La Prochaine........? C'est d'Or

My new chapter of adventures in Val d'Or, Quebec.

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La pêche sur la glace!

At the end of January myself and two friends tagged along with a real Quebecois family on an ice fishing expedition extraordinaire! We drove about 1.5hrs north west of here to a town called Macamic.  There we stayed in a cabin of sorts, and spent the entire Saturday out on the lake, fishing. Unfortunately it was nearing -40 due to the wind so we had quite a frigid time.

After we had helped steer a second ice-fishing shack out onto the lake behind a snowmobile (we had to help push it when it got stuck in the snow on the drive down to the lake) the men pulled out the drill to punch the holes! We drilled about 10 in total, and us girls set about scooping the slush out of the water to make a clear hole (see picture below). 

Once that was complete we could set up the fishing line. They were unsual gadgetry that were rigged so they stood alone on the ice, and when a fish tugged the line we would see the rod bob down. This meant we could hide warmly inside the ice shacks and watch the holes instead of being right beside them. If a line bobbed we were to sprint to it and yank on the line, then pull up the fish (if it was truly hooked). Sadly, only one person pulled up a fish during our day there. The main problem was the holes kept freezing over every 10 minutes (yeah, it was that cold), and we didn't clear them frequently enough! We were told it was okay because it wasn't "a serious ice-fishing day anyway" - the purpose was more to have a great time visiting!

Ice-fishing is a great social and cultural experience out here. Tons of neighbours and friends and relatives kept arriving on snowmobiles throughout the day, coming in and sharing some drinks or some treats, and then leave again after a good visit. Turns out the Quebecois have a ton of folk songs that everyone knows - and they'll all join in, stamping their feet in a rhythm and harmonizing. I loved the camaraderie and overall joviality of the day - it made me want to be part of their family! I got hungry and went into the other ice shack (where I didn't really know anyone) and they fed me hot soup and let me grill my sandwich on their wood stove! :) 

Eventually the wind died down a bit and me and my friends went out to make some snowangels and wrestle in the snow. Here are my friends below beside one of the holes!

It was still very cold though and my toes seriously felt in danger of falling off so I yelled "MY TOES ARE DYING!!" and ran inside one of the vacant shacks, tore off my boots and held my poor frozen feet up to the stove - massaging them and whimpering. 15 mins later when I finally had some semblance of feeling and warmth restored I ventured back to the main shack. When I explained about my toes and where I had been one of them said, "oh, we have an axe here if you need to chop them off!" Luckily I didn't have to resort to that ;).

Those woodburning stoves get mighty hot though, and my cheap pair of snowpants ended up getting a bit melted when I stood too close. Now they have a weird shiny crinkly spot. (Don't worry I got them at Value Village for $8 and they are like the 80s version suspender-style ones).

Overall the day was amazing. I got to ride on a snowmobile for the first time (loved it!) learned how to efficiently catch fish, and reaffirmed my love for the culture of this crazy chilly province of Quebec.

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Similar to a Snow Day

Here in Quebec (or at least in my region) the schoolboards don't usually have to close school due to snow (because there is such a good clearing system). Instead, it is due to cold. I had never heard of that prior to coming here. In Saskatoon we would trek to school regardless of the temperature. We just had to really bundle up. 

But here, if it is -35 without the windchill (or -50 with... which is unlikely), the schoolbuses are cancelled, effectively cancelling school for most students. If kids usually get dropped off by their parents, however, they often still come, although it is not mandatory. Usually it's the younger ones that show up, the ones not old enough to stay home by themselves yet. I hear that at the high school level teachers aren't expected to show up so basically the school is shut down. At the elementary level, however, teachers still have to go and supervise whichever students come - but they aren't allowed to teach any new material. 

We had one such of these days yesterday. -35 was recorded in the morning though it warmed up to -32 later on. I only had 4 students in my gr 1 class, 4 in gr. 3, and 8 in the 2/3 split. We gave them some activity sheets and colouring pages and turned on some kids music. Before long the kids began attempting to sing along to the catchy tunes, despite not knowing the words. I began to help them sing, and soon we were all up and dancing along to songs about the seasons, 10 green bottles on the wall, and 6 little ducks, along with corresponding creative dance moves choreographed by yours truly. 

It's times like this that I love. A chance to be silly with the kids; to let them have fun and develop positive associations with English. We had one other such day before Christmas, and I read several stories to small groups of kids. It was rather a free-for-all style. Whomever wanted to listen could, and I think they liked having the extra attention and chance to really interact with the story! I definitely enjoy working with small groups far more than the full classes. I can thus say that I am not disappointed by these cold days, although I must note, if Saskatchewan schools operated under a similar policy, kids wouldn't be coming to school all that often in the winter! ;)

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La Deuxieme Semestre - Let's do this!

Last week I started back at school here in Val d’Or after a lovely couple weeks at home for Christmas. I had a bit of trouble getting back as I flew on what was afterwards called the worst travel day of the year, so far. I flew from Saskatoon to Edmonton, and the flight from there to Montreal was delayed because of bad weather out East. We were almost an hour late in leaving and I had only 15 minutes of layover time in Montreal to begin with, so i was fairly doomed from the start. I arrived in Montreal 10 minutes before my flight was scheduled to take off for Val d’Or, and I was informed that it was too late and they wouldn’t wait for me. I was quite upset but things weren’t so bad because my friend Kelli was coming from visiting her boyfriend in New York and had also been delayed so she missed our flight as well. Instead we received hotel and food vouchers so we were fine to stay there for the night and fly out the next morning. It just meant that we both missed our first morning back at school, but really it could have been a lot worse. I had a bit of drama with being unable to track down my suitcase, but it had just been checked into my next flight, which they didn’t know at first. 

Anyways, I am back and it looks a lot different up here! The streets are piled high on either side with snowbanks blocking out an easy view of the houses. It’s a new landscape to get used to! They had a lot of snow while I was gone. 

What I mostly wanted to report is that I am getting involved in a lot of new things this semester. Tomorrow night I will go for the first time to a community orchestra group with my friend. They will lend me a flute so I can play it again! It has been a few years since I played so hopefully I will remember well enough!

Then Wednesday nights until April I will continue playing Ultimate Frisbee inside with a fun group of people. Thursday nights sometimes I go and watch my friend MC perform in an improv comedy night that is pretty entertaining despite the language barrier. 

And, I just signed up to do a 5km run at the Winter Festival in a nearby city on February 23rd. http://www.lafetedhiver.com/course-a-pied/information

Hopefully it will be warm then! Yesterday I went snowshoeing and it was wonderful temperature! -5 or so.

I also just received word that I can start a distance education French Course free of charge through my program. I am eager to get the placement test and really start studying in earnest with some clear assignments to work on!

En fin, c’est tout bien!

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So these kids CAN learn English!

Some days I get fairly discouraged here about the students I'm working with. They really have a hard time understanding me in English, and most of them don't make much effort to say anything in English, even with much prodding and guidance. However, today I caught a few beams of hope that they really might be starting to improve! 

In the grade 5/6 class I was helping explain some instructions to a girl, and she was nodding in comprehension. Often the nods don't necessarily mean they actually get it, but this time as I walked away her neighbour asked her slightly incredulous "Tu comprends Anglais??" (You understand English??). "Non", she replied "mais je comprende qu'est ce qu'elle a dit" (no, but I understand what she said). This was incredibly gratifying because, well, I was speaking English to her, and if she understood it then, she really did understand English! This girl is usually fairly quiet and doesn't try very often to speak English so it was so cool to discover that, even if she doesn't know it yet, she IS improving!

Then when I was doing an activity with the grade 2 class, teaching them about winter clothing (I dramatically entered the class in full winter garb and took off each item and taught them the word), I noticed the kids have started to catch on to a certain phenomenon that occurs with some English words. They have begun to realize that often English words are very similar to French words, they just have a different accent or emphasis. The results are incredibly cute. When I ask them "What is this in English?" pointing to a scarf (fouillard, in french), they make an effort to say the French word with an English accent, hoping it will be correct. I call on those with their hands up and each time they say a word that is neither French nor English, but their best attempt to change what they know into something that could hopefully be recognized by me. This trick can sometimes backfire on them though. We just taught them the alphabet using the book "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and tried to emphasize the letters that sound different than those in French. But now they are second guessing all of the letters, even those that sound identical in both languages, such as "S". They were trying to say the letter in such a strange way I was utterly confused, until I realized they were just mixed up about which ones sounded different or the same! I choose to be encouraged by this because at least they are noticing the similarities, and eventually they will memorize which is what. :) These kids are learning!

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A Transportation Headache

Here in Quebec it seems they are pretty big on ride-sharing. It might be like this in Ontario too, but I'm not sure. There are a few organized websites to help people find others to carpool longer distances with, the most popular being the french site amigoexpress.com The English version is called kangaride.com (Yes they are both Canadian companies despite them sounding like sites from Mexico and Australia, respectively). . 

I have a free trial membership with Kanga ride and so I can search up wherever I would like to go and see if others might be heading that way. I figured this would be incredibly useful to help me get south to Montreal or Ottawa, and typically I think it would. However, this weekend it has not helped me at all! I am trying to get to Ottawa to visit some cousins of mine but nobody is going there! Several are going to Montreal, and so I could just go there and then do another ride for the 2 hours to Ottawa, but the timings are all wrong what with me needing to take off work, etc. 

There is another option. On facebook people in my region have started up their own ride-sharing page. It definitely less organized and you have to scroll through dozens of posts (some outdated, some about rides for December) to find anyone who might possibly be going where you are, when you want to. I just spent the last hour painstakingly reading these posts (en francais, of course), jumping to the bus website, google maps, and back - trying to figure out if there is any combination of transport I could use to make my grand cost for the round trip any cheaper or more convenient than the bus will be. 

As it stands, I will still be taking the bus down tomorrow morning, and back Sunday morning. All this headache for nothing. 

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Jour de Souvenir

Today I read a story about Remembrance Day to my grade 2 and 3 classes. Despite the language barrier I could tell they understood the importance of the topic. The "Jour de Souvenir" is not a stat holiday in QC and the kids aren't really taught about it so I was touched by their solemn and respectful listening. Let's be like elephants and never forget.

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L'Halloween (en retard)

(the pumpkins me and my two friends carved a week before Halloween - mine is the one on the left)

I didn't post about Halloween closer to Halloween because 

a) I was in Quebec City for a training session, and

b) I am really bad at updating this blog, my apologies. 

A couple weeks ago I went to Montreal for a few days before heading to Quebec City for further Odyssey training. I drove down with some other Monitors from the next city over. We stayed in a hostel for 3 nights. I was able to visit with 3 friends that live there. Two that I know from University in Calgary, who are originally from Montreal, and one from Saskatoon who has been living in Montreal for just over a year. It was really great to see them! I thus didn't do much "touristy" stuff, and mostly just took the metro from place to place to visit my friends. I did, however, get a Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwich from Schwartz's famous shop! We got to sit at the counter, and the sandwich was delicious! I added pickles, but didn't realize I should have also gotten a Cherry Coke with it (as that is the traditional beverage to drink with the sandwich!). Next time... ;)

Another highlight of Montreal was a unique cafe/pub called Randolph's. It is a boardgame pub! The whole wall is bookshelves packed with board games and card games of all variety! There were hundreds I had never heard of (a lot because they were in French). Luckily they had a game expert on hand to teach us any game we wished to learn. Imagine having that job and being required to learn EVERY SINGLE GAME. Wow. You just had to pay $5 cover and could stay and play as long as you want! Sometimes people even join with strangers to play larger games. This creates a really cool community vibe.

Quebec City was lovely, although I don't feel like I got to see it as much as last time. Our hotel was inside the walls of old Quebec so we were very close to everything. The streets were decorated for Halloween with pumpkins placed all over and all sorts of fall decor strewn about. I can't help but feel like I'm in another country when within the walls of old Quebec. 

Halloween night our program had us going to a Cabane à Sucre (a Sugar Shack) for a traditional Quebecois meal, music, and a cabaret show with performances from Monitors. It's not the season for the Cabane and the food was disappointing compared to the other time I've visited one so I won't even bother writing about it here. I am sure I will go to one in the spring up here in Val d'Or and will tell you all about it then.

The highlight was the accordion player who played prior to the meal. Wooden spoons were passed out and everyone really got into the rhythm! Before they passed those out I picked up a pair of regular spoons off of the table because the music so strongly called for some spoon accompaniment! My friends said I was pretty good :)

The accordion player began to play The Chicken Dance, followed by the Macarena, and finally YMCA! Many people, myself included, got up to join in the dance between our pea soup and main course.  It was fun! Pictured below is the interlude of The Chicken Dance! P.S. Plaid was the required attire ;)

All in all it was a fun Halloween although I was sad to not have the chance to go out in my costume (Cowgirl, representing Calgary!) afterwards because it was too late. It was also unfortunate that I missed Halloween at my school because the kids really get into it. A lot of families here get very excited about Halloween with many having set up great big inflatable decorations since the beginning of October! I don't think it's necessarily as big all over the province, but in Val d'Or they quite embrace the chance to decorate!

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Action de Grace

Happy Thanksgiving from here in Quebec! Here they called it Action de Grace. Or, action of grace. I was surprised to discover that Thanksgiving is not really celebrated in this province except by those with Anglophone roots! I suppose it is because the tradition was mostly brought up by British Loyalists (Or United Empire Loyalists, some of which are my ancestors) when they moved up to Canada from the United States - and not many moved to Quebec! So in this northern part of the province at least, today is treated just as another Congé, or Civic/Stat holiday. It is just another long weekend, much like the labour day long weekend!

One reason for this up in this region is because we are right in the middle of hunting season and a lot of men will go away on the weekends to hunt. There are so so many moose around that apparently it is very likely that I will begin to see moose heads strapped onto the hoods of trucks like trophies. I already saw one moose carcass in the back of a pickup. That was a bit jarring, to say the least... 

I had to give all of my students a lesson on what Thanksgiving is. I focused on traditional foods (growing very hungry while showing them pictures of turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie!) and taught them about what it means to be thankful. After I read the grade 3 and 4's a story I led them in an activity to brainstorm things they were thankful for. They then selected one item to write on a feather which we placed on a paper turkey on the wall. Here it is, along with a poor quality photo of some of the things they were thankful for!

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Les Feuilles

It's certainly autumn here in the Abitibi! (This region of Quebec is called Abitibi-Temiscamingue and most people call it Abitibi!)

This last week we had gorgeous weather in Val d'Or; a little chilly in the mornings but it got into the 20's by the afternoon! Accordingly I decided to do an activity with the younger kids involving going outside! So, with the grade 1 and 2's we went outside and their task was to gather 4 leaves each, of different colours. I then verified them and we went inside and they stuck them onto papers with a sentence below "I see a ____ leaf" and they would fill in the blank with whatever colour it was. I realize this way they are really only learning 4 colours, BUT it's practical knowledge! They can at least name the predominant colours outside right now. I also read them a book called "I See Fall" which went alright, though they didn't really understand much. I think the only new word I might have managed to teach them was "Pumpkin".

Talk about beautiful fall foliage up here! This past weekend I went for a hike with some friends in le Parc National d'Aiguebelle, just north west of here. It is well known for it's lovely forests in the fall; a mix of boreal northern forests and a surprising amount of deciduous types.  Including MAPLE TREES, as per the photo below. It was beautiful walking through the forest with such a colourful blanket of leaves covering the path. 

I have never lived out East in the Fall before, and so have never seen the maple trees or their leaves turn RED! But wow it is beautiful! I just want to collect them all, like the children at school did, and scrapbook them away. :)

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Pourquoi?

I have experienced a bit of backlash from my students regarding my unusual proclivity to speaking English. 

One boy in grade 1 is particularly hostile when he asks "Pourquoi tu parles Anglais??" (Why do you speak English?)

To which I can only respond in a flustered manner with "Parce que, je suis anglais?" (Because, I am english?) Not meaning to sound like I'm British, but just to give him something he might understand. And then later when I say "Salut!" to him in the halls he gets the same fierceness back in his eyes as he demands "Tu parle francais?" (You speak french?) No, my boy, no.. 

Then today an older boy in my class, either 10 or 11 says "Pourquoi parles-tu toujours en anglais?" (Why do you always speak english?)

"Well, you see..... this is an ENGLISH CLASS, and so... everyone is supposed to speak English....? Also... I don't really speak French so...."

It's funny how put-off I am by these questions, by them questioning my right to speak my mother-tongue at a job where I am PAID to be speaking and teaching English! And yet, it makes me feel bad to see them so affronted by this. I will speak to you in French ("speak" being a loose term, here meaning something more like "attempt to convey ideas while butchering the french language") OUTSIDE the classroom. But in here, it's all English honey. 

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ceuxquecaleurtente!

That title apparently doesn't really have a meaning.... it's just something that was said on the Ultimate Frisbee group event on facebook that I attended this week. Means something about those who want to go!  Yes, I found a group to play Ultimate Frisbee with! It is easily my favorite sport and I have so much fun with it even if I'm not that talented of a player. They had a facebook group that I joined and then I just showed up to a game on Tuesday (Mardi). They are not an official league or anything but they did have bibs and pylons! Only 7 showed up but usually they have more. They typically try to play twice a week! My kind of people! We won't have many more weeks left before the snow I'm guessing, however. Even on Tuesday it was not the best weather -rainy/misty, and the field was wet! I was the only one without cleats... alas I left them in Saskatoon. The people were very nice - around my age and one even spoke fluent English! The others can speak English too - most of the young people can in Quebec, I love it! I just love bilingual french/english people. I can't wait til the day that I can join their ranks.  Tonight I went with Kelli and Meghan to an event for newcomers to the region. They have several newcomer events happening this week across the Abitibi-Temiscamingue region. Ours included a light buffet supper, free drinks, and a presentation about different things to get involved in in Val d'Or! I was very impressed that they have a whole committee to organize events and facilitate connecting newcomers in with the community. What a great thing! I wish all cities could be like this! Unfortunately I did not understand a great deal as it was all in French, and afterwards people cleared out a little too quickly for us to feel comfortable staying and mingling. However, they did have a doorprize giveaway draw and... I WON SOMETHING!! I won a card that grants me 20 visits to the local sports-complex/rec facility! Typically a $65 value! Awesome, right?? Especially because I visited the centre and was considering buying one of these cards but wasn't completely sure what all was available for me to use at the centre to gauge whether I would like it. Well now, I can visit and see how I like it no problem! I will hopefully take Kelli with me a few times as well! I think I will likely want to use the facilities more when it gets cold and I can't do outdoor physical activity as easily. Unfortunately it's about a 25 min walk there so when the weather is poor it will be a workout even getting there! Ah well, I am still feeling so blessed :)

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Top right corner. Approximately 20 degrees less here compared to Saskatoon! Incredible! You might be surprised, but I prefer things cooler! It's just a lot earlier than I expected...

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Je me présente... Miss Michelle!

This week I had my first experience in the classroom with the kids. Basically my school, Saint-Lucie, has an English classroom and all 10 classes of kids, Gr 1-6 visit the class 1-2times a week. I work with a teacher named Manon who is great at her job. 

For my first time in the class with the kids I wanted to introduce myself, so I put together a powerpoint presentation. (They don't just have overhead projectors though, they have "SmartBoards" which are crazy!) Here is one of my first slides:

I didn't just want to tell them where I'm from; I made it a challenge instead! Usually they didn't really know, probably because they couldn't really understand what I meant. But for one class absolutely everyone voted for the prairies! I was like, how did you know?! (This was a grade 5 class I think). One boy explained: "It's because you can't live in the ocean or live in a mountain, but lots of people live in the prairie." What a funny response! Oh well, they guessed correctly!

I sang the provinces song with the younger ones, and then showed them pictures of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, my friends and family, and things I like! They were very concerned by this picture though: 

I tried to put up funny pictures to make it more interesting. But that same class seemed to think that I really somehow rode my bike like that! Hahah! Then again, it's hard to convey sarcasm or humour through a lean vocab in a foreign language. 

The younger kids (gr 1&2) didn't receive this presentation because they really understand no English. Instead we sang songs with actions and coloured! Fun! I love the little gr 1's, how they become your friends right away, just through a smile and a wave :)

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Well, here I go... google translating small-talk questions into French and writing them down to help me strike up conversations with the staff tomorrow at school.  Qu'est-ce que vous faites sur le long week-end?

Je suis allé à le festival de musique émergent a Rouyn-Noranda!

etc..

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Au début

Salut tout le monde! (Salut is pronounced "Sa-loo" and is the common way of saying 'Hi' informally! in Quebec.)

This blog will chronicle the details of my experience here in Val d'Or, Quebec over the next 9 months! I have called it "Chapitre Suivant" which means "Next Chapter". Follow me as I write it!

I have been in Quebec since Wednesday the 21st. I flew to Montreal from Saskatoon (on a painfully early 5:45am flight on which I had a middle seat and managed next-to-no sleep) and then took the train to Quebec city. I had some struggles with my copious amounts of luggage along the way: first my suitcase was 8lbs too heavy and I had to shuffle things around and leave behind my shampoo and cookbook; next I had to get my two suitcases, duffle bag, and backpack onto a shuttle bus in Montreal, then off again at the train station. Luckily some kind strangers helped me to get off the bus as they could clearly see my struggle. The sidewalk was another issue with my suitcases flipping over at every blip and bump. My idea was to ditch my luggage ASAP at the storage area and leave it in Montreal for 3 days while I was in Quebec - but my plans were foiled when I discovered they do not keep luggage overnight for security reasons. Luckily my friend Elliot was able to come and take one off my hands but I had no choice but to take the smaller case to Quebec City with me. 

On the train I sat next to another girl coincidentally also participating in the Odyssey program. It was good to have a friend to walk to the hotel with, as it turned out to be a very arduous journey as Quebec City is built on a cliff, essentially...

The Odyssey training session was an amazing time. I found myself extremely happy for the majority of the 3 days. There were many more francophones (native french speakers) than anglophones there because Odyssey doesn't only bring english speakers to teach english in Quebec, but french speakers to teach french in all of the rest of Canada! I love speaking with francophones who are trying to learn english (or already know it quite well) because we can help each other learn! I had some pretty fun conversations, including teaching this guy from Senegal (Africa!) that the Moose in Moose Jaw (where he was going to be going) is not a Mouse, but is in fact a large herbivorous creature with antlers. I gained a lot of confidence through this training and was glad to learn a lot about different activities to do with the kids as I was in a workshop focusing on training the primary school ESL teachers.

There is a wide variety of Odyssey participants. Many have actual Education degrees, others are French majors. I am not very special with my English Lit degree, having met people with really cool BA's like Film and Music Composition. It seems they want a wide variety of skills and interests represented as this program is as much about sharing our culture and our passion than just our language. 

After a train ride back to Montreal, a fun visit with an old friend, and a 7 hour bus ride north-west with the two other language assistants stationed in Val d'Or I arrived at my destination last Sunday the 25th. 

Bright and early the next morning I met the staff of the school I'll be working with at Ste-Lucie (Saint Lucie). We had a welcome-back breakfast and it was quite overwhelming to be in the midst of everyone's excited reunions. Everyone, I mean, EVERYONE here does the kiss on each cheek greeting. And here I thought that wasn't common anymore. Or I thought it was only something people in France do. Either way, I was wrong. It's majorly something to get used to. I suppose it's like how in the west we give our friends hugs when we haven't seen them for awhile. Here they kind of pair the embrace with the kissing as well. With me we would typically shake hands and then kiss on each cheek (kinda like air kissing though, y'know?). Anyway, was WEIRD. I think that's likely the most I'll have to endure though, there won't be any other big gatherings where I'm meeting/greeting 30 people. 

The rest of the week was spent wandering around Val d'Or with my new Odyssey friends Kelli and Meghan. We are all at different schools and now are living in different places. I'm living in a basement suite renting out a room with the teacher I'll be assisting at school. Her name is Manon and she has been working with language monitors for most of her teaching career (20+years). I am very lucky to get to work with her! Also it's been great living with her - she is very generous and helpful. I'll be getting a ride to work with her everyday and she's also taken us grocery shopping which is nice because our house is about a 30 minute walk from anywhere useful. 

It's about a 30 minute walk downtown, which I have done several times now. It's really not that small of a place here - it's very spread out! I think Val d'Or has between 23-32 thousand people. It's really quite booming with a huge gold mine just 20 minutes away, which really fuels the economy. In fact, it will soon be the largest open pit gold mine IN THE WORLD. They are expanding. I will probably be going on a tour in the next couple weeks! 

I will be getting a bike later today so that will help me get around with more speed and freedom until it snows. 

This past weekend I went to Rouyn-Noranda - which is larger than Val d'Or and 104km away - to meet up with some other Odyssey girls and watch some perfomances at the FME (Festival de Musique Emergent). It was really fun to see some other sites up here in the Abitibi-Temiscamengue region!

I did have one half day of school so far, on Thursday. It consisted of the kids determining their homerooms for the year, making homemade instruments, and embarking on a parade around the neighbourhood making as much ruckus as possible. This was followed by a picnic with their parents on the front lawn, complete with tunes provided by a DJ. It was hilarious watching the kids dance the Gangnum Style dance! I couldn't believe so many of them knew it. 

Tomorrow will be my first day in the classroom with the kids. I have a lot to do to prepare a presentation about myself. Wish me bonne chance!