Collège Jean-Marc Laurent

So this update is coming way late, but I thought I better catch up piece by piece. If nothing else, I'll be able to read this later on in life and at least be able to remember.

I spent 3 weeks at Jean-Marc Laurent. This is the part of my time in France that I was the most nervous about. I was excited to work with older kids, but incredibly nervous. I know what middle school kids can be like, and I was nervous to face that with a language barrier on top of everything else. Middle schools in France are a bit different. Students ranged anywhere from ages 12 or so to 16ish. High School in France is only about 2 years instead of 4. It was such a funny thing walking in on my first day. You see kids that still look like kids, and then you have older kids that could pass as college students. The drastic differences in appearance between the different ages was so funny.

Most of the kids were really sweet. I spent most of my time in French, English, and Spanish classes during my three weeks. In the English classes, the teachers would take a bit of time during that first class to introduce me to the students in English. They would ask me questions in English about my life in America, why I was in France, etc. I answered in English, but was able to translate my answers or better explain in French when they started to look like they were getting a bit confused. Most of the conversations went like this:

Teacher: Hello class. I would like to introduce you to Taylor. She is going to be in our classes for the rest of the year. Let's ask her some questions in English.

Student 1: Hello miss. How are you?

Me: I'm good. Thank you. How are you?

Student 1: (giggles)

Student 2: Where are you from?

Me: I'm from the United States.

Class: (lots of snickering. I have impressed them with this one answer. I'm in.)

Student 3: How old are you?

Me: I'm 25 years old.

Class: (lots of snickering again. I suddenly feel years older than I am.)

Student 4: Do you know Katy Perry?

Me: Yes. I like her a lot.

Student 5: What's your favorite movie?

Me: I love the movies Love Actually, Dirty Dancing (...and several other movies that they have never heard of. Add another couple years to my new age. I'm getting closer and closer to that senior discount.)

Student 6: Do you know lil' wayne?

Me: He's not one of my closest friends, but we run in the same pack from time to time. (They didn't get my little joke at all of course.)

Student 7: If you were stranded on an island, what's the one book you would want to have with you?? (Obviously the genius of the group)

Me: (Stunned into silence. I wasn't mentally prepared for this question, plus I was having fun convincing the students that I hung out with the likes of lil' wayne and crew.)

After my first day at Jean-Marc Laurent, I started to feel like the most popular kid in school. Every student I passed in the halls said "Bonjour Madame." Now is a good time to point out once again that French politesse is best experienced as an adult. I just loved how polite they were (to me at least). This is one thing that I wish was a little stricter on this side of the ocean. These kids may not have all of their stuff together, but they are certainly polite. I just loved my time at Jean-Marc. My lunches were always spent in the teachers lounge with all of the other teachers, where there was usually some wine being passed around. I didn't ever have any wine, because I was always fearful of going back to class with a buzz. I didn't want to be that kind of American. I'm sure it would have been fun, but I just never felt that strong of an urge. Anyways, the French teachers who did drink would keep it down to a glass or two and we all know that's just a tease.

There are many things that are off the wall different when comparing French and American school systems. Some things are better here and some are better there. Based on what I saw, I'd say that the actual material that the teachers were teaching there seems to be better, but they have more disciplinarian issues which is kind of a big problem. What's the point of teaching great material when the students aren't listening? Miss my little French friends. All in all, I loved my time there and will not ever forget those three weeks I was able to spend at Jean-Marc Laurent in the summer of 2013.