ne quitte pas la france!

before the break, (oh the generous system of school holidays in france i shall miss you so when i do leave), i was being lazy and sitting on the bench sunbathing with my kids during lunch break.

this girl F, she crawled up the bench and sat next to me and clang to me like a koala.

it was so cute when i said that i was cold, she put some other kids' down jackets on me to keep me warm.

"so where do you live?"

"you mean here in france?"

"yes, where do you live?"

"___, you know it?"

"bah, no."

"okay..."

"and before that, where did you live?"

"well, you know, sheepland."

"wow, so you actually live somewhere else before coming to france?"

"yes? that's the whole point?"

"then how long are you gonna stay in france for?"

"i haven't a clue, as soon as this thing finishes, i shall leave france."

"oooooh, ne quitte pas la france, stp." she said that while holding my hand tighter.

i felt something, i knew that moment, it would be really hard to leave my cute kids.

well, i shall not play "every time we say goodbye" too often then i guess?

kids are easy to please, ou pas? (cont'd)

(little i thought english classes are such a blah, she didn't want to learn.)

the upward turning point was in the class where we learnt "days of the week".
kids learn things easier through songs.
so i found a version of "days of the week" song.
it was sung to the music of "twinkle twinkle little star", which also happens to be the same tune as the alphabet song.

thanks Mozart!
it was quite easy, the music, not the lyrics, of course not.

as i asked who would like to sing for the whole class, little I was the only one who raised hand.
although off tune and blahed most of the words out.
i gave her a flower as a reward for having the courage to sing in front of the entire class.
she was super content and was smiling so big till the end of the class.

then it was one day during break time, she kicked her ball up high and it got stuck on the beam.
she came to ask her class teacher for help.
as any normal french teacher would say, "well, pity that you lost it, i can't do anything to help. don't do it again next time."
i saw the whole thing happening, so i decided to help her out.
it was really easy, only would take 2 mins if you really wanted to help.
all it takes is hitting it with another ball.
i told her not to worry, i could help her to get it after english.

so she remembered, and waited for me after class to rescue her.
it was lucky that i saw one of my bigger kids holding a ball in his hand walking pass.
so i borrowed it and off i went.
it wasn't successful at the first attemp, i'm no basketball player, so...
seeing me trying to get the ball off for little i, my bigger kids offered to help.
couple of tries later, little i got her favourite hello kitty ball back.

after that, whenever she sees me in the playground, she'll run to me and give me big big hugs.
so you think kids are hard to please?
just observe and be patient, you shall find what they really need.

kids are easy to please, ou pas?

i used to dislike kids for one reason: they're so screamy.
there are of course, exceptions.
some kids are incredibly well behaved and quiet, but it's often the noisy ones that get all the attention.
it was only natural to think that kids are hard to please.
cos why else the parents have absolutely no skills or whatsoever to control their own kids?

so there's this girl little "I" in my ce1 class.
she plays with other boys, kicks balls, runs wildly in the playground and you will never find one minute during break time that she's standing still.
when i first started "socialising" with the kids, she was with other girls.
and she was the only one who thought doing english was such a blah.
it wasn't particularly encouraging at the very beginning for an english-speaking person to teach english in french, who also had no experience dealing with kids at all.
i won't take this personal, it must have been the previous teacher who made it miserable for her.
but one thing i promised her: i will make english interesting, you will see.

well, did i make english interesting?
i don't know.
we sang, we read stories, we coloured images, we had competitions of guessing words between girls and boys...
she was getting interested gradually.
things were going the right direction.

after one class while watching them getting their coats on, i told her that she's made great progress over the past few weeks, and that brought a big smile to her face.
she was participating more in classes, too.
the upward turning point was in one particular class...

being blunt

"so why do you have so many pimples on your face?" my 6-y-o CP asked.

"well, i haven't a clue either."

"my mum has pimples too!" another one commented.

"yeah, and it's not very pleasant, having pimples. sometimes, it hurts."

"awww, it's okay, you still look pretty anyway." another kid hugged me and kissed me on my cheek.

"yes, you look pretty!" another one came to hug me too.

"thanks girls, you are pretty yourselves too!"

we were sitting on the bench in the playground.

they kept wanting to climb up and sit on my laps.

it was overwhelming, having something that's not dogs sitting on my laps.

i love my kids when they're not being nuts and/or screamy.