This week I found out a few things that broke my heart; news that makes me want to stay forever. While I've watched movies and heard others talk about kids being taken from their chaotic families and put into foster homes, I've never really experienced it first hand. On the way to the aquarium, I heard two students ask one boy, Fares, where he was recently placed. And then it hit me when they compared descriptions of their rooms; he's not the only one in the class. I also found out that the mother of two of my favorite students passed away. I had been wondering why they weren't in class all week. They came in the last day and instantly a crowd of friends formed around them (one's in 3rd grade, the other in 5th). They seemed exhausted and the girl came up to me crying later in the day. Absolutely heartbreaking to think they have to deal with that so early in life. Finally, later in the day I was told by one of my 2nd graders that he's happy today because his cousin is getting out of prison...eek! Stay on the right path my little boogers, I know you are all brilliantly creative kids!
Apparently people judge as much in France as they do in the USA in terms of your hometown. Last Tuesday we went to the Parc de Gerland and then later to the Grand Aquarium de Lyon with one CE1 class and one CE2 class (2nd and 3rd grade). I introduced them to baseball before our big Field Day and the kids were absolutely ecstatic to be able to run around this huge park with real grass (our playground is more than pathetic, just cement and some soft balls for soccer). They were a little excited after playing in the sun and picnicking in the park, true. But the way the staff treated us was more than disgraceful. We arrived and were assigned to a guide. She instantly told Elodie and I how she likes to "classify" the students and how she already found our group out of control. Elodie explained no, it's not like this normally, but most of the kids have never been to an aquarium before let alone seen a shark or a tropical fish. Kids are kids. They get excited about new things. The guide could care less what we had to say and began to pick on a few of the class clowns for talking too much. I was instantly irritated and turned her off and just tried to enjoy the fish myself. At one point when the guide had her back turned, Elodie ordered everyone to get into line, 2 by 2. Thirty seconds later, 26 perfectly quiet students. The tour guide exclaimed, "Oh well they can get into line after all!"
Elodie: "Of course, you just have to know how to talk to children."
At the end of the visit, everyone is allowed to touch starfish and urchins. "Everyone" did not include us. She walked us right by the open area and up the stairs to the exit.
Elodie turned to me, "Are we leaving already?"
"Yeah I think so, but they didn't touch the sea creatures yet."
Elodie went straight up to the lady asking why we didn't get our turn. "Oh well I have another group right now and your group talked to much we have to skip it so I can get to my next group."
Elodie proceeds, "Well in your ad, it claims that everyone gets to do that. We waited two hours for this. Everyone is very excited to be able to touch real live starfish. We can take them back in just for five minutes if you have to go to your next group."
"Well I have to find someone to take you back in, you're not allowed yourselves." The lady goes to talk to her co-worker (obviously talking crap about us) and he comes over explaining how we are not allowed to go back in there.
We ask why and he responds: "Well my co-worker told me that she had a bit of a problem getting control of your group and it's just not a good idea. We don't want to upset the sea creatures."
Elodie fights back and the man goes to find a security guard to take us back into the aquarium. I'm sorry but a security guard? Really? They are 8 and 9 years OLD! Thankfully the man was so laid-back and explained more to the students than our original guide did. Later when we were back at school, Audrey (the other teacher with us) explained how at one point another guide told his group of students ( just loud enough so that she could overhear it): "We have to wait a minute here kids because the Saint Fons students are way too noisy." This behavior just makes me want to stay in less fortunate schools, to fight against the discrimination, to give them all I can, to push them to do all they want to do and see, and to tell them to ignore others who claim they are less capable than other 8 year olds.
Moving on to better days, Field Day was a huge success. The only thing that made me flip was how my stupid water balloons didn't work so the kids had to just pass balls to one another. They all seemed to retain everything I taught. I held Jeopardy review games for my 4th and 5th graders earlier that week and I wasn't expecting every question (even the 500 point ones) to be answered perfectly. I was absolutely amazed and so proud of every single one of them. Every single stand had a line and they were so preoccupied with how many stickers they earned (you received a sticker after each successful activity/revision). Before lunch they all lined up and sang to me. I was instantly hit with emotions because most of them thought I was getting on the plane right then and there. "No, I have one more week!!!" I explained trying not to let them see my teary eyes. After lunch we played American sports. There was one game of football, two baseball games, and two kickball games; we switched after forty minutes. Football was absolutely hilarious with the 3rd graders because they were so concerned with touching the real leather football that it didn't really go anywhere. That and they were pulling each others flags out for fun. The 4th and 5th graders were a lot better at it, understanding all of the rules, acting tough, and yelling "Hut, Hut, Hike." I even had a few cheerleaders throwing up their arms and legs for their team. Baseball went about the same way. It was essentially a 2011 Sandlot group. I had a few Bennys, a few Yeah Yeahs, and way too many Smalls. I could not stop laughing when I put Al Mahdy as catcher and he ran up to me every time to hand me the ball. I switched him out for a girl, Dounia, and the same result. Mort de rire (French for laugh out loud).
The other problem we ran into was having more than one person at a base. I think I explained it 100x but there still were occasionally two people on the same base, or the batter lapping the players already on base. Absolutely hilarious. They are quick learners though and after two games they were perfect. One girl broke my wiffle ball and another boy hit it outside of the school twice. I'm just so proud of my kids.
On Tuesday, I went with two CM1/CM2 classes to the Parc de la Tête d'Or to visit the zoo and play some games. They too were extremely excited to get out of Saint Fons. While we went around the zoo, a lot of them called me over and pointed out the animals to me in English :) After lunch I set up a baseball game and also a football pass. They were so into it that they refused to stop when we made them take water breaks (it was 95 degrees and we were playing in the sun). The boys mastered the spiral for football and were amazed that a girl like me could throw a football and tackle them. I felt like I was 10 years old again, running around, having water fights, and making fun of them talking about their crushes.
Friday was the last day of the year. It still feels weird to say that. My job is over, my year is over, my time in France is coming to an end. It was by far the best day all year. I went around playing in different classes, kickball with some, puzzles and board games with others, even some karaoke. Aretha Franklin's "Respect" came on the radio and immediately Nawel and I began singing and dancing. The look on their faces, oh my goodness. After the song finished one girl asks, "What is she singing about? That's a song from the 80's right?" And I instantly felt old again.
In the afternoon we had the final game for the students' soccer tournament and then a teachers versus students game. I played for the teachers. I didn't realize how far a soft mousse ball goes and accidentally kicked it too hard. One of the boys, Phostin, comes up to me laughing: "You don't know how to play do you?" (He took that back later when I head butted it). After we kicked their butts, there was a water fight on the upper playground. We got there a little late (the water ballons already used up and the sponge races finished) but I tried to get pictures anyways. Marc looks at me, looks at Lionnel (another teacher), and they start running after me. I luckily was able to throw my camera away from the chaos before they grabbed me and carried me over to one of the buckets of water left over from the sponge races. All of the kids came running over and squirting me with their water guns as Marc and Lionnel dunked me into the bucket. We dried off a bit during recess, playing more soccer, chasing the kids around, and just laughing life away.
At the end of the day we all lined up again ( like on Field Day) to cheer on the CM2 (5th grade) students who are going to collège (middle school) next year. They gave kisses to their teachers and then proceeded to run down the line of students who were cheering them on, singing, clapping, waving, and smiling. Five minutes later the smiles turned to tears as they hugged the younger students goodbye. I think the main difference here is that the 4th and 5th grade classes are often put together, so it really does make a difference when half of your friends aren't there in September. I was observing all of this, comparing and contrasting my 5th grade ceremony, when one girl, Maelys, came up to me and hugged me, crying hysterically. She didn't want me to leave either. Slowly a group formed around me of 5th graders. I have never felt so overwhelmed in my life. The tears began in my eyes as well as I hugged and kissed everyone of them, wishing them luck next year, and telling them how much fun I had with them this year. One group of friends after another came up to me, squeezing me hard with hugs. Hugging these children, telling them to stop crying as I was trying to stop myself, and wishing them a good summer was emotionally exhausting. Particularly, when I saw one of the trouble makers, Fayad, crying. I went over to talk to him and gave him a huge hug. (I had to chase most of the other boys to give them hugs since they were making fun of the girls crying and hugging me).
I stayed with two 1st graders until their parents came and the one, Beatriz, in between hugging me over and over again told me this: "Tu vas me manquer très très beaucoup très très beaucoup beaucoup, tu vas me manquer Katie" (I will really really miss you a lot.. very very very very much, a ton, I will miss you Katie). I had 400 children and then suddenly no one. I went back into school to have an end of the year drink with the rest of the teachers and to start my goodbyes all over again. I wasn't as worked up with them because I know where they'll be, what they'll be doing next year, etc. With the children it's so much harder because you don't know what will happen, you don't know if they'll move again, if they will follow their cousin's footsteps, if they will even make it through middle school.
I missed my bus twice that afternoon. I went to leave and five girls who stay for after-school care ran from the other side of the school to hug me. Two of the girls would not let go of me, hysterically crying, telling me I can't leave them. When I explained that they'll have a very nice English teacher from England next year, the one girl, Melissa, responded: "On s'en fou de la nouvelle assistante; t'es plus belle Katie. Tu peux pas y aller, tu dois rester! (We don't give a crap about the new teacher; you're prettier Katie. You can't go, you must stay!). I was hit again with teary eyes. This girl was known to be a trouble maker; she never raised her hand to answer my questions unless I forced her. You can tell she has a hard life just by looking at her and I was just shocked to think I meant that much to her. I never thought she really cared to be completely honest. The other girl, Lina, had given me a white rose earlier that day. It suddenly hit me that maybe school is all they have going for them, even if they don't like it all the time. And maybe I did make some sort of difference in their lives that year, even if it was only for one hour each week. I wanted to steal them away and take care of them. After trying to calm them down for over a half an hour, they walked me to the gates and waved me goodbye with the saddest faces I've seen all year.
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| Rayane at bat |
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| Elias swinging away |
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| Israel, Nourou, Mahmoud, Abdel Ali, Fares, Alexi, Assya, and Ali- my soccer buddies |
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| Nesrine, Kinda, Sabrina, Emma, Lyna, Dounia |
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| I love these goofballs |
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| Amazed by the fish. |
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| Lina :) |
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| Steal the Bacon on Field Day |
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| Explaining the parachute game |
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| Clothing Relay |
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| What time is it? |
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| Salad bowl game |
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| Mahmoud and Abdel Ali with their stickers |
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| My little monkeys |
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| Flag football- 3rd grade |
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| My present |
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| Checking out the monkeys |
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| And the leopard! |
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| Before I got soaked |
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