Travel Log

Someone's gotta represent CALTAF in Nemours

Run time in Nemours

Joan of Arc...hows that for history?

Beautiful

This is the way I like to explore, via my running shoes

Its spring already, and when I come home, I get to do spring all over again!

Can anyone understand this? Its freezing instructions from our fridge...

This is what I call CHEESE pizza

Recess at my school

I imagine he just says "OMG OMG OMG" this is the coolest playroom ever

Delicious baguette sandwich outside of Chateau Fountainebleau

Only run through Paris when you have enough money for the metro home...its a big city

The Cultural and Educational Context of TAB

            Nemours is a dream. I love living in Nemours. The canals seem endless. The baguettes are always soft. The weather is warming. But teaching is not getting any easier. French culture is not anything like Canadian culture, not to mention pedagogical culture. However all is not lost, France is still worth reflection, and in those reflections my beliefs are strengthened.

            It is painfully obvious that the French education system is in the dark ages, it still operates within the factory model of education. The children sit in rows, fill in the boxes in their work books and paste work sheets into the blank pages. The children engage in rote memorization of facts and regurgitate those facts in front of the blackboards. The children have very little, to no, access to technology in the classroom, LAWN would be considered a terrible idea, allowing children to access the internet on school time, preposterous! It feels as though education is about learning dates of events rather than the impact that event has on their life at this point in time. Education is about completion rather than creativity. Today my TAB partner and I had the children draw monsters to work on English colours. My TAB partner drew a silly monster on the black board as an example, we then asked the children to draw their own monster. Shortly there after we realized the children were simply copying the monster from the black board. When we erased the monster from the board the children had a shocked look on their face like “How are we supposed to draw a monster “right” without a model?” It feels like French childhood is something to grow out of rather than something to celebrate. Sometimes this placement feels like an exercise in “what not to do”. I do enjoy being here though, it makes me appreciate the idea of inquiry and how accepted it is in Canada. I appreciate the Canadian approach to diversity and inclusion even more every time I see a child being physically removed from his desk for being “disruptive”. I have yet to feel as though any “behaviours” that I encounter deserve being kicked out of the classroom. Teaching here has made me cherish patience.

            France has already impacted my teaching style. I have been asked to create work sheets for the children, in order to reinforce the language concepts. In the ECE program, if any of my lesson plans included a work sheet I would be encouraged if not demanded to re-think my lesson. Sure, work sheets sound like a terrible idea when you consider the options available to teaching but actually seeing the impact that work sheets have on children is a powerful reason to avoid them like the plague. In one of our first lessons using a work sheet, my TAB partner and I walked into the class and told them that we had a work sheet for them and the six year olds literally groaned at the thought of completing another work sheet. It is clear that six year olds know how little they actually engage with the concepts by completing a work sheet. Is there a reason that teachers force worksheets on the students that I do not understand?

                  

            A major recurring theme for me has been the impact that TAB is having on my perception of ELL children in my classroom. I have a new and profound respect for them, I live as a French Language Learner adult on a daily basis and it is exhausting. I have to focus all my energy on understanding what is being asked of me, and then I have to work even harder to get my words across. I am grateful whenever I see my TAB partner teacher again after a French interaction, I have taken English and my ability to communicate for granted. This placement has given me insight into a how an ELL student struggles. I think about the ELL students in my placement last semester and I can appreciate the effort that they made to answer my questions, ask questions of their own, chat with their friends and generally understand the language used in the classroom. I imagine when they went home they were exhausted and grateful for their native language used by their family.

Walking through the town during Carnival with some of my students

            French culture is opening my eyes to Canadian culture. I feel as though Canadian culture is very subtle, it’s description is elusive, one must leave it to truly understand what it is. Before coming to France I felt as though other countries were full of culture and rich in traditions and that Canada fell short, but now, trying to adapt to French culture I am made aware of all the things that make Canada Canada. Canada is in fact full of culture. Take for a small example, a typical restaurant experience: In Canada someone greets you at the door and takes you to a table. The server quickly returns with a menu, drops it silently and then leaves. The server returns and asks what you would like to drink, then returns with the drinks, usually accompanied by a glass of water. After the server asks what you would like to eat, then returns with the courses of food. During the meal the server frequents the table to ensure the drinks are full and the food is hot. When the meal is finished the plates are cleared and more drinks are offered along with dessert. If more drinks are ordered the bill stays open and the drinks flow freely. If the meal is over then the bill is brought and the server returns shortly to inquire if a debit machine is needed. However all of this very simple restaurant routine is turned upside down on it’s head in France. In France patrons are expected to seat themselves and at the very least choose the desired table. The server asks if you are expecting to eat a meal or just stopping in for a drink. If you just order a drink, the beverage is brought to you along with the bill. If you order a meal the meal is brought out, not necessarily accompanied with all the meal but whatever is hot at that time. The server does not return until the meal is over. The server clears the table and then asks if dessert or cheese and coffee are in order. If the meal is over the server promptly leaves until the patron signals (mysteriously so) that the bill is desired. It is expected that euros are used and credit cards are the exception. Eating out can be a stressful experience, especially if you are on a time line and do not know how to ask for a bill.  By having to adapt to a new culture it has made me more aware of the challenges that students who are new to Canada are constantly dealing with. They not only have to deal with a language barrier they also need to learn the way in which Canadians live. From the moment they step outside the safety of their home things change and they are bombarded with Canadian culture.

            Finally this experience is teaching me a lot about myself. The things that I need, the things I can live without and the things that make me happy. I have learnt that this is an extremely stressful environment for me to live and work in. I don’t understand French enough to feel 100% confident in my translations and my command of the language is even less than my comprehension. Not knowing French makes navigating the culture even more difficult, I cannot necessarily ask questions that I need to or be able to explain myself when I do something un-French. All of this combined means that my body and my mind are constantly under stress. And being outside of my normal environment and stressed means that I don’t cope with the stress as well as I would if I was at home. It’s taken me this long for me to realize that I need time to myself, time that is perfectly quiet where I can be alone with my thoughts. And on top of needing time to myself I need to run, and I need to run a lot. I run at home, I don’t know why I thought I could get away without it here. Running provides me with an outlet, a time to myself, time to think if I want or time to zone out and it lets me work the daily accumulated stress out of my body and off my mind. Running is crucial to my wellbeing. When I return home I will be better equipped to take care of me. Healthy body means healthy teacher, healthy teacher means vibrant teacher and vibrant teacher means vibrant classroom.

We turned the corner and VOILA

It gets more and more intricate the closer you get

Kids are kids no matter where you are

Normal looking street in Paris

Its a 10 lane round-about, a death trap

Getting closer to the Tower

Rocking the old architecture

How would you find anyone at the train station?

Our first meal together in our apartment

Typical classroom

They chop the trees down once the start blocking the sun

The river in St. Pierre les Nemours

The castle of Nemours

Sitting above the castle sewage drain

South view of the castle

The school where Courtney and I are placed

Travel Log

My name is Tara Kerr and I am currently placed in a small town in France, St. Pierre les Nemours. The school is very small, less than 200 students and would be considered extremely traditional by Canadian standards. I chose TAB because of the adventure that it promised. Initially I thought it would provide an opportunity for my husband and I to travel to new places. And in terms of a semester in Calgary versus a semester abroad, the latter was extremely enticing. I had always studied French in school and I thought that going to a French speaking country would be undoubtedly helpful in gaining more language.

Getting to the point where I had a flight booked was a long and extremely onerous process. In the beginning the TAB placements available seemed endless but then as the process unfolded they disappeared one by one. My TAB interview was difficult, I was nervous to begin with and it turns out that I had to interview with another TAB applicant, it felt like a competition of worldliness. It was discussed at the interview that France was no longer an option because there was no contract. Then the waiting, and waiting and waiting and waiting, there was always something to wait for. However in the process of waiting, my husband and I discussed that TAB wasn’t right for us and so I had resigned myself to not going. Then Laurie called and said “surprise!” A France placement was available and would I like it? I told her no. Geoff, my husband, immediately sensed my disappointment and we discussed whether or not it truly was possible. I called Laurie back that night and I told her yes. Then more waiting. A contract still hadn’t come through but everyone was optimistic about receiving one. Laurie gave us very little information, simply because she didn’t know very much. She said she didn’t want to muddy the waters with questions when we still hadn’t received a contract. So we waited, with no idea what the placement would look like. December passed with still no contract and no more information. The first week in January came and went and still no contract. At the end of the second week in January Laurie wrote us and gave us the disheartening news that France was no longer an option because she hadn’t heard anything and classes had begun. She gave us the option of arranging a placement on our own, but we only had a week to get everything in order. By this time I was exhausted from the emotional roller coaster and I opted out. I felt that maybe France wasn’t in God’s plan for me, I was going to stay in Calgary. I was not upset by this choice, I didn’t want to leave Geoff in the first place, thinking about living without my husband for several months sounds less than ideal. In the third week of January, Laurie called again, I was getting used to the fact that everytime Laurie called something disastrous or miraculous would occur. She let us know that a contract had come in, earlier in January except there was a lot of confusion around it, she thought the contract was for the south of France students and the French liasons thought the contract was for all of the France students. I had no idea what to do, I prayed and I prayed hard! I was going to France, then I wasn’t and now I could; I didn’t know what God wanted for me. I decided to go, and then the race was on to get everything ready in about 10 days. A small feat.

I did quite a bit of preparing for the trip because I thought I was going for a long time before the trip fell through and then reappeared like a Phoenix. I visited the pharmacy to get my flu shot and inquire about any vaccinations that I need for Europe, but France is epidemic free! I then notified the pharmacist that I would need several months of my current prescriptions for my trip. I also made an appointment with my doctor to discuss just little things that had been bothering me for a while. France demanded I have perfect health! Then I started gathering French resources and literature for the assignments. I placed holds on all the learn-to-speak-French cd’s at the library, I then downloaded them to my ipod for all my runs and workout sessions. I also borrowed some books about Paris itself. I found one book written by photographer who lived in Paris after WW2, it was beautiful and gave me a good sense of where Paris has come from since then. Not to mention the fact I love looking at and taking photos.

Before booking our flights the other girls in the placement and I met at a Starbucks to meet each other and try to plan our first few days together. Its difficult planning a trip so important with people you don’t know. Its hard to just make a decision when you don’t know how other people will react. Nevertheless we finally agreed on a hotel and booked it.  To book a flight I met with my Mom, squeezing our meeting together in between our work shifts was a small scheduling miracle. We met at a McDonalds in somewhere close to where we were and then where we had to be later that night. Choosing a flight was really tricky because there were four of us going and we wanted to at least arrive on the same day if not travel together, not to mention trying to get a good deal with the best possible connections taking into consideration jet lag. It turns out we didn’t actually travel together or arrive at the same time. We had three different flights between the four of us! I wanted the girls who arrived before me to meet me at the train station. I planned on travelling out of the airport and to the station by myself but I wanted the comfort of someone I recognized with me as I tried to make my way to the hotel. Little did we know that attempting to meet each other at Gare de Lyon is like finding a needle in a haystack, it has five platforms. I imagined a train station like the C-Train station, not so! Along with sheer size of the station, my flight was delayed and the girls didn’t have wifi to check the status of my flight. So they arrived at the station on time, but I wouldn’t show up for two more hours.  I tried looking for them when I arrived at the station and realized that there was no way I would find them even if they were there. I miraculously found the hotel we booked by literally choosing a direction to walk in. Instantly, when I walked into the lobby the concierge knew who I was and who I was looking for without even asking her. I finally found the girls, things were about to get a little bit easier.

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            No one could have prepared me for what the hotel looked like. The elevator is smaller than the size of a porta-potty. It’s not actually meant for people with luggage, it fits about one person with one piece of luggage. Then there are no floors to choose from you, pick half a floor, like 3.5 and then either walk up to 4 or down to 3. The hallways aren’t necessarily symmetrical, they are narrower at some points and wider at others, not to mention that they are barely wide enough for one piece of luggage to be wheeled behind you. I assume not all hotels are like this, and in truth the hotels we went to were both super old.        

           

Nothing I did before leaving for France could have actually prepared me for the past few days that I’ve been here. Arriving in a strange country without actually speaking the language is so challenging. Trying to navigate a city without a map, or without wi-fi and without a friend is something I don’t actually want to do again. There isn’t a manual that explains how to adjust to living with four complete strangers. Nor is there much to do to figure out how to live without your husband. I’ve lived without my family before, I’ve moved to a different country without my family, but it’s not the same, moving away from your husband, someone I decided to live the rest of my life with. I’m not prepared for this. I want this, but I’m not prepared for this. Hopefully it’ll get easier with time, as I develop deeper and more meaningful relationship with the girls, when it’s less about survival and more about enjoying each other.