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

Reflecting on live recording

My initial meetings with my two responsables (Mme Tabaret at <school name 1> and Mme Baudier at <school name 2>) were very different.

Mme Tabaret

* She knew I was coming (which was a good start!).  I had spoken to her on the phone when I visited the school the day before and we arranged a time to meet the following day.
* As far as a timetable goes, she specifically put all my lessons together and gave me Mondays and Fridays off - she said she knew what it's like to be away from home and that long weekends would make it easier for me to visit places in France or to go home.
* It wasn't until the pupils told me that I was preparing them for their end of year exams that I knew that was what I was doing!  I feel she could have specified that a bit more, and I had to ask her what it was she wanted me to do insofar as preparation went.
* My lessons are mostly in English.  The pupils are a bit older so tend to understand more.  When I do translate, I find that sometimes it can be complicated, but it only helps me improve.
* She was fairly organised, she explained what my role was, showed me where I could find material, and explained to me that there shouldn't have been any discipline problems.  I didn't have a period of observation, which I would have preferred, but on the whole she seemed kind and approachable.
* Mme Tabaret is pretty much always approachable.  She has given me her home number, we often have lunch together on Tuesdays.  I feel that I could quite easily contact her if I need to.  
* I haven't really got involved in after school activities, but on the other hand, they don't appear to exist in either school.
* Lesson wise, I'm free to do whatever I want, although I do need to cover ten set exam texts (which I haven't seen all yet) in the bac pro class.
* She seems generally very interested in me.  She lets me know in advance if she won't be in class or if there are strikes etc.  When I was ill, she has phoned me at home to see how I was.

Mme Baudier

* My initial meeting with this responsable was not very positive and on the whole, the relationship that I had had with Mme Baudoin has not been as positive as that of Mme Tabaret.
* Firstly she didn't even know that I was coming; she didn't even know that the school had an English assistant.  She was not very welcoming, and told me that she had been a responsable in the past and that she couldn't be bothered with the extra hassle this year!
* Timetable wise, nothing was prepared and she seemed to suit herself as opposed to try and work out something which may have been suitable for me too!
* Generally, she has been less organised and less approachable.  I have told her how I still have difficulty finding myself classrooms to teach in (she hasn't found out for me) and how I often have to go to the bar across the road to teach my lessons, which is very impractical.  I don't have keys, photocopier codes, paper for photocopying and she doesn't seem to care.  She's very unhelpful!  She is also very difficult to get hold of.
* As a result of all this, I didn't ever have an initial meeting with her so nothing was ever set out.  I have had to get on with my own lessons on my own.  We didn't have regular meetings.  I was never told what to do as such; I've basically been left to sort myself out on my own.

Reflecting on relationship with responsable

* My initial impression of Mme Tabaret was that she was kind, approachable, fair and a generally nice person.  On the other hand, Mme Baudier was dismissive, unkind and really didn't seem to care about me at all.
* Mme Tabaret has remained exactly the same as she was.  She's always prepared to help me and, I feel, very approachable.  Mme Baudier is still very distant; I only see her in her classroom or briefly in the staffroom.  I have told her about the lack of free classrooms, keys, codes etc and about how I often go to the caf over the road, but she hasn't done anything and I can't imagine she ever will.
* My logbook is a fairly accurate reflection of my responsables at the time that I wrote; I might have been a bit harsh on Mme Baudier, but she was hardly welcoming to begin with, so it is exactly what I felt at the time.
* Participating in the PIC project hasn't made any difference to our relationship.  I have to say that Mme Baudier doesn't really know much about it as she wasn't at all interested in it to begin with.
* I haven't really had any misunderstandings or communication problems.  When I don't understand something, I generally ask them in English.  I did once misunderstand a time from Mme Baudier and I turned up half an hour late, but I'm pretty sure it was her that made the mistake and not me.

Reflecting on the assistantship experience

Preparation before departure

* Nomination earlier so that we could have had time to contact schools before their summer holidays.
* More prep was needed from university
* More practical advice about actual teaching, more material, web site addresses etc.

Allocation process

* Both my schools are reasonably close to each other, which is definitely very very good.

Establishing contact with the school

* I did as I was advised and wrote a letter to each of my responsables and head teachers.  The main problem was that I didn't get anything back, so I basically made my first contact on 1 October.  It didn't help that one school didn't have a clue about me until my arrival
* I think we should all get some sort of recognition before we start, either in the form of a letter, email or phone call.  I was very apprehensive about my first meeting with my responsable; this could have been a lot better had I actually been able to speak to them before I got to France.

Integrating into school life

* I was basically left to get on with finding out who was who, who did what and where things were in both schools.  Both responsables could have made more of an effort to introduce their colleagues and show us around.
* I know that being in Paris, that I was unlikely to be offered accommodation but more could have been done by the school to help with finding somewhere to live.

From discussion

* When we get our arre de nomination, we should get details of our responsable (phone no, name, email) and vice versa to make the initial contact a lot easier.  This should be done well in advance.  The responsable wasn't told anything about me, my hours, my arrival and was very unorganised for her as well as me.



2


