Stranger in the classroom

It feels wonderful when you enter the school premises and the students come running to greet you. Some ask if I will stay with them the entire year and some even correct my French pronunciations. “Bonjour Onkita,” they all chanted on my first day in class. I knew the French were at loggerheads with the phonetics of the Indian languages, but now I witnessed it, as they could not pronounce a simple ‘Ankita.’ And here is where my journey began…

I was teaching English and French in India, but the notion of learning in a new education system came in the form of The Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF). The idea was not to merely help French teenagers speak better English, as their language assistant, but to take my culture to theirs, mix both in a crucible and produce some interaction in English. Now that was a challenge! My first month in Aubenas, which a small village in the south east of France, went by smoothly. After the initial week of introduction, I encouraged them to ask me questions. I made a presentation about my country (India), my city — basically the life I left in India to pursue this opportunity. The curious minds spoke and I was instantly put at ease. They had all sorts of questions: “How many languages do you speak in India?” “Do you see elephants on roads?” “Do you have a boyfriend?” “Do you have any pets?” I happily answered all of them. 

As months passed, exercises became different and more interactive. The challenge for me was that I had to teach different age groups. It was and still is irksome to decide activities based on these age groups. Learning a language in French classrooms is pretty different from India. In India we focus more on completing a syllabus and appearing for a ‘final exam’ as our target, but here in France, students have to take the language exam only at the end of Class XII. 

As an assistant teacher, it is a bit relaxed, as I need to work in accordance with the main teacher, and with the class in half and half groups. Sometimes, the students remind me of the time when I was learning French. So once I decided to do a role-play activity, just like I had during my French language learning days. It turned out to be the most fun activity that day; not more fun than a Trump and Hillary telephone conversation. On November 14, I spoke to them about Children’s Day celebrations in India. The students asked me a lot of questions, and many also debated having a similar day in France. This was followed by a video of the song ‘Bum Bum Bole.’ I was floored by their reaction.

I have just three months left with these students here, and I have got attached to them and their stories. It’s wonderful how these few months have been preparing me to go back to India with all that I have learned from my students. I share a beautiful rapport with my colleagues here. They are not just people I work with, they are people who encourage me with their teaching ideas; after work, they take me out dancing or playing badminton or invite me over for dinner.

I am beginning to understand what cultural exchange means, and I am relishing these moments here because very soon I will miss, ‘Onkita’ and they won’t be around to sing their song ‘Tchikita’ to me.

(The writer is a language lover who left journalism to pursue her passion for teaching)