Parents' meeting, and Nutella

Louis’class meeting for parents on Tuesday night was well attended. I took a lot of notes, which I will pass on to Caroline and Nick, but the gist was that it was a class of well-behaved children, motivated and easy to teach, and the school motto was Respect, Politeness, and Tolerance. Mme Bonnot believes in mastering the essentials, but knows that each child has his or her own abilities, and so she bends over backwards to be sure that no-one feels excluded. Her English is excellent, and she uses time that the others are doing exercises to spend time with Louis and Andrew, who use different French books from the others. However, in Maths, she quickly translates the instructions and they do the same work as the others.

This teacher is very proud of her " International " class :  there are maps everywhere. There is an exchange of documents with Wood Fold school in Wigan, (twin town to Angers,) and she showed us the class folder which they had sent of the Royal Wedding. She was very touched that when Andrew and Louis were stammering their version of " Pomme de Reinette, " the other children didn’t snigger, but spontaneously joined in with them

I arrived at Gaëlle's house at 5p.m. yesterday afternoon to find a highly excited Louis - "Guess what we're having for goûter - crêpes again, but these are wonderful!" They certainly were : small ones made on a "Party Pancake" griddle, with a choice of sugar,various home-made jams, or Nutella, (you used to ask me why I was so cruel, and never ever bought it, my own precious children, remember? Well, now you understand,) or all three in more than one case. They had been to the park, which is only a step away, and then had a good play in Hugo and Adrien's bedrooms, where they were very pleased to discover some new toys. A marble run was a great success , as was the knight's dressing-up kit.Hugo and Adrien were quite unfazed by having 2 English boys in their house : Hugo practised his English on Louis, and Louis had a good stab at French. Sacha and Adrien played side by side, I think, but happily.

A small drama in the evening :" where is your lovely jumper, Louis?" "OH NO! It must have been left at the swimming pool, and I LOVE THAT JUMPER!" I couldn't understand this, as I was pretty sure that I had whisked away everything.. But it was not to be found, in the car or in the house. We comforted, we promised to phone the swimming pool the very next day, but he was still red-eyed when he went to bed. Then I heard a happy cry : "Mamie! I've found my jumper! It was in my duvet!" Very satisfactory : a lesson learned (or at least given,)  with no unhappy consequences.