Monthly Archives: March 2018

Week 1

Tuesday

When I first arrived at my school, école Bel-Air, I was greeted by the “directeur”, who is the equivalent of the Scottish head-teacher. She informed me that for the first week I would be given the opportunity to observe in different classrooms at different levels. The first classroom I visited was “cours préparatoire” or “CP”, which is the equivalent of Primary 1 in Scotland, where the children were 6 years old. The CP classroom was very different from what I expected and very different from an early years classroom in Scotland.

The layout of the classroom was very basic as the children sat in pairs and had their own individual desks that faced the front. I think this is helpful for the children as their desks have a shelf underneath (see images below) containing all their books, jotters and writing materials, which created the sense of an individualised place they are responsible for. Also, the children hardly ever had to leave their desks to retrieve anything as all the resources they needed were in front of them. From an organisational point of view, this is a good set up as it helps to make transitioning periods much smoother. However, as I observed throughout the day, this layout does not facilitate effective paired and group discussions, something which is valued and encouraged in the Scottish classroom, but is lacking here.

A view of a desk, which seats an individual child.

View of the shelf under the desk containing a child’s resources.

Also apparent was the lack of shared spaces in the classroom; the only area present was the library, though this was not set up in a way which encouraged children to go and read, it was merely a display of the books on offer. In Scotland, a lot of emphasis is placed upon play and experience to facilitate learning, but in French classrooms there are no areas for explorative play, no toys present and no carpet area for soft play. The classrooms in this particular school are quite limited for space and I feel as though teachers in Scotland work harder to ensure they are maximising their space and designing their classrooms to fit the contours of the room.

Wednesday

The structure of the school day is very different from the school day in Scotland and this is largely due to the cultural differences between these two countries. For example, the school day is much longer, beginning at half past 8 and ending at half past 4. These longer days mean that the children receive two 15-minute long breaks, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, then lunch, which lasts two hours, beginning at 11:30. In France, Lunch is a very important part of the day, with French sociologist Thibaut de Saint Pol (cited in Ditton, 2016), describing lunch as “an important social time” and “family identity, work teams or friends are built around these moments”. This is a concept that I am struggling to become accustomed to as, in Scotland, lunch is very much viewed as a refuelling step between breakfast and lunch and so, we eat fast and with convenience. As a result, lunch for me feels very long and causes the day to drag. However, one aspect of the French school day I actually prefer is that Wednesdays are a half-day and school finishes at 11:30, the first time I experienced this, which made the lessons that morning more concise. I thought finishing early midweek broke up the week nicely and it was nice to have time after school to be able to do things.

Today was also my first opportunity to talk to the children about themselves and their work. I did find this difficult to do, as my current level of French is quite minimal and vice versa with the children and their level of English. However, I managed to pick out key words and phrases to respond to some of their questions and the children were also very imaginative in their ways of communicating with me, as they drew pictures or pointed at books to express to me what they meant. One thing I loved seeing was the children’s clear curiosity for language, as they were showing me pictures from books and asking me to say what they were in English. By the end of the day, they were attempting to use English to communicate with me. This love of language is something that, as I teacher, I want to foster in my future classroom by introducing foreign languages early on and partnering them with social or picture cues to excite the children.

Thursday

Today, I observed and aided in an English lesson given to the CM1/CM2 class. At the beginning of the day, the children were given the instruction to ask me questions in English. These questions ranged from “What is your name?” and “How old are you?” to “What is your favourite movie?” and “Where do you live?” I knew that what was important was that the children were hearing how I pronounced specific words, and so I made sure to repeat the stem of their question in my answer, for example, if I was asked, “What is your favourite colour?” I would answer, “My favourite colour is…”. This will also help the children to form sentences rather than one-word answers, which was something that the teacher was keen for them to do.

One thing that is very different about teaching a foreign language in France than in Scotland is that in France, the teacher tries to conduct the whole lesson in that foreign language, i.e. English, therefore the instructions are in English as well as the disciplining. I found this was a good way to teach the children as they were fully immersed in the language and they seemed able to follow and understand what the teacher had said with minimal clarification. As instructions are often common phrases in many lessons, the children are constantly exposed to these phrases and the repetition will continually improve their overall understanding. Another important aspect of learning a language is relying on context, which I have found has improved my French over this week.

Most of their lessons throughout the day were very short sessions of French language/literature and Mathematics. I found out today that a large portion of the timetable consists of French and Maths, as children receive French lessons twice a day, a total of 10 hours per week, and they study Maths at least once a day, totalling of 5 hours a week. Other aspects of the school curriculum include a lot of focus on English and Sports. This particular school provides a variety of opportunities for the children to take part in sports taught by specialised instructors, as I accompanied the CP/CM1 class today to the local swimming pool for a swimming lesson.

Another interesting aspect of observation I did today was looking through the different jotters of the pupils. They had several jotters for different subjects; however, one jotter that peaked my interest was a jotter entitled, “Discovering the World”. The jotter was divided into five sections (see picture below), and seemed to equate with Environmental Studies/Social Subjects, which we teach in Scotland, as well as incorporating elements of Maths and Science. The last section, “vivre ensemble”, presented work done on society and ethics, which was the first example I had seen of Religious Education’s replacement in the French curriculum. 

Contents page of the jotter, “Discovering the World”.

An example of work on the French Presidential Elections.

Friday

 As Friday was St Patrick’s Day, I observed the teacher of the CM1/CM2 class teach a lesson on the day and it’s history. The teacher provided a worksheet for the pupils to read, which had passages of text in both French and English. The teacher asked me to read out the English for the children so that they could listen to my pronunciation. She then picked out some of the key vocabulary from the text to form a list in their jotters for future reference. This teacher informed me that because these children are the stage before high school, the teachers at the high school had requested that the children gain more experience of reading and writing in English. This highlighted to me that the rate of progression expected in children learning a foreign language in France is very fast, as when children first begin school, a lot of emphasis is placed on hearing the words not reading the words.

Before this lesson, I hadn’t really witnessed a lot of learning outside of French and Maths, and so this lesson began to feel more similar to the style of teaching practiced in Scotland, specifically the cross-curricular potential, which the teacher fully exploited. Throughout the lesson, the pupils were receiving an immersive experience regarding St Patrick’s Day; they were looking at pictures and they were watching videos, whilst also reading and listening to text in both French and English.

After lunch, I then visited the CE1/CE2 class. This class has two teachers, one of whom is also the head-teacher of the school. With this class, I visited the local sports centre, where they were learning how to fence. To get to the sports centre, we took a short bus journey, which gave me the opportunity to speak with some of the children, mostly them wanting to practice their English on me.

Overall, I have observed a large majority of the classes in the school during this first week and although I would have liked to have observed a bit more English and have been more involved in the lessons, I am hoping that this is something that will happen over the coming weeks.

References

Ditton, H. (2016)  ‘Why do the French take such long lunch breaks?’, The Local (France edn), 28 April.  Available at: https://www.thelocal.fr/20160428/why-do-the-french-take-such-long-lunch-breaks  (Accessed: 14 March 2018).

 

The French School System

Before going on placement, I took part in a lesson with a French Teacher on my first day in Orléans.  This was a taster session on the structure and characteristics of the French School System.  The session was given in French, so it was challenging to follow, however, I surprised myself on how much I was able to understand.  The information received on the French school system was very interesting and has been useful to know prior to my placement, as there are some differences between the system in France and in Scotland.

One of the key differences I learnt was that, in France, children are not obliged to start school until the age of 6, where as in Scotland, they begin school at the age of 5.  Another very apparent difference between France and Scotland is that French schools are described as “laique”, or secular in English.  A secular school system separates the church from the state, with the view that religion is a private affair and not for public life, therefore pupils do not express the customs of their religion and the classrooms do not have any religious symbols, such as a Bible or a Qur’an present.  This is to emphasise the French values of libertié, égalité and fraternitié, as the children view each other as the same and, therefore, equal.  As a result of this, French teachers do not teach Religious Education, unlike in Scotland, where Religious Education is compulsory.  Instead, French children learn about how to become valuable and civic members of society.  There are some schools is France where religion is part of the school, however, these schools are part of the private sector and so they are not free to attend.

The French school system is separated into four cycles, which encompass children from ages 3 to 18.  These four cycles span four different buildings, as children begin school at “maternelle” (nursery), move to “école élementaire/primarie” (primary school), then “collége” and “lycée” (high school).  By the time pupils reach their last year of “lycée”, they will have sat exams to receive, “le Baccalauréat”, a leaving certificate, which can be achieved in specific streams, such as, the sciences or literature.

“école élementaire/primarie” is the equivalent of the Scottish primary school and it is where pupils work through Cycle 2 and 3. Also included in Cycle 3 is “sixiéme année de collège”, known as first year of high school in Scotland, as the French Government wanted to ensure a successful transition between the two school by continuing on the skills and knowledge obtained in Primary School and encouraging Primary and Secondary teachers to work together to bridge this gap. This was something I thought as similar to the customs of Scottish Education, as Primary 7’s in Scotland often take part in transition days and special events at their cluster high school to prepare them for the transition.

Teacher employment is also very different in France than in Scotland.  I was informed that teaching is a very popular career and jobs are sparse.  Like Scotland, France is split up into different regions making up 13 regions on the mainland in total.  The region we are staying in is Centre – Val de Loire and so students who study to become teachers in this region will sit an exit  exam, called the “concours” to become teachers.  However, they are then not guaranteed a job in this region and may have to travel or move far away depending on the demand for teachers.  Therefore, teachers in France do not get to choose what school they want to work in, which is a definite downfall for prospective teachers who may have family commitments or location preferences.

Overall, I found the differences between the two systems fascinating, and there are definitely pros and cons for each.  When evaluating the French system, one aspect I particularly liked was the structure of four cycles used to split up the different stages of school.  The use of cycles groups several years together so that there is communication between these years, thus ensuring a steady level of progression within and between the cycles.  However, personally, a major con in France is that the education system is secular, as for me, a child’s religion is a part of their identity.  Children spend around 30 hours a week in school, a huge portion of their childhood and so to spend this amount of time suppressing a part of your identity is something I disagree with.

References

École supérieure du professorat et de l’éducation (2017)  Livret d’accueil 2017-2018.  [pdf].  Orléans: ESPE.

 

Planning the Learning from Life Placement

The opportunity to go to Orléans, France for my placement was first introduced to me in an introductory session for the module. This opportunity appealed to me for three reasons: I have always wanted to experience a period of time living abroad, I had previously studied French at school and have always wanted to continue in my development of it and I am intrigued to see how similar or different the field of teaching is in different countries.

The organisation of this placement has mostly consisted of email correspondence between myself, Susan and Nina, the placement coordinator and my host in France. These emails consisted of information regarding our accommodation arrangements in France, the details of the school and the teacher I will be partnered with and the arrangements for our welcome. I have also corresponded through email with my teacher on placement, Madame Pascale Berthier, before leaving to go to France to find out if I need to prepare anything in advance of my arrival.

 

Learning Opportunities

Improving my French – Currently, I have only studied French in school and used it for exams and so this opportunity will allow me to practice my French in everyday settings. As I am going to a French speaking school, I will be surrounded by French speakers every day, which will be challenging but hopefully I will improve each day. All of the children will be most comfortable speaking their language and so I will have to adapt and attempt to use French with them and with the other teachers in order to built up a level of communication.

Teaching English as a Foreign Language – I have some experience teaching French to Scottish pupils; however, I think it will be difficult to adapt my teaching of English to non-natives, as it will require some degree of simplification. As the children should already have a level of English, I will be able to learn from the teachers how they approach teaching English, which I can emulate for this placement and then adapt for future placements when teaching a foreign language or teaching children whose first language is not English. I think looking at the basics of the English language will also be an excellent opportunity for me to revise my knowledge on spelling and grammar, which will be helpful for future teaching.

Placement Proposal

For my Learning from Life placement, I would like the opportunity to experience teaching abroad, specifically the connection with University of Orléans in France. From researching the University of Orléans, I have been made aware of the unique links between the city of Dundee and Orléans, as twin cities, particularly in teaching, where students from the University of Orléans have travelled to Dundee to visit Scottish Primary Schools. I feel as though this experience would have been valuable for these students, as they immersed themselves into Scottish culture and practice, and it is an experience I would like to take full advantage of in Orléans.

Throughout my time at school, I studied French up to SQA Higher Level; constantly updating my French vocabulary, learning about the customs of France and developing my basic skills in reading, writing, listening and speaking.  Also, during my first year placement, I had the opportunity to teach a French lesson to my pupils, however I did struggle with the proper pronunciation of some words and accents. Therefore, I feel as though my core language skills and accent would significantly benefit from a period of full immersion in French culture.

Not only will my knowledge of the French language hopefully improve, my practice will also benefit, as I am provided with alternative methodologies, which I believe will provide a broader perspective of our own curriculum, when critically compared with the curriculum in France.

As well as being able to contribute practical experience teaching and a developing knowledge of the French language, I am a native English speaker. Therefore, my extensive vocabulary and comprehension of complex grammar systems will be advantageous in supporting those who study English as a second, or even third, language. Equally, I can provide French children with knowledge of Scotland; her culture, her customs and her history, somewhere they might never get the chance to visit themselves, and I would be proud to be an ambassador for Scotland and Dundee.

Skills Audit and Previous Experience

Skills Audit

  • Organisational skills – Previous experience of teaching placements, where I had to construct a folio of work and prepare lessons and resources in advance, have improved my level of organisation. This will be a useful skill for organising travel arrangements to and from placement in a foreign city.
  • Communication skills – Previous experience working with different groups of people, such as children, teaching staff, coaches and parents has resulted in a development of my professional and personal communication skills. This development has included an improvement in questioning, explaining and understanding, though this skill will be continually developing in this placement due to the language barrier.
  • Self-confidence – Previous experience working in a school environment, where I have to be seen and heard has resulted in me becoming more confident. Constant planning and revision of work to be done is a way in which I develop self-confidence and this is something I hope to continually develop and is a development, which I think, will pose the most challenges to me.
  • Teamwork – This is a skill I think I excel at, as I am very good at determining when to contribute and when to listen. I like working as a team as it gives me the opportunity to practice many roles and work in different dynamics. Teamwork is a skill I have developed from working on many school and university projects that required equal contribution and effort from everyone in order to succeed.

Previous Experience

Coaching experience – Working as an Active Fife coach in holiday camps was on of the first opportunities I was partly responsibility for a group of children, both in terms of their learning and their safety. It gave me a preview into the level of planning and organisation goes into facilitating activities and learning as I was given specific sports and equipment to work with, which I would co-plan into the day’s schedule with my fellow coaches.

First Year Placement – This was the first time I took full responsibility for a class of children for several consecutive days. Reflecting on this experience, I learnt a lot more about the responsibilities of a teacher outwith the school day from building up my own folio with important documentation, plans for the day/week and examples of assessment and marking to ensure a child’s progression. Despite this placement being a short period of time, I was able to form quite strong relationships with both the staff I worked with and the children I taught, which helped to enhance the value of the experience. As this placement was a big jump from my previous experience, I had plenty of opportunities to practice different teaching styles and techniques, which resulted in me being able to reflect upon these and refine them as I moved towards my forming my own identity as a teacher.