It is Tuesday yet again; how time flies! I didn't work today because the students I normally see had fallen behind due to the strikes and needed to be tested. So, that means that today was like most of my days as of late: of my own making. What with grocery shopping, buying train tickets, listening to all of the new music I checked out from the library, meditation practice and yoga, the day filled up quickly. I am at the library in Rennes at the moment, and planning on checking out even more cds... most of them Blues of course. I found a five-disc set of Charlie Patton recordings. Oddly enough, not all the songs are of Charlie Patton.
Yesterday morning I walked into class to be handed a sheet of paper by the teacher depicting three scenes related to immigration in the U.S., and was told to take a handful of students from the class and spend the hour discussing the definition of immigration, the pros and cons of immigration, and helping the students describe the three photos on the sheets. "I wonder how this is going to go," I thought to myself as I received these instructions. Talking about such a topic with no preparation struck me as a bit odd, but as I began asking the students about immigration things fell into place, and in fact we didn't even have time to describe the last of the three pictures. I can't say that we discussed anything terribly insightful, but I think the point was more to get them to talk and expand their vocabulary. Later that afternoon I worked with four students on reading and responding to a text about high school part-time jobs in the US. I must say, I am surprised to find the immense difficulty some students have in reading aloud in English. I hope I can be of assistance, but as I see the same students so very little I fear I will not help them improve much!
This weekend Lizzie and I met up with a few other TAs, one Irish, one German, and one Jamaican, for cider and a chat, and then dinner at their apartment the following night. We had planned a trip to Mont St Michel on Sunday, but alas, the rain made the prospect rather unattractive. Lizzie and I did, however, have an adventure of sorts Sunday night. Coming back from a film, we were walking down the stairs of the metro station only just in time to see the train pulling away. Then we heard an announcement: that was, in fact, the last one that we had just missed. We walked back up the stairs to see a gate slowly closing over the second set of stairs leading to freedom. We though this meant we had better take the elevator. We stood at the elevator for a few seconds before Lizzie pointed out the "hors service" light lit on the side. The elevator was closed for the night! We ran back to the stairs and literally just made it in time to slide past the closing gate before being caught underground. I assume we could have contacted someone if we had been closed in, but I don't really want to find out! Moral of the story: find out when metro stations close and stay away from them at this time. Walking home from the center of Rennes wasn't exactly what we had in mind for the evening, but I am just glad it wasn't raining like it has been the past few days.
I have more pictures up of Lannion. I encourage a look; it is truly beautiful along the coast!
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