News & Weekly Letters

When Andria was a 1st Grade teacher in Taiwan (AND Communication Officer AND English Coordinator AND Assistant Director of Primary school AND something else I am surely forgetting), I used to stop by her classroom quite a lot. I have a very clear memory of one little girl who was working on math while simultaneously doing cartwheels during one of my visits. That mini-event sparked a flexible learning spaces project that ignited our entire team for several years—I left just before it was completed in every classroom.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the scolding I received during my last p’tit-déj. The reason for the scolding was my far too intermittent presence at the Maternelle Building and the feeling that a few misunderstandings could have been avoided or better managed had I been there in person (an impression, which may be giving me too much credit but may also not be entirely wrong).

This week, The École could easily have been mistaken for a school from a movie set: between 22nd Street being taken over on Monday and Tuesday to film a movie or a TV show or both (no one can really say for certain), the UN World Water Day documentary today, and of course the Hollywood star-style Picture Day yesterday – when every single student dazzled – these last few days have been cinematic, to say the least!

If I had to describe my week at school during February Break, I would compare it to the NYC subway on weekends: the trains run, of course, but there are fewer of them and they go more slowly. I was like an express train making local stops, lingering at every station, and taking my time to cross the city.

After a month of January that seemed to drag on for 86 days and a start to February that slipped through our fingers faster than you can say Valentine’s Day, we find ourselves on the brink of a break (again/finally/already – depending on who you talk to!) Today, The École resembled the opposite of Corneille’s alexandrine:
As 322 we started, | but because of early departures:
To 213 we dropped | as dismissal approached.*