Present, Tardy, Absent

France is wack.  This is obviously not news to me, I'm quite used to many French things (put bread on the table, not your plate; shops are closed from 12 to 2 while restaurants are open, etc.)  Yet every so often, I am reminded that I am not quite a French citizen.

At the beginning of my year here, I never imagined myself refusing to let students enter my classroom - if they wanted to learn, of course I would teach them!  But as the year has passed and I have experienced some of the same powerlessness that I imagine many of the teachers at my school also feel, I began to understand this practice.And last week, I locked some students out of my classroom.

Now, some background.  There are no clocks in any of my classrooms, and the bells in the school only work some days - and when they do work, you can't hear them in every classroom.   I thus rely on my watch and try to avoid relying on the students (who just want to leave early).  Additionally, teachers don't have their own classrooms, they move around just as students do.  Sometimes teachers must move from building to building.  Students thus get used to their teachers being late, and behave accordingly.  Furthermore, I live in the South of France, where two minutes late is not really considered late. 

On Tuesdays, I have a class that starts at 10:05.  The entire school has a break from 950 to 1005, and my students are always late upon their return.  They have English class with their teacher in the same room from 9 to 950, so they leave their belongings in the room and take their sweet time - I often pass them in the hallway as I am walking to the room.  Since they have English immediately before, I do not get to take attendance and thus cannot mark them late.  I much prefer a school system where being late can impede your graduation, rather than simply disqualify you from being able to receive "congratulations" on your report card, as it does in France.  The most I can generally do with these students is tell them off , but last week I had had enough.  Five to ten minutes late, three weeks in a row sounded like a habit that would be disadvantageous to encourage.

A moment after the ball rang, I got my key and locked the door.  At this point, I had four students (out of 13) - including two who literally ran in as the bell rang.  Starting about five minutes later, the remaining students began to knock.  After a few minutes of knocking, I told them that because they were late, they could not come in.  Yet they continued!  Finally, they found their teacher, who let them in via another door.

I immediately told the teacher (who is a strong proponent of locking students out) that I would not accept these students as they were late.  Thusly, he told them to pick up their bags and leave.  The students were shocked!  They attempted to protest in French, and he informed them : "Perhaps other teachers are always late, but she is always here at 10:05."

Who knew that denying my students the opportunity to learn - and they are a class that I particularly look forward to- would leave me feeling so empowered?

Oy vey!!

Sarah has been here this week - fun times !!!  Pictures to follow.

Bisous,
Samantha