Little thoughts

I keep a small notebook on my person at all times for the purpose of writing down any strange, new, or interesting thing I learn or see. This post is a compilation of many little notes I’ve taken since I got here.

French people not only know about Emily in Paris, they have seen it and have a variety of opinions about it. I guess I need to watch it now.

Teachers have to bring their own dry-erase markers and erasers to each classroom.

The Marseillaise is posted in every classroom. That’s the national anthem. They do not sing it, it’s just posted. There’s no moment of silence at the beginning of the day, and no announcements.

All the lights everywhere are motion sensor. The classrooms at school, hallways in every building, even the staircase in my apartment.

The sophomore-level students are learning about irregular verbs, time markers, and the passive voice. The pronunciation of -ed is still being worked on. For instance, a student might say “work-ed” instead of “workt”. They are also practicing the “th” sound, which is very difficult for Francophones.

In restaurants, the bread comes out with the meal, not before. The water is lukewarm, and you have to ask for ice, which they probably don’t have. I knew that before, but I still hate it.

Understanding of race and racism in America is… limited. I was teaching about the Cherokee, and to communicate to the students what a Native American is, the teacher (the male one) did that thing where you pop your hand over your mouth repeatedly and make a sound. You know, that obscenely racist thing that not even your average American racist is willing to do in public? And this adequately got across to the students what a Native American is. Or rather, their idea of one. I get the feeling that I need to do a deep dive on indigenous people in North America, maybe a whole unit. Thanksgiving season would be a good span of time.

(I think the problem is that there aren’t native people in France. I mean, the “native” people of France were the Gauls, which were a large Celtic tribe that covered most of the area we now call France before Rome showed up and colonized the place. Modern French people are descendants of the Romans, Gauls, Vikings, and Celts, as well as a smattering of other ethnic groups from around Europe. To French people, the idea of a “native” is as distant as the idea of a hobbit to an American. It’s really complicated. Plus, they do NOT see immigrants as French. Not even second or third generation immigrants. For all America’s faults, we are definitely — and you won’t believe this, hope you’re sitting down — more understanding of immigrants than the French.)

Outside of the school, above the entryway, are three flags. The flag of France, the flag of the European Union, and the flag of Lyon. I know that government buildings in the US have the American flag and the state flag, but I don’t recall if they often also have the local city flag. I couldn’t even tell you what the flag of, say, Jonesborough or Knoxville might be. The flag of Lyon is pretty old — because, of course, Lyon was a sovereign kingdom, a vassal of Rome, a warring neighbor of Francia, and a seiged territory at various points in its history. They’ve got some historical unity. The flag of Lyon has been in constant use since the 1300s.

Teachers may wear jeans any day of the week! Also, they may have their shoulders, collar bones, and backs exposed. My prof ref wore a blouse the other day that, while fine in public, I knew would get her pulled into the principal’s office in the States.

A comment left on my post about questions the French students asked made me notice something. The comment said that American teachers have duties around the school, like hall monitoring or bus rider duty. I realized that the same is not true here. The teachers just teach — they have no additional tasks to complete. In fact, at the front entryway of the school, in the morning when students first enter, they have to present a student ID badge to be allowed in — and the person checking these IDs are fellow students!

(I get asked to present my student ID roughly once a week.)

They all think that there are 52 states. Like, everybody. Either 51 or 52. They’re very confident about this.

I have met several Norwegian people, both regular folks in town and students, and their English is insanely good. I finally figured out why: in Norway, they don’t translate TV or movies into Norwegian. Sometimes there are Norwegian subtitles, but not always. American TV and movies are really popular, so everybody knows English just from casually consuming media.

We were talking about scary movies, and one student says he loves “30 Tuesday.” After a bit of questioning, I realized he was talking about Friday the 13th.

Thought these were interesting, if not structurally coherent.

Cordialement,

Allison