I think I have mentioned before the penchant that French school children have for school supplies. Despite their love of rebellion, French schools are strongholds of graph paper, rulers, perfect penmanship, and color-coded grading systems. Every student has at least 2 different pencil cases, one for daily class work and one for artistic endeavors. No kid comes to class without pens in every color, white out, glue stick, ruler, compass, and colored pencils. One time I asked if anyone had a tissue, and suddenly 30 personal packs of Kleenex were removed from backpacks and handed forward.
I am the weak link in this world of scholastic perfection. I have no pencil case, thus I am forever losing my red pen, leaving me to grade in green, which throws all the students into a frenzy as teachers grade in red. I just recently got a ruler, and my slanted lines puzzled my pupils. Every time I have to borrow someone’s glue, scissors, or red pen, my students shake their heads and someone will pipe up with advice that I should buy a pencil case. Eventually, I will probably cave. I think I want one of the ones that has all the cursive letters on the outside, because the French make theirs differently than I learned . . . and I haven’t written in cursive since 6th grade. I have finally mastered most of the letters, but a couple still elude me, leading to the occasional mockery by a pack of 7 year olds. The other day one of the girls I babysit for forgot her homework. This led to me sitting on he phone scribbling madly while a mother dictated to me 2 full pages of a reading assignment. I was then forced to copy over multiple lines by the 10 year old tyrant who recommended that I used graph paper next time to make it neater. I also gave a quiz last week, cautioning students that anyone who talked during class would receive a check on their paper and when I graded them I would see it and remove a half point. One especially chatty kid received a check. When I passed by shortly after I saw that he had used white out to cover it up. When I demanded why, he said very politely that I hadn’t made it neatly and it made his whole paper look messy.
Someday, all of my pupils will grow up to be typical French citizens. They will go on strike at the drop of a hat, they will cut in line, they will smoke flagrantly next to the no smoking signs. Yet I have seen French adults pull pencil cases from their bags and their handwriting still bears witness of years spent on graph paper with ruler close at hand.
I also used to love the wonderful stationary stores with the wonderful sets of pencil and pens and beautiful paper, I could send hours inside one of them.
AHHHHH SO TRUE!!!!!!!!! I’ve always thought it so funny that the French pretend to be rebellious but EXACTLY what you said–they keep their handwriting that’s been engrained in their heads since CP. I find the French cursive much prettier. Last week, I decided to be nice and write some of the stuff on the board in “their” cursive, only to spend 5 minutes in front of the class trying to write their rather complicated upper-case T’s and G’s. They kept saying, “No, Rachel! You make the curve HERE! And then, yeah, there you go! You slant it that way, make sure it’s only 3 carrés up…”OMG pas possible les Français..
That check thing is brilliant. Definitely using that for my next quiz. I want a trousse too!
i love your blog hannah!! i also am so thankful for your friendship with sarah and the many ways God has allowed you to have this time together. such a blessing!! i also love that the French are neat with their penmanship and i don’t know why that sounds so neat. i guess i always hope good things spill over into the rest of our lives. love you!! sarah’s mom…
It’s strange what things make an impression. The way every sign in resturants or any writing all looked the same really struck me. Seeing your student’s papers, again all on the same handwriting, somehow made me appreciate America. We value indiviuality and each person carving out a unique spot. But I totally think you should get a pencil case.
This is interesting, because here in France we always think that Americans all have the same handwriting!! 😉
They need a compass??? Strange- well, at least to me.
Love you!
hahaha This makes me laugh so much 🙂 and I of course have a trousse 🙂 🙂 it’s real pretty too 🙂 Have you noticed Etienne’s trousse that he takes everywhere?? 😉
I have!! I saw you needing a pen the other day in Church but you didn’t have to look far as his trousse was proudly on top of the piano!
Oh! Buying school supplies was always my favorite part of going to school as a kid.
So I would definitely cave and get one…if you haven’t already. 😉
[…] routinely critiqued my handwriting, as their perfect script had been beat into them by years of rulers, grid paper, and colored pens. Finally I caved and made the transition to cursive, from which I will never return. It is more […]
[…] intriguing thoughts and complex doodles. I have a pretty heavy course load this semester, but me, my trousse, and my pristine notebooks are read to take it on. Plus, I begin every semester with a renewed […]