@O'BRIAN TRACY
@DATA TYPE: RETROSPECTIVE
@LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
@COUNTRY: FRANCE
@PARTICIPANTS: S 
@SETTING: PRIVATE
@TIME: LATE
@SCHOOL: SECONDARY

1  Reflecting on live recording

I had been given my timetable the second day I went to school, and each of the English teachers had come to me with the classroom numbers and explained how to find them in the school. So I didn't have any questions about that side of things. Rene has never mentioned the exams that they will be taking and I never asked.  Since I only see most of them for a half hour a fortnight, I guess he doesn't think it's my responsibility.  He says during our discussion that I'm there to talk with the pupils and that was really the most important thing for me.  I wanted to know if the way I was going about getting them to talk was OK.  I didn't really have a period of observation as such but the first two weeks was spent meeting each of my classes and just introducing ourselves; then the next two weeks I took the classes myself.  After this I made the recording and took the opportunity to ask if what I had been doing was OK.  And as it seems it was, he gave me enough information to be able to continue planning lessons along the right lines.  I don't think he wanted to give me strict guidelines which I suppose means he trusted me with the classes.

Regularity of meeting - Rene is always available to me.  If I want to see him in school, I know where his classroom is and if he's not there, then he's in the staffroom, plus he has given me his phone number so I can always get hold of him.  However, there are two staffrooms, one with tables and kitchen, the other is the smoking room; it also has the photocopier and the computer.  Since I smoke, I tend to spend all my time there.  I use the photocopier and computer and I feel more comfortable there because there are fewer people and it's easier to talk there, plus it's where the surveillants come to smoke and I get on quite well with them too.  Rene spends his time in the other room but obviously comes in and out.  So if I want to see him, it's really only a matter of going into the next room.  Maybe if I didn't smoke, or spent my time in the other room, then we would have a closer relationship because I'd see him more???

My responsable mentioned when giving me my timetable that he had tried to keep Friday afternoons free so I could do things at the weekend. He sort of apologised for big gaps between classes and explained that they had done their best.  I didn't mind these gaps at all and was really quite happy with the timetable.
2  Reflecting on relationship with responsable

Initial impression: thought he was really welcoming and nice.  He had emailed me info on the town where I'd be living, met me at the train station and took me to his house.  I thought he was really nice and understanding of how I was feeling and what I needed and very helpful.  I felt a little nervous around him but only because I was nervous about the whole situation at the beginning.

After a week or two I began to settle in and feel more comfortable and this obviously made me feel more relaxed around him.  He is quite talkative and very approachable, however I am still quite shy around him and don't really chat very much; we mostly just talk about work, classes, lesson plans, etc., although since I came back after Christmas I have been more confident about my French and have been chatting more.  I still feel the same about him; he has never been anything less than friendly and helpful to me.

I think the log book accurately reflects our relationship.  He is nice to me but we are not close and our relationship goes no further than him guiding me in how to do classes and being there if I need any practical information.  I think the linguistic difficulty probably separated us because I can't just speak to him in French like I would if it were English.



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