The second week was by far the hardest. The kids didn't trust us yet and were clearly testing us. We started teaching on Thursday morning under a rain of paper balls and finished on Friday afternoon, exhausted, after having had to separate two students fighting during the class. We spent most of our time trying to discipline the kids, failing, and losing our temper. I lost mine many times and became really hard and strict with the kids as a result - and became known as the French terrorist witch among the students!
The real problem was that we weren't ready. We hadn't prepared our classes and this is a mistake no teacher should make. We all knew that, and yet it seemed impossible to get everyone to sit down and decide on the content of classes at least for that week. The reason for this is still a mystery to me. Were we scared of suggesting ideas to the group? Was it the fear of planning something totally inappropriate that was paralysing us? Personally, I felt that I really needed to sit down with everyone to discuss my ideas and get them approved by them. I had tons of ideas but felt really insecure as to whether they would be appropriate for the kids, and rightly so. I barely knew them, barely knew the kind of life they lead, the kind of place they live in and kind of education they have, at home and at school.
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