@ Tim
"I've been amazed at how many people here in the Charente have a knowledge of English"
That's because most of the people in Charente ARE English !
They sound like a bunch of skivers to me. Make them video themselves in their own time & send you the videos so you can assess them at leisure, give them assignments eg learning poetry or songs off by heart. make them sing: you are the boss! I have had classes of tinies (I did voluntary English for an hour a week in primary while on maternity leave) learn and perform the 12 days of Christmas & sundry other things off by heart, and they did it brilliantly a capella! Their teachers need to be able to teach them that sort of thing. (but I like singing even though I'm rubbish at it).
They should be teaching children to speak English and modelling sounds well, so they HAVE to talk! I'd oblige them to learn songs and nursery rhymes, make them read aloud with expression (things like the Gruffalo, the Very Hungry Caterpillar etc) make them learn all classroom instruction vocab so they can then do it as Simon Says with their pupils, that way they learn the prepositions as well, vocab games like I went to market & I bought (no need for them to explain the grammar, just teach IWTM&IB as a unit, same goes for I went to the zoo and I saw...) but stuff where they have to do things and speak with the midgets & make the midgets speak (usually they LOVE nursery rhymes etc & are good at learning them, love doing things which are rhythmic and fun over & over - also it makes their teachers' life easier as endless repetition is good so as these future teachers are lazy it will be less effort for them than thinking up new stuff all the time - you could point this out to them, cynicism often works where idealism doesn't).
I'm sure you are probably doing this already but there is such a treasure trove of stuff to do with tinies in English to encourage them to use language and enjoy it that it seems a real waste of time & energy not to tap into it. I get them at the other end of their school careers and it is obvious to me most of them haven't done these things and should have.
They can do a whole lesson on 'how are you today' and each child says I'm well/fine/happy/grumpy/hungry etc etc with a mime or a face drawn on the board, then they ask each other round the class, then how is so & so & they have to remember & report back - children love it (I have taught 6emes as well!) the only rule is you can't use an expression someone has already used so you extend vocab. They are supposed to get the children to speak but they have to speak themselves to teach them.
We (in secondary school) want them to have acquired vocab vocab & more vocab, and phrases like 'how are you today George' 'I'm very well thank you' or it's time for lunch etc etc as units, we aren't bothered about formal grammar when they get into 6ème (let alone in primaire), that will come later when they can already say things as units which we then analyse so they can apply rules etc.
Give those idle students a kick in the pants!
One of my best book moments was in London more than a few years ago on the tube. I was rushing between meetings and just made it between the closing doors and stuffed my rear on the last remaining seat. Gathering up my thoughts my attention was drawn to my immediate neighbour who was studiously reading an ancient calf bound and weary tome. I focused on the pages to observe the contents and was in fact delighted to recognise a psalm of David. Unusual but delightful reading I thought as I struggled to get a better sideways look at the reader. 'Twas my Lord Longford at his morning prayers. Forgive my digression.
You assume correctly, also early childhood teachers. Thanks for the pep talk. I don't know the system well so didn't realise they were trying to get away with stuff though they generally can't understand much of what I say. I'll stay firm but was in culture-shock at the incompetence and poor attitude prevalent amongst my Master 2 teacher trainees who are already earning as much, if not more than me. I'm totally frustrated by the French system locking me out and providing my M2s with only 5 x 3hour lessons spread out over 4 months. Impossible to achieve anything much with no continuity or opportunity to develop a real relationship with them. Little time for teaching as most of it has to be evaluating them. Pedagogically a disasterous way to do things but what would I know. I'm a fully qualified and experienced teacher from the antipodes.
For the bac the S ES & STMG have a 10 minute oral, the Ls have a 20 minute oral and the L langue approfondie have a 30 minute oral (this came in in 2013) so tell your students to pull themselves together & get on with it, they have all done the Bac and should be capable of doing it now. If they are teaching in primaire the texts say they are to concentrate on oral work NOT written work (this is also the case in collège). If in any doubt whatsoever refer them to the relevant text in the BO or to the Inspection d'Académie. I am assuming your pupils are becoming professeurs des écoles ie primary teachers.
Sorry this in in reply to Helen. Good grief. Yeah they changed the system because it was too expensive to behave reasonably and allow experts to teach English. So now there are only the incompetent. My students tell me they will not be doing anything oral " we don't do that, Miss." I told them it was about time they break out of a broken mould and insist that 2 of their English teaching evaluations be 5min lessons performed in English - how mean of me. They also tell me it's too expensive for the university to give them 'catch-up' English lessons. I wouldn't let them anywhere near a classroom if it was up to me.
I've been amazed at how many people here in the Charente have a knowledge of English. They may be shy or under confident in using it but once they get to know you they may use it more frequently. Only yesterday the water meter reader used some English to us as did the cashier in the supermarket. However you are in France and It's good practice to begin your conversation in French and hope the other party can bail you out but don't rely on it.
My French is mediocre at best but starting off in French works well for me. Once they see you have tried they may be more willing to help if you become stuck. I also make a point of mentioning that they speak English well and this, I think, helps.
Many professionals can speak English to varying degrees and I've always found them very helpful AS LONG AS YOU BEGIN in French.
I consider that I speak french quite well for say the last 7 of the 10 years we have lived here but am surprised at how when speaking with neighbours they misunderstand me - I think they were expecting me to say something different and actually didn't listen - sometimes it felt like it was deliberate misunderstanding - not even wrong pronunciation on my part ! Despite that we get on very well but it seemed almost like a way of putting me back in my place (not too paranoid !!)
Abe books is good - I used to get lots of out of print books via the books wanted column in the Spectator when I was a young person, v amusing as the eminent types who sent me them usually thought I was a Don rather than a grubby undergraduate with a penchant for old books, I was v sorry to destroy their illusions - all these transactions were carried out by letter (so civilised).
Perfectly modern but used by older people - what do you call an overnight bag?
Un baise-en-ville.
God's bollocks - how marvellously mediaeval!
I was at a refuge up a mountain in Spain in July a couple of years ago & at 0530 when we all got up to climb to the summit it was snowing as we smoked & clutched our coffee outside. Spanish chap came out & just said " i Coño qué frio ! i Joder ! " which I sha'n't translate because it is a trifle coarse. V satisfying to say though, so I do most winters.
But whose? It is so much more than just the b word ;-)
I'm guessing that is b****cks? I took mass in a lvely ceremony where all the language and the hymns were in occitan. A lovely experience (luckily they had printed versions!).
Think I found it in a good second hand bookshop at Oxted Surrey. Paid £35 but it's a gem. Try Abe Books or Saleroom.com I regret that the Oxted Shop has closed but here is a nice article about the local bookshops when it was still open http://www.thebookshoparoundthecorner.co.uk/2013/10/the-internet-is-fickle-beast.html
There is a young bloke living nearby in Molières, I caught him in the forest with a bow hunting for rabbits a few months ago. I just wanted to warn him what the hunting fraternity would do to him if they nabbed him. He responded in Catalan: Collons de deu. It is so much like the Castellano Peruano equivalent that I creased. For him just an exclamation, for me a major comedy act in one second ;-)
Blousier- cad, rank outsider
Bordel ambulant- (not what you might think) hackney coach
Fanfouiner- (thieves' argot) take snuff
Leveuse- flash girl
Horizontale de grande marque- very fashionable cocotte (less fashionable one petite)
Marmite - mistress of a bully
Mistouf- scurvy trick
Mouliner- tittle tattle by a woman
Patrie- chest of drawers
"That's enough argot- Ed"
I shall keep an eye out - as you like that sort of thing, there is a splendiferous Catalan argot dictionary (sorry I can't remember who published it) which is an absolute mine of wonderfulness and quite quite hilarious. eg 'habemuspapam" means orgy.
Can you quote some examples for us - your favorites please
I have a super book "Argot and Slang" pun1889 by Albert Barriere. It gives nearly 500 pages of Parisien slang. There are really great examples. Highly recommended!
Heck, I got to London with a hybrid of my family's Scots (real Scots from the east) and Kölsch, kind of learned Sarf London and then went to study where Eton lads outnumbered civilians according to my ears. So when I could, I moved in a flat with a bloke from Consett, soon teamed up with a young woman from Corsica so went to live in a village where they just about speak Suffolk, thence on to another village where it is distinctly Suffolk, but worked in South America for the best part of two decades, part based in Cambridge, part in Berlin, part in Lima and had to learn Spanish of course. Now I am with someone whose first language is an Italian dialect, our children prefer French to English. My point is twofold. On the one hand how identifiable is my particular whichever accent and on the other do I actually give a toss as long as I remember to speak the right language in the right place - which I don't always anyway.
Doh!!!!!