Why, even after countless discussions about gifts and travel and this and that does it always sneak up on me?? I am so NOT on the ball this year so just a word of warning that New Years cards may be in order this year.... So far, we have only some paper snowflakes on our window and little clay-and-paper scenes of trees, santa, and presents that Miette made for decorations. I think we will buy a very small charlie brown tree tomorrow on our limited budget! I was going to scramble around town this morning to try to get some things to send off to the States in time but my plan was foiled by Julian waking up to vomit at 5:55 AM. Oh joy! So I called off work, kept him home from school and we played it cool at the homestead today. No more vomiting but the illness migrated out the other direction so it was good he was home. He also took a 2 1/2 hour nap and was asleep again at 9 PM. Poor guy.
Miette is thrilled that I am coming tomorrow morning to see the play her class will be performing for the parents. She has the role of the duck with whom the story begins. It is called "SILENCE!!" and involves many barnyard animals. I will write a detailed report afterwards. I will also try to videotape it and post it if possible, or at least her part.
I am posting an image of the snowflakes and their shadows through the curtain. Stephanie, our Australian friend, had never made a paper snowflake before- it doesn't snow in Australia. In fact, it's hot for Christmas and they go to the beach! So we taught her our cold weather craft and she was delighted.
All of the english assistants have been being observed while teaching over the past few weeks by the language administration people. We all know them and they are very wonderful people so it isn't a worrisome thing, mostly it's just to give us feedback and help us deal with problems we may have run into etc. So for my lesson the teacher wanted to do something about Christmas. For whatever reason, I figured it would be cool to introduce shapes with a little Christmas vocabulary and made paper cut-outs of a tree, ornaments, star, presents, and snowman (big / small, all different shapes, different colors) and magically transformed the separate shapes into the Christmas scene with the help of the kids. Anyway, my observer thought it was wonderful and wrote it up into a whole lesson plan with accompanying worksheet and has already taught it herself to other classes! So,just a little pat on my own back!
Next week we have a dinner with all the people in the language office, their families and all of us, the assistants. We are supposed to bring a typical regional specialty dish to share. Any suggestions? Skyline chili? Deep dish pizza? nah, maybe greek spaghetti! Seriously, send me your ideas, quickly, it's on Tuesday! I have also been invited to share pre-Christmas dinners with the teachers at La Genette (Miette's school) and another of the schools in which I work. The week is absolutely going to fly by.
I hope that everyone else is more on the ball than me with their holiday prep! Best wishes for these last days of scrambling.
1 comment:
Eva, It snowed big fat snowflakes in Waverly this morning, almost as pretty as yours. I need a paper snowflake refresher course, I'm rusty. I hope Julian is feeling better. Do they have gatorade in France? Carolers came to Mom and Dad's house last night, we sang with them. We are expecting more snow tomorrow. It may delay my return time. Mom
Post a Comment