Berlin Wall: East Side Gallery

Harry and I had a great time in Berlin, and my favorite part was visiting the East Side Gallery. It's a stretch of Berlin Wall, one side of which was painted by artists in 1990 (the other side has also been decorated by graffiti artists over time). Some of the art is controversial and political, some conveys inspiring messages, and other images are just nice to look at. Here are some of my favorite paintings from the East Side Gallery.

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Vacances d'Hiver

I have a ridiculously busy plan for winter break, which starts this weekend. I think I'm subconsciously freaking out that I'm going home fairly soon, so I'm trying to squeeze as much as I can into the time that's left (okay, so I might be consciously freaking out). I have four main events planned for my break.

1. Berlin: My vacation starts with a trip to Berlin, where I'll meet Harry for the weekend. I'm excited for my first real trip to Germany (unless you count my quick jaunt over the Rhine River when I was in Strasbourg), and also to see my brother after more than 5 months!

2. Saint-Quentin: After Berlin I'm coming back to Saint-Quentin for a week, where I'll work at a vacation session for high schoolers doing extra review for their final exams. It's only a few hours a day, so I'll have plenty of time to prepare for the third part of my break...

3. Rome: ...in Rome, where I'll spend a few days with Haidee and Sarah. We're going to be there during Mardi Gras which should be fun.

4. Casablanca: I'm flying straight from Rome to Casablanca, my last trip of the break! I'm meeting Madeleine and her sister there for the final weekend of vacation.

*map from Google

Food!

Food is one of the first things that comes up when I talk to people about living in France. I have been eating quite well this year, as I've taken the "I'm only in France for seven months" perspective when it comes to French cuisine. Plus, I've travelled to some places outside of France with great food as well. I photographed some of my best food experiences, from Normandy to London to Istanbul and even Saint-Quentin.

Savory foods:

~ Omelette, fries, and salad from a Saint-Quentin restaurant ~

~ Coffee, bread, and cheese in a Saint-Quentin cafe ~
~Salmon, sauerkraut (choucroute), and potatoes, New Year's Eve dinner in Strasbourg~

Desserts:

~ Chocolate lava cake with cream sauce in Bayeux, Normandy ~

~ Blueberry tart, Strasbourg ~

~ Waffle with nutella, Pierrefonds ~

From Other Countries:

~ Turkish delight and cake display, Istanbul ~

~ Tea and scones from the Muffin Man Teashop in London ~

~ Pies from the Borough Market, London ~

My Own Cooking Successes: (the tart mold opened up a lot of doors for me...)

~ Tomato and cheese tart ~

~ Apple tart; Broccoli, mushroom, and cheese quiche ~

Day Trip: Chateau de Pierrefonds

Yesterday I took a day trip to the Chateau de Pierrefonds with Alex, Sarah, Haidee, and Swenja. The castle was gorgeous, in a fairy tale setting atop a hill surrounded by trees. Pierrefonds has been nicely restored and we had a lovely time exploring the painted rooms, spiral staircases, and long corridors offering amazing views of the village below.

~ Arriving to Pierrefonds ~

~ Approaching the castle ~

~ About to go inside ~

~ Chateau courtyard ~

~ Statues! ~

~ The coolest drain pipe in the world ~

~ Gorgeous interior paintings ~

~ Lion statue ~

~ There were so many cool staircases ~

~ View from the chateau ~

~ Stained glass in the chapel ~

Weekend Trip: Reims

First things first: "Reims" is pronounced as if it were spelled "Rince." Don't ask me why, something about the old French language and ancient French cities and the French people having problems accepting change, etc etc.

Last weekend I took a trip to Reims with Yirah, Katie, and Marie. Reims is a fairly large city in the Champagne region, not too far from Saint-Quentin. It has an impressive cathedral where all of France's kings were crowned, which is cool. We visited the cathedral as well as the Palais du Tau, which houses some of the "cathedral treasures" in a lovely palace converted into a museum. We also stopped by the Basilica museum, and finished off our stay with a tour of some historical champagne caves and a champagne tasting. It was quite delicious.

~ Reims Cathedral ~

~ Inside the cathedral ~

 

~ Impressive stonework in the Palais du Tau ~

~ Some of the cathedral treasure ~

~ Perfect sunset shot down the Reims tramway ~

~ Followed by moonrise ~

~ Historical champagne cave! ~

~ Basilica ~

~ Basilica museum courtyard ~

~ Inside the Basilica museum ~

Teaching Roundup 3: Getting Creative

Over this year I’ve experimented with a lot of different types of lessons. There have been serious, “academic” lessons (like debates on the death penalty and censorship in schools, and one-on-one exam prep for the oldest students). I’ve also done more playful lessons, especially with the younger students (who themselves tend to be more playful anyway).

For the last few weeks, I’ve tried taking some advice from one of the English teachers: teach what I find interesting, and the students’ enjoyment will follow. Here are some of my favorite lessons that have been pretty successful, largely because my own interest in the topics has made me much better at teaching them!

Macklemore: I managed to organize an entire lesson about American society around the song “A Wake,” a feat which I'm probably a little too proud of, but anyway. I’ve done the same lesson with a bunch of different classes and age groups, and it works every time. I think the students are a little surprised that a teacher, even an assistant, would do a class based around a rap song.  More importantly, the song contains a lot of references to important problems in the U.S. and so is actually a useful teaching tool.  The other great thing about a Macklemore lesson is that I get to finish by showing the class the “Thrift Shop” video, because I'll take advantage of any tiny opportunity to watch it.

Jeopardy: Jeopardy is another lesson I’ve adapted for many classes. The great thing about playing ESL Jeopardy is I can alter the difficulty level for my most and least advanced students. I can also keep changing the questions so the same students get to benefit from the game more than once. Some of the categories include French to English country names, naming famous Americans from their photographs, and spelling tricky English words.  Even some of the calmest students were motivated by the competitive nature of the game, and everyone seemed to appreciate the top prize cookies for the winners and consolation prize candy I gave out.

Pantene: Earlier this year, I followed a link on my Facebook news feed to this Pantene commercial from the Philippines.  While it doesn't really advertise hair products, the commercial is interesting for drawing attention to the sexism involved when people judge men and women. It’s a good conversation topic for a class, and the ad also provides a perfect opportunity to teach a few vocabulary words. I’ve taught this lesson to one of my less advanced classes, and I’m pleased to say that the students learned the vocab and were able to engage in a productive conversation about the video.

Psycho: I’ve been inspired by the upcoming Oscars to teach a class about movies, and this week I debuted a new lesson about Psycho. I love old movies, I love Alfred Hitchcock, and I love psychological thrillers, so Psycho made perfect sense. A lot of people abroad have seen Psycho, so rather than watching clips from the film, I focused on the 1960 trailer. It's a unique, 6.5-minute video featuring Hitchcock walking the audience around the grounds of the Bates Motel. The lesson was a lot of fun and I’m already planning to repeat it with several other classes.

(image credits: http://presents.knittingfactory.com/show/macklemore-ryan-lewis-2/, http://logos.wikia.com/wiki/Pantene, http://www.impawards.com/1960/psycho.html)

Halfway Mark

I've officially passed the halfway mark for this year, and it's kind of surreal to realize that my time in Saint-Quentin is more than half over. The beginning of the second half of the year could not feel more different than starting the first half in October. Here's a look at how some things have changed (especially since I wrote this post in November).

My Job. Getting easier? No, actually. Coming up with a range of lessons that will interest the students, motivate them to work, and hit that perfect balance between age and English level continues to be challenging. What I have noticed, however, is that I'm more confident in front of a class than I was before. I am no longer disturbed by being stared at, and I'm much less worried about impressing the students with every lesson. Some days are great, some are flops, life goes on.

Language. When I was getting ready to leave Nantes after my 3.5 month long program, I felt like my French ability was just starting to really improve. I've been in Saint-Quentin two weeks longer than I was in Nantes, and I can already see a difference from just the two week addition. I've had a pretty okay time understanding French this year, but I've noticed an increased fluency in my spoken French in the last couple of weeks. Hopefully in my time left I can master the dreaded subjunctive, forever my nemesis in French.

People. My connections to the people here continue to deepen. I'm now tutoring three students and two adults, and my sessions with the adults are especially rewarding. I enjoy chatting with people who've had very different life experiences than I've had, but finding a lot more common ground than anticipated. I'm more and more at ease with the teachers at school, entering into conversations more readily with not just the English teachers but those in other disciplines too. I almost worry that I won't get enough out of these relationships in the comparatively short time I have left (there are, incredibly, only nine full teaching weeks left). I continue to enjoy trips, movie dates, and nights out with the other assistants (and a few French friends we've acquired along the way), and I'm getting more and more out of this lovely international group I'm lucky to be a part of.

Living abroad. Around mid-November, I was wishing time would speed up. I often felt that I didn't have enough to do in Saint-Quentin, I wasn't fully settled into my school, and I didn't know my friends that well. The Christmas break seemed like it was ages away, and the end of my contract in April might as well have been years away. Now, of course, time has finally sped up and I wish it would slow down a bit. I've gotten quite used to Saint-Quentin, and am even fond of some things here...the charming central square, which is currently setting up for a new fair only a few weeks after the Christmas market ended...the bakery down the street, where the bakers recognize me and smile when I ask, my accent evident, for a baguette and a pastry...even the movie theater, with its limited "original version" options, where I've resigned to seeing Le Loup de Wall Street in French. When I arrived, I was doubtful I would become attached to the town, but four months later I'm starting to realize that leaving may be harder than arriving.