English lessons in CP : How the bear lost his tail

Ever since Suzanne started école maternelle, I always imagined me having some sort of role in the classroom. But, it has proven to be more difficult than I expected. Working is one of the problems. But it's always because parents just aren't as active here as in the US. So my input has been minimal thus far, although I've managed to go into her class at least once a year to talk about something American or in English. My interest in going into her class is twofold. First, it's interesting for the kids to hear from people from other places. Second, if I'm in the class, Suzanne will be proud and maybe it won't be so "strange" for her to be bilingual. (and third, I don't want her to reject her American side...)

Suzanne is now in her first year of école primaire. At the beginning of this school year (Suzanne's in CP=1st grade), I once again offered my services as a Native English speaker....and got nothing back. Then about a month ago, the teacher called me (she left a message on my phone that I heard a week later. oops). Since then, we've played email tag with me sending long emails explaining what I'd like to do and her responding "ok". Not very constructive for me...

So the final guidelines I have are these:

• 30 minutes
• 6 lessons are scheduled between now and end of January
• focus on culture and civilization
• subjects they won't see  with their regular English teacher (ie vocab, etc).

So I did a lot of brainstorming about WHAT to talk to them about and came up with the following subjects :

1. Native Americans
2. American food (linked with immigration)
3. American sports
4. American holidays
5. American school and games
6. and I forget the 6th one for now...

Next, I had to think about HOW to talk to them. Since the teacher didn't specifically ask for only English and she clearly said (the only clear thing she said) was that I am not teaching them English, I decided on the following set-up for each lesson : 

• Book (or story) in English: this will provide a subject for discussion
• English voabulary: taken from thebook and the subject matter
• song or dance: this will help them be interactive
• food : where applicable (since I'm a foodie)

Today's lesson is on Native Americans. I'll try to provide an update tomorrow including description of the lesson, what worked and what didn't. The point is to provide a resource for other parents who may be doing similar activities in their kid's CP class.

To be honest, I'm terrified. I'm terrified of the kids but also of the teacher. She has shown no enthusiasm at all and has not been particularly helpful. At the same time, the fact that she actually asked me to come into class is a positive sign (I also had to sign some sort of official document for the rectorat ie the superintendant).

So today...How the Bear Lost His Tail...

Lille Halloween 2012: the sequal

Following up on last year's very successful Halloween endeavor, I'm coming back for more...

Last year, I managed to organize trick-or-treating in my quiet neighborhood and the gaggle of kids (all 8 of them!) really felt like, well, Halloween! So this year, I've decided to expand to the next street! Yes, dear readers, Halloween will take over two Lille streets! (and then the world...).

As with last year, I will distribute flyers with basic information about Halloween like how it's celebrated in the US, what time and what to give and will ask my neighbors to stick the imagine of the pumpkin from the flyer on their window if they are a Halloween friendly house. I found that by inviting the neighbor's to participate, the kids avoided much disappointment and the neighbors avoided much annoyance.

But that's not all!

Halloween falls on a Wednesday this year which also happens to be the day the next bilingual storytime is planned! So the librarians at the Wazemmes library are busy planning a special Halloween storytime full of scary books and songs (does anyone know any?).

I also plan on organizing a pre-trick-or-treat party for the little kids followed of course by a post-trick-or-treat party for the big kids. I was surprised to find jack-o-lantern lights at the big Carrefour supermarket as well as spider webs and spider rings! But, I haven't been able to find costumes...

A couple of years ago, I took on the task of making a pumpkin costume for Suzanne. I followed Martha Stewart's instructions and made it out of an orange pillow case. That costume was used by both kids. Helas, the kids now want to be a cowgirl-vampire and Super Why. I've already started pulling together the pieces of the Super Why costume but not quite sure how to attack the cowgirl-vampire thing.

I am also planning the menu which will be full of skeleton cookies, ghoulish drinks and spider cupcakes. We plan on going to the local farm this weekend to pick apples and to pick up some pumpkins for carving.

And last but not least, I have yet to ask my kids' teachers if I can do something Halloween-y in class. I'm not sure how it will go over now that Suzanne's in "big school".  You can be in French school but still have some fun...right?

Le King et Suzanne

It seems like I'm already expecting so much out of my kids. But what is the good of being bilingual if you don't know where you come from?

So how silly (not stupid because I am not allowed to say that anymore since I caught Suzanne hitting her babydoll on the head while saying stupid) did I feel when my sister asked me in jest what the kids and I did for MLK day. I am completely and utterly ashamed to say that I completely forgot about this most important American day.

After reading Suzanne her normal 3 books at night, I began a discussion about MLK. I told her that a long time ago (even though it wasn't so long and indeed is still the case in some places), only white people could go to school, go to restaurants, etc. I told her that black children couldn't go to school and couldn't use the same toilets as white kids. She pointed to her face proudly and said she was white. I asked her if she knew any black children (which of course she does at school) and then told her that thanks to Martin Luther King and lots of other people, black kids could go to school. I figured that by focusing on school, which is something she loves, she'd get the idea better than if I talked about, say, the voting rights movement or Rosa Parks riding the bus.

I asked her if she wanted to see Martin Luther King speak. So of course she said yes and then told me to type his name into the computer (yes, she understands how youtube works) and we began watching Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. After a couple of minutes of watching the grainy black and white video, she said, "Mommy, I can't see that he's black". So we put on a color video of MLK which she thought was ok until she saw the Obama girl/Obama duet image appear in the youtube sidebar.

By that point, I think I'd made my point. Or at least I hope so. And I've sworn to myself that we will be reading about Harriet Tubman and the underground railroad, Rosa Parks, MLK, and other very important dead Americans more frequently.

I do wonder though if she said anything in school. I can only imagine what could have come out of her mouth like, "avant le King, les blacks n'avaient pas de school. Et après, beaucoup d'hommes sont allés à Washington devant le giant Lincoln."