School, school, school!!!
I started school on September 17th, and my classes have been going well so far. I've gotten used to the teachers' ways of speaking, so I'm not struggling to keep up with the notes (more on that later). One of my classes is called Lecture du Théâtre. We will read two plays over the course of the semester. The first one is called Les Chaises by Eugene Ionesco. During the second week of class, the teacher asked for two volunteers to do commentary on a select passage from the play. One person would just turn their paper in, and the other would present it orally. No one raised their hands. What is this high school? The teacher resorted to almost begging and said he was uncomfortable assigning people, but he would do it. Finally I, the foreign student, raised my damn hand. I was so annoyed. I stopped being scared to volunteer in the 10th grade. I volunteered even though I didn't completely understand how to do the assignment. Apparently inspired by my bravery, some dude behind me raised his hands to go too.
After class, I spoke to the teacher, because I thought I knew what was required in the assignment, but he kept talking about it so much that I doubted myself. I asked him if there were examples on the internet I could look at, and he told me no. He apologized and told me it was hard for him to tell me how to do the assignment without telling me exactly how to do the whole thing. So I was basically on my own. Before I left the classroom though, I told him that I did not want to present orally.
I spoke to the woman I'm living with, and she told me not to worry, because her friend (whom I had met before) is a retired college professor, and therefore used to giving out assignments like this, and she would ask her to help me. The friend sent me detailed instructions on how to do commentary on a play, spanning three pages front and back. That should have been my second clue (keep in mind the notes thing).
So this past Monday comes around, and I'm ready to turn in my paper. It's only one page and a bit, double spaced. I seriously didn't know what more to talk about as it was just a passage of the play and not the whole book. I arrive to class, and the man asks me if I'm ready to present. What?! I ask him if I absolutely must go, and he says yes because the dude didn't come. Here come the nerves. But wait! The guy does come. He's late. He comes in during the turn minute break when I'm standing in line behind some other students to tell the teacher that I only have to things to talk about. This late guy comes up and hands the teacher a three page single space paper. I'm like, "oh shit. But at least I won't have to present anymore!" What do I hear? "Are you ready to go?" "No. I told you I didn't want to go orally." The teacher nodded and that was that. That was that, you guys!!!!!!!!!
So I'm seating there and my nerves are mounting, because I've been waiting since class started to present this thing. It's finally time, and he asks me if I'm from America; I say yes, and he tells me to take my time. I had to go sit in front of the class to present this thing! Once I actually sat though, my nerves disappeard. I just talked about what I wrote; I even got some laughs at one point (intentionally). And then I was done.
Teacher: "That's it?"
Me: *Shrug*
Teacher *a little to himself*: That was really short, but okay.
Excuse me sir, but there's a reason I didn't want to present orally. You see, even with the ex professor's help there was still a problem. One that no amount of instruction could solve:
Teacher: You got some things right; some things you said I absolutely loved, but I don't know if you completely understood the assignment. The way you presented was very American, that is to say: subjective.
Way of thinking. I psychoanalyzed the characters and the way they interacted in the short passage that was assigned. That was wrong. I was supposed to be very technical, analytical of the scene more than the characters, talk about the little stage directions, and be so, so, so much more detailed. He told me that was the French way. That is why I couldn't completely understand the assignment. That's why I only wrote a page and a bit, and this guy had three pages single-spaced. It never occurred to me that I had to write commentary of a scene in a play as if I was writing a science paper.
I really should've seen it coming. The way they take notes in my classes is that the teacher talks and people write what they say. There's hardly ever any discussion. There's sometimes questions on the text, the teacher gives an answer, and that's it. There aren't overhead projectors where the teacher's notes are displayed; you don't print the notes and bring them with you to class. I don't even get textbooks in my classes (thank God, because my financial aid still hasn't come through), just the plan for the course, the topics we're going to cover. There is only the teacher, holding about three pages of single-spaced notes, talking. The students take notes, and the have rulers, different colored pens, and they're underlining and highlighting shit. My friends and I feel so inadequate! Lol. One of us has a computer, and he brings it to his classes to take notes, and he makes the font so small that he can barely see what he's typing. Lmao. That's how much he doesn't want any of his French classmates to look over and see what kind of notes he's taking.
This style of teaching is why I had trouble taking notes the first two weeks of class. I was trying to adjust to the speed with which the teacher talked, and I didn't know what kind of notes to take. What exactly do I write down? Because some of these kids are constantly writing, and (to me) even though some of what the History teacher says might include dates, I don't think it's important or will be on the test. Now am I right, or am I wrong since I've yet to take a test in this country? Who knows?
There was a guy that went after me. I was surprised because I thought it was just the two of us. He too presented orally. This man had 4 pieces of paper, written front to back. He even outlined on the board what he was going to talk about (he did a theme, so his presentation included the entire book). I was like, "Are you serious?" And with everything he said, the teacher nodded. I think it's obvious he got a better grade than me. Lol. But speaking of outlining:
Another thing that confused me about the assignment was this: there is always a talk of "Le Plan" in these classes. That is to say the plan, the outline. What's weird is that they don't just tell you to do an outline and leave it up to you (which is what I'm used to). They tell you how to do the outline:
Random teacher: So you'll do a big A and talk about...and then you'll do a big 1 and talk about...then under the big B you can say....and then you'll include a little a and say...
Like what? Hearing it actually said like that trips me out. I haven't been told how to do an outline since the first time I learned to do an outline. It's not always big A; there's roman numerals; bullet points; whatever works. But here they always outline it the same. After I volunteered for the assignment, I asked him if the paper should be written in paragraph form or if it should be an outline. That's how freakin' detailed he was. So detailed that he lost me. And his answer just kept me in the darkness. Lol. I just nodded my head, because he didn't specifically say paragraph.
In the end, I ended up not even turning in the paper since I went orally. I don't know yet what grade I got out of 20. I hope it's higher than 10, because we only get 3 grades in the class!
I consider the whole thing a success. Unprepared, I went in front of a French class and presented a French passage in French (with great accent and everything). The guy with the 4 pages can go sit down somewhere.
What about you? If you've gone to school abroad and had to write papers, did the way of thinking trip you out? If you're from France and came to the U.S. for school, did you think it was weird how not so detailed most things were? How did you deal with writing your paper(s)