Ummm… where did November (and the whole year) go?? I can’t be the only one who feels like time goes exponentially faster the closer to the end of the year you get.
So another month of my seven month program over. Done and dusted. I’ve worked out that that means only thirteen weeks of the remaining five months I will actually be working as an assistant. The rest of the time is les vacances scolaires!
Probably the best way to describe the last month is as a period of rapid change and transition, which hasn’t always been comfortable, but appears to be slowing down now. There isn’t enough room in this post for everything that Josh and I have experienced and learnt in just the last four weeks. Suffice it to say that we have dealt with everything from language barriers, starting new jobs, moving house, being locked out of our bank account, convincing unhelpful telco salespeople to help us, running out of money a week before pay day, and no, that isn’t even everything.
I like to think that this has all been valuable life experience, and that despite the anxiety, tears, and stress, it will get easier with persistence and resilience. There have been plenty of times when I’ve been fed up of the poor organisation, paperwork and communication breakdowns and I’ve wanted to chuck it all in and go home. Luckily I had gone into the program knowing that it wasn’t all going to be smooth sailing and that knowledge has been my driving force in trying to improve my circumstances.
As far as the program itself is concerned, it is going OK. It has its good and bad points like anything else out there. I’m not entirely certain I’d recommend it to anyone thinking about participating in it in the future. I may change my mind about that later on. The issues I’m seeing are probably a matter of the general awkwardness that you can expect from starting any job, but multiplied by a squillion because it’s on the other side of the world, in another language, and I’m still settling in.
What I personally enjoy about my job is meeting the students and getting to know them. The literature classes are my favourite, hands down. I looove literature and the opportunity to discuss the meaning of the stories, placing them in their cultural contexts, and getting to widen my own reading repertoire is just the best. Also, these kids are pretty strong in English and it’s possible to talk about more interesting topics with them.
What I dislike, generally, is teaching. Well, I guess, more specifically all the non-teaching aspects of being a teacher, like lesson planning and classroom management. I also dislike the fact that there’s an expectation that I’ll teach kids when I’m here as a language assistant. I suppose to look on the bright side, it’s valuable professional experience! I’m getting pretty darn good at improvising 😉
Stay tuned for the end of December!
Seven Months in Marseille 