Hilary Suber, early childhood education major, teaches English in France

Hilary Suber, early childhood education major, teaches English in France

Hilary-Suber copyHilary 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.

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