A day in my life

This article is about one day in my teaching life in Paris and tells how I started up teaching English. I now teach French to small groups of English people in Charente Maritime.

I am a French native , and I’ve been teaching children and adults English for a long time (private lessons). I started up as a favour to an acquaintance and through word-to-mouth went from 2 school friends of my daughter’s to 20 students. I got caught by the teaching virus and I’m wondering if I could do anything else now. Most parents have become friends so I can infer that teaching English has enabled me to meet people and enlarge my circle of friends.
I usually get up at 7.00 and start my day with a couple of cups of tea - without tea I’m not myself! I have some toast while I am watching the TV news. My week is quite varied. Every day is different. Today , Tuesday, my first student is Pat. She’s 50 and started learning English 3 years ago. She comes twice a week for a ninety-minute lesson. It is mainly a conversation class using a variety of role plays I’ve adjusted according to the level of my students. We use two worksheets, one for the student and the other for me. The student’s worksheet doesn’t have my script but only his or hers written in French. They have to translate the idea into English (not word for word). Before acting the parts, we write the new words and expressions, review some grammar points involved in the conversation and make a list of words according to the topic.
I know that some teachers disapprove of using L1 but this method has turned out to be quite efficient as far as my students are concerned. In addition, we generally have lots of fun acting people in various situations. I am convinced that making the students laugh is the key to success in learning a foreign language.My second student today is Françoise. She’s a friend of mine and started learning English two years ago in order to communicate with people around the world when she visits new countries. We generally review tenses and make a list of vocabulary about a chosen topic. I usually use a Cambridge First Certificate book I am familiar with for exercises. Comprehension is her weak point so every other Tuesday she listens to conversations taken from the Cambridge First Certificate Papers and answers my questions. I also use Cambridge Young Learners Papers for my younger students.My third student today is called Jeremy. He’s 20 and in second year at university. He wants to work in industry so fluent speaking is necessary. Lots of young people in France have realized that learning English can improve their chances of getting a better job.Jeremy has been learning English with me for two years - his level was so low that we started from “scratch”! So we had to do basic grammar, tenses, lists of vocabulary. He’s made a lot of progress thanks to his efforts and we are going to prepare for the TOEIC test.It’s 6.00 and I have finished my classes. Now I have time to surf the net and prepare my lessons for Wednesday, which is an exhausting day. Each lesson is personalized to the needs of my students, and texts, comprehension questions, and role plays are chosen according to their interests and language ability.Tuesday usually goes smoothly and I find these three-hour and a half classes quite relaxing. That’s why I’ve chosen it for Another day in the life of…My husband gets home at about 8.00 pm - when he isn’t stuck in a tailback on the Francilienne motorway! Then we have dinner and spend the rest of the evening talking and watching TV until 11.00 pm. Lights out at 11.30 if we don’t fall asleep while we are watching a film!

Acknowledgements : Photos provided by : Al Lanni ( Eiffel Tower), Pedrosomoes 7 ( Paris old métro), Hugues Mitton ( Conciergerie), Wallig ( Berthillon), Paula Moya ( Iles St Louis) and Peter Rivera ( Opéra)

Ride along the Charente River

On Sunday August 9th twenty-two regular bikers gathered in Cozes for a ride to Cognac, Gensac la Palus , St Simeux, Trois Palis...

The weather was dreadful, but everything had been booked in advance so we couldn't postpone the rally. When we left home there wasn't much rain . We all met in front of Phil's shop, just opposite the old Halles. Some bikers were already soaking wet. We left Cozes at 9.30am later than scheduled because of bad weather and headed for Pons. Some wise bikers decided to wear their rain suit , I wanted to wear mine but felt so uncomfortable that I decided to take it off. What a bad idea!! Then a few kilometres away it rained so heavily that we had to stop in front of a supermarket to protect ourselves from the rain. We were all soaking wet! And we all had to wear our rain suit. Then we headed for Cognac riding on the main roads as the weather was still dreadful . We stopped at Gensac La Palus and visited the motorbike museum . The owner is a former bike racing champion and he has collected more than 200 motorcycles. He explained with details the history of some famous motorbikes. He's a passionate man. Then now wet and cold, we headed for

St Simeux, crossed the bridge over the river Charente, the scenery was breathtaking but it was still raining . We came to " Le chai" restaurant in Mosnac la voute where we were expected for lunch.

Ali and Stuart , the owners welcomed us very warmly and lent a pair of shoes for Phil who was really wet! We had a lovely dinner for a very reasonable price. The chef is English but the cuisine is French. We really had a good time relaxing and drying ourselves in the restaurant. After lunch the weather was getting better . Daniel who has got a trike and a trailer played some music on the car park. Then we left the restaurant and headed for Trois Palis in order to visit the Chocolate factory. Our guide expected us a little earlier and thought that we were coming on our bicycles. When she saw the helmets she was a bit surprised! The visit was entertaining, we tasted some home-made chocolate and had fun teasing our guide. We left Trois Palis in the late afternoon and rode back to Cozes. Some local people watched the long parade of motorbikes waving goodbye. On our way back we stopped at the Leclerc supermarket car park in Pons to kiss goodbye and everyone rode back to their house.

All in all we had a nice day out but we do hope sunny weather for the next motorbike ride.