Work stuff, the good and the bad

My Fridays are usually pretty easy. I teach from 13:00 to 15:00, then I have two hours to sit around doing lesson plans, reading or checking my email every five minutes. I teach a final class at 17:00 that is usually just doing a simple activity with 5 or 6 students. No big deal. Today was pretty long because I had to reschedule one of my tutoring pupils for this morning rather than Tuesday afternoon. I taught her for one hour at 9:00 this morning, then didn't really have time to go home again before I had to be back at CIV for my regularly scheduled lessons.

Favorite moment of the day:

Last week I reminded one of my tutoring students that, in English present tense, the verb conjugation is the exact same word except for the third person (he or she), then you add an "s" to the end of the sentence and you have to also pronounce it. French is basically a language of silent letters, causing serious mental blocks for my students sometimes.

So my student was telling me about the story she was reading for her English lit course, in third person of course, and said, "...but when she arrive..." [spent a full second thinking, then] "SSS..."

This moment made my day. Not only did my student remember something I had told her and learned from it, but her demonstration of having learned the lesson was nothing short of adorable. Is it strange that I really love tutoring and merely tolerate my actual job as an assistante d'anglais?

In less heartwarming news, I have had my first full dose of teachers' politics. On Tuesday one of my less pleasant supervising teachers asked me how my holiday was and what I did during my time off. I simply told her I had gone to Taize. After thinking for a moment she started saying things to the extent of, "oh, you must be VERY RELIGIOUS" and, "it's strange that a young person would choose to spend time that way," etc. After a few comments like that I pretty much just abandoned the conversation, escaping into the "silent work room."

When I emerged about 30 minutes later I heard a rather loud conversation, in English, with the same teacher saying, "yes, she says she wen to Taize.... I don't know, but she seems very pleased with her choice..." That was all I heard. This was disheartening, but I tried to let it go.

Then today another teacher, whom I had assumed was the other participant in this exchange, approached me and said, "Hi Emily, I heard you went to Greece."

"Um, no, I went to Burgundy."

"Oh yes, I must have misunderstood."

Damn straight you misunderstood! How does one get "Greece" from "Taize"? This conversation confirmed that I had been the subject of some teacher gossip, but I found solace in the fact that the second prof's English is so bad (yes, she teaches English!) that she failed to comprehend the gossip being imparted upon her.

Either way, the whole situation makes me feel like shit. It's not that I'm embarrassed of my decision to attend Taize. The problem is that, for me, things like this are very personal. Basically, I felt violated in the same way I would feel violated if my coworkers were gossiping about my sex life. Yes, it's that personal. I'll discuss these things with close friends and family on occasion, but I don't make a habit of wearing my faith on my sleeve, especially not at work. It's too sacred to be open to the public.

In all, my week was fine. I kept all of my tutoring appointments and even feel that I have made some progress with my students. Classes were fine and I even found myself enjoying my more difficult classes, perhaps because the students and I were both relaxed after our seemingly superfluous winter holiday. At any rate, next week three of my lessons are cancelled, which is nice, so I can really focus on lesson planning and holiday planning. Oh, and I might just try to study a bit of French and maybe work on some research I have been trying to get started for over a week now!