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I finally called in sick for the first time this week, but my teachers were super nice about it (they even go so far as to try to get me more time off…what is this life?). When I went back in after, I felt pushed to the limit by a group of uncharacteristically uncooperative students, even though I almost always love the job and feel energized by it even when students are difficult. However, having other classes moonwalk and get really excited about telling me about environmental problems totally made up for it.
While I’ve been trying to avoid needing to take my laptop with me to class, I went with a lesson this week where I wouldn’t have to do too much speaking. A lot of students had been telling me that they liked music, so I decided to show them a clip of “Earth Song” by Michael Jackson and gave them a worksheet where they had to fill in certain words to keep them focused.Read more
I’m having trouble focusing on my work right now, which makes it the perfect time to write about how I’ve managed to stay productive while I’m here, right? Here’s what’s worked most of the time (other than today, apparently): Forcing some structure on my time: Can’t remember where I first read this, but there’s something calledRead more
I’ve officially been in France for 6 months, but it feels like a lifetime since I first got to Bethune slightly dazed and with zero expectations. I found a note on my phone about my first impressions of Bethune that I jotted down while waiting outside the train station; it’s way too embarrassing to share in itsRead more
Cross-posted at the Sleepy Hollow Environmental Advisory Committee blog
I recently stopped by the Repair Cafe in Lille, France. On the third Tuesday of each month, anyone is welcome to bring broken objects by and volunteers will try to fix them.
Footprint: 5.7 kg of CO2
Nord Pas de Calais doesn’t seem to get the love it deserves from some travel guides / the rest of France, but I really love it. There’s a lot of fascinating local history and the beffrois (belltowers) that can be found in a lot of towns are pas mal (not bad!).
View from the Arras beffroi
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After lunch, we visited some other nearby monuments. Visiting the Piazza di Spagna totally gave us a flashback to basking in the sun at Montmartre:
After our Luxembourg trip, we took the train to Dunkerque for Carnaval:
This week was right before break, and like the last time I had class before vacation, even the students who are usually well-behaved were a little rowdy. I went in with a couple of different lesson plans and mostly ended up just combining some games to practice the names of body parts. Last week aRead more
Here are some lessons I learned by the halfway point in my time here: Sometimes (usually) lessons will not go the way they were planned. Even when I carefully pick the exact wording I’m going to use to make everything as clear as possible. And it’s better to roll with that and adjust the lessonRead more
This week, I’ve had students in both my schools again, but seeing how it’s right before Christmas break (and some of them have been out of school for a few days), even the normally well-behaved groups were off the walls.
It was my first time actually working with some of my students this week, and I ended up having them for 10 minute chunks instead of a half-hour, so I’d usually end up doing a little bit of intro stuff (what are your hobbies) and then do a shorter version of the lesson. I had hesitated to do a Christmas lesson, but one of my students specifically asked me to do one last week, so I decided to focus on a topic where I wouldn’t have to worry about laicete…Read more
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