"Élève," pronounced eh-lev, is the french name for a student whether he/she is in elementary school, middle school or high school.
Today I want to call out one of my élèves from CM2 - 5th or 6th grade. As I was walking past a group of my CM2 kids, they all greeted me with a nice and loud, "HELLO!" I love when my kids say "hello" to me because I feel like it validates me as their English teacher and it gives me a little dose of assurance that they like the fact that I am there to teach them English. Well, after this group told me hello, one student said, after I had passed of course, "On dit bonjour là, on n'est pas en Angleterre!" Translated: We say "bonjour" here, we are not in England."
I of course just walked on and brushed the snide comment off of my shoulder, but I have to admit that I was a teensy bit offended and you know what I have to say to that!?! Number one: RUDE. Number two: What an ignorant and foolish child that 11 year old is. He has been learning English since the age of 6, maybe even 5.
What makes me so mad about the kids who don't want to participate in English class is that they don't realize how lucky they are!! I would be in such better shape intellectually and better fit for a job - I am sure - if I had the chance to learn a second language when I was a child. NO. In California they don't care about that. It was an option, just an OPTION, to take a second language when I was in high school! And there was no way that the educational system was going to pay for native speakers of the language to come teach at their schools and live in their country in order to better the quality of the language courses. In fact, my university, UCLA, actually tried to eliminate the language department this past year!
I think that my plan for the next time I teach these classes in which there are rude/disruptive kids, I am first going to ask the class, "Who wants to learn English today?" Those who don't raise their hands, I'm kicking them out!!!!!!!! No really, I am. I am going to say, "okay good. you can sit with the teacher and work on something else while I teach the smart kids English, something that will better them in the future. I don't want to waste my time on someone who doesn't want to try."
UGH! And you know what?! I'M NOT EVEN ENGLISH!!!!!! I HATE when kids confuse England with America.
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Yo, c'est bon de te lire : )
ReplyDeleteBon, si je puis me permettre, les enfants de cette école sont pas comme les enfants des autres écoles de Lyon, tu as ressenti la forte mixité, mais ça reste des écoles vivantes et non conformistes dans lesquelles les enfants sont enfermés dans leur milieu social.
C'est une super idée de proposer aux enfants de continuer avec le maître les exercices à finir, really ! ahaah; tout le monde dans la classe voudra vraiment suivre ton cours. Et quand on est à l'école, on ne sait pas toujours que ça nous servira de savoir parler anglais un jour.
Ni que dans certaines écoles les enfants n'ont pas la possibilité.
Enfin, pour ce qui est de l'assimilation langue anglaise-amérique-angleterre; à toi de les sensibiliser, de leur apprendre tous les pays du monde où ça leur servira l'anglais ! ça fait certes une bonne fin pour ton post, mais combien d'américains savent où se trouvent la france et quelles sont les principales villes ?
Haha Tu as vraiment raison quand tu demandes combien d'américains connaissent les villes de France. C'est absolument ridicule combien de gens toujours pensent que je suis à Paris. Je dis, lyon, lyon, lyon mais même, ils se trompent toujours. lol Aux certaines, ils pensent que Paris est la France. haha
ReplyDeleteSalut! You don't know me, but I'm an ex-teacher in France. I lived there last year (in Lyon, too) and did what you're doing. I'm a French/English teacher in the US, but I'm currently working on my Masters full time at USC. Anywho, I love reading your blog - I just stumbled upon it tonight. It reminds me so much of my blog from last year. Bon courage avec la fin d'annee!
ReplyDeletePS - Don't let the England thing get to you cause it will never end....malheuresement.