This week was my first work week. Although the other language assistants are assigned to multiple schools and have to do video conferences, one other assistant and I were extremely lucky to have a special school assignment. We get to work in just one elementary school that has an English immersion program.
The way the immersion program works is that half of the school day is in English and the other half of the day is in French. Each grade is divided into two classes: one class starts with the English teacher and the other class starts with the French teacher, and after lunch the classes switch. The other assistant and I get to switch too: this week I worked with CP (cours préparatoire- first grade) and the other assistant worked with CE1 (cours élémentaire 1er année- second grade), then the following week I work with CE1 and the other assistant works with CP.
Since it is an immersion school, I am not allowed to speak any French to the students, not even to explain or clarify a concept. Even when the French teacher comes into the English room during class to ask a question of the English teacher, both teachers ask/respond in English. The teachers are under a lot of pressure with the curriculum, especially for language and math. In France, students are expected to learn cursive in first grade, while in the US students learn cursive in third grade. The CP students are even learning addition in English.
This week I got to lead the daily calendar activities and even some math games: I would clap my hands and students would have to write the number of claps they heard; I would say the numbers in order, while skipping one number, and students would have to figure out which number was missing; I would call out two numbers and students would have to write either the smaller or bigger number. I was impressed how many English words/commands the students understood, considering that they started learning English a month ago.
Bring on CE1!
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