French for a While

IN MY PREVIOUS job (previous life sounded too dramatic) I was required to travel quite a bit. Lot of travel in the US, a bit in Canada, and one or two trips a year to Asia. But now that I am teaching again after four years away from the classroom, those kinds of travel demands are no longer required. However, the next week is an exception. For the next 7 days I will be in Paris with colleagues from other international schools in France (Bordeaux, Lyon, Monaco, etc.) trying to accomplish three things: 1) make decision regarding plans for upcoming years (curriculum, grading, etc.) 2) marking the Histoire/Geo bac exams that students sat for last week, and 3) administering the oral part of the bac exam to students throughout France. My colleague from the CIV and I will be administering the orals to the students at the OIB school in St. Germain-en-Laye -- just outside Paris.

I'm not taking a computer -- no time for the internet when you are in Paris! I may hit the odd internet cafe or two for a quick update, but probably not. Just email checks.

One of the rules in our house when I am away on business is that Patrick and Julia get to sleep in our bed with Kerri. The flaw in this plan is that the kids look forward to days when I am away. Yesterday Julia came up to me with a big grin on her face and said, 'I can't remember if you are leaving on Thursday or Friday...but I hope it's Thursday.' But I felt better this evening because as I was tucking Patrick into bed he told me that he wishes I didn't have to go.

He won't mind so much tomorrow night when he gets to fall asleep in my spot on the bed!
CJS

...NOT FOR ME, for my students. Today was the first day of a series of bac tests for my Terminale students. If you have children who may take the French Bac (or a joint French-English bac) you might be interested in this. In just a second I'm going to share the essay questions from this year's Literature bac. The bac (baccalauréat) will consist of 6-7 four-hour exams: Thur - Literature; Friday - History/Geography; Monday - Biology and Physics; Tues - 2 more, etc. Then, since the students in my school are taking the O.I.B. option in English they will also have two sets of orals exams a week later -- one for literature and one for history.

But the best part of the bac is how the results will be revealed. All bac results will be available on Friday, July 4. That afternoon, our school will have a gathering in the afternoon where all bac results will be announced publically over a loud speaker! For some, this will be the 2008 version of the guillotine. The French love their public executions.

But back to today's exam. For the OIB Literature exam, students can be tested on 12 major works that they have studied over the course of two years (the usual: Shakespeare, Dickens, Austin). The essay questions, which are top secret until they are revealed at test time, for Literature this year were as follows (students must answer two):

1. Irony -- whether verbal, situational, structural, or 'dramatic' -- is a frequently employed literary device. Discuss the use of irony in some of the works you have studied this year. How are the ironic effects created, and what purpose do they serve?
2. 'The innocent always suffer in literature, but they also survive.' How far is this statement true for two of the works you have studied?
3. Is it possible to transpose tragedy from the stage to the novel? What is gained and what is lost in the translations. Discuss this with relation to two works you have studied.
4. Scottish writer J. M. Barrie said, 'Life is a long lesson in humility.' While some literary characters have benefited from humbligh experiences, others, arguable, have ben 'humbled' in a negative or tragic sense. Discuss the quote with relation to two works you have studied.

There you go. I should add that there was also a section where they had to comment on piece of literature -- this year it happened to be a W.H. Auden poem. Friday is the History/Geo test (which I teach) so I can't wait to find out what questions are asked. I hope they are on topics that we actually covered in class!

CJS

TODAY WAS MY last day of teaching students in the Terminale year. They now have about a week to prepare for a series of major tests that will determine the score they receive on their baccalauréat. It will also basically determine their entire future so they are very thankful to the French education system for all the pressure (I'm exaggerating...but just a little bit). It will be a pretty stressful couple of weeks for them -- including four hour written (and sometimes oral) exams in History, English, Biology, Physics, Economics, Philosophy, and a few others I don't even know about.

Magali, Louise, Thalia, Francois

With Vianney and Anna

With Eve and Kathryn

CJS

AWARDS WERE JUST announced in Cannes and the winning film -- 'Entre les Murs' (The Class)-- is a docu-drama about life in a Paris junior highschool -- using real teachers and real students. As someone who is now a teacher in France, I'm very interested to see it.
CJS

TODAY DURING A break I went to the Place Bermond in Sophia to have a bit of lunch and play a game I made up called "Who doesn't smoke over here?" Anyway, I needed some time to prepare for my first baccalauréat oral exam as an examiner. This, of course, is a foreign concept to a kid like me from the States. In the French system, students complete what is called a baccalauréat -- a series of 2-4 hour exams and 15-20 minute oral exams (in each class!) at the end of their Terminal year. These exams are crucial for them as they attempt to get into the universities they want. The students at the CIV have a remarkably good record on these exams, with many scoring in the top 5 percent nationally. The oral exam that I am giving over the next three weeks is 'bac blanc' or 'practice' test. Basically, it will work like this:

Students have signed up for 20 minute slots on Wednesday afternoons. When they arrive they will pick a question from a list of 40 that have been prepared by the OIB program coordinators in Paris. They will then have 20 mintes to prepare -- in a separate room with no notes -- a 5 minute oral presentation on that topic. After the 5 minute presentation I will ask them other questions about the program for 15 minutes. During this oral exam, another student from their class will be observing (just the three of us in a big room).

From my point of view it's really just a 20 minute conversation with my students about everything we have covered this year -- basically US and European foreign and domestic policy since 1945. Somehow I don't think the students view that way. Although this is just the bac blanc, it is counted as a large part of their grade for the trimester.

And for me, this is also a 'practice' test of sorts because in June I will travel to Paris with some colleagues from the CIV to administer the real oral exam to students from one of our schools in Paris. I've got to be ready too.
CJS

I’VE HAD MY share of ‘learning French’ embarrassing moments so it was nice to see one of my students have an embarrassing moment of his own today (I’m all for laughing at the expense of others). Just before a test I asked the students if there were any questions. A boy in the back of the class raised his hand. He wanted to know if he needed to use his own paper or if I was going to provide it. He phrased his questions this way (and in a thick French accent, remember):

Do I need to take a sheet?

The only response I could think of was, ‘I don’t know. Do you?’
CJS

I HAVE A student who has lived in some of the most desirable cities in the world: Rome, London, Miami, Abu-Dhabi, and now Beirut (he lives in our dorms during the school year). I asked him the other day which city he liked the best. Without hesitating he said Beirut and listed several reasons why: beaches, mountains, food, the people, etc. It just got me thinking a bit because we are so conditioned to think that that part of the Middle East is nothing more than a war-torn valley of ashes. The photo at left is of downtown Beirut.

[obscure reference guide: valley of ashes]
CJS

THE SCHOOL WHERE I work has just launched a new website. It's not done yet, but there is a snappy new front page.

I WON'T GO into the details right now, but each year the Terminale students (seniors!) at the Centre International du Valbonne (CIV) must take the Bacalaurate, a huge test with both written and oral components. In the O.I.B section (Option American), the Histoire/Geo section or the exam consists of a 2 hour written exam in history, a 2 hour written exam in geography, and a 30 minute oral exam that covers information from two academic years. The exam takes place each June and students must do it in English (quite amazing when you consider most of my students are French). The history courses are covered in english by the teachers in the Section Angalis (that would be me) and the geography courses are covered by teachers in the French system. (It's a bit more complicated than that - but I'm breezing over this). Each February the students take a practice written exam called the Bac Blanc. I just finished grading them and I wanted to share the question that our French colleagues proposed for geography. If you would like to attempt to answer the questions, please email me your response (or leave it in the comments section) in standard APA format. The question was this:

Discuss the organization of the world with reference to international communications.

You have two hours. Go.
CJS

THE FEBRUARY BREAK starts today -- two weeks off so that the entire country can go skiing. Schools in the South of France will be closed until Feb. 25.

It just so happens that the topic of this half-term break got me into a bit of trouble with the head of the school where I teach. I ran into him in the Salle du Prof and tried my best to engage in some chit-chat. I asked simple questions like: how are you? are you looking forward to the break? what are your plans for the vacation? etc. However, I mistakenly 'tu-toied' him. In other words, I spoke to him using the 'tu' and 'toi' form of 'you' instead of the more formal and polite 'vous' and 'votre'. This, I have learned, is a big deal, especially when it comes to teachers talking to administrators! After our conversation, he very politely pulled me aside and made me aware of my error. I apoligized and blamed my poor French skills and he was quite forgiving.

Jeez. A bit sensitive, perhaps? But I told some of my colleagues about my faux pas and they laughed and told me I had committed a grave sin in the eyes of French school administrators. They also tole me not to do it again.
CJS

I HAD A big meeting yesterday evening with the French administration of a school that we work with on a daily basis. The meeting was a bit heated in that some of the staff had some questions about our methods and goals and there was some feeling that we are trampling on their 'territory'. I won't go into the details of this three hour meeting (although they are pretty good), but I will point out that it is very difficult it is to explain/defend yourself when you speak French about as well as an 18-month old baby.
CJS

I ACTUALLY USED this line today in class:

A lot of people forget that there were several Soviet leaders between Leonid Brezhnev and Mikhail Gorbachev. For example, Yuri Andropov ruled for less than a year starting in 1982. For me, remembering Andropov is no problem because when I was a kid my family had a Russian Chauffeur named Pikup Andropov.

I've been waiting all year to use that gem. Don't pretend this is not top-notch comedy!

AT THE INTERNATIONAL school where I teach it is conseils de classe time, which means I have to get grades into the computer for all my students and write a short description of their progress during the first time. These reports are meant for students and parents. Putting in the grades is pretty straightforward, but writing the short progress report -- in French mind you -- is quite a challenge since they must be done in French and, as I have said here many times, I don't speak French very well yet. So I've asked a colleague for an English-to-French translations of some of the key phrases I might need for these reports -- phrases like: 'your child is progressing very well'; or 'your child needs to improve his/her written skills'; or 'it's quite possible your child is the most irritating person I have ever met.'

Since I have nearly 150 students (mostly in 3eme through Terminale) this is going to occupy a lot of my time in the coming days.