I am terribly excited about this. I admit it is a very small job. Also I don’t get paid. But still!
Life in La Bourboule isn’t always as exciting as one might hope, so last
week I decided to get a job to occupy my idle moments. I drifted into the local school, managed to
connect with the headmaster, and got myself a job as an English auxiliary
teacher. I didn’t want to publicise the
fact until I had a few lessons, after all I might not have been up to the job
and got myself fired!
But now that I have the stamp of approval, and the
toleration of the children, I feel it is safe to share my new occupation with
my trusty readership. Everything about
the school is just wonderful, it is like schools were in the good old days,
only the teachers are nicer and the children are better behaved than was the
case in my old school. The children are
quite young, between nine and eleven, and speak only very little English. Perhaps my lecture today on the role of the
Bank of England in setting interest rates was a little above their heads, but
they faked interest very convincingly. I
also read them a story about Little Red Riding Hood, at the request of their
teacher, which was perhaps a little more appropriate.
Now I am spending the evening preparing my next lesson. The subject is, ‘How I spend my day’. I stole the idea from a French picture book
for five year olds. I am only allowed to
speak English during class, probably the teacher wants to protect the children
from getting corrupted by my terrible French.
Nevertheless I hope in due course the children’s French language skills
will rub off on me and that I will acquire French by osmosis, as it where. If that doesn’t work I can look forward to a
new generation of La Bourboulians growing up speaking perfect English, which
will render my learning French obsolete.
How is that for a cunning plan?
