For exploratory French, French I, part of French II, part of French III, and part of French IV, we had the "original" French teacher who took a maternity leave and then became a guidance counselor for our school. Before said teacher left on her maternity leave, she promised us that she would remain our teacher until we graduate. False...sort of.
A little more than half-way of French II, we attained a long-term substitute who could not handle classroom behavior nor speak with an appropriate accent. Fortunately, however, we managed to stay pretty much on task. This sub remained our teacher until a little more than half-way through French III, when the original teacher returned to finish the year before becoming a guidance counselor.
The French teacher position was not successfully filled by the beginning of French IV and the new school year, so our original French teacher remained on for a few weeks, though we got very little complete. Eventually, the position was filled by my school's first black teacher. Apparently there was some racism going on at my school as well as some family obligations on his part, so he left to fulfill a family occupation after the loss of his father after Christmas break. We soon gained a new teacher who after a few weeks and getting through the majority of The Little Prince, had the misfortune of getting in a severe car crash. She was out of school for the rest of the year. We had countless substitutes over the period of time it took to locate a long-term sub to finish out the school year. Apparently, my school hired one woman who came for just two class periods and quit. Then they hired another woman who was elderly and could barely speak English (she was not French, however). We were able to at least speak French with this woman although we did not get through any new grammar.
The teacher who unfortunately got into a car accident returned this school year, but left unexpectedly at some point in February (we had just begun reading The Phantom of the Opera). We were given no explanation, just a letter from the principal saying that she would no longer be teaching at our school. We got through very little while our new teacher taught, but I would have much preferred knowing that there would be a consistent French teacher for the years to come.
After about a week and a half of substitutes and movies, we received a new sub (who will not be taking on the "long-term" role necessarily, because she is not certified in French though she can speak, read, and understand the language). She is retired and quite eccentric, but what can you expect to get when the position is so notoriously cursed?
The irony of the situation is that our original teacher is now needing to create lesson plans and grade our work; she may truly be our French teacher until graduation, as she once promised.
The above picture portrays much of my free-time in French class last year....
(and yes, the picture is shown below on my blog)
pobrecitas en la classe de French V...see, even after 4 years of consistent high school Spanish in an era when teachers didn't have to worry about whether or not they had the "numbers" to keep the class running but rather kept the standards enormously rigorous because of the integrity of committing to the students who really wished to learn the language, even in a podunk rural area, I can't remember quite how to write that phrase (which means "poor girls in the French V class)...holy run-on!
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