Hilary Suber, early childhood education major, teaches English in France
Hilary Suber, an Early Childhood Education major and French minor from the graduating class of 2015, is teaching in Montpellier, France. She is teaching at three schools; two are in the same town, and the third is in a smaller town about 7 minutes away. On Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, the school day begins at 9 in the morning, with teachers arriving around 8 am to prepare for the day’s lessons. There is a small break for about 15 minutes around 10:45 am during which time the students play outside with minimal supervision and the teachers meet in the teacher’s lounge for coffee or tea and snacks. At 12 pm, there is a 2-hour break for lunch. Students may stay at the school or their parents or guardians can pick them up and drop them back at school at 2 pm. Hilary states, “This is so different from our school days that it is my favorite part of their school day! The teachers also get a 2-hour break for lunch. They can stay and eat in the teacher’s lounge which most of them do, or they can leave if they would like! At 2 pm, classes resume but the students and teachers take another 15-minute break around 3:45 pm. Then the students go back to class until 5 pm. It’s quite different and I really like the structure of the school day so far!” Hilary explains that another difference between the US and French education systems is that on Wednesdays, “School starts at 9 in the morning and ends at 12 pm so that students may participate in after-school activities provided by the school. Many families cannot afford to provide their children with private lessons and extracurricular activities, so the school provides these activities from 12-5 pm on Wednesdays!”
Hilary teaches 5 classes at each school, with 20-25 children in each class. It has been a challenge for her to learn almost 350 names, but she has made good progress! Students are aged between ages 4-11 and Hilary teaches them entirely in English. Luckily, the education program at PC provided Hilary with a good start to her teaching career, and the program in France also provided her with a lot of useful resources.