Sounds scary, doesn't it? The parent-teacher conferences kind of snuck up on me, because there wasn't really much talk about them. All of a sudden I was kind of like "wait, don't we have conferences tonight?"
My first night, Tuesday, was only for the parents of students in 4e and 3e. I teach 3e FIBRE and an "option" class for 3e and also 4e. I didn't expect too many parents. I had about 2/3 of my FIBRE class show up. The parents (and often the students) wait outside your door until you are available. At times, I had a little line waiting to see me, but it was a pretty calm night. When the student came in with his/her parent, I asked the student how English class was going, if they understood, what I might encourage them to work on, etc. It was very helpful to have the student present because I didn't have to worry about a conversation at home where the parent would say... "your English teacher said..." and the student would innocently look back at their parent saying "I have no idea why she would say that..." Honestly, I enjoyed myself. I was home by 7:15.
Two days later was the big night. Conferences started at 5:00, a few minutes after classes ended. I had tried to organize time slots for the parents of "my class" but received shocked and confused looks when I handed out little call slips for the students to take home. They patiently explained to me that their parents were used to showing up and just waiting their turn outside the classroom. "This could certainly be handled in a more logical fashion," I thought to myself, "but when in Rome..er, Quiberon..." So, for three and half hours straight I had a line of curious parents and anxious students outside of my door. I think I saw at least 50 parents, of my 60 students who could have come. They were almost all very supportive and kind, and told me how lucky their child was to have a native speaker. (I know the students and parents in HI feel the same way). I joked with my students who were present about how I don't always do things comme il faut and that the learning goes in both directions.
The most frequent problem that I have in class? BAVARDAGE. These students are physically incapable of keeping quiet. I thought my 7th and 8th graders in HI were talkative, but these kids really can't stop themselves. It's so second nature that when I yell at them for talking, they innocently look at me and say "Mais, j'ai rien dit, Madame." And the scariest part? I think they really believe that they weren't talking!
Anyway, I was exhausted after the three and half hour continuous flow of parents, but I felt good. I know most of them just wanted to check me out, to lay eyes on the American, but it was a very positive experience for me. Now that I know I have allies, I wonder if their dear little children will behave any better...?!?
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