Last Days of Teaching

Well I've been slacking on my blog!

The biggest news of have: I'm finished teaching here in Perpignan, France.  This past week was my very last one with my 300 elementary students.  Sadly, I was sick on one of those days... and I called in (or rather wrote in) sick because I had completely lost my voice.  

I'll miss this view I saw coming home every Friday.

My official last day was Friday, which I spent at my two schools in outlying villages of Perpignan.  They are in Peyrestortes and Baixas, and the kids there were pretty well-behaved, more-so than my school in Perpignan anyways.  As I had taught about farm animals the week before ("Old McDonald had a farm, ee-i-ee-i-o"), I continued with more animals for our last day together.  We read a book illustrated by Eric Carle, they colored some animal worksheets, and we finished off (in my more advanced classes) with a bingo incorporating both numbers and animals.  Then it was time for goodbyes.

With one of my classes in Baixas.

On my last day, I received lots of cards from my students!  And I even got an ambushed group hug.  My school in Peyrestortes also presented me with a class picture with a note from each of the students.  All-in-all, it was a great experience, and I am very glad to have had this opportunity.  This year, I've definitely progressed in my teaching abilities and working with children.  I've had a great time teaching the 7 - 11 year old students English words and American cultural tidbits.  I think I'm pretty good at it!  And my kids thought so too if what they wrote in their cards was true! While I would actually like to stick around for another year with these elementary schools, that's not an option, so I will be returning to Colorado in a month, where I will be figuring out my next steps over the summer.  

To those in Colorado and the States, see you soon! And to those who I'll be leaving behind, I will never forget this time we spent together and I hope to see you soon too!