Spring Break and other North American institutions

Spring Break: a North American holiday typically associated with students partying and drinking, often in warmer countries with more relaxed alcohol laws than the U.S.

So, what did I do for my Spring break? Well, I like to challenge stereotypes - I went skiing for a week at Mont Tremblant, QC with 5 friends. Warmer? No. Excessive partying? Too tired from skiing all day! Alcohol? Only a glass or two of red with the filet mignon, darling!

We started the week off on Saturday morning, when we hired a car and drove the 3 hours from Quebec to Montreal, stopping only for the worlds largest poutine on the highway. We arrived in Montreal to find that it was the "nuit blanche", a night when most of Montreal's museums and galleries remain open all night, they have live performances and fireworks -  a real festival atmosphere!

http://www.montrealenlumiere.com/volets/nuit_blanche/en_bref_en.aspx

So we had dinner in the most stereotypical Italian restaurant we could find (and were even serenaded by Italians with violins!) then headed out to enjoy the festival.

The next day, we hit the mean streets of Montreal in search of bargains. My bank balance still hasn't forgiven me. We also went to the cinema, and saw a generic girly film I've forgotten the name of already.  Then we packed up the car and headed north to Mont Tremblant. We, somewhat foolishly, decided to let Nick navigate, with the result that we arrived nearly 2 hours late so when we eventually arrived at our hotel, they told us they had no rooms left! They had rebooked us in a nearby hotel instead, so we drove round the corner to the new hotel, which was much nicer, thinking we had struck gold. Nick went in to check us in and 2 minutes later he reappeared with the news that this hotel had no space and we had been rebooked elsewhere. It was getting a bit ridiculous at this point, but when we arrived at the third hotel, it was all worth it. We had been given a suite at the best hotel in the resort (The Westin Resort and Spa) at no extra cost! The valet took our bags and parked our car, as we attempted to walk through the hotel without looking completely out of place (we failed!).

The weather was gorgeous all week, clear blue skies and sunshine, we were up most mornings and on the mountain for 8.30 to make the most of our days and after skiing we went either for the traditional après-ski in one of the pubs or to use the sauna and Jacuzzi  at the hotel. I picked up skiing fairly well, so much so I am considering buying skis and continuing it when I come home, although I did fall over a fair bit as well! The best moment was when I forgot to stand up and ski off the chair lift when we came to the top, with the hilarious consequence that I had to jump from the chair before it took me back down the mountain again! If you have seen the film "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" it was an exact replica of the scene where she jumps from the chair lift! I think I amused a few Canadians anyway, and I didn't hurt myself too badly!

After an altogether fabulous week, we were all very sad to leave and head back home (albeit with another slight diversion as we got lost in Montreal for an hour or so).  However, one day back at school and I was in stitches again, wondering why I ever wanted to stay at Mont Tremblant. I love my job and all the kids too much! It's going to be a nightmare leaving them all at the end of May!

Simply having a wonderful chalet time!

I've been getting reports from across the pond that people are becoming concerned about my well-being due to the fact that I haven't posted in a while. So, just to reassure you, I am still alive and well. I've just been monumentally busy recently, November has gone by in a flash!

School has kept me more than busy recently, in the run up to Christmas all the children seem to have gone insane and good behaviour has gone out of the window (again). But it's been a lot of fun too. One of the more mischievous boys in Sec.3 made my week this week with the comment "you is the best English teacher we is having, Miss". I'm not sure this isn't somewhat of a contradiction in itself, but it is nice to know I've got through to at least one of them!

On to more general musings. Several more things have struck me recently about the culture here - firstly the obsession with disinfecting anything and everything is starting to get on my nerves somewhat. It's no wonder half the children at school have serious allergies when they have never been exposed to anything less than a sterile environment. They have no chance to build up their immune systems to fight off even a little sniffle! And the H1N1 Pandemic and scare-mongering is not helping matters much. While I'm on the subject of swine 'flu, the majority of students are being bussed to Quebec City tomorrow, an hour away, to have the H1N1 vaccine. There are, in my opinion, several things wrong with this situation. Not with having the vaccine itself, but the fact that the children are being bussed to Quebec city to start with. When all is needed is for a couple of nurses to come out to the school with the equipment, the organisation involved in tens of school buses transporting hundreds of children to the capital seems a tad excessive. It's not as if the school is any less clean than a hospital or medical centre would be (see previous rant about disinfecting).

I'm starting to feel like such an old woman, harping on about how things were "in my day". But in all seriousness, when I was at school, you lined up in the assembly hall, the school nurse swabbed your arm then stuck you with the needle. 5 minutes later and you were back in class and getting on with the lesson at hand. As far as I'm concerned, people are making mountains out of molehills about everything these days. The parents of the children have even been allowed to attend the vaccination, clearly in case a quick prod with a needle forever scars the child emotionally. Compensation culture I suppose, couldn't run the risk of someone suing ten years down the line. I could understand if I were teaching at a primary school, the support of a parent in many cases would probably be invaluable. However, children aged 12-17 should really be able to cope for 5 minutes without their "helicopter parents" hovering nearby all the livelong day!

Whilst I'm in full on rant mode, I might as well have a general rant about modern western culture when it comes to children. Some children these days clearly spend far too much time in front of an "electronic babysitter", be it television, internet or games console. As a consequence, teachers are left despairing of the fact that some children in their classes have no curiosity, no imagination and have never learnt to think for themselves. I constantly find myself in an uphill struggle with students unused to imagining different scenarios, putting themselves in the place of others or generally having an independent thought! It's very difficult to get children to practice vocabulary, for instance ordering something in a restaurant, if their first reaction is to say "but I'm not in a restaurant!" It can be very tempting to give up entirely, but I won't!

Something else I find interesting is the difference in the standards of discipline between here and the UK. Obviously it will vary enormously between schools, and comparing a Grammar School in England to a Public High School here is hardly a fair comparison. But, since when was life ever fair? (as I keep having to remind the students when they don't want to do things - you can't always have what you want. Life isn't fair. Get over it!) Having students wander into your class when they feel like it, a mass exodus when the bell rings regardless of whether the teacher has finished speaking, or complaining that learning English is "against their human rights" is a far cry from the world of LGGS where you stand up when the teacher enters the room and say good morning, and wait to be dismissed at the end of the lesson! As a teacher, I know which I would prefer! That's not to say either way is better, just different. It takes some getting used to though.

Anyway, enough musings. What else have I been up to, I hear you cry? Well, last weekend 80 language assistants, from Britain, Ireland, Canada, Germany, Mexico and some random hangers-on all descended on my wee village. We rented a chalet in the hopes of being able to spend a weekend skiing at Mont Ste-Anne, but fate decided otherwise. This November has been one of the warmest on record, with average temperatures of 10˚c, as opposed to the usual -4˚c. A severe lack of snow has meant the ski resort opening has been pushed back by almost a month. However, we didn't let the heat spoil our weekend fun. We climbed a mountain, some people went to a spa, and there were lots of games of Scrabble as well as more food than the human body can handle. We did a Secret Santa present exchange as well and had a sing-along. It was a lot of fun and laughter, it really did feel almost like Christmas. Special mention to Andy Henton, from whom I stole the title for this post, and for organising the whole weekend and working tirelessly to make it a success.

The snow has now arrived, a day after everyone left the chalet (typical) and there are a good few inches covering the ground. It looks quite magical now, with all the Christmas lights decorating the houses and gardens (another cultural difference - here it is not considered tacky to use more electricity for decorations than some countries use in a year) and the snow settled on the ground. Unfortunately, I haven't quite got the knack of walking on the snow and ice yet (several falls and many bruises) but I've got to get some winter boots tomorrow, so I think I'll be getting ones with metal spikes on the soles to literally fix myself to the ground!

For now, I think I'm done with this marathon post. In 3 weeks I will be back home in England for Christmas and I can't wait! Until then, all that really remains is to wish you all a Joyeux Noel and a Merry Christmas, no matter where in the world you are!

xxx

Free mushrooms? No? How about a fridge deodorant then?

Another couple of weeks in Canada, and yet another blog for your perusal. The last couple of weeks have brought with them some interesting challenges, new ideas and of course, a whole lot of fun! The oddest thing I've noticed recently though is the free gift at IGA if you spend more than a certain amount on your weekly shop, hence the title. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a fridge deodorant until now! I'm quite intrigued to find out what next week's present will be!

As for school, it seems that as the kids get to know me better, they are a lot less shy and a lot less willing to toe the line. Unluckily for them, I have no qualms in sending them out of class or giving them bad grades for unacceptable effort. The majority of them have learnt not to mess with me! I may not be much older than them, but I'm still the teacher! There have been many highlights over the last couple of weeks too, so I'll just mention some of the best. My Sec. 1 students (the youngest in the school at 12 years old) had me in stitches with their vivid imaginations. I had them all pretend to be shipwrecked on a desert island and make a poster about their adventures. Giant man-eating chickens and flying monkeys, electricity trees and cannibalism all featured, not to mention mermaids and flesh eating locusts. I also taught a couple of my groups to play "Wink Murder" (not really a language learning activity, but they all enjoyed it!) and they all had great fun pretending to die as dramatically as possible. My own oscar-worthy death scene left me with 2 bruised and swollen knees and a bump on the head!

I'm now almost certain I want to go into teaching as a career after university and I've been looking into all the training options etc. It's quite exciting knowing what you want to do with your life! I agreed to take a couple of whole classes this week instead of my usual groups of 10, for the experience more than anything. I certainly got that! 30 children make a disproportionate amount more noise than 10!
Some classes it's still like pulling teeth trying to get them to talk, these are my least favourite classes. Classes I like to refer to as "crowd control" are surprisingly more fun (although not good for my blood pressure!) Discipline is easy, actually motivating shy and/or apathetic teenagers less so!

Kids are entertaining and challenging enough, but dealing with their parents, oh boy. A whole different ball game, as it were. I was enlisted to help at the school board open day for prospective parents 2 weeks ago, and what an experience! The school system is very different here, choosing a secondary school for your child isn't a postcode lottery like in the UK. Here, you can just choose which state school you want your child to go to, and they have to accept them. The school board open day felt more like a cattle market than anything else, stalls for every different school, with teachers (and unwitting English assistants!) desperately trying to sell their school to the parents. It was 8 hours of handing out branded water bottles and bags with the school logo to kids, explaining the various strengths of the school and handing out paperwork to the parents. It was definitely an interesting insight to the school system and the culture as well as being an amazing opportunity to practice my French. Some of the parents actually mistook me for a quebecois student, which was flattering on more than one level! It was hard work but I really enjoyed the whole day.

In other news, as we've had snow again this week, I decided to bite the bullet and get myself properly kitted out for the Canadian winter. I may now be broke ($600!) but at least when it gets to minus 30 degrees, I'll still be able to go outside! And my coat is luminous blue, so there is little chance of me getting lost in a snow storm, or on the mountain when I'm skiing. I only live a short walk from the mountain, so I expect I'll be doing a fair bit of skiing this winter. I've never skied before but it should be good fun. And it gives me an excellent excuse to drink lots of hot chocolate to warm up afterwards!

That's it from me for now. I'm supposed to be at a training week in Quebec city with the other assistants at the moment, but as I currently have 'flu (again) I'm curled up in bed and taking lots of painkillers and sleeping instead. I just hope I'm better in time for the school trip to Ottawa next week!

A bientôt!