Here is another question for the group:
We have some gaps in our department and are in need of a French teacher for level 3 and up. Currenly I am teaching level 1 and 2 French plus level 2 and 4 Spanish. “Un secret…” (full disclosure, just being honest)…I am not as fluent in French as I am in Spanish (native speaker, or at least used to be, grew up in a bilingual household, plus have lived in/traveled in Spanish-speaking places).
French, not so much. I speak decent French because I love it and I love learning it. But on all the surveys and such for conferences I always just check the Spanish box. When I first started teaching I was teaching math and Spanish. Bailed on the math mostly to get into one department and not have so many meetings. AND I thought it was a good excuse to “have to” learn French! So I basically brushed up on my rusty “intermediate college French” (I think I only took 2 college classes…yikes) by watching French films and listening to music and reading. So, pretty much independent CI (haha before I knew it as such).
Long preamble, sorry. Anyway, a former colleague (a dear friend with 40+ yrs. experience teaching French who is really my only fierce ally in this transition…besides y’all of course) suggested that I take the level 3 class next year. She assures me that my French is fine and I am “ready.” Part of me says, cool, I’m up for that! Another part of me says “What?!?!” Because I fear being discovered as a fraud.
Like, maybe one of my students will have a real French speaking parent or something and they will come to conferences yammering on and I will be caught. I think that over the long haul I might do this, but that right now I am on such a steep learning curve trying to get the CI train to stay on the tracks that adding a stressor like that might be too much. I kind of want to wait until I can spend a summer WWOOF-ing in France or something.
On the other hand, I know the group because I have taught them for 2 years, so it’s not as if I suddenly have to jump to some required level in order to continue with these kids. On the other hand maybe they need a different teacher since I have already had them for 2 years.
Does anyone have experience with teaching the same group for multiple consecutive years? For our Spanish classes we alternate years, which seems good (dept head teaches level 1, 3, 5 ; I do 2 and 4.) Is there a compelling reason from a CI standpoint to keep going with the same group?
I would love any insights from the group on this.