At the end of a really busy semester, MA student Liz Panting found some time to write us from Montpellier. She's spending the year on one our department's Fellowships as a lectrice at UPV...
I have survived my first semester teaching at the Université Paul Valéry in Montpellier, and it has been incredible. I taught 12 classes this past semester, including classes on English as a foreign language, US history, and American politics. I especially had fun teaching a class on US history from 1945-present, because in Canada we study American history briefly but not in any depth, so I had to do some serious studying every week before I felt confident enough to stand in front of my class and teach for an hour! Adapting to the French education system (as well as to the idea of teaching content-based classes) has also been a challenge, but I have had a bit of help there; I am lucky enough to be lodging with a woman who works training high school teachers. Through her, I have attended a couple of seminars on teaching foreign languages, including one seminar on teaching language to large groups -- quite useful here, where I teach English to groups of 45 students!Thanks for writing, Liz! We hope next semester is free of strikes and other strife. Keep in touch...
Outside of class time, I have been spending a few hours a week in the library, chipping away at the MA reading list. I have also been able to explore a fair bit of the south of France, and have taken it upon myself to include wine as one of my research interests. Aside from the owner of my neighbourhood wine store and the man who keeps me in baguettes, I have made some other friends who are wonderfully patient with me when I keep asking them to repeat themselves. I would like to think that my French is improving noticeably, but I suppose time will tell!
