My last week of my two weeks of observation was probably a lot less useful to me than it could have been. Part of that can be blamed on my attitude. I went into the two weeks of observation thinking that two full weeks seemed a little much, a little more than I needed. Having taught French classes at BYU for a while and having been a missionary which is a much more one on one type of teaching – giving me experience in both large class and individual teaching situations – I felt that two full weeks would not benefit me as much as someone who is unable to comfortably stand in front of a group and teach. Besides that, with everything I witnessed during the first week of observations, I knew that I wasn’t necessarily planning on following the “French” style of teaching. Another reason that this week was not a beneficial for me as it could have been is thanks to the French national sport – going on strike. In France, striking is a right that each citizen has, similar to the freedom of speech we have in America. When the French go on strike, the people they work for are not allowed to fire them or attempt to find a permanent replacement. The strike is pretty much a crippling event for the entire country. Everything stops – trains and busses stop working, many stores stay closed the entire day, and affecting me more than anything else, many of the school teachers decide not to hold class and a large majority of students don’t come to class. The strike was scheduled for Tuesday of this week, but since that meant the “internat,” or student housing used by students during the week when they do not live close enough to the school to travel home each day, many students chose not to come to school on Monday leaving me observing classes that were less than half full. On Tuesday I was scheduled to attend quite a few classes and some of them had me somewhat interested. My first class was going to be a math class, which was cancelled. My next class was supposed to be an English class, but only one student showed up. Before cancelling class, the teacher asked the next teacher down the hall if he had students and it turns out he had only one student as well. We combined the classes and had two professors, one assistant, and only two students for an entire hour. This could have been a very beneficial time for both of the students with a lot of one on one teaching, but one of the students seemed so… I don’t really know how to describe him… he was timid, scared, perhaps thinking about something else, and very bad at speaking English. Despite only asking him yes or no questions and eventually translating the questions into French so he knew EXACTLY what was being asked, he still struggled to respond. Rather than moving on when he was struggling, the professors spent a lot of time trying to get this one student to repeat sentences that they were telling him to say. Because of all the time we spent trying to get this student to talk, the other student, who was older and quite a bit better in English (still not a really high level of English, but better than the other student), was not able to practice almost any English at all. The rest of the day was pretty much the same story. Classes were cancelled as teachers were on strike, other classes cancelled because no students showed up, and when the classes actually did take place, there were always less than ten students in the class. The strike was scheduled to be over the next morning, so when I showed up to my first class and learned not one single student had come to class, I was very surprised! The strike did not end on Tuesday. Nor did it end Wednesday or even Thursday. Each day there were more students, but the only full class I went to the entire week was an English class for a group of “scientific” students who are known to be the most dedicated and hard-working students in the school. It seems so weird to me that students are allowed to go on strike! The teachers act as if it is completely normal. They mark the students as absent, but aside from that, there is no other penalty. Their grade is not lowered, no quizzes are given, nothing. Teachers and students alike admit that students mostly only go on strike because they would rather be having fun than being at school.
So what is it that is causing the French to be so mad that they are closing their stores, cancelling their train and bus routes, and skipping school (both teachers and students!)? The answer is their retirement. From what I can tell, the French law says that they can officially retire at age 60 and receive a certain amount of social security. If they wait another five years, to 65, that amount of money increases. The government has proposed that two years be added to each of those making the limits 62 and 67. Being notoriously lazy (a couple years ago they were all going on strike to make their work week on 35 hours instead of 40), this makes sense. As usually happens in such situations, things are blown way out of proportion and many of the rioters are making claims that are obviously not true (ie. “At this rate I’ll still be working when I’m 90!”). The French are truly, honestly mad about this proposed change. Even the students claim to be sincerely worried about working too late in their life, which illustrates another difference in thinking between the French and me. When the US government begins proposing things that will change what happens to people who are older than I, I never really consider that it will directly touch me. My thought is that, if they are making changes now, they will definitely make more changes before I reach that age. Nothing is stable, nothing is certain. The economy is constantly changing, the laws are changing, the country is changing. The French do not see it this way. So far the government has not budged and another strike has been planned for next Tuesday as well. My first week of actual teaching might be just as productive as my second week of observation!
The strikes aside, I am glad my second week of observation is over and I am looking forward to actually starting what I came to France to do. I did learn some interesting things during the weeks of observation and some of the classes I attended during the second week were much better than the classes that bothered me the previous week. There are so many different techniques to teaching, so many theories on how to best teach students, and unfortunately not one of them has been proven to be successful 100% of the time. Thus every teacher tries to teach in the best way they can. Every teacher has to put him or herself into the lessons being taught. There has to be a passion in the teaching that will cause the students to begin to feel a passion of their own. The key to good teaching, in my very limited experience, is to make the students want to learn.
The teachers have been extremely kind to me and have treated me like any other professor at the school. They have immediately started treating me like a friend, yet also showing me the respect they would show someone who is very knowledgeable in a given subject. Apparently word travels very quickly between teachers (I asked one teacher where I could find laundry machines and the next day another teacher offered to let me use her laundry machine any time I needed because she heard from a different teacher that I had been looking for a laundry machine), so they all know that my wife has been out of France for the past few weeks and they all know/assume I am bored and lonely. They have been inviting me to things with them, telling me about things going on, offering to take me places, etc. Several teachers asked me to go to the riots with them, but I had legitimate reasons I couldn’t go and I’m not sure I would want to go given the current terror threats in France. Countless others have offered to have a coffee with me or to take me out to get a drink. They have all been very kind and understanding when I explain I don’t drink alcohol or coffee but I would happily have a hot chocolate with them or drink a coke and talk for a while! I am quickly falling in love with Perigueux and the Dordogne! I can’t wait for my wife to come back and experience these things first hand with me.
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