Sorbonne Confidential

FRANCE: Jobs teaching English to high school students during school vacations

English teachers in France !

France's Minister of Education has asked high schools to organize free English language courses for students during school vacations.

It is not clear how widespread this practice is or how well it works in reality. 

However, an official ED  internet site exists to coordinate applications and recruitment.

Here it is: http://www.education.gouv.fr/recrutlangues/

Good Luck! 

"Recrutlangues est une plateforme nationale destinée à apporter aux académies une aide au recrutement d'intervenants pour les stages d'anglais proposés gratuitement aux lycéens des établissements d'enseignement général, technologique et professionnel pendant les congés scolaires. 

Une plateforme de ressources en ligne est également mise à disposition des élèves et des intervenants dans le cadre des stages : http://www.ressources-stages-langues.education.fr/ . "

Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program

The Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant (FLTA) Program enables young educators to refine their teaching skills, increase their English language proficiency and extend their knowledge of the cultures and customs of the United States while engaging in non-degree studies at accredited post-secondary U.S. educational institutions. Along with their studies, FLTAs teach language courses, supervise language labs and lead language table discussions. FLTAs may serve as an instructor of a foreign language class or have a purely teaching assistant role. FLTAs may also act as resource persons in conversation groups, cultural representatives, attendants in language laboratories, coordinators of extra-curricular activities, guest speakers in civilization courses, head's of language clubs, houses, tables and much more.

For more about the program see the FLTA website.

The Teaching Assistant Program in France - French Culture

Teach English in France! Are you ready to expand your cultural horizons and share your language and culture with French students? The Teaching Assistant Program in France offers you the opportunity to work in France for 7 to 9 months, teaching English to French students of all ages. Each year, nearly 1,500 American citizens and permanent residents teach in public schools across all regions of metropolitan France and in the overseas departments of French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion.

Follow the links at the bottom of the page to find out more information about how you can gain valuable teaching experience, improve your language skills, and experience French culture first-hand through the Teaching Assistant Program in France.

To Apply

via www.frenchculture.org

Book on learning and teaching English in France now available on Amazon Kindle

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Le Point features "Those who massacre schools"

Haven't read it yet but plan to tomorrow. 

Amy Chua and the “Tiger Mother” Craze : The New Yorker

From : AMERICA’S TOP PARENTby Elizabeth Kolbert in The New Yorker

The American theory goes, improve their self-esteem, and this, in turn, will help them learn.

After a generation or so of applying this theory, we have the results. Just about the only category in which American students outperform the competition is self-regard. Researchers at the Brookings Institution, in one of their frequent studies of education policy, compared students’ assessments of their abilities in math with their scores on a standardized test. Nearly forty per cent of American eighth graders agreed “a lot” with the statement “I usually do well in mathematics,” even though only seven per cent of American students actually got enough correct answers on the test to qualify as advanced. Among Singaporean students, eighteen per cent said they usually did well in math; forty-four per cent qualified as advanced. As the Brookings researchers pointed out, even the least self-confident Singaporean students, on average, outscored the most self-confident Americans. You can say it’s sad that kids in Singapore are so beaten down that they can’t appreciate their own accomplishments. But you’ve got to give them this: at least they get the math right.

via www.newyorker.com

 

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Test-Taking Cements Knowledge Better Than Studying, Researchers Say - NYTimes.com

Vindication for teachers who test! From the NYTs

Taking a test is not just a passive mechanism for assessing how much people know, according to new research. It actually helps people learn, and it works better than a number of other studying techniques.

Multimedia

Graphic

Learning Through Testing

The research, published online Thursday in the journal Science, found that students who read a passage, then took a test asking them to recall what they had read, retained about 50 percent more of the information a week later than students who used two other methods.

read complete article on www.nytimes.com

 

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French audit slams National Education System for inequalities and failure--at massive cost

 Two years of audits and visits to 60 schools in six academies. 

Conclusion? 

Despite massive spending, the French national education system "worsens inequalities and causes too much failure".

Harsh, indeed. And yet, for anyone with children in the system, is it really a surprise?

The 200 page report from the Cours de Comptes concludes that change is imperative.

Instead of supply (class hours, teachers, budget), says the report, budgets should be based on demand (students' precise knowledge needs).  In the original French:  

"Il est désormais impératif de remplacer la logique de l'offre scolaire – qui repose sur des moyens alloués en fonction des programmes : tant d'heures de cours, qui signifient tant d'enseignants, qui signifient tel budget –, par une logique fondée sur la demande, c'est-à-dire sur une connaissance nettement plus précise des besoins des élèves"

The report goes on to list 13 proposals, including:

• Put an end to "uniform budget allocation" which hurts schools which need extra help
• Reduce the number of children held back
• Abandon the ideology of heterogenous classes 
• Change the orientation system, today entirely failure based
• Give more decision power concerning resource allocation to individual schools

Schools in priority zones have just been given a measure of autonomy. Has reform begun?

Finland's schools flourish in freedom and flexibility | World news | The Guardian

The Finnish school day is short and interspersed with bursts of running around, shrieking and sledging outdoors. Children start when they're older, the year they turn seven and there is no pressure on them to do anything academic before then.

The Finnish education system contrasts sharply with England. Every Finnish child gets a free school meal, and a free education, which extends to university level.

There are no league tables, and no school inspections. There is only one set of national exams, when children are about to leave school, aged 18. The government conducts national assessments, sampling the population to keep track of school performance. But these results are not made public.

via www.guardian.co.uk

Students protest againsy tuition fee rises | Education | guardian.co.uk

Police clash with student protesters marching to London's Parliament Square as MPs vote to triple university tuition fees in England

via www.guardian.co.uk