Je m'appelle Mademoiselle Divel

I taught French this week and up until Monday I knew no French besides "Bonjour" and "Oui."  Now I know a few more phrases after stumbling through teaching my students.  Teaching something you're not confident in is hard!  Teaching a Modern Foreign Language is one requirement in English schools, though I don't think it's taught in depth enough for children to gain fluency in an additional language like they do in other European countries.  I've been a bit overwhelmed by the amount of "extra subjects" to teach here besides Language Arts (aka English) and Math (aka Maths).  In my prior teaching experience, Science and Social Studies were more loosely taught.  I taught them when I could fit them in and integrated them into Language Arts, and never got through all the content.  Art projects were done that coincided with other things we were learning, or happened when a holiday was coming up.  I was involved in trainings through my school district's partnership with the Kennedy Center and worked on integrating the arts to engage children and teach across the subject areas.  Many of the teachers also did professional development through the Monterey Bay Aquarium on integrating science and conservation topics.  I've substitute taught in schools that had robotics, 3D printers, green screens, and other technology and engineering focused resources.  My friend, Kathy teaches in a performing arts focused school (my dream!).  There are bilingual schools that teach an additional language, most often Spanish, alongside English.  In California, it seems to be up to the school to what additional subjects they focus on based on partnerships with outside organizations, teacher expertise, community needs and resources, etc.  There are curriculum standards for these subjects, but in my experience you weren't required or held accountable for teaching all of it.

At least in the school I'm teaching in now in England, these subjects are required to be taught and are overseen closely. Here you also have to teach a Modern Foreign Language, RE (Religious Education), PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economics), Music, Art, Computing, and Design and Technology.  The school I'm teaching in also does Outdoor Learning.  I think it's neat that all these subjects are required as it gives kids more of a balanced education that is not just focused on Maths and English,  however, I don't think there's enough time in any school to actually teach all of these in depth and well.  It's a lot!  Maybe it just takes time getting used to, and the purpose is to give kids a little taste of different topics.

Here's to me stumbling through my next French lesson and other subjects I've never taught before!  Au revoir!