Teaching ELF to French Students in Malta

 

     C' est dommage, mais this is NOT fun

 

 

There's an expression:  If a teacher you become--by your students you'll be taught.

 

So, let me tell you I have learned many things from my French young men, but this is the most important lesson:  I thank G-d I had girls, not sons.

 

In less than two weeks, here's what's happened with my French boys:

One morning, I noticed that my French student J. had been beaten to a French pulp.  He had several dents in his forehead.  So what had happened?  The night before he had been in Paceville, the big club area in Malta notorious for lots of drinking, sex and....fights. 

 

I asked him if the fight was over a woman.  He said no.  Then his friend F. said it had been over two women. (That's what we call a French lie.) 

Apparently, J had been in a bar with a girl on each knee.  He got up to leave with them, thinking he had the luck of the French. Instead, the girls tried to pickpocket him.  When he tried to stop them, they were quickly joined by their two male counterparts who, essentially, beat him up and got away with about 10 Euros--so he says. 

 

When I asked him about reporting the event to the police, he refused.  But, he said, he learned his lesson:  "Ze girls, only one at a time."

 

Two days later, student M. didn't come to class.  I asked the other two if he was OK. "But of course," they chimed in.  And then they mentioned that they hadn't seen him yesterday all afternoon or last night. 

 

They didn't want me to tell the DOS, but I did and she was worried, too. After numerous calls, she found out that someone had stolen his 600 Euro cell phone (called mobile here in Europe).  He was OK, but out buying another phone instead of coming to class.

 

Now this past Monday, the third and final French student had his 15 minutes of fame.  Actually, it was about 8 hours of sun the day before without any sun protection.  He basically French fried his shoulders, back and arms into a blazing red so bright that we didn't have to turn on the lights in the classroom.

 

Now and then a word of English was spoken in the class these past two weeks.  Perhaps a molecule was learned.  But this class is turning out to be one French pain in the derriere.

Comments

[Mary Bartolotta]

Ilene,
You are hysterical. I really enjoy your writing. Too bad you never went into teaching school in the States. The high school kids here would have had a mutual enjoyment society with you. I really enjoyed teaching that age level French and Spanish. I was always learning something-more that I didn't want to know than I did want to know, but always fun. Actually, it helped me a great deal to avoid some of the ordinary pitfalls while raising my own two. I had plenty of years to learn before they became teenagers. Happy Independence Day to you and any American friends you may have gathered up along the way. Be well and stay happy. Will they judge your teaching based on the English these French Don Juan's have learned? I certainly hope not. Just keep on keeping one. Best regards. Mary

[Sennuwy (an ancient Egyptian name)]

Thanks for the advice, Dee. These guys are on independent study, it seems------Ilene

[Dee Owen]

Sounds like you've got your hands full with those French boys Ilene. Maybe they need some homework to keep them out of trouble and learn a few more English words!