Title of job:
Teacher in Bordeaux , France.

Why did you decide to return to France after graduating?
I have been very eager to get back to France to sample everything French since being an assistante in a lycee in Northern France as part of my degree course back in 2000-2001 but up until now I hadn’t found the courage to take this big step!
I decided to do this in order to improve my French. Although I am a teacher of French back in Wales, I started to feel my French deteriorating since I wasn’t using advanced French nor was I using it in a wide enough context. Also, I wanted to expand upon my teaching experience. This plan was the perfect opportunity for me to enter the Primary Sector which interested me a great deal due to French now being introduced into some of our primary schools in Wales.

Was it difficult to settle in?
After about a fortnight of complications and hassle finding somewhere to live and getting to grips with the mountain of paperwork that one has to complete in order to do anything in France, things started to settle down and I started upon my work in earnest..

What exactly is your work?
I am responsible for teaching English to 8 classes over 4 schools of various age groups, CE1 (7-8 years old) and CM2 (10-11 years old). The children are so likeable and from my own experience are a lot more independent than children back home. What a pleasure to teach children who are both keen to learn and ready to make an effort. Even nicer is teaching children who are polite and who know where to draw the line…

What have you been teaching the children?
Well. I spent the first week working out what they already knew as some of them had already been learning English for 1 or 2 years. Luckily for me, in comparison with other Teachers, I was armed with a stack of games and songs and fun activities, including the game that I saw Lynne West play at Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Caerffili when 2 pupils pretend to be detectives and ask the other pupils for their names in order ot find James Bond or Doctor Octopus!
We played a few language games such as bingo and asking the weather whilst using such props s an umbrella and sunglasses.I also taught them to sing the alphabet.

Do you teach children about life and traditions here?
I did hold a lesson on the subject of Bonfire night. I showed pictures from the internet to put on the whiteboard/blackboard and and I prepared a crown and badge with the names James 1st and Guy Fawkes written on them so that 2 pupils could reinact the events whilst I was narrating them.

Are you enjoying the experience?
I am in my element with the petits gamins and can see myself getting attached to them in the coming 7 months!