Category Archives: 2.2 Education Systems & Prof. Responsibilities

Week 1: Day 2

13/03/18

*BEEP BEEP BEEP*

6:45am, I wake up and the day is here. The day I’ve been so nervous but excited for. So many things are going through my head; what if I get the wrong bus? What if my teacher doesn’t speak much English? What will a French school day be like?

After a quick breakfast with my placement accompaniments I head for the bus stop, everything went smoothly and I arrived at the school in plenty of time, 30 minutes before schools starts.

I met all the teachers in the staffroom when I arrived, including the teacher who had been emailing me, Sylvie Lambert. I was paired up with a teacher called Françoise Monclere, who taught CP (ages 6-7). I spent the whole morning there. My paired teacher said she wasn’t very good at English but she definitely could say for English than I could French and she was much better than she thought as well, she even knew the word for photocopy! After we took the class in from outside I was introduced to the class, I wrote a little intro French speech, which including things like my name, age, where I was form and studied and what I was interested in, the night prior which helped me but I know I need to improve it as I will be jumping from class to class each day and will continually have to introduce myself to new classes. I was quite nervous when introducing myself as this was my first day and I didn’t know if my pronunciation was correct.

I was very impressed with how much English the children aged 6 knew, in Scotland I didn’t start to learn an extra language until I was age 10. They were able to say hello, ask how someone was and ask how old someone is.

In the morning they had French lessons, mathematics and a break. What I noticed in the French classroom is that the French teach in small periods of time, approximately 30 minute per lesson. They start a topic and move on quicker than teachers would in Scotland.

They all use black boards still. There are no white boards or interactive boards in the school, which gave me a sense of the culture here.

Their lunch is 2 hours and they have another break after this between lunch and home time. This means they have 3 breaks a day. Between lunch and home time I was with 2 more classes, firstly CE2/CM1 and then CE2. These children were aged 8 – 10. Sylvie Lambert taught both these classes. There were 2 other students at the school with me but they were French students at the university. They worked with the older classes in the school.

Something I experienced that is different in Scotland is the way they give sanctions. They are more hands on wit their sanctions in France. In Scotland you wouldn’t be allowed to aggressively pull a child by the arm, of which I witnessed in the French classroom.

Multicultural

The first thing I noticed about the pupils in the French school is that there are a lot more different races percentages of pupils than in Scotland.

In 2011, In Scotland 96% of the population was white and only 4% of the population were from ethnic minorities, which includes minorities such as, African, Asian, Black, Caribbean and mixed groups. In , In France

This also leads to the different religions and ethnic backgrounds that are in the area. As I have spoken about previously, the school I am in is a ‘Laïque’ school so there is no sign of any religion allowed. There is without a doubt loads of different religious beliefs in the school but I would not be able to tell which pupils believe in what as they show no sign through clothes, accessories, personal objects, etc.

References:

Scottish Government. (2011). Summary: Ethnic Group Demographics. [Website]. Scottish Government. Available at: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/People/Equality/Equalities/DataGrid/Ethnicity/EthPopMig [Accessed 13/03/18].

Placement Provider Overview

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École Louise Michel

Nature of Organisation

The organisation I am working with for Learning from Life in a French Primary School called École Louise Michel in Orléans, France. It includes a nursery and a primary school. It has 7 classes and 7 teachers including an art room. They go to the local secondary school for their gym.

To become a primary teacher in France you go through the education and teacher training centre called ESPE (School Superior of the Professor and the Education). ESPE are in charge of my stay here and organised my placement, accommodation and school.

The ESPE centres are situated in Bourgogne, Orléans and Saint Jean, Orléans. The heads of the ESPE programme are Nina Huss and Claudie Grenet.

Structure

In France you start school at age 6. This is different in Scotland as we start at age 5. The French also have nursery like us in Scotland, “école maternelle”, but they have three years of this starting at age 3 to age 5 (PS, MS and GS). This is cycle 1. The French have 5 stages in the primary school, “école élémentaire”, and called cycle 2 (Scottish early stages) and cycle 3 (Scottish upper stages). Cycles 2 goes as follows; CP – age 6-7, CE1 – age 7-8 and CE2 – age 8-9. Cycle 3 goes as follows; CM1 age 9-10, CM2 – age 10-11 and then cycle 3 carries on into their collége (secondary school). Children leave Primary school at age 11/12.

The primary school has a wide range of subjects, covering all educational needs. In cycle 2 these include:

French
English
Mathematics
Art
Music
Physical Education
Teachings of morals (values, equality, knowledge and practices)
“Questioning the world” (Exploring the world around us, science)

In cycle 3 these include:

French
English
Mathematics
Art
Music
Physical Education
History
Geography
Science
Technology

In cycle 2 they get 10 hours of French per week and 1.5 hours of English per week. In cycle 3 they get 8 hours of French per week and 1.5 hours of English per week.

Their day starts at 8:30am and ends at 3:45pm.

They have 2 breaks, one from 10:00am till 10:30am and one 2:30pm till 2:50pm. Their lunch is 2 hours long from 11:30am till 1:30pm.

Teachers and their Roles

Françoise Monclere – CP

Benjamine Duplouy – CP/CE1

Axelle Holef – CE1

Sylvie Lambert – Head teacher/CE2

Laura Bellout – CE2/CM1

Agnés Courgeon – CM1/CM2

Christine Aué – CM2

Identification of Learning Opportunities

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Learning Opportunities

Teaching English to French pupils.
Teaching English in all subjects – Mathematics, Art, Music, Physical education, Science etc.
Learning about the French school system.
Identifying the similarities and differences between the teaching in France and Scotland.
Learning the French language and vocabulary through listening and observing pupils.
Communicating with French pupils in both French and English.
Going on school trips to the French theatres and cinemas.
Learning how French schools deal with behaviour.
Learning how the French structure their class lessons.
Through experience, learn how French pupils’ pickup up English as a second language.
Responsibility of different stages in the school.
Learning about the culture and values of the school.

Placement Proposal

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The placement that I am applying for is in a primary school Orléans, France. I will be an English language assistant in a French primary school, which will involve me teaching the French pupils how to speak English.

I chose this setting as I wanted to keep working with children in a school setting but was interested in teaching English to a totally different mother-tongue nationality and in a new cultural setting, together with the experience of the opposed classroom set up and routine.

The benefits of this placement I hope to gain are, being able to experience how to teach the very basics of English and also learn myself from it which will benefit working with young early years children back in Scotland. I hope to gain an understanding on how a different nationality picks up a new language, in particular English, as English is thought to have very difficult rule to remember and follow. I have only ever learnt in German in depth so I also hope to pick up a bit on French whilst living over there for 6 weeks, which will be a benefit when teaching in Scottish schools if I have to teach a bit of French. I will get to opportunity to be part of and experience a foreign schools way of working, including their routines, work patterns, outdoor learning and meal times. This will be an interesting comparison so what I am used to in Scotland and from that I will be able to see the advantages and disadvantages form both sides.

When I go over to Orléans I hope to bring my previous extensive experience in schools and nurseries over the past couple of years. My summer job in a nursery will be useful as I got to teach English from the very early stages of learning to write, read and talk in English. I got the opportunity to analyse how children pick up English and what activities aid them on their way. I was lucky in 1^st year to get a primary 4 class, which is an advantage as they were still learning a lot of basic patterns of English; therefore I can bring my knowledge to the French school. I hope to bring my knowledge of behaviour management to the school, as I am unsure on how the behaviour in Orléans will compare to here in Scotland. I will be able to being my creative personality to the school as I think it will benefit my lessons to make them more interesting and engaging to aid the French pupils learning and memory.

Identification of Skills and Knowledge to be developed

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Skills

Improve French oral communication.
Improve French written communication.
Improve self-confidence teaching in front of a class.
Improve interest in pupil’s lives. French pupils daily lives and hobbies.
Improve responsibility for pupils. Schools trips.
Improve organisational skills.
Improve team-working skills with the teachers.

Knowledge

Knowledge of the French school system.
Knowledge in how to teach English as a second language.
Knowledge on how to break down the English language.
Knowledge on how to simplify sentences.
Knowledge on the French language and vocabulary.
Knowledge on how the French teach their subjects.
Knowledge on how the French deal with behaviour.
Knowledge on how much English is taught in the different stages of the school.
Knowledge on the similarities and differences in teaching France and Scotland.

Reflection on Experiences to date

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1^st Year Placement – Primary 4

During this 6-week placement I got an insight into the Scottish Primary Education system. I taught group and whole class lessons covering every curricular area. I learnt the processes and stages of teaching a lesson effectively, using engaging and positive techniques. I was challenged with have a class that had three children with learning difficulties and this was a good experience for me as I learnt a lot form them. I learnt how to deal with different behaviours effectively to get the results I wanted and how to build trust between a teacher and pupil. By the end of the placement I felt I had learnt and accomplished so much. My knowledge had grown drastically and I was able to teach a class on my own and deal with all kinds of behaviour, from the start of the day right until the end. My feedback from my tutor and class teacher was all positive and they guided me in the right direction for improvements, alternative ways and next steps.

I was lucky to have a supportive school through my placement, which really helped me improve my teachings. I feel next time I teach I will have a much more vast knowledge on how teaching works and how to teach as this experience taught me so much for my first year of university.

My action plan for my next placement is to use all the knowledge i collected from this placement and build upon it to make my knowledge even deeper and greater.

Nursery Assistant

During the summer after my first year of university had finished I become a nursery assistant for the summer. This was a great opportunity for me as it enabled me to carry on my knowledge from my first year placement into the nursery environment. I was responsible for children from the age of 2 to the age of 5. I got a sense of what it is like to work with the youngest children of the school system and learn what roles and duties it entails. These included; teaching, reading, preparing snack and lunch, doing creative activities, being responsible for outside play, toileting, cleaning and assessing children’s progress.

I had good experience in teaching the age 4/5 there alphabet and linking this to physical activities in the nursery room, e.g. find something beginning with E. I also had a good experience in teaching manners at meal times.

I decided form this experience that I prefer to work with older children had they have more prior understanding and knowledge which aids teaching. Whereas in the nursery it is a lot of play and less teaching. I feel I could have been more involved with the teaching aspect of the job as that is what I was studying at university. If I got this opportunity again I would ask to do more teaching along side the other assistants.