Bubble

It is Day 2 of my full day school week and already my cabeza is about to explode. I'm at that point where you just feel like you're at information overload and are completely overwhelmed by the task at hand. This year is gonna be crazy difficult, me thinks. To begin with, I'm supposed to have already read four ginormo books(but didn't because I didn't know of my acceptance until 3 days before classes started and I really did not know if I was going to get in or not and did not have the money to be wasting.) Ok, maybe they wouldn't be ginormo if I had read them one at a time this summer, but they sure seem like that reading them all at once! For my classes, I have to read Pride&Prejudice, The Grapes of Wrath, The Tragedy of Coriolanus and La Devolution des Pouvoirs a l'Ecosse et au Pays de Galle. Oh, the joy. I have in fact read the Cliffs Notes on P&P to tide me over as well as watched the 2005 movie(we also have a class just on the film.) Yikes. I'm so out of the whole "school thang" that I feel exhausted just at the thought of all the papers, practice exams, student teaching and final exams that lie ahead of me. I already have a student teaching internship next week! Ahhhhhhhh!

I also feel kinda thrown to the wolves because a)such is French university and b)I'm the only freakin anglophone in my group and maybe of everyone. I had unveiled this tidbit to only a couple of students, but in Phonetics class today, the teacher(who is, btw, adorably French with a very British accent) called me out on it.

AFBA: Lea? Is that how you prnounce it?
Me: Actually, it's LEE-AH.
AFBA: Ah, are you a native speaker?
Me: Yes, I'm American.(Frenchies turn around and stare)

Later, AFBA asked about what type of accent people have and the importance of being consistent with whatever accent they have during this school year leading up to the big exam. I raised my hand for American accent and AFBA and I had a chuckle, but the Frenchies, I think, maybe found me pretentious. A lot of them are redoublants meaning they are re-doing the course for a 2nd, 3rd time, so they already know each other from before and then the others seem to have either people they know from studying for their licence in English or they've just made buddies. There are a couple nice girls that have chatted with me a bit and then I'll be en stage with a couple dudes all week next week, so I'm hoping to get out of my little anglo bubble very soon because it's getting old fast. I hope the Frenchies don't feel weird about speaking English in front of me in class because even though I feel nervous in front of them, I'm just one person and there are a lot of them! At the same time, I will be annoyed if some of them try to insist on speaking ONLY English with me because I find that patronizing since I am actually able to speak the language.

Rien a voir, but I can't wait to hear all their different accents...American, English, Scottish Irish is what I've heard so far. It's SO adorable! My friend who's a lectrice at the University said there was one Frenchie with an Aussie accent...that I would LOVE to hear. Most of them I've heard speak very well with not too much of an accent at all, but some do have the cute French accent...ah, I just love it! What I also love is the fact that it looks like I have lined up about 8-9 hours of English lessons that will be starting this week. Bring em on, baby!

For those of you possibly interested in the CAFEP or CAPES or those bored folk(hehe), here is what my schedule normally looks like:

Mon: 14h-17h Theory at IUFM

Tues: 9h-10h Comprehension
12h30-13h30 Devolution
13h30-14h30 Synthese

Wed: 10h30-11h30 FDL
11h30-12h30 Version
14h30-15h30 Pride&Prejudice(BOOK)

Thurs: 10h30-11h30 The Grapes of Wrath
12h30-13h30 Theme
14h30-15h30 Pride&Prejudice(FILM)
16h45-19h The Tragedy of Coriolanus

Fri: 9-12 Theory at IUFM

One week of stage at the beginning of October.
One week of stage at the beginning of April.

So, Mon&Fri are theory of teaching at the IUFM which basically goes over how students learn, what types of teaching there are, and all this super boring theory stuff. These classes are all in French whereas the classes (so far) at the Uni have all been in English. As an anglophone, I got out of Phonetics, Language Lab and Oral Expression as they are clearly not something I would need to do as a native speaker since they are about practicing your speaking which I can normally manage.

In other news, I am expecting to hear from the dreaded Trefecture at any moment now saying that there is still a problem with my Tarte and I ironically just got a message as I was typing this and listened to it and it was not them. Phew! Quite honestly, as much as I hope that everything will go through ok with what I gave them, I don't think it's gonna happen. It would take a miracle. I am giving it two weeks before I will allow myself to stop being so nerved up about it. I'd best be off for now as I have to head off soon for my lovely 18h-19h Devolution lecture that I have at that time until the other Prof gets back from maternity leave. The class is with all the three groups of wannabe English teachers, so here's hoping this bubble breaks soon!