believe that, in general, teachers in France are a lot stricter. Although I don’t totally agree with strict manner of the teachers, I have noticed that the children in France are very well behaved and respect the teacher. This shows that despite it seeming like a cold approach, it works well within the classroom. The children do not test boundaries and understand their place in the classroom even in the youngest primary.

After morning break the children had a French lesson on the topic of appearance. I stood up at the front of the class and they had to describe what I looked like and what I was wearing. The children in CP were very shy as I was a new face in the classroom. I walked around the class as the wrote down their descriptions. One thing that I noticed that surprised me was how neat their handwriting was. Having observed in early years classrooms in Scotland, handwriting is something that usually improves with age. However, the children in CP’s handwriting was just as good as the children in CM2. This may be to do with the strict teaching style most French teachers adopt. If something is not done correctly the child must do it again until successful. This also allowed me to think about the fact that children in France begin school at the age of six. This could be a factor in the level of work they are producing. From observing the CP class, I believe that starting school at age six is a very good thing. The children are at an age when they are ready to learn and do not need to be treated as babies.

In the afternoon I had some time to plan before doing my first English lesson in CM1. I was nervous as this was the first teaching opportunity I had had since arriving in France. I had planned a lesson around clothes. The children had to describe what they were wearing before doing a memory game with words and pictures. This proved very challenging as the CM1 class were very restless and noisy. I found myself having to constantly ask them to listen as they kept talking over each other. In France they don’t use the term behaviour management strategies and therefore teachers don’t have a set way to handle behaviour. I found this difficult as I could not imitate the teacher and had to try and resolve the behaviour on my own. I used both English and French to address the children that were distracting the class, however, because it was the last half an hour of the day the children did not settle. Despite this, I still managed to teacher my lesson. I believe that the children are very competent when it comes to the topic of clothes. They had a sound understanding of both the words and the pronunciation. I believe that moving forward more complex vocabulary can be added into the lessons to challenge them more. Overall, my first experience teaching was stressful but also very exciting it has given me a taster of what I can expect of the coming weeks. I believe that the use of games in relation to learning English is very important as it engages the children and allows them to associate the language with something fun.