teacher katie.

It’s officially my two month-iversary (and a week?) and let me tell you, it has flown by.

Every day has carried its own adventures as I navigate a new town and attempt to improve my French.

Ask anyone, it honestly depends on the day.

Now that I’ve been here (and it’s post-Fall break), I have started to actually teach my own classes. Every teacher has their own method and thought process of how they’d like me to teach. Some want me to take small groups and work on reading or their oral exams, others want me to present on American holidays or my family traditions, others want me to do presentations based off of their current unit.

When I first started, the kids (especially the terminales or seniors/twelfth graders) were especially nervous to be around me. They didn’t know me and having a native speaker judge you on their native language is definitely nerve-racking enough. On one of the first days, I was speaking to one of the teachers in English and a student declared, “Je peux pas parler comme ça! J’arrive pas, mais elle parle parfaitement!” Which means “I can’t speak like that! I can’t, but she speaks perfectly!”

I looked at her in complete surprise as I responded, “C’est ma premiere langue! Bien sûr je peux la parler parfaitement!” (It’s my first language! Of course I can speak it perfectly!)

Other terminales, of course, speak with confidence and are excited to leave class and just have conversation with me, but thus far, I’m still working on a good group of them to take part in dialogue.

Then on the flip side, I have my collègians (middle schoolers) who have heaps of inexplicable confidence. One class is still quite shy with me, but they haven’t been able to work with me a lot. Mainly just a few students at a time (which again, leads to the feeling of scrutiny); however, the other two classes love to talk, no matter how incorrect or how much franglais they want to incorporate. But after presentations on the United States and our holidays, these kids are rearing to go when they see me.

Which led to my most adorable interaction to date!

I work at the collège twice a week. For one of the classes, they have switched rooms constantly, so I can never find them. It didn’t help that for the first few classes, I didn’t have the contact info for the teacher, so I just waited in the teacher’s lounge (salle des profs) until one of the students would show up to show me where class was.

But yesterday, I knew where we’d be meeting and arrived on time for the first time ever!

The kids were hyped, to say the least.

They were super happy to see me, which made me feel cool (because, honestly, are you even cool if a middle schooler says you aren’t? The answer is no.) and we got to work on their “Britain’s Got Talent” projects which was also a lot of fun.

But then the bell rung and I had to make a mad dash across the school to make it to my next class.

Apparently, I must have been running late, because the door was already closed and one other student from the class was also sprinting down the hall. He went in first, with me following behind, when I heard one of the students yell, “Elle est ici! C’est Katie!” (She’s here! It’s Katie!)

And then they all started applauding and cheering! Like what?

Then when the teacher announced I wasn’t taking groups, they were even more excited to spend a whole period with me. Again… what?

As we worked on their projects, it became evident that I was requested to stay in class as the teacher had to deal with all the logistics for their spring trip. So I became the official translator (which is always a hit or miss) and, apparently, the comic relief.

Kids get a huge kick out of watching me struggle, let me tell you.

Once class had wrapped up, I needed to grab some groceries and headed to the store right by the school.

Little did I know that half of my students would also be at the store grabbing food.

It began with a simple, “C’est notre prof d’anglais! Salut Katie!!” (It’s our English teacher! Hi Katie!”) and I turned to see about four girls from class with another friend trailing along. We stopped and chatted, then another group of kids from a different class rounded the corner.

More pleasantries, mostly in French, but a bit of English too (lots of “halloooo, ‘ow are yoo”s), when then another group turned down our aisle.

Suddenly I’m the local celebrity with twenty collègians surrounding me, asking about my weekend and my day and which class I prefer.

Eventually, we said our goodbyes and I headed off home, because I needed to get ready for tutoring!

Tutoring has, oddly enough, become one of my favorite things about Pontarlier. I got connected with a family through a teacher at school and have been working with their three kids for the past month.

They are gems.

I show up twice a week to work with the boys and every appointment, without fail, I’ve been served tea and cookies or cake or crêpes. And one time I ate a potato/cheese wrap thing? I’m not sure, but it was delicious.

The last time I was there, I was greeted by the middle boy and when I came inside, the mom told me the youngest (who is 9) wanted to make me tea today and told his mom to leave and I just about died.

It was also incredibly adorable when I heard that the youngest was telling his parents at dinner all about the story we had been discussing and all the words he had learned.

Also the middle child knows an impressive amount of words from Minecraft alone? Who says gaming can’t be educational?

Aside from teaching, I’ve had the time of my life with my church group.

We’ve gone out for lunch, I’ve seen plays, gone to concerts, and just had adventures! Before I came, previous assistants told me that it could be tricky to make friends — especially in a smaller town with no university. Young adults live in Besançon, not Pontarlier.

But how exciting to discover a youth and young adult group with people I fully enjoy! I even volunteered myself to help decorate for Christmas with the young adult pastor’s wife and a friend of mine, Rose, and we went tree shopping two weeks ago and are decorating on Thursday! What can I say, old habits die hard.