BTS - part 2

Ok, so after talking to another assistant, I realized that my amazing aha moment about BTS is actually pretty false. Each high school specializes in a different type of BTS. So while my high school sounds like MBA-like BTS, another assistant works at a school with medical students. So...we've kind of concluded that BTS is a government-funded Associate's Degree program - and can cover basically anything.

This is probably quite boring for most readers, but it gives me, as a teacher, better piece of mind to understand what on earth my students are doing with their lives.

Ooh, success story from one of my BTS groups today:

This is with the technical-sales group, so they work a lot with customers, sales, marketing, etc.

I divided the class into 4 teams and had each of them pick a name for their team (in English!). They came up with: The Joints (as in marijuana), The Dream Team, The Beach Boys, and The...I'm blanking out.

Anyway, I gave each of them a cell phone, and told them that they had to convince me (the customer) to buy their phone.

I gave them 5 minutes to strategize. I provided markers and paper if they wanted to make some type of ad.

Then, each group had 3 minutes to present their case.

Then, we spent another 5-6 minutes in an open forum for counter-offers.

The winning team got chocolate (and the winning team was The Beach Boys).

BTS

Most of my lycée kids are BTS, which means they are doing a post-high school, 2-year associate's degree that, it hit me today, is probably best translated into an MBA. It's obviously not done at the same point in life as we would do it in the US (post-college, usually after you've been working for several years). But I had to write a blog post about this because it's been a little bit of an epiphany...BTS is a very general type of degree, and within that they can specialize in sales, mechanics, information technology, electronics, etc. They all have to do internships at businesses and they learn such skills as how to interview, how to integrate into a work environment, how to write a CV, etc., as well as the more technical aspects of their work. So that's it I think...BTS is kind of like an MBA. Just kind of. My kids, once they're done with BTS, will either begin work right away, or they will go on to college. So just kind of. But things are starting to make more sense....

La Cantine

Because I live at the school, I also eat in the cafeteria. It's like being in college all over again, but I must say that BC could certainly rival the quality of the food served here. I would love to avoid stereotypes, but that of the French loving baguettes and cheese is just too true. Baguettes are served with every meal and cheese is a part of every lunch and dinner. The baguettes, however, do not live up to the standards of the famed French bread and thus I will have to wait for the weekends, when meals are not provided, in order to taste the real deal.

I don't know if I've mentioned this already, but I'm working at a high school where students also have the option of living there. I guess the public school system in France works differently in that you don't have to go to your neighborhood school. There are kids from out-of-town who come here to study and live. Some stay only during the week and go home on the weekends; others stay all the time and only go home for the holidays. There is a group of students from Morocco, for example. I've met a few Moroccan girls and honestly they've been the nicest students I've met so far.

At the same time, many of the students at this high school are technically done with high school and are now pursuing further studies...but it's not the same thing as college. Too complicated to try to address it in this one post, but anyway, I've met four classes so far, all boys except for one girl, because they are all BTS students and thus technology-mechanics focused. They're sweet but as teenage boys are want to be, they talk a lot, are flirts, and make it very clear in their body language when they're bored out of their minds. God help me.

You know, another thing I've noticed is that teachers are much better paid here than in the US. At least that's my impression, based on the teachers' homes I have visited. Perhaps this is a less expensive area (the real estate signs I've seen indicate homes ranging from 150,000-300,000 euros) but I am amazed by their standard of living. Perhaps this is a too-quickly drawn conclusion, so I will write back if I find out more.

Off to lunch! à la cantine! In order to push through swarms of students...teachers have the right to cut the line and weirdly enough, that means me too!

Je Suis Contente Ici

Please note that I have corrected the name of my last post - thank you Albert for serving as my French police. :-)

So I had to end yesterday's post rather abruptly because my coordinator was in a hurry and I was going with her over to the middle school where I'll also be teaching to watch a play about what to do if a friend has problems with drugs and/or alcohol. It was really well done and even though I didn't understand a lot of it, the students were really engaged and well, I think good questions were asked that are smart to be asking when students are still 12, 13 years old, like: Can you have a (good) party without drugs and alcohol?

Anyway, enough of the moralizing.

So, it's beginning to set in that I am actually a teacher here - even though many of my students are no more than a couple of years younger than me. Yesterday, for example, I had lunch with some of the other teachers and we simply cut the lunch line and sat together in the teacher's section - where they have free wine for the teachers! Can you imagine that in an American public high school?

I also met my first group of students yesterday - they are BTS students, which means several things: They have finished high school (ages range from 18-21), they are on track to go into the techonology field, and they're mostly boys. I think it went all right, although their English, well, we have a lot of work to do. But my dear friends know that you are already a part of my teaching tactics here because I showed them photos of my life to remind them that I'm a real person, too.

BTW, there is an amazing café in downtown Brive with exquisite hot chocolate and waffles. Anyone who comes to visit, remind me and we'll go.

I apologiwe for the lack of pictures! They will come as soon as I can actually use my own computer!