A Year in France

Even though I only teach 12 hours per week, I keep so busy making it easy to let a week fly by without writing a blog entry. It's hard to believe Thanksgiving is quickly approaching, even though it's not celebrated in France. Many stores have put up their Christmas decorations and the city has put up lights everywhere, but they won't be turned on until the beginning of December I guess. If I were in the U.S. at this time of year it would be hard to forget about Christmas coming up, but here, despite the decorations around the city, I don't feel like it's the holiday season.

Teaching is still going wonderfully and I'm learning more each week. I'm getting better at making lesson plans and I'm building relationships with my students. It's at a good point where they respect me and I them, but I still get to be the fun American teacher who doesn't have to be so serious all the time. I have a few students about the age of 13 who are quite the comedians. They enjoy trying to get attention through distracting behavior and comments. Sometimes I have to cover my face until I regain my composure so they can't see me laughing. The more time I spend teaching in middle school, the more I enjoy working with kids of that age. I always had the idea that middle school aged children are the worst- they are mean, immature, and don't take anything seriously. Maybe I perceived this because I preferred my high school experience to my middle school years. I'm still not at the point though that I would want to work as a middle school teacher for years to come.

This weekend I may be visiting a chateau and will post more photos. I usually teach Friday afternoons but I don't need to go in tomorrow, so I'll be enjoying a three day weekend :)