The first week back hasn’t been that great. Students and teachers alike didn’t want to be back following the holidays, and I’ve given classes their grades and feedback, which I found hard with the students or classes who have low marks.
Since starting to teach English at a higher level, I’ve been learning just how difficult the English language is. The French students I teach self-confessedly struggle most with pronunciation and understanding different accents. I’ve realised how hard it is for them to imitate or get a feeling for the stress patterns we use when speaking and our intonation. These things can change the meaning of a sentence or word, so they’re quite important sometimes, but even when sitting there imitating someone’s voice and listening back to themselves (in a class which is specifically designed to work on these things) they don’t seem to be able to hear things right and imitate correctly. I’m sure I’d struggle too in French. That’s not to mention the different tenses we use, ‘faux amis’, vocabulary and everything else! I do love my native language though. I was looking through some tourist websites for a student who wants to set sail for Great Britain next year and I really enjoyed seeing the different expressions they use to describe places (albeit a bit flowery and publicity-led).
L building toilets
It is high time I told you about the toilets in the building where I work. I’m sure you’re all aware that France is not renowned for its toilets and the university ones are no exception. (I know there are worse in the world before you start sending me stories of your trips to far off places). There are three sets of toilets within not-many-metres-at-all from my office. Two sets of unisex toilets and one set of women’s toilets. The toilets are not blessed with the luxury of a seat. They have a flush which is weak when pressed once and gives enough to power a white-water rafting experience if pushed again (you avoid splash back if you can). There’s thin toilet paper of course. Pink. Then once you’ve relieved yourself, you go to wash your hands and try and avoid being splashed a second time, except this time it is much harder. Martin aptly nicknamed the sink ‘the trough’ as that is what it looks like. If you give the tap a push, a jet stream comes out and as soon as your hand is under it even a fraction, water sprays everywhere. Sometimes even in your face. So how do I conquer the tap? (After all, it is essential to wash one’s hands). I have to dispense the foamy soap into my hands, then stand to one side and lean on the tap with one hand while putting the other under it, and swapping hands. Even then there’s a risk of getting a puny trickle or pushing too far and getting the jet stream I’m trying to avoid in the first place! It’s always cold water. Not a week has gone by without me getting splashed a few times (if not every day)…of course I then make a brief effort to dry my top under the air dryer as well as my hands. I dread the times that someone lines up to wash their hands next to me in case I splash them too. We found out the other day that there are some staff toilets (9 weeks in) but apparently they’re not so much nicer that it would make them worth walking the extra distance!
Saturday
Last Saturday I allowed myself to go shopping for some clothes as I need some new ones and my favourite shop had a sale on. I came away with some new clothes but none of them sale items! Later on my colleague Martin and I went out for the evening with the English-speaking ‘lecteurs’ (our job title) from the English department on Saturday night and it was good to talk about our job at the university as they’re finding certain things difficult like us. Just to clarify – yes, I’m teaching English, but I’m in the ‘Applied Foreign Languages’ department, not the English department. One guy was a bit of a crazy American and said he’d sometimes used the technique of swearing (which he’s quite a fan of!) to make the students quieten down and listen up – not a technique I’ll be taking on myself!
Until next week,
Fiona x
No comments:
Post a Comment