Final Assignment complete!

I've just completed my final assignment.  I then had to go back and fix a section of the previous assignment that missed the mark.  So, I think I'm finished with the written assignment portion of the lessons.  I've included the "what have you observed/learned" section below.

The ten most beneficial things I’ve observed in the classroom are as follows:

• Using imperatives with a gentle voice promotes efficiency in the classroom, and is more clear than “I would like you to…” for students.  It’s hard to get used to, but I’ve gotten to the point where I hear myself do it and I’ve been able to correct myself.
• When to sit versus when to monitor.  I’ve seen the value in sitting and allowing students to work.  It’s always important to be available to students, but there are times to monitor and correct, and there are times when it’s best to be a “fly on the wall.”
• How to handle late students.  I’ve learned that late students can provide a great opportunity for mini-reviews of lesson concepts. 
• Ways to give positive, constructive reinforcement I’ve seen Marian give gentle, friendly reinforcement like a thumbs-up or a smile. Bror has highlighted the importance of using a friendly, firm tone and terms like good/very good/better rather than “excellent.” 
• Personalization of lessons to make them meaningful. It’s important to give students the opportunity to relate to the material. 
• When to use questions for a teachable moment and when to deflect questions for a later time. There are times that it’s good to veer off for a minute, and there are other times where you need to see the potential for derailing the lesson.
• Having the students use the white board.  When you know students have enough of a grasp of a concept, it’s good to turn things over to them to write on the white board.
• Determining what vocabulary is essential to teach before the lesson.  Bror effectively taught vocabulary before his model lesson.  A student in our group taught a lesson about Australian barbeque without teaching the word “Barbie” and the whole listening exercise used that word.
• Allow/guide students to self-correct mistakes.  It’s vital to give students the room to correct their own mistakes.  Other students can also jump in to help their peers correct mistakes.  Teacher doesn’t have to be the source of correction.
• Ways to effectively have students practice pronunciation whole group vs. individually.  Bror gave us the opportunity to practice pronunciation teaching during an input session and we saw what worked and what didn’t.  We learned to invite students to speak instead of pointing at them.

A more awake video update

Video Update

New group

Going to give a quick update before I crash.  I told myself I'd go to bed early tonight, and  here it is 11:45, and I'm still up.  I observed the new group today (the higher level).  They're more serious, and take themselves more seriously.  For the most part, they are older.  At the end of the lesson we got to talk to each of the 9 of them.  One man made his feelings about me being an American (who doesn't speak much French) clear to me...he actually asked me if I know anything about Europe, and "Did I (imply even) go to university?!" When I told him I am a certified teacher with four years teaching experience, he seemed to shut up.

I teach my first lesson to this group tomorrow for only 20 minutes.  It shouldn't be too bad.  It's insane that for a 20 minute lesson the paperwork and preparation took me 4 hours.  I feel like I'm back in my first year of teaching!  Nutso!!  There's a lot of paperwork that we have to fill out and keep on file for the accessor from Cambridge (who comes next week--ACK!) to review.

So, the metro workers are on strike.  Apparently this happens frequently here, and it doesn't seem to bother anyone.  It's just accepted.  This, I'm learning, seems to be the French way (with most things).  Line 14 of the Metro is run by a computer, and so it will be on schedule.  It's about a 10 minute walk from my apartment, so my day will start earlier than usual tomorrow.

It's raining chats et chiens (cats and dogs) here.  Pouring buckets out there.  It's relaxing to listen to it out the window.  I hope the sky wraps up its monsoon before I have to walk for 10 minutes tomorrow morning.  But if not, I'll adopt my newly-learned French attitude, and make use of my umbrella.  :)

Goodnight!
xo, aKiP

Lèche-vitrine

Today, I went on a mission to do some shopping.  My primary goal was to browse.  In French it's called lèche-vitrine (literally window-licking), and it's something I've seen quite a bit of here Paris.  People walking on the street (most likely to work) will stop dead in their tracks to admire window displays.  It's pretty awesome.    My secondary goal was to get Clinique eye makeup remover, and lastly was to pick up a few "French-looking" items to tone down my "Americanness" quotient somewhat.  I went to the beautiful "Galleries Lafayette" Galleries Lafayette Website and got the makeup remover...and spoke only French to do so, thankyouverymuch.  I met a really nice man named Mathieu at a jewelry counter across from Clinique, and we had a lively conversation (NOT in French) for about 20 minutes.  We talked about some good places to go out, as my friends and I had a hard time finding a good spot in "the gayborhood" (Le Marais) last night.  Mathieu knows the gayborhood well (if you know what I mean), and was able to suggest some places that may be good for us to try next time.  We're going to become friends on Facebook, at his request.

The galleries are across the street from the Òpera
(All of this is right near my school)

Inside Galleries Lafayette

The lady in shopping Dior was so elegant.

So, I went to the "Gourmet Foodstore" in the GL to just admire some beautiful food displays and see the world of French gourmet.  It was so cool.  When I walked in, the salt display took my breath away.  And it was just salt. 

Salt display!

Fun English words on French products

It was really cool to see the gourmet side of the shopping...the Wegmans/Lunds & Byerly's of Paris.  I did end up getting a few small snacky-type things, cookies, pretzels (hard to find here), popcorn (salt & vinegar flavored!), and plain Lays potato chips.  I'm not even a potato chip fan, really, but for some reason here I'm craving them.  The chips here have really "out there" flavors.  Like...chicken, mustard, cheeseburger, roasted turkey and thyme, Bolognese,  and smoked ham.  Lays flavors (website) in French  (Side note: they have turnip chips here, and I'm tempted to try them...but I haven't been bold enough to do so.)  The store also had an "American food" section.  It featured pancake mix, Betty Crocker cake mixes (from the UK, actually), pancake mix, yellow mustard, and peanut butter.  It was cool.

American Food

In the end, I didn't buy any clothing at GL.  It was fun to look at everything, but most of what I looked at was waaaaaay more than I wanted to spend.  It was probably the equivalent to a Bloomingdales or Nordstrom.  Maybe even Neiman Marcus.  In the end, I took Tressa's suggestion and went to H&M, which was much more budget friendly.  I got some very "French" things, and picked up a little black dress that I just couldn't leave without.

Ignore the stupid face...just look at the dress!

The GL is in the area where my school is.  It's near the Òpera Garnier.  So beautiful.

Òpera Garnier (I see this every morning when I get off the Metro)

Beautiful buildings around Òpera (9th Arr.) 

This is the view with the opera house behind you. 

The fence area in the middle is the Metro stop.

Goodnight.
xo, aKiP

Half way point

Yesterday marked the half-way point of the course.  It's crazy to think that I've been here for 18 days already.  It's gone by so quickly.  The school work is intense, time-consuming, and (like most of teaching) there's always something that I could be working on, but it's so good for me.  It's given me something to focus on, and it's given me a group of English-speaking people to relate to.  My classmates and I have become close because we're all in the same stressful, crazy boat.  The time I've spent in my apartment or at school working and has made Paris all the more appealing to me, as I've had next to no time to spend ogling all the lovely sights here.  I've started looking at job ads, and have circled some.  I asked Marian (my teacher) if she would look them over and tell me her opinion on them.  I'm sure there are some that will look good, and she'll know otherwise.  So, I plan to review them with her on Monday.  I am also going to meet with her on Thursday and let her know that I would like to go for the A in the class.  We'll see how that goes.


These two weeks will be spent with the other tutor, Bror, and the high-level students.  I'll be teaching on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday this week.  Next week, I teach Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday also.  My 20 minute lesson on Tuesday is vocabulary and speaking.  It's about expressions for annoying habits ("It drives me crazy when..." or "I can't stand it when...") My main goal is to get the students talking for the majority of the time, and for me to listen to their speech.  This will help me in many ways, but primarily, I'll be doing some investigative work early on to see where they need help.


While on that subject, if you have any ideas of things that annoy you...situations of things that drive you crazy, please send them my way, via email.  :)


Last night, to mark our half-way completion (read SURVIVAL) some classmates and I met up in my neighborhood (Le Marais) last night.  Stuart, Elisabeth, Guy, James, Chris (& his girlfriend, Mathilde & her brother, Damian), and I had planned to go to a karaoke bar, but native Parisienne Elisabeth thought the place was a bit too touristy.  (The man there spoke to her in Spanish, and that was a major indicator of a "tourist trap" to her.)  So, we went to little bar that James knew, and everyone was happy because the beer was inexpensive.  After one drink there, we met up with Tressa (my American friend from meet-up) and went for some kebobs (meat sandwiches) and french fries.  We met Samantha (also from meet-up) and her friend Michael, and after eating, we went our separate ways.  Our up-for-anything, Scottish friend, Stewart, joined Tressa, Samantha and Michael for a more rowdy night out.  It was a lovely evening.  I came home and DIED, and didn't get up until noon.  It was much needed.  I'm going to go explore some today, get an adapter so I can plug in my camera battery pack, get some groceries for next week, and then come back tonight and work on my lesson plan and project that's due next Thursday.  :)


xo,
aKiP

Update

So on Tuesday night, I went to dinner with Julien.  If you recall, Julien was my waiter at Au Roi du Café on my first two nights in Paris.  He lives in the 18th arrondissement.  He met me at the Metro station near my house and he and I went to a café in my neighborhood that James (from school) recommended.  Julien gets off work early on Mondays and Tuesdays.  His English is incredible.  I learned all about his family, his childhood, and his likes and dislikes.  His parents don't speak any English at all.  He'd just been asked to take a management position at work on Tuesday.  He was so excited.  He loves his job, and although he doesn't cook professionally, he loves food.  One day he may want to own his own place.  I suggested the name "Julien's Café."  (Original, huh?)    He wants to help me improve my French.  I am really looking forward to making my French better, but I just don't have the time now.  
My favorite quote from Julien  was, "How do you say the wife of the beef?"  He was searching for the word "cow." :)

Julien (& Obams)

Last night (Wednesday) I gave my self the "night off" of school work.  That wasn't the best idea as I am now about to BEGIN an assignment that's due tomorrow.  I was just too darn tired to do it last night.  I'm going to do some work now, and a bunch of it this weekend.

We change groups on Monday.  Tomorrow's my last day with the low level, and with Marian.  I had my module 2 conference with Marian today.  It went quite well.  There were a few areas that she felt I was "above the standard" and the rest were all at standard.  That was great.  She said that As are very hard to get on the CELTA course, but I could try for one if I wanted to.  I have to commit to it by my second lesson next week, and will not be offered any help with lesson planning from that point on.  I'm all about it.  May not get it, but at least I'll have tried.  And if I'm going to be working my tail off anyway, I may as well have a lofty goal while doing so.

So, I'm off to work. :)

xo, aKiP