Cecilia Reed's Summer in Shinhidaka

  "My time in Shinhidaka was terrific. I learned about this internship from my friends Anna and Jaquelyn who did the same internship in 2023. I felt like I won the jackpot with my host family, they were the sweetest people. My host family was the Amano family, consisting of my host dad and mom, grandma and grandpa, and then their nine year old daughter. They made me dinner everyday and we would eat all together, they also showed me some restaurants in town. I really enjoyed sharing meals together because I got to try their favorite foods, and we would talk together about so many interesting things. My host family only knew Japanese so we talked in Japanese all the time, it was great practice for me to hear their unique voices and vocal habits." 

      "Besides my wonderful host family, I had my internship at Shizunai High School. The principal and vice principal were very welcoming to me and helped me figure out my schedule the first few days. The English teachers would invite me to their class and I would join them in class. Often I was reading out loud passages and vocabulary, and the students would repeat after me. After the school day ended all of the clubs would start and I would choose a new club to go visit everyday. The school had an exemplary calligraphy club and I loved watching the students practice their writing. They also let me try a few times and I really enjoyed it. They also had many sports clubs and I would watch them during practice.

      My internship was one month long and ended during mid July so that I was there during the school festival. Leading up to the school festival the students are decorating their classroom, practicing chorales, creating parade floats, and creating costumes. For the school festival I also got a room that I was able to decorate. I ended up making six posters about American culture and also comparing Japanese and American high schools. The day of the school festival the students faculty and locals walk all around the school to visit the decorated classrooms, so many people visited my room and I got to talk about Kentucky with them."

      "I’m really glad I got to do this internship, because my long term goal has been to enroll in the JET program once I graduate, and teach English in Japan. I know that in the future I will definitely return to visit my host family." 

Katherine in Deauville - Teaching Assistant

Bonjour! We have just come back from Spring break and we are now in our last period of the school year. Time is flying by! 

As the end of the school year approaches - so do a lot of field trips and school events! 

The students participated in the “Cross,” a race designed for each grade level. It was also a bit of a celebration for the new stadium Stade Commandant Hébert opening. Four different schools participated and it was so much fun getting to cheer the kids on!

Going to school in Deauville gives the kids lots of amazing opportunities: swim lessons, horseback riding lessons, and bike lessons (piscine, pony, et vélo). How cool is that! Now that they have done the cross, next is a triathlon which is a very big sport in this area. 

At the end of the school year, they will have an end-of-year performance, karmesse, which we are starting to prepare for. At Saint-Arnoult we are working on singing Flowers by Miley Cyrus and at Tourgéville we are working on singing We Are the World (USA for Africa). The kids are doing great with both! 

The past few months since I arrived I have tried to get more involved in the community. I joined the local soccer team AS Trouville Deauville and we are currently first in our league! 

I also tried a new sport for the first time, la marche nordique (Nordic Walking). I was by far the youngest one there and everyone was so kind, helpful, and welcoming! I ended up loving the new sport and even bought my own set of poles.

Katherine Rintamaa

Chloe Adams in Deauville during Spring

Hello! Deauville is starting to blossom into spring, and everyone has been enjoying the beautiful weather! It is currently a spring vacation for the students, and they will get two weeks off. Right before break, we finished up projects and gave evaluations, where the students showed that all of their hard work was beneficial! Personally, I love to go for runs and long walks now that the skies are baby blue and the paths are lined with flowers! Because of the nice weather, the city is generally busier, as tourists accumulate in the markets and on the beach. I am so happy to be here to witness the city become more a little more lively! 

Chloe Adams

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!