This time last year I had just found out that I was being placed in the Académie of Montpellier, but still had no idea where exactly my schools would be (I wouldn't find that out until a couple of weeks before flying out to France), or really much idea about what teaching English in French primary schools would be like. The Warwick French department were very helpful giving lots of tips for the practical side of the year abroad, but a lot of the information was focused on students going out to be language assistants in secondary schools as that is where the majority of assistants are placed. I would have loved a basic, real-life description of what life is like as a language assistant in a French primary school, and some tips of what and how to teach, and what I could prepare before going out. So, what better than to write one of my own for anyone who is preparing to go out to France as an English language assistant in primary schools next year, or even anyone who is just contemplating the idea?!
The first thing to say is that, after having spoken to several friends who have done the same assistantship placement, it is important to remember that everyone's experience can be very different, and often unique to the different assistant, so don't take everything I say as fact that will definitely happen during your own experience.
The Académie of Montpellier primary sector was very well organised (unlike most French beurocratic horror stories you hear!), and there were three training days arranged for all the primary assistants to attend, which included a day sorting out all the necessary paperwork which was very useful! In Montpellier, we had an overall 'responsable' who was in charge of the whole primary language assistant programme, and then each smaller area (called an IEN) had its own 'référent' who looked after their own group of assistants. As my IEN was Frontignan, which is pretty small, I was the only assistant in my group, so I had the full attention of my référent!
I was placed in three schools over two days, and they were all very close to each other, so travel was easy for me - 'Responsables/référents' will usually try to make travel relatively easy for you. Having said that, I have got some friends who teach in primary schools who had to travel quite far to get to their schools, so be prepared to be a pro at using French buses and public transport systems (Montpellier has a tram network too!)
As part of my orientation week my référent took me to my schools to meet the teachers (most importantly the head teachers!) and showed me round the schools, in the classes that I would be teaching, so that I knew where I had to go. He also arranged for me to sit in on a maths lesson with one of my classes so that I could familiarise myself with the style of teaching and the class etc.
The children in primary schools are mostly very cute, and will love you simply because you will seem young and cool to them (unlike the reaction most secondary school assistants will get!) if your name doesn't translate well into French be prepared to get used to a French pronunciation of your name - I now respond to being shouted at very loudly and repeatedly 'rash-ell'!
Also unlike being a language assistant in a secondary school, you will actually teach the whole class for any time between 30 minutes to an hour. In terms of what to teach the students, I didn't actually get given anything specific to do in most of my classes. I had one teacher who gave me a specific learning English book to read with the children, but apart from that I just went with the basic stuff, as even if they've done that before, they usually don't remember much, so it's good to go over it. I actually made a factfile sheet for my older classes to fill in that had My name is...., I am ... Years old, my birthday is on....., my mum's/dad's name is..., my favourite colour is...., my favourite food is..., my least favourite food is..., hobbies I like and don't like etc. I basically did one of the topics on the sheets for about three lessons by using flash cards to learn the vocab, play games, do partner conversations and eventually filling in the blanks on the factfile worksheet.
Flash cards are very popular in French schools, and massively useful, so if you want to prepare anything before coming out, I would recommend making vocab flash cards for the most common topics, like body/face, numbers, colours, weather, hobbies/activities, food, emotions, family members (I used the British royal family, as I already had face asks of them!), Christmas, Easter (don't forget that French schools are 'laïcque' though, so keep it religion free) etc.
With younger CP classes I did very simple vocab, similar to the above, and I made a much simpler factfile worksheet for them to fill in. I also did simple children's books with them such as one called 'We're going on a bear hunt', and have been learning the vocab from that book and getting the children to do actions etc. I actually made some mini books for the children to make at the end of the term which were mini versions of the book we had been reading and then they could read the words and take it home to keep!
All my classes love playing games, and I've found the best ones include Simon Says, memory games with the flash cards where you get the children to close their eyes and then tell you which one you've taken away, a games where you split the class into two teams and one person from each team has to be the first person to touch the flash card on the board, noughts and crosses, bingo, action games etc. The children are usually very competitive so beware! And the teachers are quite strict, so you have to try and play these games without the children getting too overexcited!
For your first ever lessons, I would advise you to have a little lesson prepared about yourself, your family, and where you're from, with some pictures to show them. Most of the children know hello and my name is, so you can ask each child what their name is too. Getting them to write their names on a piece of paper to put in front of them is also a useful idea, so you can get to their names, and you can ask them to get them out every lesson!
For the last lessons of terms, I did little crafts with my classes (the older ones anyway!) such as making fortune tellers (called pwet-pwets in French) which had English questions in them, so they could be used for practice conversation too. Anything origami-like is great, although keep it simple as you'd be amazed how long it takes them to even fold a piece of paper! I bought coloured paper to bring in with me for lessons like these as it was easier to have all the resources with you to handout, especially with the short lesson times. The children all have pencil cases full of colouring pens, pencils, glue sticks and scissors, so you don't need to worry about having any of that stuff. You will probably also find that the teachers are so strict, that the children will ask you if you want them to use felt tips or pencils - I found that I became very used to saying the phrase 'come tu veux' a lot!
They are also very strict and particular about handwriting, and they find Anglophone handwriting very different to their own, so it's best to try and write as clearly and simply as you can on the board so they can actually understand what you're writing! My students really struggled with my r and v letters!
In terms of discipline, generally the teachers will be pretty good at keeping the class quiet for you, and they will do the telling off for you, do really you shouldn't have to worry about that. Learning a few of the most chatty children's names is useful as usually just saying their name will make them quiet!
Obviously as the children are younger you will have to speak more french than assistants in secondary schools, although I was asked by my teachers to speak as much English as possible so that the children get used to the sound of it. So I speak mainly in English which works perfectly fine with lots of hand gestures, and quick translations into French when the children really don't get it! Really, it's best to go with what you feel most comfortable with - a mixture works perfectly. Don't forget that you can still have the chance to practice speaking French with the teachers in the staffroom during break and lunchtimes (scary I know, and sometimes difficult!), so it's not terrible to speak a lot of English in your lessons - in fact, that is the best way for the students to learn.
Also, be prepared to use absolutely no technology at all - I know some assistants who have used power points etc., but in my schools only a couple of classes actually had projectors and computers, and they take up a lot of lesson time to set up, so it's easiest and best to just avoid it really! I used to make worksheets and print them in our apartment (a cheap printer is an invaluable purchase if you can get hold of one!), and then photocopied them in my break times using the school photocopier, usually found in the staff room or secretary's office - you will probably have to ask for a code to be able to use it, so be prepared to do that!
Anyway, I think that's all the advice I can think of to pass on at the moment, but I hope it is of some use to anyone who is going out to France soon. I can answer any more questions here on this blog, or on Facebook if anyone has read this and still wants to know more!
Au Revoir!
