My first idea was to get an extra mark : teaching English to Terminale Applied Art students two periods a week doesn’t give many opportunities to get many marks for the end-of-term school report. Even though the students were away, they would have some work to do for me !

Back after the break I collected the assignments. Believe it or not, I was really eager to read the students’ written productions ; usually I have always something more exciting to do and leaves marking until the very last minute !

I wasn’t disappointed in the least : most productions reached a very high standard : they were very personal, mature, funny, moving. The students gave me the impression they had enjoyed writing their texts, just as I was enjoying reading them. I thought it was a pity no one else would ever read them. Then I had a brainwave. Why not exhibit the texts alongside their sketchbooks at the Zarza Open Day before the Christmas recess ? Of course there were some grammar mistakes…

So I handed back the assessments with my remarks in the margin and asked the students to make the necessary corrections. I worked out a layout guide for all to follow. Need I tell you that for some the texts shuttled several times between my pigeon hole and the class pigeon hole before reaching the required standard : “You left a mistake !”, “Don’t you remember which font to use ?”, “You forgot to include the common title and subtitle” and so forth… And I hardly mention the fact that some had forgotten their USB keys, wouldn’t get hold of it before the weekend if they were boarders, or that we had to make do working alternatively on Macs or PCs

Finally everything was tiptop or so I thought… On D-day there were still a few texts missing next to the sketchbooks : I should have collected them all and installed them myself ! Never mind I was quite proud to show all the parents and students what the students had achieved.

One of my regrets concerns the exhibition at the Maison de l’Architecture right after the Christmas recess : due to a tight schedule I wasn’t able to ask the students to give me fresh copies to display. I feel really sorry that the Grenoble English-speaking community didn’t have an opportunity to read the students’ accounts ; I’m the one to blame ! Next time I’ll take into better account the material side of the whole operation… I promise !

Jean-Christophe Leclerc, Teacher of English, Lycée Marie-Curie