I was blogging throughout the week to my school so have just copied and pasted it here with a few amendments... and it's back to front!
jeudi 18 octobre
I've been to school today. The most enormous school I've ever seen.
This is just one part of it! The school has all ages here...
Primary - "Primaire" Secondary - "College" 6th Form - "Lycee"
The desks in all the classrooms are in rows and don't have computers or an interactive whiteboard. Each has a blackboard instead. There are hardly any displays on the walls and the children don't wear school uniform. Even the teachers can wear whatever they like. Most people wore jeans.
(PICS REMOVED FOR THIS OPEN BLOGSPOT)
These children are age 11 and age 14 so that means they are in the "College" where classrooms are very plain
There is just a blackboard and a TV monitor. The teacher ("professeur") can connect the laptop to this TV but there is NO INTERNET.
The Primaire was more exciting to look at, but they still sat in rows like the older children. There was no carpet area.
(PICS REMOVED FOR THIS OPEN BLOGSPOT)
This is just one part of it! The school has all ages here...
Primary - "Primaire" Secondary - "College" 6th Form - "Lycee"
The desks in all the classrooms are in rows and don't have computers or an interactive whiteboard. Each has a blackboard instead. There are hardly any displays on the walls and the children don't wear school uniform. Even the teachers can wear whatever they like. Most people wore jeans.
(PICS REMOVED FOR THIS OPEN BLOGSPOT)
These children are age 11 and age 14 so that means they are in the "College" where classrooms are very plain
There is just a blackboard and a TV monitor. The teacher ("professeur") can connect the laptop to this TV but there is NO INTERNET.
The Primaire was more exciting to look at, but they still sat in rows like the older children. There was no carpet area.
(PICS REMOVED FOR THIS OPEN BLOGSPOT)
This is the "Primaire" playground... and then in a classroom with year 4
you can see that the "Primaire" do allow some pictures on the walls here. These children could count to 20 in english, could say "my name is..." and also say the names of colours. So they are just like you! Another big difference is....(Mr Moynihan will like this), everyone must buy their own exercise books, pens, pencils, scissors, glue sticks etc. Some children, rather than have notebooks, simply brought packets of paper in their rucksacks! I was also surprised that they use only one type of paper for every type of lesson. I will bring some back if I can... it's most unusual, not at all like the paper in your exercise books. Do you think buying your own exercise books would be a good idea in our country?
Lunchtimes are wonderful in France. Everyone has a hot meal in this school as packed lunches are not allowed. There is a modern canteen where children have a 3 course meal and it is dished up on proper plates with proper cutlery. They have an hour and a half to relax and eat without being rushed, whilst they chat to friends. This is the same for the teachers who have their own separate canteen (and they can even have a glass of wine or beer if they want to!). The playtimes are similar to yours and they can always go outside here. No wet-play, they have large sheltered areas.
I was shown around the school by 3 pupils from year 8. The facilities in this school are so good because it is extremely large. Therefore they can also be used by other schools. For example, you won't believe this next picture...
(I'm sure this is not typical of all french schools!)
My favourite place was their library - it used to be a large chapel as you can see and had a very peaceful atmosphere. The girls told us they are also able to use the computers in here but they don't have internet connection. The children here would make use of information on a CD-ROM instead to research topics. At the end of this area was a smaller chapel and a place where children could come regularly. Even though this is a catholic school, RE is not taught as a subject.
There was a beautiful display in the chapel of Jesus, filled with photographs of the children with their families - I thought this might be something we could do too - what do you think?
My favourite place was their library - it used to be a large chapel as you can see and had a very peaceful atmosphere. The girls told us they are also able to use the computers in here but they don't have internet connection. The children here would make use of information on a CD-ROM instead to research topics. At the end of this area was a smaller chapel and a place where children could come regularly. Even though this is a catholic school, RE is not taught as a subject.
There was a beautiful display in the chapel of Jesus, filled with photographs of the children with their families - I thought this might be something we could do too - what do you think?
During the day the teachers from England met with the French teachers and we swapped our contact details. One teacher was very keen to have a try at using our VLE. Do any of you remember when the school had an ICT room? When we didn't use laptops? Well, it's like that here. So this teacher will try to arrange for her pupils to contact Y6 soon but it's not going to be straight away. She needs to have a little practice first. The school was very welcoming and said they would love for anyone from England to visit them again one day - even you. Do you remember Albert the Teddy? He came to school today as well and made best friends with two of the Headteachers!
Tomorrow is my final day here and although I will be sad to leave everyone, and this very exciting place, I am looking forward to coming back and seeing you all again. I hope you are enjoying reading this blog and looking at the photographs. (Year 6.. there are plenty more photos for you to see in class too). I'm not sure if there will be a blog tomorrow night as there may not be time. If I don't log on, then I hope you all have an amazing time at the disco!
Tomorrow is my final day here and although I will be sad to leave everyone, and this very exciting place, I am looking forward to coming back and seeing you all again. I hope you are enjoying reading this blog and looking at the photographs. (Year 6.. there are plenty more photos for you to see in class too). I'm not sure if there will be a blog tomorrow night as there may not be time. If I don't log on, then I hope you all have an amazing time at the disco!
a bientot
mercredi 17 octobre
Can you read the date?
Today has been so busy. Everyone had to do a french activity to teach the rest of the group something. We did so many different types of learning, there were:-
memory games
songs with actions
crosswords
acting
rhymes
objects in a bag
storytelling
picture bingo (my activity)
My favourite one was an animation of a skiing penuin singing a different version of the YMCA song called "Moi, j'aime skier". (See if Mr Moynihan can find the joke in that title - it's very funny!).
The food here in France is "magnifique"
. We have to eat every day in local cafes and restaurants. French people are very serious about eating properly and have an hour and a half for lunch. They finish work later than we do. Here you see a picture of my lunch today. It was red pepper stuffed with meat with rice covered in a beautiful sauce. The evening meals are just as rich and always followed with a delicious dessert. I have never eaten so much in a week before! The french sure do eat in style!
Another good thing about this trip is the amount of new people you get to meet. Everyone is different and it's exciting to find out about everyone's backgrounds and the children they teach. Our schools are all very different. Some have 800 children in a primary school and some have only 44. In one school 90% of the children do not speak English as their main language. Some people teach french to adults and some teach children for private lessons. My new friend, who teaches in Garway school not far from you, tells me that her children don't have to wear school uniform. So although everyone is different, that makes our group all the more interesting - there's plenty to talk about!
Can you read the date?
Today has been so busy. Everyone had to do a french activity to teach the rest of the group something. We did so many different types of learning, there were:-
memory games
songs with actions
crosswords
acting
rhymes
objects in a bag
storytelling
picture bingo (my activity)
My favourite one was an animation of a skiing penuin singing a different version of the YMCA song called "Moi, j'aime skier". (See if Mr Moynihan can find the joke in that title - it's very funny!).
The food here in France is "magnifique"
. We have to eat every day in local cafes and restaurants. French people are very serious about eating properly and have an hour and a half for lunch. They finish work later than we do. Here you see a picture of my lunch today. It was red pepper stuffed with meat with rice covered in a beautiful sauce. The evening meals are just as rich and always followed with a delicious dessert. I have never eaten so much in a week before! The french sure do eat in style! Another good thing about this trip is the amount of new people you get to meet. Everyone is different and it's exciting to find out about everyone's backgrounds and the children they teach. Our schools are all very different. Some have 800 children in a primary school and some have only 44. In one school 90% of the children do not speak English as their main language. Some people teach french to adults and some teach children for private lessons. My new friend, who teaches in Garway school not far from you, tells me that her children don't have to wear school uniform. So although everyone is different, that makes our group all the more interesting - there's plenty to talk about!
We have a very early start in the morning - off to the schools. I'm a bit sad though as we have now been told that the french schools hardly use computers in their classrooms and don't have interactive whiteboards. This means it will be difficult to have them work with us on the VLE. So we will just have to wait and see what happens (I'll do my best to arrange something for you Y6!)
Tuesday 16th October
Hello everyone - as you can see, I have 2 stickers today - hoorray! I bet you will all laugh at this - they were for being good at describing a duck (in french). Today my group have been trying different, games, storytelling and actions to help learn french. I shall definitely be trying them with you when I get back - it makes learning french words much easier and have fun at the same time.
This afternoon we all had an amazing guided tour of Old Lille (Vieux Lille). I found this quite tricky as our Guide described all about the history, buildings and culture of Lille... entirely in French. It was hard for me to keep up. Luckily about half of the other teachers on this course are secondary school french teachers so they would whisper the English to help us. It was amusing when the guide said something funny , and half of the group burst out laughing while the rest of us stayed quiet... we didn't get the joke! The tour lasted for over 2 hours. Here are some of the things we saw... (but you have to translate this for yourselves)
des grands batiments officiale, une grand cathedrale, des cafes, une theatre, magasins et beaucoup de chocolatiers.
Lots of the buildings have a famous symbol on them. Many of you will recognise it if you go to the scouts. Can you spot it?
It's called "Fleur de Lis" which means flower of the Lily". It is used on the Coats of Arms for Lille as well as in many other French towns. Most of the people in my group are women... However, there is also another little person who is taking part on our journey and having a lovely time. He is called Albert. he brought his teacher with him to France and likes to go everywhere with the group - even the cafes! Albert specially likes "Chocolate Chaud" . (What do you think that is?)
Tomorrow we are going to be singing lots of french songs in our workshops (think I should be able to manage that !) Then we will be preparing to go into a school where we have to help teach an English lesson. Did you know that french children have about 3 hours per week of English in Primary school? That would be like you having 3 hours per week of French. Would you like that?
Well I must sign off now as I have to get ready to meet my group for the evening activity... I'm quite exhausted as there's not much time to sit and relax. But at least it means my french should be much better by the time I come back.
I hope your Harvest Service went well and am sorry to have missed it. I'm sure the parents are in for a treat on Thursday.
Lots of love to everyone - especially year 6 - a bientot!
Hello everyone - as you can see, I have 2 stickers today - hoorray! I bet you will all laugh at this - they were for being good at describing a duck (in french). Today my group have been trying different, games, storytelling and actions to help learn french. I shall definitely be trying them with you when I get back - it makes learning french words much easier and have fun at the same time.
This afternoon we all had an amazing guided tour of Old Lille (Vieux Lille). I found this quite tricky as our Guide described all about the history, buildings and culture of Lille... entirely in French. It was hard for me to keep up. Luckily about half of the other teachers on this course are secondary school french teachers so they would whisper the English to help us. It was amusing when the guide said something funny , and half of the group burst out laughing while the rest of us stayed quiet... we didn't get the joke! The tour lasted for over 2 hours. Here are some of the things we saw... (but you have to translate this for yourselves)
des grands batiments officiale, une grand cathedrale, des cafes, une theatre, magasins et beaucoup de chocolatiers.
Lots of the buildings have a famous symbol on them. Many of you will recognise it if you go to the scouts. Can you spot it?
It's called "Fleur de Lis" which means flower of the Lily". It is used on the Coats of Arms for Lille as well as in many other French towns. Most of the people in my group are women... However, there is also another little person who is taking part on our journey and having a lovely time. He is called Albert. he brought his teacher with him to France and likes to go everywhere with the group - even the cafes! Albert specially likes "Chocolate Chaud" . (What do you think that is?)
Tomorrow we are going to be singing lots of french songs in our workshops (think I should be able to manage that !) Then we will be preparing to go into a school where we have to help teach an English lesson. Did you know that french children have about 3 hours per week of English in Primary school? That would be like you having 3 hours per week of French. Would you like that?
Well I must sign off now as I have to get ready to meet my group for the evening activity... I'm quite exhausted as there's not much time to sit and relax. But at least it means my french should be much better by the time I come back.
I hope your Harvest Service went well and am sorry to have missed it. I'm sure the parents are in for a treat on Thursday.
Lots of love to everyone - especially year 6 - a bientot!
Monday 15th October
Yesterday I made it safely to Lille and I enjoyed the journey very much. Before getting on the Eurostar in London, I met with another teacher from Garway school and so we travelled together to Lille. We had to "check-in" and then wait just like you do at an airport. The Eurostar was bigger than normal. Once on board the guard gave announcements over the speakers in three languages, (I wonder can you work out what the three languages were?). In no time at all, we were speeding away (faster than I had ever experienced), simply whizzing through the rest of the English countryside and into the tunnel which took us below the English Channel. I hardly noticed the time go by as I chatted to my new friend. We arrived in Lille, put forward our watches to one hour ahead and walked to our hotel.
Yesterday I made it safely to Lille and I enjoyed the journey very much. Before getting on the Eurostar in London, I met with another teacher from Garway school and so we travelled together to Lille. We had to "check-in" and then wait just like you do at an airport. The Eurostar was bigger than normal. Once on board the guard gave announcements over the speakers in three languages, (I wonder can you work out what the three languages were?). In no time at all, we were speeding away (faster than I had ever experienced), simply whizzing through the rest of the English countryside and into the tunnel which took us below the English Channel. I hardly noticed the time go by as I chatted to my new friend. We arrived in Lille, put forward our watches to one hour ahead and walked to our hotel.
Would you believe that as soon as we arrived, we had to go to a room to start activities for speaking french with the other members of the group? (They had all arrived much earlier in the day). I sat next to a French lady who spoke so quickly I could not quite understand her. However she soon realised it was important to slow her speaking down. I told her about my family, my cat, my rabbits, and of course all about St.Marys. By this time it was 8pm and so we were all taken for a lovely meal at a local restaurant. Can you work out what I had to eat... Des frites et poulet... mmmm
Today I felt like I was a pupil again. I have been in a french lesson all day, revising how to say lots of different things, playing games and singing in french. It was hard work but lots of fun. Now I know how you all feel when you are learning french, I was quite nervous at first (especially in front of real french people!) but everyone is very helpful and says "tres bien" as often as possible!
Today I felt like I was a pupil again. I have been in a french lesson all day, revising how to say lots of different things, playing games and singing in french. It was hard work but lots of fun. Now I know how you all feel when you are learning french, I was quite nervous at first (especially in front of real french people!) but everyone is very helpful and says "tres bien" as often as possible!
After a long day, we took a bus to get back to the hostel. The town has two different parts, one old and one modern. I prefer the old part which has beatiful architecture, quaint shops and cobbled streets. The modern part is quite plain and dull. There are cafes and restauraunts all over the place, people drinking coffee and eating on the tables outside no matter what the weather is like. I noticed there are plenty of cyclists here. The photo shows a row of red bikes (like we have in London) but here it seems they are FREE to use - how wonderful! My friends and I eventually got off our bus and then had a bit of a walk to the hostel. We only had a very small map and we tried hard not to get lost, especially as it began to rain and our map was becoming more and more soggy and difficult to read. Thankfully my new contact lenses did the trick and we made it back for 6.00pm. So now that I've updated my blog... I'm off for a nice cup of tea and a well earned rest!
Bon nuit - A demain
Friday 12th October
Hello everyone. I'm feeling so excited about my special trip next week.I am going to the French city of Lille to find out more about how schools can help you to learn new languages. I hope to get you all communicating with children in France through our VLE, so I'm going to show the children there how to use it. (Children, as I know you are all amazing on the computer, I wonder can you please remind your teachers how to log on because they keep forgetting!
)First and foremost though, I am in the throws of sorting out my journey (passport... money... tickets...etc) It all begins with an exciting journey using a mode of transport I've never used before - not just any old train but the remarkable EUROSTAR. In fact, all of the journey is done by train.- starting at 10:00am from Hereford. I take a train to Newport. Then change at Newport for another train to London Paddington. After that an underground tube train to St.Pancras. Next hop on the Eurostar and travel under the English Channel to France. Arrive at the city of Lille by 6.30pm and finally take a ten minute walk to the hotel.
Well that's the plan anyway. I hope I get there on time and my trains don't run late. (I hate being late for anything!). I'll continue my blog after the journey to let you know how it all went. Have you ever been on the Eurostar? Why not tell me about it here in Mrs Skyrme's POSTBOX?
Bye for now xx.
(Year 6 - please be good while I'm away!)
(Year 6 - please be good while I'm away!)
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