The small pleasures found in taking the register...

Fanny? Hedwige? Brayan? Logan? Stanislas? Melvyn? Tinaipha? Damien? Dylan? Milan?

When the response to me calling out their names is “Ear, Miss!” I sometimes struggle to contain my laughter; the names never fail to amuse!

Today was my first day back after two amazing weeks’ holiday back in good old beautiful Blighty! I saw some friends i hadn’t seen in a while, spent a fantastic Valentine’s weekend with Andy, went away with my family for a few days and even found time to make a snowman, making good use of my Atlantique Stade Rochelais scarf (and finally getting to wear my new cupcake print wellies)!

It’s less than four weeks until I get back to Bath for a long weekend, and already have plans for the weekends in between. After that, it’s only two weeks until my next holiday. Two weeks of vacation in April, two weeks of classes then it’s time to go home... Scary really. I told my teachers that I’ve only got 10 weeks of placement left and they all gawped, some exclaiming “Well, we should really start using you better shouldn’t we?” – thankyou for FINALLY realising this!

I’ve already planned all my lessons until April vacation for my regular 3eme classes in Surgeres, and believe me they’re going to work this semester! I sometimes feel like I do over plan, but I think it’s helped me out during this placement. I love knowing what’s going on, as all of you that know me have already seen in action... and even being so in control, lessons can change pace and topic so easily and quickly that I think this might be what throws me when i rigorously plan lessons only for them to be thrown out of the window. Then there’s planning whole topics that never get used! I suppose I shouldn’t complain, I just need to relax!!!

I’m definitely on the ‘home straight’ in general terms – I know it’s too early to be counting down until actual home time, but 10 weeks is less time than I spent on placement in Barcelona, and that went so fast in the end... I know it sounds pessimistic (my mum would agree with the use of that word but i know my dad would back me up in replacing it with ‘realistic’) but I have achieved all I need to on placement. My Spanish came on leaps and bounds and I still think it is my stronger language, and after coming back from home yesterday, French seems almost automatic and I can now fully express myself and join in full conversations with total strangers. My confidence has soared, I’ve made brilliant friends, seen sights and sounds I’ve never be near before, lived abroad all my myself... a pretty impressive list if I may say so myself!

But I’m not enamoured with teaching (possibly, no definitely, impaired by my bad administration experiences and my schools’ lack of organisation and motivation), and in all honesty, I’m not a ‘living abroad’ sort of person. Some people are and are revelling in spending as long as possible abroad, even though this past coming-up-to-a-year has been brilliant for me in most places, home time is going to feel SO GOOD. I’ve realised all of this after a good long chat with a certain Jack Penrose, a very good friend from uni who is used to my whinging, and it’s refreshing to hear that I’m not ‘wrong’ for having such a ‘bored’ mindset! However, I do not have ANY bad feeling at all about this placement or my year abroad in general. I know it’s a little early to be analysing my time abroad but after a brilliant period at home, I always feel a little nostalgic yet analytical.

I’ve been here since September - it’s gone so quickly already... countdown mode has sub-consciously started already, and I’m going to bet that these 10 weeks à suivre will go just as fast as the last 5 months :)