@SHERYL  BUTCHER
@DATA TYPE: RETROSPECTIVE
@LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
@COUNTRY: FRANCE
@PARTICIPANTS: S 
@SETTING: PRIVATE
@TIME: LATE
@SCHOOL: SECONDARY

Reflecting on live recording

* If I had spoken in English during my encounter the impression of myself would have been much different.  I've focussed too much on how I communicated in my tmoignage in French!  
* Yes there was mutual understanding.  My responsable seemed to answer my questions without my actually having to ask her.  She has been an assistant herself.  I think that helped.
* I was quite satisfied with the outcome, although as I've stated, I was very self conscious about my level of spoken French.
* I'm, quite happy with my tmoignage as an accurate reflection of what has happened.

Transactional

Timetabling - Responsable warned me in advance that my timetable would change in my second term after Christmas.
Examination - Didn't speak about my impact in preparing them for exams.
Language - Very aware of hesitations in language.
Tasks - Responsable suggested I should do more difficult things with the more competent students.  Quite obvious.
Organisation - Responsable very organised, aware of how her organisation impacted on me.
Observation - I was given a chance to observe other teachers' lessons, yet they didn't come to observe me giving classes.
Regularity of meetings - Often in breaktimes, lunchtimes.  Responsable very willing to organise other times to meet up.  A fan of putting notes in my pigeon hole and ringing me to see if I was OK.
Pedagogical advice - Informed me of which classes were stronger than others.  Told me to try harder things with the better students.
Discipline - Talked about age differences and how I was very young - close to the age of my students. Did this have a negative effect?  I was nervous about this at first.  Also about speaking French in classes with students - responsable urged me to speak just in English.

Interpersonal
Reassurance - Felt reassured.  Responsable tried to correct my French language, made me very self conscious!  She has always said I could come and see her whenever I wanted.
Time/availability - Responsable works only Mon/Tues/Weds makes it quite difficult to arrange a time to meet up.
Conversational space - My responsable likes talking!!  But having said that I had enough space to say what I wanted to do.
Degree of freedom - My responsable has given me worksheets to do with classes on several occasions, I quite like this guidance.  I have asked her what she has been doing with classes when I've been stuck for ideas.
Domestic activities -I've had some worries on a few occasions and have phoned her when concerned.

Reflecting on  relationship with responsable

* My initial impression of my mentor/responsable: - Thought she was friendly, approachable.
* Did this change over time?  Yes, recently she has been stressed and has been unwell.  Understandably, this had meant I have had less contact with her, and feel that I would be more likely not to approach her, but perhaps another member of staff instead.  Another member of the English team, whose class I take has been absent and I feel that it should have been my responsable to have let me know about her replacement.  Added to this I have had a few classes with many absentees.  Because I didn't know who had replaced this absent teacher and my responsable was always busy or absent I couldn't try and rectify the problem as quickly as I would've liked.
* I feel my logbook is an accurate reflection of my relationship with my responsable and participating in the project has in no way affected what I have written in the logbook.
* I don't feel that I have experienced any serious misunderstandings with my responsable.  The majority of the time I speak with her in English so this avoids any linguistic confusion!

Reflecting on the assistantship experience 

a)  Preparation before departure
* Little linguistic preparation at university.  One hour oral lesson per week is not sufficient!
* Pedagogical preparation consisted of just the British Council assistantship manual.
* Advice from previous assistants in the form of emails regarding Nantes was really helpful.
b)  Allocation process
* The only way I can see that this could be improved is by letting us know sooner!!

c)  Establishing contact with the school
* My lyce was very good at making the initial contact with me especially after listening to some of the nightmare stories of the other assistants.
d)  Integrating into school life
* I've been accepted into school life very easily but I feel that my school is not very good on the social side.  The teachers are all very old fashioned and set in their ways and the social scene is lacking somewhat!
However we have taken on 2 extra teaching hours a week in the lyce teaching post BAC students.  This has made us feel more accepted and is great for social life too!




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