School

Hello there,

I realise that I have actually not written much about my job, the reason I came to France. I came expecting the worst, having heard horror stories but for the most part it has been great. I teach kids from 3 years old to 11. Iv found that it's the 11 years old ones that are the most challenging, especially as the teacher has them doing other stuff during the lesson which shows the kids that english does not matter.

Things i have learnt

Kids love to colour- give them an activity involving colouring and they will generally behave well
Games work well- bingo, simon says, describe the object

With French kids you have to be viscious, you take no prisoners, they are use to their teachers being super strict with them so in order not to get walked over you have to become a dictator, examples of this include
-Making a class write out lines
-sending kids back to the teacher
I try generally not to yell at the kids, the teachers do it enough. I find pointing out their maturity level works well in calming them

"I can't believe I am seeing this kind of behaviour from a group of CE2/CM1. Are you sure you are not meant to be in CP"

At first I tried to be the nice guy but after one lesson I realised, I would rather be a dictator in the classroom than have the kids be out of control

Cute moment of the day- when a kid commented that I should have eaten more fruits and vegetables because then I would be taller, this from a 4 year old:)

unrealistic expectations

I thought it would be different here, I really did. I thought to myself ``ok Marseille is a big city, it has to be different right`` WRONG. Now you all might be wondering what I am talking about. I am talking about the lack of public toilets in France. I mean seriously! seriously! It is like the french have no concept of what a public toilet is. Today I went to a museum, while there I wanted to go to a toilet only to be told `non on a pas de toilet ici`` (no we don`t have toilets here). All this in a suprisecd `where does she think she is tone`. I am baffled...what I thought was just a small town quirck is actually nation wide

A dog came into a coffee shop today...it then started barking its head off. It still amazes me that they let dogs in coffee shops, but in anycase a lot of things in France amaze me...not just the lack of public toilets. Oh and for all the warnings I got about Marseille, I have yet to harrased in any form (except by people wanting to read passages of the bible to me) I find that in cases like these rattling off a string of english will get rid of them.

The museum was great, it had what I love ancient Egypt and Ancient Rome so I was in heaven, it took me a while to get there however. I was told at the tourist office that it would take half an hour max...took me about twice that,mainly due to the fact that once you get to the neighbourhood its very hard to find but I had fun walking around the quaint streets and stumbled across a cool cathedral until I found the museum.

That night I went out to dinner , I promised mum I would have bouilbasse but the weather had other ideas, due to the strong winds none of the boats had gone out. Since the restaurant I was in specialised in seafood they were only able to offer one dish to everyone, it was an entree of salad with pine nunts and then steak and chips with a very yummy pesto sauce and a creme brulee. It was I must say one of the best steaks I have ever had. I had it very rare and it was perfect...my teeth are hurting just thinking about it.

Vertigo hostel is great, I ended up in a room with a very nice girl called Fatima we went to coffee together and dinner and just walked around the port, the christmas market was on with its foire des santons and selling all christmas stuff. It still is not snowing here but I will be having a white christmas in Barcelonnette

The last few weeks

School is over for the term and now it is the Christmas Holidays and all I can say is BRING IT ON!!!!. Seriously I am so burnt out at the moment that the last week of teaching was a real struggle. One thing that I find fascinating about french kids is that their education system has managed to zap them of all independant thought or ideas

Anais- Ok Class I would like you to write this down
Kid One: In pen or pencil
Anais- (stays calm) in pen.


Anais; I would like you to colour this red
Kid: In felt or colouring in pencil
Anais (Head explodes)
Kid -holds up three types of red that have hardly any difference
Which one do I use....?
Anais- Argggggggggggggggggggg

If the french education system is guided to squah individual though then they are on the right track....

Another interesting observation is at recre(break) kids have to ask the teachers permission to go and drink (there are no fountains outside). If there is ever a problem they will go up to a teacher and go "maitresse so and so hit me...."

As an outsider all I can do is laugh and ponder at the fate of these children if they ever move overseaa and realise that, no one cares if you draw in felt tips or pencils as long as you do the right colour.

For christmas I am going to Marseille for the weekend then to Barcelonnette (where it is snowing!) and then to Avignon....

Cooking and other things

Since living on my own (well technically there are two other people in this apartment but we hardly see each other due to our schedules). I have come to realise how much I love cooking, I don't know there is just something about being able to make what I want when I want that appeals to me. That and the fact that food here is so goooooooooood. Some of my favourite foods

Sausisson . How can we not have this in New Zealand
Jambon Cru- I have to be so careful with this because I can get carried away and eat the whole packet in one setting
yoghurt- The selection is amazing, I am trying every sort of flavour there is
Orange juice- I also tend to get carried away in this. I brought a two litre bottle of Orange juice yesterday and one litre has gone,
mushrooms- so quick to cook and you can add them to anything

Speaking of food, Claire, Kaia and I went to a crepe restaurant in Digne the other night, it seems we are infamous in this restaurant because the first thing the owner said when he saw us was "oh the girls who won't stop laughing". He was wearing a cool all blacks jersey, I did not ask him about it though....its not really the done thing, had a great night though and the waiter kept us amused .

In terms of school it is going ok, I have the permission from the teachers to write down the names of students that are misbehaving and they then have to write lines at the recre. I have done this and it seems to be working well, now the kids are a lot better behaved as they know I have the power to punish them, and I have used it.

I have moments of real pleasure in class though when kids really get it and show me that they have understood but I know that teaching is not for me.

Shout out to Emma Hyde who is the one who inspired me to update, I was checking out her Tumblr and saw her entry about me:)

Christmas is just around the corner and in celebration I have put up a tree in my room. Two weeks left and then the holidays:)

Les cliches ont la vie dure

Cliches have a hard life. This is the title of a piece in a local newspaper which proves a point I made in an earlier blogpost. This article is an American student discussing the cliches about french people and wether they are correct based on her experience living in France.

1) French people don't take showers. -It states that Americans smell better than French people probably due to the fact that the deoderant is so crappy in France compared to American brands, the french agree. This proves a point that I made in an earlier blog about the lack of proper deoderant in France. I am glad that I am not the only one who has come to this conclusion.

2) The French hate Americans- an American studying in France sees that as false and its more to do with a different in cluture

3) French girls do not play sports- The American student says that she has seen a lot of French girls playing sports but that more women do it in America

4)French people think that they are the best- The American thinks this is true, she mentions in the article that her host family did not eat tomato sauce or processed foods because in France "we only eat fresh ingrediants"- from my experience I do think French people have a tendancy to eat less processed food, ie with them always eating fresh bread and with the meat

5) The French are skinny even if they eat fatty foods- The American explains that this is true because of the quality of the food that they eat and the smaller quantities. I have noticed that I have lost some weight while being here, but I think that my splurge this weekend (Macaroons anyone?) probably halted that.

6( Every women goes topless at the beach. - This one is definatly false, while some women do go topless , there are just as many that do not.


Another observation I have made is that the French seem to be a lot more into politics than in New Zealand. It seems that there are political shows all the time, and the quality of the news is a lot better, although I do sometimes find it hard to understand. I spent a lot of today watching Friends. The dubbed voices were a bit strange but after 10 mins you get use to it. I also saw a documentary on the Crusades. That is another thing I have noticed, a lot more documentaries. In conclusion I think the quality of TV in France is higher than in NZ.

So there you have it 6 French cliches discussed and some unmasked.

A picture blog

Malta was amazing, these three photos show the highlights of the trip for me, the old churches which were amazing. The St John co Cathedral was great, and it had the picture of the beheading of St John in it. We also went to the oldest temples in the world...It was amazing to see them and to wonder at why they were there and who built them. Chris the owner of the Hostel that we stayed at said that he use to have birthday parties there, before the goverment realised how historically important they were. I also went to St Pauls catacombs which were great, its basically an undergroud grotto of caves with tombs in them...very cool

Since blogger is not being very cooperative in uploading pictures you can check them out on Facebook:)

In terms of teaching, things are going well. I have my lessons planned for tomorrow so hopefully they will go well... I will be going down to see the family tomorrow night for the weekend. No school on Friday as it is a public holiday:)

What I miss

What I miss in New Zealand

Salt and Vinigar chips: These are my favourite kind of chips and I have only found them once, and they were not that nice either. France does not have a huge selection of flavours when it comes to chips (this is a big hint that if anyone is thinking of sending me a care package, please include salt and vinigar chips:)

toast bread. I love Vegemite and butter on toast, and while baguettes are yummy it just is not the same...

Toasters: They have them here but it is not really the same thing, its more like a bread grill.

Deodorant: Now maybe its living in a small town but I cannot find a brand that actually works...thank goodness for perfume....