Notre Dame de Grace

I thought I was going to bed for a long deep sleep last night after my hike in the forest but at midnight we had a huge electrical storm! The thunder was so loud and then the sky completely lit up with the lightening. I came downstairs and watched it for a few minutes from the kitchen looking out through the conservatory. It was scary!  It teemed with rain all night but had eased by this morning. It has been a dreary dismal day though - cold and plenty of wind. Break this morning and at lunch was cut short because of the wind. One teacher told me it wasn't safe for the children outside! It was a windy day but it was no hurricane!
The staff were very friendly and the morning was spent in classes of Intermediate age. They had quite a bit of English and posed questions to me as all the other classes have done. Again, they were very interested in New Zealand. They learn in such austere, formal environments, I can quite see how they see NZ as some sort of fairy tale place on the other side of the world. The more I show my DVDs of Taupo Intermediate and New Zealand, the more I know what a fantastic place we live in. School gets dreary and so so busy, but it is 100 times better than what I see here. Just our environment is so much nicer. I sat in the staffroom at the Primaire today and had lunch with their teachers and the cold concrete walls and tiled floors provide such a completely different atmosphere to our staffroom at TIS. Horrible place to be if you were depressed!
I had lunch in the canteen at the Primaire part of the school and saw all the Maternelle children eating. These kids start at 2years old as I mentioned before! These little babies were all sitting up eating and there was food all over the place! They were so cute though.

 

The afternoon was spent in Year 6 classes. They had no English so this was work for me! I took note that the classroom I was in this afternoon had two computers in! Two of the teachers were great and helped the kids and explained the DVDs further. The last teacher was a very poncey looking young frenchman who took the opportunity to catch up on work needing to be done at his desk while I spoke to the kids! With my ear not good and not being able to hear out of it properly and the kids NOT understanding 'plus lentement s'il vous plait'  (more slowly please), I didn't appreciate his lack of appreciation of my presence!

 

 

He even refrained from writing on the blackboard. He wrote the homework down on a little portable board and held it up! Chalk

obviously too dirty!

 

 

Each Yr 6 class has had to take notes as I speak and record facts. Homework is to regurgitate those facts in some sort of presentation to me!

Arrived home at 6pm. Early to bed tonight I think with the hope of no storms thrown in for excitement.