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Category Archives: Events
To my students interested in archaeology
I know a number of my students are keen historians and budding archaeologists and this TV programme will be right up your street, I am sure. The Guédelon project in Burgundy, building a medieval castle from scratch using tools, materials and techniques from the period is a fascinating place to visit. We had the pleasure of going there last October for a couple of days and it is a kind of step back in time that I rarely have experienced. The added advantage is that my niece, Sophie, is a carpenter on the project and so was able to show us around from the inside and we were able to see her at work.
My students are familiar with Sophie’s story as it is one of these zigzagging career lines that I talk about to them. After a Prépa Littéraire of two years, she completed a History degree. She then went to Poland on a European programme, working with children and adults. She also became involved in restoring graveyards in Ukraine, rebuilding and restoring. A year in England as a language assistant and some charity and humanitarian work led her to want to learn a trade, to be useful to society in a manual way. She went back to school (with mainly 15-16 year old boys) and served a 2 year apprenticeship with a carpenter, obtaining her CAP at the end of it. She is currently working at Guédelon for eight months of the year and travelling around the world for the remaining months : Martinique and the surrounding islands last year, India this year …
I love quoting Sophie to my students because she is proof that a life is built up of various small experiences and choices. It is so rare to know at the age of 16 what you want to do and then to go on and be actually doing it, having followed a perfectly straight line, ten years later.
The BBC has produced a series about the Guédelon project and the first episode was aired on Tuesday November 18th on BBC2 in England. A French version is apparently planned, but in the mean time, if you would like to know more, you can watch the English version at this YouTube link. It sure makes fascinating viewing and there is even a glimpse of Sophie near the beginning at 1’21 and you hear her voice (she says Yes !).
Enjoy !
How many shopping days until Christmas ?
To start to get us in the Christmas mood and also because my primary teacher colleagues have to prepare in advance for Christmas, here are a few of my Christmas favourites for you to enjoy :
Twenty five years ago
And an end to this : 
As a child of the 60’s, I grew up knowing that there was a West Berlin and an East Berlin. I didn’t really understand what it meant and what the wall was really all about. On the day it “came down”, in 1989, I was a teacher in a school in England and I remember the Headmaster gathered us all together in the assembly hall to announce what a momentous occasion it was and how we were all living a piece of history at that very moment. Can it really be twenty-five years ago ? And have I still not achieved that ambition of going to Berlin to visit ?
And to finish, how can I not mention the comment of one of my students when we studied this image, a photo taken during President Kennedy’s visit to Berlin ? The student asked me, in all seriousness “Was Nicolas Sarkozy there in Berlin on that day too ?” When you look closely, you can see his point !!
Poppies and more poppies
A beautiful photo from my old school-friend, Linda, who has been one of the volunteers, planting the poppies at the Tower of London. Thanks to her for this lovely, vibrant picture.
Back to school
The two weeks have flown by, as always, and tomorrow, it is time to return to work. It is going to be a period of intense work associated with the Centenary, beginning with work on the Tower of London. To anyone who is unaware of what this is all about, you are in for an absolute treat.
Happy Halloween
Wishing a Happy Halloween to anyone who will be partying today. I am expecting the kids in the village, trick or treating this afternoon and knocking on my door, wanting some sweet treats. Everything is ready – I wouldn’t be wanting them to play any tricks on me now !!
Halloween is not the main focus of this date for me and hasn’t been for the past twenty-two years, for the date has another significance in our household. My husband and I got married on this date in 1992, so it is our wedding anniversary today. Twenty-two years is apparently a COPPER wedding anniversary. Hmm, that is a tricky one, isn’t it ?
I just found this on the internet :
22nd Anniversary Gift Ideas
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I wonder if Mr Léger would really appreciate a copper money clip ? I can state quite categorically that as far as I am concerned, he can forget about giving me kitchen goods for cooking an anniversary dinner !!!!!!!
So, quite simply, a pretty picture to celebrate our wedding anniversary: 
and perhaps the best gift anyone could give us for this weekend :
Joey visits the Tower of London
How beautiful is this “Seas of Red” tribute to all the fallen during World War One, currently being built at the Tower of London ? I’m going to see it for myself on Thursday with my youngest son, then off to the theatre to see Joey in War Horse. It is going to be an unforgettable day. We hope to take in the Animals in War memorial too – will one day be long enough ?
Holiday time
Enjoy your break, everyone !
English language assistants are go !!
One of the parts I really enjoy about my job is working with the English language assistants in our area. This year there are 75 of them and they began work on October 1st. I am proud to be part of their training programme and I enjoy accompanying them along this road they have chosen. It is indeed a road that is so very close to my heart because I started out at that very same point. October 1986 saw me starting out as a language assistant in a collège in the Vosges. Speaking very little French and with hardly any knowledge of French life and culture, I arrived on the ferry from Calais and set to work in the school in the middle of the Vosgian countryside. Within two weeks, I had met my future husband and life had changed forever !! But at the time, I didn’t know that, of course.
I am therefore always excited to meet the new intake every year and it is a challenge to tackle the blank canvases that they represent. Our language assistant for the year, Cherie, is in this photo – welcome to her – and a very good year to all language assistants everywhere in the world.
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