Re: Are you the only French teacher in your school?

Mlle Robertson

Posted on 1/24/10

More | Report Post

On 1/15/10, Claire de June wrote:
> I am taking a foreign language teaching methods course and I
> am interested in teachers who are the only one of their
> "kind" in a school and what that experience is like. Anyone
> care to share on the topic? Merci tellement!

I am the only French teacher in my school. It is my first year
of teaching full-time. (Last year I worked half-time and taught
only French I.) To be honest, I really enjoy the freedom of
having all of my own classes. I will know all of my II, III,
and IV students' strengths, weaknesses, and backgrounds. The
(only) Spanish teacher is right next door to me, and we often
share ideas and anecdotes, so I do not feel too alone. I am
glad, though, that I had student teaching and last year with
another French teacher so by this year I had built up some
confidence and a little bit of experience and I felt ready to
be "on my own."
In fact, last year, the other French teacher was a bit
restrictive about how I taught, and of course I had to try to
make sure our pacing was similar. Now I can really let the
students show me when it is time to move on by how ready they
are. Because I felt restricted last year I can really
appreciate the freedom of having all my own students.

Posts on this thread, including this one