Deauville Teaching Assistantship Blog - JAN 2025

 Bonjour! We are in the middle of our third période of school before our winter break which is in February. I arrived at the beginning of January and was so excited to get started! I am teaching this year at Tourgéville, St. Arnoult and then working the peri-scolaire, tutoring and teaching at Deauville. Peri-scolaire is the outside of school classroom time. In Deauville, there are animateurs that work the before school, lunch time, clubs after school and the after clubs time while they wait for their parents/legal guardians to pick them up. The Americans participate in this by hosting English Club during the after school club times (APE). The kids can sign up for whichever club they want to join each period.

This period we decided to take advantage of the election going on in the United States and bring it to English Club for them to have the cultural experience. The kids got into groups, decided who they wanted to nominate and created a campaign. They had to think of a slogan, a party, the party symbol, a campaign song and what their objectives would be. Afterwards we presented each candidate as though they were on the campaign trail and at the end of the period there will be an elected president of English Club!

Additionally, since we work for the Ville de Deauville, we also get the opportunity to work with the community. We have just started tutoring adults that work for the city. What a cool opportunity for the city to provide - learning another language! It’s been such a delightful experience to get to meet more people in the community and learn more about where we live through them. 

- Katherine 

Christmas in Deauville 2024

Christmas in Deauville is a magical experience with something new to see each week leading to Christmas. The first week of December was the annual Christmas tree lighting. During which our students (preschool and elementary) sang English Christmas songs such as We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and Feliz Navidad. After they each sang their respective songs a few of the children were chosen to help light the Christmas trees in the center of town. 

The following week Christmas trees were added around the school and in some of the classrooms. The kids wrote holiday cards and decorated them with Christmas trees and snowmen.

The last week before Christmas vacation the preschool had a Christmas spectacular singing songs in both French and English. Our after school program (hosted by staff at the school) had a holiday extravaganza at Maison Strassburger. Seeing it covered in Christmas decorations was amazing and very different from Halloween. The children played board games, did Christmas crafts, read Christmas books, had hot chocolate and other sweet treats. Later that week the school hosted a Christmas market. 

Living in Deauville provides an amazing opportunity to travel to many other cities easily. So Christmas was magical even outside of being a teacher as I had the opportunity to see Christmas Markets in Rouen, Paris, Caen, Honfleur, Trouville and of course Deauville. 

- Anna Davis

(Deauville, France Teaching Assistantship Program)

Chloe Adams in France - Halloween Blog

Hello from Deauville! 

My name is Chloe Adams, and I am currently an English teaching assistant through the Deauville- Lexington Sister Cities program. The children here in Deauville are incredibly eager to learn and experience anglophone culture, which makes teaching English an absolute pleasure. In addition to the kid's open-mindedness, the staff here at the school have been incredibly supportive. From a teacher's recommendation, I created a presentation on Halloween in America using only photos from my childhood. I showed the children my childhood home, my parents in costumes, and myself with my friends celebrating Halloween. The students loved it and asked many cultural questions. To celebrate Halloween in Deauville, the staff at the school transformed the Villa Strassburger into a haunted house. Villa Strassbourger is a mansion preserved from the 1900s and normally operates as a museum. For Halloween, the scenic mansion transformed into a film-worthy haunted house. The other American teaching assistants Anna and Charlotte and I worked the event with the rest of the school faculty. It was a great event with an incredible turnout. On October 31st, the school was on a two-week break, so we didn't see the kids in class. Simply by walking through the town, we saw kids dressed up in scary costumes, and going to store owners to ask them for candy. Deauville is such a beautiful town, and seeing how they celebrate Halloween wasn't a trick, but a real treat!

Katherine in Deauville- Winter 2024

Bonjour! My name is Katherine and I am one of the 4 English Language Assistants that have the honor to work in Deauville for the year. I arrived about two weeks before the “Touissant” (All Saints Day) vacation which was my observation period. I appreciated having this period since not only is this a new school to be working in but there’s a new culture for me to learn! While I’ve been fortunate enough to have spent time in France through previous Sister Cities programs, I have never worked in a primary school in France before which has culture differences of its own. One of the differences here at school is as simple as lining up. When I was little, I loved the book Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans. In the book, the girls line up “in two straight lines.” Well just like in the books, the kids here line up two by two or “deux par deux” instead of single file. I have seen the little ones holding hands with their line buddy on the regular which is super cute to see. Another difference comes from the food culture being important in France. While I still on occasion hear kids complaining about the food at the cafeteria, I’m not convinced it can compare to what I grew up with. First they are served an "entrée" which is typically a vegetable of some sort. Second they get the "plat" which so far has been a meat and a grain. Third is the cheese course. Then last is the dessert course which may be a piece of cake or a piece of fruit. They aren’t given the food all at once. Each course after the entrée, the lunch ladies will come around and serve each student the food. Students have the option to go home for lunch or eat at school. No one brings their lunches to school here - if they are eating at school, they eat the cafeteria lunch. Of course students with dietary restrictions are accommodated for.

 

During the Touissant vacation I spent time settling into Deauville and was fortunate enough to get to spend time with friends and my french family. I participated in the Sister Cities exchange program in 2015 and have been so fortunate having friends from then as well as with my french family that I was paired with- they truly feel like family at this point.

 

After the Touissant vacation I started teaching and we launched into incorporating Thanksgiving and Christmas into our curriculum. There were lots of hand turkeys, and saying what we are grateful for. In the after school program (APE), the English teachers lead “English Club” that the students can elect to take. During English Club, I got to talk about traditional Thanksgiving foods with the students and show pictures of my family celebrating Thanksgiving in Kentucky. Once Thanksgiving ended, we were full steam ahead for Christmas. Part of this was due to a big city event which was the lighting of the Christmas lights! Every year the students in Deauville perform a few songs and then the mayor will choose one of them to press the button that turns on all the Christmas lights of Deauville. This year they had one song in French and three in English. It was super cool to see them get to perform the English songs that they had been working hard on in front of the mayor and the town. They did a great job!

Ella in Deauville - Spring 2023

 Bonjour! We've just finished up our fourth période of school, the seven weeks between our February vacation and Easter. Our fourth roommate and second assistant from Nashville, Madison, arrived right at the beginning of the February vacation. She is now working with the little kids (preschool to 2nd grade) and I'm with the big kids (3rd through 5th). 

I'm happy to now have had the chance to work with all our students in Deauville, from preschool to 5th grade. I'm still able to see the kindergarten through 2nd graders during lunch and after-school activities. For the preschoolers, Madison and I rotate working Wednesday afternoons at what's called mercredi loisirs, where the kids only have school in the morning and we take care of those who stay for the rest of the day. I love being able to see all of our kids regularly—it really makes me feel a part of the Deauville community. We also run into kids around town pretty often. In that way, Deauville can have a very small town feel!

During the February vacation, Kira (our other assistant from Nashville) and I went to Scotland for nine days. We stayed in Edinburgh and saw all the sights, and took a bus tour of the Highlands. We were even able to see Sarah, a former assistant who is now living in Edinburgh working on her law degree. It was really cool to be in an anglophone country again, and I really enjoyed getting to talk to Sarah about her experience being in France during lockdown in 2020. 

I'm now on my first week of our Easter vacation and enjoying some much-needed rest in Deauville. The other day I went on a hike in the Suisse Normande, a "mountainous" area of Normandy a little south of Caen. The panoramic views of the countryside were beautiful and reminded me a lot of Kentucky! Next week I'll be working at Espace Jeune, the vacation camp for middle- and high-schoolers. When we're back to school we'll have about 12 weeks straight without vacation through the end of the year. 

Courage!

Ella