Day 37: Teaching English

7 octobre 2009 (Day 37)
We talked about political parties in France in my culture class today. I was really surprised by how much my comrades knew. I don’t know any French political figures and they knew lots. I finally had the infamous steak-hache et frites today. I also got some green beans. I was really excited and it would have been super amazing except they were out of ketchup! I wanted to cry because I like my fries with ketchup. Oh well, such is life. Writing was boring today. We spent the two hours analyzing the format of an article.
I taught my first English lesson today. My pupil’s name is Mathilde. She is a really cute 23-year-old who is hoping to have an au pair in the United States. She actually speaks English pretty well. Her accent isn’t that bad, but she has some grammar problems. I just gained a great appreciation for all of my teachers who put up with all the stupid people who didn’t get simple things, and for all the people like me who would ask hard questions instead of just accepting what the teacher said. It really is a gift to be able to teach others things that they don’t know. She thought Mormons were Amish. This apparently happens a lot in France because of some popular film that translated Amish as Mormon. She gave me some cake that she made. She is really nice and really eager to learn, she even wants homework! I’m hoping I can maybe find another person to teach (I’m probably too busy though). Next semester I am definitely hoping to only take 12 US credits (about 16 hours of class a week here) and be social, teach English, and possibly train for the Nantes marathon that is in April (my legs might hate me too much to do that though). I am still really sore from fencing and then my track workout yesterday. I think teaching English could be a really good opportunity, if I take the time, to learn the grammar principles in both English and French. Mathilde and I are planning on having classes twice a week for 2 hours each time. She will be paying me 10 euros an hour (around 15$).