Killing me Softly

This past weekend, it was très tranquil at my homestay since all of the kids went on a camping trip for Scouts (which they pronounce "scoots". It's hilarious.) It was a good weekend for them to be gone, since I had tons of homework. Yesterday I had to give a fifteen minute presentation in French class on anything I wanted, as long as it pertained to the arts. Many of my classmates have been presenting on their favorite novel, piece of classical music, etc. I decided to spice things up a bit and present on Britney Spears. I showed a powerpoint with a timeline of her life and each new slide played a clip of a Britney song. The presentation went well and my teacher and classmates enjoyed it very much. After my presentation, we had an exam that lasted three hours. The listening part was really challenging, since they talked super fast, but the rest of the test wasn't too bad- just time consuming. After the exam, my teacher reviewed my presentation with me and told me what I did well / not so well. I will now digress about the French schooling system:

1. Student performance is not private between student and teacher. Far from it. While my teacher was reviewing my presentation, she would say things like "you didn't do this part as well as so-and-so, but you do this thing a lot better than that classmate". 
2. When tests have been graded, French teachers usually post a list (with names. None of that secretive student ID number stuff we do in the US) starting from the highest grade down to the lowest grade earned
3. The French grading scale is out of 20. However, it doesn't convert equally to the US system, because a 16 out of 20 is considered an A. It's almost unheard of to get a 20 on anything.
4. Teachers use students as examples all the time. They see it as a form of motivation. Our professor will usually go over mistakes she saw on homework and she'll say stuff like "Katie made this mistake over and over again on her homework last night. Isn't that right, Katie?" Professors will also say things like "John did such a good job on this exercise. Maybe you should all take some tips from him because he understands it the best"

My host siblings couldn't believe that in the US, teachers would get in trouble for making students' grades publicly known. They were also shocked to hear that teachers pass back tests face-down so that nobody around you can see what grade you got while your test is in transit. It's really hard for me to get used to the grading system, because when I see 14/20, I consider that a 70% or C- when, in reality, it's the equivalent of an A- / B+.

Tonight for dinner we had mac and cheese baked with bits of ham. If you know me well, you know that it was no challenge for me to accept seconds and thirds of tonight's meal. Madame was saying that she had made too much for six people, but I gladly helped her out by piling my plate each time. My host family invited my immediate family to come over for dinner on their first night in Paris, which will be in a few weeks. I'm curious to see where all 11 of us will sit, seeing as the dining table only seats 8 and the apartment is fairly small. It's a good thing that most of my host family members speak English well, or that would be one awkward dinner. Only 17 more days until my family comes!!

Affectueusement,

Katie

P.S. I had only heard this song once or twice before coming here, but for whatever reason, in Paris I seem to hear it at least once a week in stores, on the métro, etc.