Busy, busy, busy.

Monday was a day of planning. Planning a lesson for Tuesday's Secondes at Lycee. Planning a lesson for Camille, my private student, on Thursday. Planning a lesson for Madison, my new private students (who was Louise's student) on Wednesday. I decided to do the passive with Camille which took quite a bit of planning. And with Madison I decided to work on adverbs of frequecy, articles and the present simple - well, I did have 2 hours to fill and wasn't sure how much of it would be revision for her. At 17h45 I left to go to Vieux Port to meet Aimee and Rachel for the usual Monday 19h coffee. Rachel didn't come. I presume she forgot. And Aimee text me to say she was going to be late. How late she didn't say. As I didn't have an credit I just sat a waited. She eventually turned up at 18h25, grr. We then went to La Folle Epoque at La Prefecture. Aimee had a hot chocolate and I had a coffee. We got a jog of milk to share but Aimee didn't realise and she tipped her chocolate in the milk. I had a small, strong coffee *sigh*. She felt quite guilty I think as she paid for my coffee! Hopefully next week's Monday rendez vous will be more successful! For the first time in a quite a while I was looking forward to going to Lycee the next day. I don't normally look forward to going in on Tuesdays because I don't like my 8h class of Terminale - you know, the ones that rarely come. Well, when they do come I don't like them. Probably because they look about as happy to be there as a sheep going to market.

Tuesday. I'd received no text from Isabelle so I presumed I had to be there for 8h for my Terminale class. I got there and at about 7h50 I got a text saying Isabelle was absent this morning but would be there in the afternoon. That meant no Terminale. I looked at the time she'd sent the message - 6h50, it had just taken an hour to come through. Sometime's it's like that. It didn't matter. For once I wasn't angry at having got there at 8h for nothing. I had a lot of photocopying and printing to do. I took myself to the staff room and did the printing and then the photocopying. I carried on planning my lessons and was on the internet looking for TEFL jobs in August and September. It kept me occupied until my class at 10h. Astrig, the teacher, came to my class at 10h to apologise because she needed to keep her students today so they wouldn't be coming. She hadn't been able to phone me as she doesn't have my phone number. I waited until 11h when my BTS class came. I like this class. It's their exam soon so we were working to prepare for that. I handed back their work which I'd taken and corrected. I also corrected another student's work. At 12h I went home as Agnes, whose Terminale I have at 14h, had told me she wouldn't need me today. Me and my cheese and pickle sandwiches went home. I then went back to Lycee for my Secondes at 15h. Isabelle only sends me 6 now. It makes for a much better atmosphere. I did my news lesson with them which works really really well. At 16h I went home.

Wednesday. I was supposed to have my first private lesson with Madison at 16h30. She lives in the 13ieme arrondissement, now far from my Lycee. So I had to take the metro to La Rose and then a bus to La Ravelle and then walk. It took me about 50 minutes to get there. Patricia, Madison's mum, had called me the week before to ask whether I could go that week and I said 'no' so we arranged it for this week. When I arrived at 16h30 neither her nor Madison were there. Her husband told me that they didn't think I was coming so they'd gone out!! But we'd arranged today at 16h30! He called Patricia but because I hadn't called the night before to confirm I would be there she presumed I wasn't coming! Who in their right mind randomally calls again to reconfirm that they'll be there?! Surely you call to say you can't come?! More french madness. She apologised and asked whether I could come on Friday at 14h30. I said I could. So I made the 50 minute journey back home, grr.

Thursday I was back at Lycee. 8h - BTS. Again, it's their exam soon too (like my Tuesday BTS class) so I corrected their work and listening to them tell me about their work experience. At 9h I had my class of Anglais Renforce with Christiane where I did 'Plan a day' to get them using direction phrases. At 10h I had Olivia's Terminale where we did keep fit and at 11h I had another class of BTS so more talking about work experience. At 12h I went to the staff room for lunch. My next class wasn't until 14h. I like having 2 hours for lunch. I was talking to another assistant. Well, she isn't really an assistant but she isn't a teacher either. She's german and is teaching german but her french is very very good as is her english. I also gave a copy of the work sheet I'd prepared for a new class at 15h. Usually on a Thursday at 15h I have Marie Jose's Secondes but last week she asked me whether I'd take her Terminale instead as they have an oral exam soon. She was very pleased with what I'd prepared for them. At 14h I went to my class of Anglais Renforce but there was no one there. I was disappointed because I like this class and I only see them forghtnightly and I wanted to do my news lesson with them. I went to the secretariat to see whether the teacher, Anne Marie, was here. She wasn't marked as absent but her class was marked as cancelled. It turned out she was doing something Lycee related but just not in Lycee so as far as I was concerned she was absent. I wasn't particularly looking forward to my class as 15h. I liked the Secondes and didn't like the idea of yet another class of Terminale, another image class, another hour of global warming. But they are really nice and it was fun. I liked them and I didn't realise but they were there voluntarily. Usually they are free at that time. So they wanted to be there. I asked them at the end whether they were coming next week and they said they were. At 16h I made my way to Camille's for a private lesson. I asked her whether there was anything she needed help with and she said she had an exercise to do for homework that she was stuck on. It was on the passive! Perfect. I began with my lesson and then she was able to do her homework and the exercises I'd made on the passive. It all went really well. At 17h30 I made my my way home. I was checking my email and found that one of the TEFL jobs I'd applied for online on Tuesday wanted to give me telephone interview!! Sometime next week. I had to email back a couple of times I'd be free. It's all very exciting.

Friday morning I went to the same cafe I went to last Friday morning, only this time with Angeline. We were originally going to meet at 11h30 and go for lunch but because I had to leave for my cours de conversation with Madison at 13h30 we decided to postpone it until Monday to make sure we'd have plenty of time. After coffee with Angeline we went food shopping together and then home. I had lunch and left for my private lesson with Madison. She's really nice but I think a 2 hour lesson is quite hard on her - she's only 12! We began with her homework and then went on to what I'd prepared. When I left I went back to La Rose and walked to 'Ed' - the supermarket, to buy museli - there museli is really really really nice. The queues were enormous though and there was no basket isle. I found myself with a carton of fruit juice and a packet of museli behind 3 people - one with a basket and 2 with their trolleys piled high. The first lady told me that if all I had were the 2 items I could pass in front of her. I looked at my watch and it was 17h10. I had to be at Saint Just Metro in 20 minutes for my cours de conversation with Dorrean. It only takes 10 minutes to get there from La Rose on the metro but still. I asked the man in front whether I could pass in front of him and he said I could. So, after a bit of queue hopping I paid for my fruit juice and museli and made it to Saint Just for 17h30. I gave my cours de conversation to Dorrean and then came home picking up a baguette on the way so I could have soup for tea. I sat eating and talking to Auriane and Christiane - a teacher from Lycee phoned me to ask whether I'd like to go walking with her tomorrow. I said I would. She said to meet at Saint Just metro at 10h30 and to take lunch - good job I'd just bought that baguette!