One thing down... many to go!

Week 19: 01/19 – 01/26

Welcome to /miel/, a written account of my life and what my days hold here in France. Thank you for coming to read today.

Helloooooo world! I hope you are all doing well, staying healthy and happy, and finding some sunshine out there somewhere.

As always, it’s been a good week. Due to the strike last Thursday, I had a four-day weekend! I used it to get caught up on my coursework, relax, relax some more, and even read. I'm currently reading two books, "How We Learn to Move" by Dr. Rob Gray, a book about movement science, coaching, and how the traditional methods of learning movement actually don't correspond with evidence we have today about how the body organizes movement/motor control. Very interesting if you're into sports and/or coaching sports. Also, a French book, "15 Unedited Expeditions that Changed my Life" by Sarah Marquis Broché, about a French women going to the Australian Outback and basically almost dying 15 times, but surviving. It's okay... It's good French practice but the material is so-so.

I FINISHED MY TEFL COURSE!!! This was a big thing that seemed to take forever to finish. The Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certification was 120 hours of grammar, methodology, and how to teach in different styles (kids vs adults, telephone, video call, etc.) This certificate allows me to apply for many jobs, in many different areas across the world. Because English is becoming (if not already) so common to learn, from ages 4-18, there are jobs in every continent (except Antarctica…), and in many, many countries. It is typically a full-time job, with a salary and normal hours.

While having this certification will open many doors to opportunities for next year, and I may take one of these opportunities, doing the coursework has made me realize that I don’t have a desire to pursue foreign language teaching/English teaching any more than I must. If my only option to live abroad next year is teaching as a TEFL teacher, then yes, I will do this. However, if I can pursue other opportunities, I will take those instead. So, it’s been a great learning opportunity, in English skills, but also to narrow down the infinite choices of jobs and desires. Isn’t that a feat in and of itself?

I've been working on applying to jobs for next year, TEFL jobs included, and have been going through the rigmarole of getting my university documents (diplomas/transcripts), and other government official documents certified and translated. This has been no small task, and I am still in the midst. It takes a lot of time, quite a bit of money, and the process is confusing by itself. Everything is so arbitrary in this country, even if there's a solid process on what to submit for a certain certificate, it could work and change for certain people...certain documents... certain workers who are validating the dossier...

There's more to come in later posts on the arbitrary-ness of this country and everything in it...

Other than this, my week has been extremely uneventful. I worked this week presenting on Montana, national parks, and school system differences. The Montana presentations make me homesick, but it also makes me incredibly proud to show kids that more than just NYC and LA exist, and that Montana might even (definitely is) be better than these places.

As far as school system differences go, aside from the pure administrative hell that exists here, the largest difference I have found is the independence given to the students. Again, I work with middle schoolers, ages 11-14 (grades 6-9 equivalent in US). Sometimes these students only have 2 classes a day, maybe even just one class, so they come to school just for that period. It’s not super common, but I’ve taught multiple classes where that is their only class all day, and it’s at 2 pm in the afternoon. Then they probably go back home on the bus, and many of the students don’t even live in Noyon, they live in small neighboring towns.

I cannot imagine – we were barely given that freedom even as I was a sophomore in high school.

The schedules are a complete mess as well. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. I’ve attached an example schedule below for 6th grade (10-11 years old), and you can see that some days they have two different periods of English, or no English at all, or different times for the same subject… If you can make sense of it, please let me know, because I do not comprehend it!

Moving on – I have one hour of class tomorrow, easy enough.

This weekend I might do a day trip to a small town on Saturday, because the weekends are running out and I have too many things to see and not enough time!

Looking forward, I will continue working on my French coursework, write some snail mail, and finish planning for my February Vacation. My bestie, Katie, will be in France in about 2.5 weeks and I am STOKED. We will be visiting Chamonix, France and all throughout Switzerland. You can expect full details of our trip afterwards!

TL:DR

High: Having a great lunch today with the German assistant, and other professors. And having good French discussion!

High #2: Finally finding my place within some classes, and finding structure.

Low: Getting a little homesick for Bozeman, the sun, the Mad Mile beer, and the mountains.

Low #2: It’s been grey, windy, and cold here. And the forecast predicts the same for at least the next week.

New French Word:

s’épanouir – to blossom, to bloom

Lesson(s) Learned:

1. Everything is arbitrary here... I think they just make it up sometimes.

2. The French school system is WACK.

3. Having to certify university documents is insanely difficult, start this process earlier than later.

4. Speak the French, even if you mess up, and be proud of your accent. This is how we learn!

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Until next week, I wish you all well. I miss you all incredibly much. Please send me a message, an email, some snail mail, whatever suits you best.

All the love,

Abigail

Below: example school schedule for a 6th grade student.

Credit for Picture via Pinterest: here