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 1st 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.
