Back to High School

Hi all!

This weekend I took a short two-hour train to visit the Capitale de Noël, Strasbourg! Not only did I get to see the amazing cathedral and many warm, colorful stalls perfumed by the scent of mulled wine, but I also got to see my fellow Holy Cross students as they study abroad at the University of Strasbourg! My short weekend trip was filled with comforting sights and sounds as christmas music played in the decorated, cobblestoned streets and I caught up with (and sometimes commiserated with) my friends from back home. Strasbourg is definitely a must-see around christmas time!

Leading up to this fun weekend trip, I had my first week of an internship I found through the University of Burgundy as an English language assistant in a Dijon high school. French high schools are differ drastically from the stereotypically locker-lined hallways of those in the United States, so I really had no idea what I was signing up for when I responded the email from the pôle internationale’s email. After weeks of emailing back and forth and mountains of paperwork, I was ready to start, yet I had little idea of what to expect of the student’s level of english or of their attention spans. After spending about an hour gathering pictures of my family, friends and home to present them an accurate snapshot of my life in the United States, I was disappointed to realize that this powerpoint only lasted about five minutes and invigorated no rousing questions or debate topics (though they were very impressed with the pictures of Holy Cross). Haven’t having prepared anything else, I did an impromptu discussion on the Pledge of Allegiance and talked about some of the court cases that have been brought up recently focused on the fact that ‘under God’ is recited in public schools. Though some classes were engaged in the debates, others provided a very awkward opportunity for me to struggle to explain what the word ‘pledge’ means or to explain (to some of the more lost students) that the United States is not, in fact, a theocracy.

After a week of testing the waters, I’m pretty sure that next week I’ll have to prepare a more basic topic (and after the many complaints about my American accent I guess I really need to slow down so they can understand me). So despite a bit of a turbulent start, I am excited to teach these students about my language and my culture. Though it may sound silly, it’s still strange to think that the United States is a foreign country for these students, and that they don’t understand the profound divisions between New York and Boston sports teams, or those between people who have a preference for Starbucks vs Dunkin’ Donuts. Hopefully, I’ll be able to steer them in the Dunkin’ direction and I’m hoping that they’ll also be able to teach me a bit about the nuances of French culture as well (and judging from their reactions when I asked them if France should adopt a pledge of allegiance, I think they will!).

À la prochaine!

Thomas

Capitale de Noël!

Vin chaud in front of Notre Dame is never a bad idea

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 6th, 2015 at 9:28 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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