In the CP class (6-year-olds), we worked on What is your name?, How are you?, I'm fine, I'm happy, I'm sad and I'm tired. Here is an exchange I had with a young boy, let's call him Baptiste.
Me: What is your name?
Baptiste: Fine.
Me: No. My name is Rebecca. What is your name?
Baptiste: Happy.
Also, in that class, a little girl came up to me and said "Oh, tu parles bien l'anglais!" (You speak English well!)
It was funny because at the workshop last week, the language assistants had to give a short presentation about what we would do on the first day. After I presented mine, one of the French teachers said, "You are going to have kids who say, Oh! I have a cousin who is named Rebecca! and things like that, but you have to keep them focused."
She was right. After I introduced myself to the 6-year-olds, they raised their hands and had a lot to say:
"My cousin speaks English and German."
"My mother has already been to the U.S."
"I think that Rebecca lives in Lyon and that she comes here to teach us and she goes back to Lyon." (or something like that.)
"I've been to Germany." (Actually, there was a lot of talk about Germany.... not exactly sure what I said!)
"Oh, she came from England."
I think they might end up being my favorite class.
The CP kids were great, and the CE2 (8-year-olds) kids were funny, too. Basically today, for all 5 classes, I did the same presentation about Chicago. Showed them a photo of Lake Michigan and skyscrapers, Chicago pizza, and then the Cubs and White Sox. The CE2 class asked me a lot of questions. Then one girl (in French) goes, "Can you say all of the animals in English?" I said, "All the animals??"
So then, everyone's hands shot up.
"Comment est-ce que tu dis zèbre?" "Zebra."
"Comment est-ce que tu dis serpent?" "Snake." [unexplained laughter]
"Comment est-ce que tu dis cochon?" "Pig."
"Comment est-ce que tu dis lion?" "Lion."
Until finally the teacher said "Okay, stop with the animal questions..."
It reminded me of that scene from Love Actually when the British guy goes to Milwaukee and the American girls have him pronounce different words...Ha.
Tonight, I went to yoga where I learned the word expires (pronounced: ek-speer), which means exhale. It was also a good review of body parts (genoux, tête, pieds....thorax?). It was a pretty low-key class, and I think I'm going to join for November and December.
When I was first assigned to a small town, I wasn't sure if I would like it or not. So far, it's been fun, and it seems like everyone knows one another. The Spanish teacher I had had dinner with last week (see previous post) was at the yoga class, the woman who drove me home from the school today said that her son is in one of my classes at the other school, and the brother of the boyfriend of the language assistant who I went to yoga with works at the lycée where I live. Six degrees of separation? More like deux in Crest!
Also, if you would like to feel like you are in France listening to the radio, just listen to this song and this song on repeat. :)
Sidenote: I thought this was funny today. La directrice (prinicipal) of the school gave me a bilingual book to look over and use in the next class. It's called Silly Lilly and the Four Seasons, and when you flip the book over, it's Mimi Cracra et les Quatre Saisons. There are four short stories (one for each season) that are about 6 pages each. The illustrations of both books are exactly the same, except for the one about summer. Once again, ALL of the illustrations are exactly the same except for these couple pages. Hmm.. can you tell what's missing?
No comments:
Post a Comment