ELA: General Information

Age Groups

I was assigned to 2 primary schools.

For some reason, I thought I'd just be focussed on one class in each school but I was assigned all ages and around 5 classes in each school.

I taught all levels:

• CP: Cours préparatoire  – 6 to 7 years old
• CE1: Cours élémentaire – 7 to 8 years old
• CE2: Cours élémentaire – 8 to 9 years old
• CM1: Cours moyen 1 – 9 to 10 years old
• CM2: Cours moyen 2 – 10 to 11 years old

Knowing these (CP, CE1 etc) will be useful when you meet your classes so you know what ages they all are.

Timetables

Here are my timetables from both schools:

Each lesson varied from 30-45 minutes. 

Try to plan a little bit more than you think you may need. Sometimes an activity you think lasts 10 minutes actually lasts 5. It's better to have a backup in case as you don't want to be standing with nothing to do.

If you do find yourself in that situation you can always do a pictionary or Simon Says to fill time. 

Dress Code

The first day I turned up in formal clothing (trousers and a shirt) just to be sure. However, the teachers did dress quite casually. They'd wear jeans, jumpers and skirts. It will obviously vary depending on the school but I'd advise to go formal the first day so you don't feel uncomfortable if you're too casual! 

Teaching

In a typical day, you can see that I taught all age groups. It sounds like a lot but a good idea is to agree with your teachers to teach the same topic to all classes. This means you only have to slightly vary the activities but at least you will be teaching the same thing. 

Depending on the teacher and the school, you may find yourself leading a lesson pretty much on your own or that you are just assisting with pronunciation and the general lesson. This will all be cleared up when you meet with them.

Material

I planned the lessons and material and sent them to my teachers at least 24 hours in advance.

Here's an example of a lesson plan* that I would send to my teachers. 

I brought the material on a USB in PDF format and then bullet pointed my lesson plan in a notebook. It's handy if you need to explain things in French or keep track of the lesson.

Tips: Always use PDF format when you save material as word/powerpoint never worked in my schools. Save material to google drive in case you forget your USB one day and need to sign in.

If you need to print worksheets the school will tell you how to use the printer. You may be given a print code. Never feel like you should spend your own money on materials or printing, this is up to the school.

*Please note that all hyperlinks are in the colour red.