16/03/18

Today I was with Axelle Holef with CE1, ages 7-8. The teacher started the day with French. She did a dictation lesson, which I thought was very advanced of them since they were only age 7/8. This lead onto a lesson based on the sound “ouill”. The class had to come up with words that had “ouill” in them. Forexample, the word “ratatouille”.

During the lesson I noticed a traffic light behaviour chart being used. This is similar to the ones they use in schools in Scotland. A boy moved his name from green to amber as a warning for inappropriate behaviour.

After break they had singing practice with CP and the other CE1’s. The practice was structured as the teacher would sing and the children would listen and then repeat. They use actions to help tell the story of the song too. In Scotland when we have assemblies they children are normally put in rows in order of their class. But in my French school they did it in a way so that everyone could be seen when standing. The tallest went at the back and smallest were at the front. They had been given a number at the start of the years according to their height and this was the row they would be in. I thought this was a great way of organising assembly rows as each child can be seen for behaviour situations. During the practice there were a few behaviour disruptions which otherwise would not have been seen if they were not organised in height order.

They then had physical education where they ran circuits of their playground. Right now the school are practicing for a big race, which is taking part in the area. I was explained by one of the teachers that the CP’s have to run 1000m and the CE1 have to run 1250m, and the upper years would run longer distances than them.

During lunch we organised my schedule for teaching next week and what I would be doing. We discussed speaking in English to the classes about Scotland. This would involve all traditional practices, food, sports etc. Also ideas of a topic of sport and a topic on a day at the beach were considered. They explained I would speak the whole lesson in English and they would be there if translation was needed or if there was some confusion.

After lunch they did work on a film project. The ways they watch films are very different to how we would in Scotland. In Scotland we would put a video on our interactive boards, but in my French school they only have black boards. So a big white piece of card was placed over the blackboard and a projector was used to project the film. The film was about a crocodile called “Katia et le Crocodile”. The film was in black and white and the children had to describe to me the colours in French and English. This was a good opportunity for the English to be part of the film lesson.

15/03/18

Today I was with Benjamine Duplouy in a mixed class of CP and CE1, ages 6-8. I introduced myself and talked about the Loch Ness monster of which the children knew of.

The teacher started with aFrench lesson with the CP’s. They were connecting little groups of letters to create words in French. This was interesting as I was able to observe the sounds these groups of letters make.

They read a passage from their comprehension books and a boy stood at the front of the class the read it to the whole class. At age 6 they are already pushed to be confident in speaking in front of their classmates.
They then moved onto sounds of letters/groups of letters, focusing on œu, eu and e in words. The children had to come up with words that contained these letters.

After break the class moved onto some maths. The CE1’s were studying right angles. They each got given two pieces of paper, secured with a paper clip, which created a right angle. With these tools they went around the classroom find right angles in a real life context. This was engaging for the children as it was hands on and got the children to experience their knowledge in a real life context. They then did a worksheet where the children had to identify the shapes that had right angles in them. The teacher then moved onto teaching the CP’s. They were doing counting to 20 and connecting this to money.
I helped the teacher cut out maths worksheets for later on.

In the mixed classes the teacher has try and spend an equal amount of time with each stage. This means a lot of differentiation is involved. The teacher needs to keep on stage busy whilst she works with the other stage. For example whilst she worked with the CP’s the CE1’s were given a worksheet to compete and the teacher briefly told them what to do with it at the start.

After lunch I was with the first class I’d been out with this week, which was the CP’s with Françoise Monclere. We were doing art on the topic of kitchen objects. I helped groups paint backgrounds for the kitchen.

Using the French vocabulary for the colours of paint we were using I was able to communicate to the children what they were painting with which colours. This was a good experience as I got to use some French vocabulary.

After their third break of the day I went with Mrs Lambert’s class, CE2, and we played maths games. I was given a group of children to myself to teach about time. We played bingo where they had to match the written time with a picture of a clock face on their card. After we played one round of this we then played it again but I would say the time in French and then tell them the time in English too and get them to listen and repeat what I was saying so they could practice saying the time in English. We then got out a big clock face that was interactive and I asked the children in English to show me a time on the clock, taking turns, and see with they understood what they were being asked.

This was a good experience as I got to work with a small group, which meant more one on one interaction. This helped the children to understand the English translation of the numbers and connecting words, e.g. part and to. I also gave me the opportunity to practice my French numbers.

14/03/18

Today is Mercredi (Wednesday) and in France this means it’s a half-day at school. The French have had a midweek break/half-day in primary schools on Wednesdays dating back to the 19th century. It is a government concession to the Roman Catholic Church, which wanted children to study the catechism (Catholic book) on their Wednesday afternoons off. In today’s secular (schools not connected with religion) France, Wednesdays afternoons are used for a mixture of sports, music, tutoring for families of means, or a scramble for working parents struggling to get by, who must either find a sitter or send their kids to a full day at a state-run leisure centre.

Despite long summer breaks and the four-day school week, French elementary school students actually spend more hours per year in school than average — 847, compared with 774 among countries in OECD. But the time is compressed into fewer days each year. They get about 2 hours a day for lunch and the French school day begins around 8:30 and ends at 4:30 p.m., even for the youngest, despite studies showing the ability of young children to learn deteriorates as the day goes on.

But many parents are afraid that the changes will force them to figure out extra childcare five days a week, especially at schools where the after-school program amounts to sitting silently at a desk for two hours or near-chaos in the play areas.

In the morning I arrived and was told I would be in the class CM1/CM2 with Agnés Courgeon. When the class came in I introduced myself and pointed to where I lived on a map. The children knew some English so during my introduction they asked me questions to help them find information out about me.

During one of their French lessons a boy came over to me, as he wanted to show me his English workbook. He showed it to me and I was amazed with how much English topics the class had covered. I compared it to my high school experience of languages in Scotland as they covered as much as I would have covered in 2^nd/3^rd year of high school. I was very impressed as I asked him questions about the different topics and he could respond correctly without looking at his book. The boy told me; he had two brothers, the colours and names of the clothing he was wearing and I pointed to different names of foods and he told me if he liked them or not in English, he loves sausages!

Clin D’œil Théâtre

After the class wrote down their homework we went to their local theatre, which was in walking distance. The teacher told me that a few of their classes in the school as really in to theatre and acting. Whilst we were there I got the watch them practice and perform their plays. They were very good at using actions as the same time as saying their lines, which was helpful to me as I was able to work out and paint a picture in my head as to what the play was about since my French understanding wasn’t so great.

Once they finished at the theatre we wentback to the school and it was 11:30, home time! I met Beth, Briony and Lauren in the centre of Orléans after for lunch in central square as it was a nice sunny day.

References:

Hinnant, L. (2012). School schedule: Reforming traditions in France. [Website]. The Christian Science Monitor. Available at: https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Family/2012/1005/School-schedule-Reforming-traditions-in-France [Accessed 21/03/18].

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].