I’m currently in the process of setting up pen pal correspondence between my students here in Lyon and students in Tennessee. To get my French kids in the swing of communicating with Americans, I had them answer a couple questions that American kids had sent to me.
I have edited their responses for clarity, and removed repetitive responses. However, I left in the grammatical and spelling errors that students made to give you an idea of their English competency. Now, I will let the students speak for themselves.
Question: What did you do during COVID when the schools were shut down?
Answers:
“We were confined so except cooking and sleeping there was not much to do.”
“Slept and hang out and party (no that’s false i watch movies #boring :/)”
“I had class on my computer. I was going outside to ride my bike, and was taking dancing classes on my computer. I also watched a lot of series and films to occupy myself!”
“I stayed a lot in my room listening to music I haven’t done anything special to be honest”
“I was on Netflix and my PS4 all the time.”
“I was homeschooled and was a lot on my phone doing absolutely nothing. Sometimes I cooked with my sister like cake or pancakes or crepes. But it was so boring!”
“I stayed at home, watching series, calling my friends, and working obvy. Ik it’s selfish but I kind of enjoyed the 1st lockdown…”
“I stayed at home, watched a netflix show called Friends to improve my English, and I did some sport”
“play with my friends on game on internet. I was on discord with my friends everyday, we play Animal Crossing together.”
“I were at home and got addicted to Tiktok, so I had to delete it haha. I went on walks with my friends and watched things on TV. I daydreamed a lot about my future, about going out in the world.”
Question: What does freedom mean to you? What does it look like?
Answers:
“For exemple how many hours of classes you have during the week.”
“Like having discussions with the teacher, having more time, the school been less serious…”
“We don’t have guns.” (Allison’s note: I asked the student about this response. He said French people are free from fear of guns, and that is the freedom he meant.)
“I think freedom is more a sensation than a thing especially at our age. Freedom is the power of be yourself but while respecting others.”
“I don’t know if we have a difference about freedom. But I think high school in America is just more cool and there is probably more freedom…”
“I think the reality is the principle of living without constraint, but being well in our life without causing harm to others, living our life as we wish.”
“Well I don’t really know… I feel like at our age it really depends on the parents we have like some parents give a lot of freedom to their child and some don’t. But later when you’re an adult it depends more on the laws of the country you’re in and I don’t know the US laws enough to tell.”
“For me, freedom means when you can do what you want. It looks like when you can buy what you want or say what you want.”
“Freedom is having the possibility to make your own choices no matter the color of your skin, your sexual orientation…”
“I think that we are less free in France for example in middle school and high school. American students get to do more things.”
“Freedom is when you can do whatever you want, but if everyone had it, that would be chaos.”
“I’m unsure if freedom truly exists, but I guess freedom to me in simple terms means being able to choose what to do or what not to do.”
“Without freedom you can’t live, you will be in a cage for the rest of your lives. Freedom helps peoples.”
“Freedom means that you are free to come dressed how you like in school even if it shows religion. Freedom would also be a right to do things that make you happy without putting someone in danger or getting grounded for that.”
“For me freedom is the fact of being away from the dependence and the orders of people. We have no set rules. We are autonomous and without constraint of actions and words. It resembles for me a freedom of expression and words. On the other hand, freedom must remain in total respect for others, it is a fundamental rule.”
“It’s mean for me, that everyone had the right to exprime theirself without the fear of being juged” (Allison’s note: This student is using Franglish. “exprime” and “juge” are both French words that mean “express” and “judge.”)
“For us, freedom means that you have rights and you can do whatever you want as long as it respect the law and people.”
“For me freedom is about doing what you want or what is the best for you without any punishment.”
“Freedom is respect of how people are. I am talking about individual freedom and human rights. For me it looks like that.”
“Freedom means being able to do what makes me happy without harming any people, and free expression.”
“To me freedom mean don’t be afraid of others and to do what you want and feeling secure.”
“Freedom is the possibility to say what you want to say, to go were you want to go…. But in freedom for me you have to assume your acts and face the consequences.”
“Probably being able to be myself, have people listen to me and understand me, but leaving me alone when I need alone-time. Freedom is to respect others and just go out and laugh or cry when you need to. It’s to trust other people, but still have privacy.”
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I thought these responses were fascinating, not just for insight into these kids’ English skills, but to get a better sense of their lives, personalities, and beliefs. Let me know what you think in the comments.
One last thing: everybody wants to know about a day in the life of a French teenager. One of my students was kind enough to send along her weekly schedule! Take a look.
This student is fifteen years old. Her schedule alternates weekly, so she has two schedules to keep up with. She wants to go to Harvard, or perhaps Yale; she hasn’t decided yet.
Cordialement,
Allison
Flan in France 