On Monday I went to a Conseil de Classe at Lycée at 9h30. It was my first Conseil de Classe and was for a class of Première ES some of which I knew from my Anglais Renforcé class with Christiane. It was interesting and is something that doesn't really exist in the UK. Basically all the teachers that teach that particular class all get together along with the head teacher to discuss the students' progress. The results of each student for each subject are looked at and they decide what to recommend the student to do. For example, they decide whether the student should be allowed to pass to the next year - Terminale, or whether it would be better for the student to do the Première year again. In France, unlike in the UK, if a student doesn't reach a certain level in their studies (usually an average mark of 10 over all their subjects) they will be asked to 'redoubler' the year - do it again basically. They can either be asked to do the exact same year again, for example - a student who didn't get 10 in their Première ES year could be asked to do the Première ES year again, or they could be advised to change and do the Première STG year thus reorientating their studies towards a Bac technologique rather than a Bac général. In this ES class that I went to the Conseil de Classe for there were 24 students of which 13 didn't have the golden mark of 10. Within this group there were 3 students for who this year was already their second Première year - 2 of them had done the Première ES year last year whereas the third student had done the Première S year but hadn't succeeded so had reorientated his studies towards a Bac général ES rather than the Bac général S. Also within this group were 2 students who had done two Seconde years and were now looking at doing a second Première year. And for one student their parents had asked for them to redoubler. I thought that if the Conseil de Classe asked for a student to do the year again then it was pretty much written in stone but it appears not. The parents have to agree to their son/daughter doing the year again and one teacher told me that if the student wants to pass to the next year the chances are that they probably will. It depends on the family and well, let's be honest, in the 13ième arrondissement of Marseille where there's an unemployement rate of over 25%, the families aren't going to be that fussed so I expect the majority, even though they haven't reached the minimum requirements, will pass to Terminale and probably fail their Bac.
Tuesday I went to my French class and then to IKEA to buy a coffee thing. It's great! I can now make coffee. It's my new toy! In the evening I went to Madison's to give her a private lesson which went well.
On Wednesday I had a telephone interview with the Richard Language College in Bournemouth. It's a job I applied for for August teaching teenagers and adults. The College has a lot of French students who go during the summer to improve their English. They're either students who are preparing their Bac or who are preparing a concours for entry into une grande école. Because of this the College was looking for English Language teachers who could speak French. The interview went well and the man offered me the job. He's posting the contract out to me. But before I accept it I need to see about accommodation. The College is next to the University and I can live there but I need to see how much it will cost to see if it's worth it. It's no good working just to pay the accommodation!! Also, I haven't yet heard from the other jobs I applied for - one in Oxford, one in Cambride, and one in Manchester. I heard back from the Bristol one - they are able to offer me part time work in August but that's not really all that good so I think I'm going to reject that.
In the afternoon I went to see a new private student - Céline. She's preparing the exam to become an English teacher in France. She has her oral exam on June 20th and was taking lessons with Aimée - another assistant in Marseille. Aimée went home a couple of weeks ago and passed on my phone number. I presumed that Céline would want me once this week and once next week but oh no, she wants me 5 times between now and when I leave!! That's fine by me - I get paid! She's really nice and her English is by far the best out of anyone I've taught this year. She even seems to be better than some of the teachers at my Lycée. She's hardworking, enthusiastic and just generally a lovely person. And her house is amazing! She has 3 texts - one literary, one fictional and one that is more of an advert. They're all on a theme and she has to give a presentation about them. It's very advanced what she's doing but it's interesting too. Afterwards I went for a drink with Angéline.
Qui êtes-vous ?
- Gill
- I'm an ex-student. A vegetarian ex-student. A vegetarian ex-student who studied English Language and French at the University of Sussex in Brighton. I spent the 2007-8 academic year on my year abroad (in Marseille, France) which is when I started the blog. It was a way of keeping my family and friends back in England updated with what I was up to without racking up gigantic phone bills. I enjoyed my degree. I originally wanted to be an EFL Teacher, I even did the CELTA. I still get excited about grammar, about the present perfect continuous and phrasal verbs. But it's not a career I want to fall into. I love speaking French too and learning new words. Now I've finished my degree I miss my Student Discount. I miss my title of 'Student' too. I'm a Project Worker now, a far cry from an EFL teacher. I've swapped my international students for rough sleepers and my text books for substance misuse and harm minimisation leaflets. I've decided to stay in Brighton, for a while at least. I might do a Masters, you never know. But, at present, I'm quite happy being a Project Worker. I'd still like to travel mind, maybe teaching as I go. But we'll see - at present I'm just fine where I am.