The teachers we met with seemed wonderful, too. I had been emailing the directrice and although she had been quite helpful and certainly kind in her messages, I had created an image of her in my head that was very much unlike reality (my picture was of a dour older French matron with grey hair pulled back severely, drab clothing, and maybe even a ruler to whack a small child's hand). Instead, we met with Isabelle, who reminded us very much of Jack's teachers in Lethbridge and even his teachers in Japan. There was no dourness about her anywhere -- in fact, she was helpful, warm, patient, funny, and (to our delight), very impressed with Jack's French reading skills.
When we had been emailing back and forth, she had said the teachers weren't sure whether to place him in CP (for 6 and 7 year olds, who are learning to read, write and do basic math) or CE1 (for 7 and 8 year olds, who are starting on grammar and other more complex topics). I will be happy to email Jack's grade two teacher in Lethbridge tonight and let her know that they will start him in CE1 (and Isabelle told the girls' teacher, Maude, he had done very well on his French reading). Of course, if he finds it too difficult, it would be "pas de probleme" to move him to CP (and there are many other 7 year olds there). But one additional perk to the CE1 class is that there is a young girl in that room who is bilingual -- her father is American and her mother is French, and she speaks both fluently. So they said if Jack ever had any trouble and didn't know how to ask for help (or for information) in French, he could just ask this young friend to help.
This same girl has a sister in Katie and Livie's class, and their teacher seemed equally charmante. They will visit their classroom early Thursday morning, and begin half-day classes, four days a week, on Monday (none of the French elementary school students go to school on Wednesdays). Jack will meet his teacher on Thursday after school and see his classroom, and start attending classes on Friday. In the beginning, we will bring him home for lunch (more than 90 minutes for a midday break!), but after he settles in, we might have him ride the little bus to the "cantine" to eat and play with some of the other children.
Likewise, in the beginning, the girls will only attend in the morning. But as they get more comfortable in their classroom, they will also have the option of attending lunch and afternoon school too.
It's a bit of a logistical juggle game at the moment, as all of the neighboring villages have one small school or classrooms of various levels. Right now, the preschool (called Maternelle) is in a village 1 km away called Magny-les-Villers. The CP and CE1 classes are in two rooms (in two different buildings one block apart) in a village about 3-4 km away called Chaux. And the older children (ages 9-12) attend classes here in Villers-la-Faye. The cantine for all of the schools is in a different village all together, and all of the children who have lunch at school are bussed there.
If our timing had been a bit better, all of the children would have attended one consolidated school here in Villers-la-Faye... it's supposed to open this fall and looks lovely. But the classroom we saw tonight, while certainly low-tech, was also wonderfully familiar (small desks, lots of books, toys, and letters and words on the wall). Best of all, John and I both had the sense that the teachers like their work and are more than happy to be there.
And now -- a few more pictures from our first days here.
John and a jet -lagged Olivia on Sunday morning.
Getting ready for a walk.
So good to be out of that plane!
Olivia loving the big windows.
Katie (with a rock? leaf?)
Walking up to Les Chaumes on Sunday afternoon.
Vineyards in the background (vineyards EVERYWHERE). We keep talking about how lush everything will start looking come spring.
Olivia with every purple hair accessory we brought.
Me doing the paperwork for school. The kids hard at work, too.
It really could almost make you pull your hair out.
Sleeping girls (Kate on left)
We took a trip into Nuits-St-Georges today, a city about seven minutes north of us, for the sole purpose of going to a highly recommended patisserie. It was worth the trip.
Olivia LOVED all three.
Jack enjoying some chocolat chaud.
Katie is a fan of both the sweets and the hot chocolate.
Doing a little schoolwork with Jack before going to meet the teachers.
1 comment:
Yuck, the usual moving overseass hassles. But you got it covered. Now you have a boulangerie, a fromagerie, pattiserie, and wine. We'll be on the next plane.
Mike (and Deb and Lisa and Dave)
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