Cocoons

Since the weather here in Deauville has been so springlike it could almost be called summer lately, I figured I had better act fast in terms of teaching spring vocabulary to my students.  Specifically, this has meant that I have been reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar to several of my classes as well as the twins that I give extra English lessons to on Wednesday afternoons.  The students have all had very positive reactions to the story; how could you not with such awesome illustrations and such an easily understandable plot: somehow it encompasses nearly all of our daily routines (counting, days of the week, weather, emotions).  Anyway, I like to pause at the penultimate page (you know, the picture of the Very Hungry Cocoon) to ask the students if they know what the caterpillar is going to turn into, just to get an idea of their grasp on basic natural processes.  A surprising number of them are aware that caterpillars turn into butterflies, but when I asked that question today in tutoring, Angele responded with "A princess!".  If only.

Of salons, sand, and salles de classe

Just 3 days between me and Easter vacation with my lovely parents and then my darling cousin...three more days left with her in Deauville for that matter.  2^3 classes left for me to teach.  It makes sense, then, that my time since I last posted can be divided into three categories.  

ONE:  The Salon du Livre

Enter authors, artists, illustrators, musicians, publishers...some very nice, some very self-important, some very bizarre.  Friday, the day when the salon was open to school groups, I accompanied Rudy, an editor for Benjamin Medias, to the creche and the 3 year old preschool classes.  We did listening activities with bird sounds and dramatic recordings of his book "L'ours qui fait ce qu'il veut" (The bear who does what he wants), as well as walking around the room like a bear.  Rudy proved to be a good ally throughout the salon, which for me as an indentured servant had its ups and downs.  While I was doing "filtrage" (ie being a bouncer, ie generally being bored witless) for the authors' meals he would come over to entertain me a bit with discussions of why his American flag sweater has 56 stars and the like.  When I was off duty Maggie and I enjoyed visiting the various book stands, workshops with illustrators and authors, and seeing the drawings the schoolchildren did as part of a contest for the salon.  Speaking of my students, I saw tons of them this weekend and even got thanked by one mother for teaching her child both English and to put on his scarf.  What can I say, I go above and beyond in my work.

The painting my CP/CE1 class did in a workshop with one of the illustrators in attendance.

TWO: Sand
Maggie made a good choice in deciding to visit at the end of her break because for the most part she has had excellent weather and we've been able to take advantage of the beach.  I believe that's been the site of much reading for her during my lessons, and she and I have taken tons of walks along the water's edge.  We have to do something to offset all the cooking (and eating) we've been doing!  

This photo was not taken on the sand, though it would have been an appropriate spot.

The port

Maggie poses with the Trouville market

 

Katherine came to the beach to chat with us during one of our breaks from the salon

This has nothing to do with the beach but everything to do with how we are making the most of our time together. Blue cheese burger with sauteed mushrooms and onions, salad, and fruit and yogurt for dessert.  YUM.

THREE: Salles de classe

While dear Marge and I have been forced to spend some time apart she did accompany me to my CP and CE1 (1st and 2nd grade) classes on Monday.  For one thing, I wanted her to get the full Deauville experience and see how cute/crazy my students can be.  I also figured I should take advantage of having another native English speaker around so that the kids could hear another accent.  Maggie helped me present a conversation about pets to my CE1s and read the childhood classic "Caps for Sale" to my CPs, who loved it (see below for proof).  Also of note: my students were shocked to learn that Maggie's house in Colorado is a 2 day drive from mine in Kentucky.  Understandable, but still funny.

CAPS FOR SALE!  CAPS FOR SALE!  50 CENTS A CAP!

I think this was the part where the monkeys stole the hats.  Something was causing some problems, anyway.

In the famed Salle 1.

I'm an English teacher.  What of it?

"Mais je comprends rien de ce que tu dis."

Is it sunny?

Cousinly confections

I'm lucky enough to have my darling cousin Margaret Louise visiting me until Easter break, and--surprise surprise!--she and I planned took advantage of my mid-afternoon break today to eat pastries on the beach.  I of course took photos to sow some jealousy in the stomachs of my readers.

The parasols are back up for the summer!  Here's hoping the sun returns, too.

Marge gleefully prepares herself for her pain au raisin.  Yum!

Tartelette au citron.  How could you resist such tart, lemony goodness?

Optimiste

Even though my French is pretty decent, I have become so used to constantly second guessing what I say, whether it's in terms of gender, agreement, vocabulary, pronunciation, etc., that I often forget that I'm not the only one making mistakes or constructing awkward sentences.  I recently was recently encouraged by the preschool aides when they discussed how they don't always feel they're good at French, even though it's their native language.  By that they meant that they sometimes have trouble with agreements (ie gender and number) or just with making awkwardly constructed sentences; both are trademarks of my French, so now I feel less alone.  Of course, I should have realized before this point that just because you're a native speaker doesn't necessarily mean that you speak your language properly (case in point: all the girls at Franklin County who talked about getting their hair or their nails "did" for school dances.  Fingernails on a chalkboard).  It's just that my mistakes are more glaring because of my (hopefully very light) accent.


Realizing that I'm not alone in my French mistakes is pleasant enough, but I really feel accomplished the times that I catch other people's errors.  Okay, so they're typically my students using the wrong irregular past participle ("li" instead of "lu", for example), but I guess you have to start somewhere. 


And now I get the point of this whole discourse: Tuesday when I was babysitting Felix he and I were doing our traditional races when he told me he would race me to the "optimiste".  There's an optometrist on his street, so while his proposal seemed a little bizarre I knew what he meant.  Then as we sprinted down the road it dawned on me: unless the optometrist is known for his incredible optimism, Felix had switched "optimiste" and "opticien".  The giggle this gave me may caused me to lose the footrace (or it could be the fact that F likes to give himself huge head starts--I'm talking at least 15 feet) but I don't care. I'm an optimiste.

Rattrapage

So, did I fool you with my April Fool's joke?  

In case you were wondering, it was that I had given up on the blog (since I haven't written since March).  Quelle honte!  Let me try and make it up to you by showing you some of what has been keeping me away from my computer.  

The trees (finally) in bloom in front of Fracasse.  I thought the white-pink one was interesting.  Someone's been grafting!

In front of the Mairie.

The Hippodrome.  I always forget to take my camera with me when the horses are being exercised, but I still thought it was pretty.

I believe this is a notary's office, but I think it's a really interesting building.

Further down Victor Hugo from us.

The mouettes as seen from my window last Thursday morning.  

Another reason why I've been behind is that I went to Le Mans to visit my friend Lilly this past weekend.  The trip was originally planned as a last rendez-vous before Lilly had to return to the US, but since she is such an awesome teacher her schools requested asked her to stay until the end of June, so more fun pastry outings and walks in parks are in our future!  And cafe cremes--can't forget about those!

Jardin des Plantes

Megan (another assistant in the Nantes academy), me, and Lilly

Examining Moby Swan

Traditional Le Mans houses (whose names I don't remember).  The goal was apparently for everybody to have a decent house and a garden.

I match the flowers!

The cathedral

The old city--apparently one of the best preserved in France!

A community garden.  I was reminded of last May Term.

It seems Wilbur Wright made it to Le Mans and left a good enough impression that they named a street for him.  Who'd have thought?

Of course, no visit with Lilly is complete without French baked goods.  These were macarons: pistachio, chocolate, praline, and lemon.

Miam!

Lemon macaron--the tastiest of the lot!

Impressive display in a chocolate shop

Even more impressive sundaes that Lilly and I had for dessert Saturday night!

You may have noticed in these photos the prevalence of BLUE SKIES!  I'm hoping they are here to stay.  Another item of note is how incredibly warm it has been lately.  The bank in the plaza in Le Mans where Lilly and I were having coffee Saturday afternoon said it was 28 degrees C--I'll let you do the math, but I can attest to the fact that, while the warmth was a nice change, it was too hot for April!