Well, by now, many of you already know that I am off to France for the 2010-11 academic year. I accepted a teaching position back in May 2010 through a program sponsored by the French Ministry of Education and Cultural Services at the French Embassy. (http://www.wooster.edu/News-and-Events/News-Releases/2010/April/French-Teaching-Assistants)
I will be spending the next nine months (starting October 1, 2010) in the French city of Tours. Tours is a mid-sized city of a little over 180,000 people located in central France about 1.5 hours southwest of Paris (by train). This past week, I received my arrêté de nomination (work agreement/contract) and have been assigned to a school 2 miles outside of the city center; I will be teaching 6-11 year old children. I am so excited to begin working in the French school system, though, at the same time, very nervous! I have a lot of materials to still gather (i.e. teaching aids/materials), as well as a lot of pre-departure things to still do (i.e. getting my worker's visa in Chicago, buying a plane ticket to France).
That's all for now...I am going to get back to preparing for my departure in less than three weeks! I just wanted to get a short entry composed, so I could send out this blog link to all my family and friends!
-Alex
