La rentrée has been a little difficult for me. My schedule changed so now I work all day long Thursday & Friday, but only afternoons on Tuesday and every other Wednesday morning. My school is currently doing the bac blanc which means some of my classes are cancelled because the students are doing the practice exams. The problem is that no one tells me this before I arrive. For example, Friday I was supposed to have class at 10 am, 1 pm and 3 pm. However, the first two classes were cancelled. This wouldn’t have been such a problem if I didn’t live an hour away from the school, but it’s not like I could have gone home and come back later… I just sat around the teacher’s lounge and attempted to find more speaking activities on the internet for my BTS students, but I was so tired and annoyed that I didn’t accomplish much.
It’s a little frustrating being just an assistant and not the real teacher. I would prefer to have the same students all year so that I can see how much they progress. And it’s especially hard when you don’t know what the students have already learned or what activities they have already done in class. I need more control and stability or I don’t feel like I can be much help to the students.
A class that I just started working with this week is absolutely adorable though. It’s a seconde level class of eight international students from Algeria, Morocco, Italy, Bolivia, Kosovo and Albania. These kids are so motivated! Their level of English is lower than other seconde classes, but their pronunciation is already really good. They constantly participate in class and genuinely want to learn English. It’s so refreshing to finally see that. And funny that my best students in France are not at all French.
