Directeur Drama

I decided today that the directeur at one of my schools doesn't like the fact that I'm here. I've felt this way off and on throughout the year, and today I realized that it is definitely true and that he'll be glad when I'm gone. This is the directeur who is also habilité en anglais, was on paternity leave for a month, and is the maitre of the monster class. At the beginning of the year I definitely had the vibe that he felt kind of threatened by me being there and taking over half of his English teaching, which is probably why we have the completely stupid system of splitting the class in half and alternating either days or weeks who has the CE2 and who has the CM1 (have they learned anything? Maybe some of the CM1). I guess what makes it worse for him is that he has such a horrible accent in English that I can barely understand him when he speaks.

How did I realize this? Since it's the end of the year all of the teachers have been asking me if I'll be back next year and sympathizing about the vaguaries of the assistant application and renewal process. What did he ask me today? He asked me if I was going to continue my studies when I got back to the US. And then seemed rather pleased when I told him I thought it was unlikely that I would get renewed and then took my return to the States as definite. I don't really care, since I've kind of known this all year long, but it does tick me off that his issues have cheated his class out of a year of English, especially the CE2, who are going to have a really rough time next year and because their teacher, whether it's me or someone else, will be completely frustrated.

Other directrice drama: I have a third school, where I teach one class of CE1 once a week, so basically it hardly counts. Their teachers have a funny dynamic. They are rarely all outside together during recréation (which is when I show up) and I rarely see the directrice. Quand meme, three of the few times I've seen her she's mentioned that she wants to visit New York City. The first time she said she wanted to go and asked me to find her a hotel. The second time she said she wasn't going because the visa was too complicated. The third time she said "I'd really like you to find me a hotel in New York, preferably one that is pas trop cher and well frequented." So apparently I'm a hotel finding service. I'm not her biggest fan.

Well that was all before April break and I haven't seen her since then. But the other teachers at the school are in open rebellion against her rule these days. She seems like kind of a hard ass and usually rings the bell to go back in after recess pretty early. A couple of weeks ago, the first day of really nice spring weather that we had, she was gone with her class (CM1) to the library and the other teachers, who were for once all sitting outside together, gleefully told me that they were taking advantage of that to enjoy the nice weather and let the kids play longer. This week they were all sitting outside together again (sans Mme New York), and the bell rings to go in. The teachers all start yelling "no no, it's just for the CM1, everyone else has ten extra minutes" and then started in on this discussion about how they are complaining about her to the inspection, etc. Dare I entitle this episode Mutiny at Jules Verne?

And then we have the directeur who has always been kind and helpful to me and is now retiring. If I am back next year it seems like I'll really be in for it with his replacement!