The movie was called "the Class" a documentary about a class of 13,14 & 15 year olds in Paris (the poor area where they have been known to riot) The subject that the teacher teaches them is French. It actually reminded me of my french classes in Brussels. I now know why I couldn't learn french because they start you at a 13,14 or 15 year old level. Seriously they stuff they were talking about what in my class and the assignments they were given were exactly like mine.
Not to mention the ethnic mix and tension of people it was my french class. Anyway that is one of the ways I spent a couple hours on Wednesday.
3 comments:
Jim and I liked "The Class," too. I howled at the scene in which, before the school year starts, two teachers go over a class roster student by student and comment (sometimes rudely) on each one. I wonder if our French teachers in Brussels did that before the start of each session.
In my school I think my teachers commented on the status that I was an american...they worried I might be like bush. I know the expats living overseas have a much easier time living and traveling now that Obama is in office.
The students in my class were very excited about the new president we were going to elect.
I was an ESL teacher before I retired, and I loved it. I taught adults only so there were fewer discipline problems but the racial/political tensions were there. Black vs Mexicans; Serbs vs Croats; Jews vs Arabs and so on. I once had a Cambodian student pull a knife on a Vietnamese one. Afterward, i always made sure to cover the "No drugs, no weapon inside the school" rule pretty thoroughly.
I loved The Class but l can also see why high school teachers get burned out in these situations. It's uphill so much of the way.
Post a Comment