Monday, August 3, 2009

The Old School . . .

This afternoon la Grenouille, myself, and our two tadpoles went for a long walk through the town near where we live. Our path took us in front of the school where our two girls had spent their earliest years of schooling before moving on to the next levels in another town up the road a ways. To our surprise, the old school was open, and one of their former teachers was there tidying things up in preparation in one month's time for the next school year to start. In the classrooms, a scene reminiscent no doubt of schools the world over closed for the Summer, chairs were up on the tables, piles of books were waiting to be distributed to a new class in the Fall . . .
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An old map of France on the wall, on which the "Causses" are visible in the south . . .
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Scissors were stored neatly waiting for eager hands to pick them up again . . .
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An alphabet ready to be taught to young readers . . .
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A bear hug was happening in a quiet corner . . .
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Dark clouds reflected in a window . . .
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A line-up of kings of France at ten after five, with a note explaining the grading system . . .
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Well, it is a school with a certain religious history . . .
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And just outside the school the sun was shining down on black eyed Susans. . .
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32 comments:

Janie said...

That must have been a fun trip down memory lane for the youngsters. Cute pho to of the hugging bears, and beautiful sunflowers.

Margaret Pangert said...

That could be a Kindergarten here! With the scissors, alphabet with phonetic illustration, maps, presidents... Great macro of the black-eyed susans! Beautiful! Did your daughters have a strange sensation seeing this school again?

robert said...

A great entry indeed.
Having left school decades ago, working now as a teacher I do enter them again, from September on though. Until then it's play-time with the kid :o)
Liked the pictures with the ABC and the cursive way of writing. Thank you for providing such nice memories.

robert said...

A great entry indeed.
Having left school decades ago, working now as a teacher I do enter them again, from September on though. Until then it's play-time with the kid :o)
Liked the pictures with the ABC and the cursive way of writing. Thank you for providing such nice memories.

Lynne with an e said...

Charmant! Des couleurs magnifiques! A sweetly naive gaze. Nice that the bear and puppy have each other for company pendant les vacances.

Lynne with an e said...

PS. After looking at your school pictures here I was pleased to see that I got the colours right in my School Days fabric series (over at Ragzedge) with the reds and yellows...until I went nuts with paint, that is.

Country Girl said...

Here in the states, in Maryland, our school looks very similar. We had so much work done this summer, putting new energy efficient lighting in all of the lower school. We open in less than 30 days, so the excitement is mounting!
Nice trip down memory lane here.

Lille Diane said...

I could smell the knowledge wafting through the classroom. Those happy desks and scissors waiting. You brought many wonderful memories to us in this post. And don't you think a library and a classroom have a similar, comforting scent and energy?

Thank you. Owen, for the tour of a French classroom.

Steve said...

Schools are so very emotive - espeically you're own. Sadly only one of my schools remains as a school now - one has been converted into an IT business centre and the other has been completely demolished and rebuilt as a terribly modern adult learning centre.

desi said...

i see, my first comment disappeared... :O
let me try again...

Thank you for the lovely tour! :)

The poor teddy bear must be so lonely now that the holidays are one!

I read the wall posters and found French wordspelling really complicated..it all makes sense when reading, but some letters look so unnecesary, but I know they are there for a reason...is it difficult to learn spelling as a child?

desi

desi said...

oh, and go check out my give away on my being-desi blog!!! :D

Adam said...

We're all on nostalgia trips today!

Anonymous said...

It's impressive to find a teacher already in the classroom. She must be one of the good ones!
Are your tadpoles francophone or bilingual?
Hope they enjoy la rentrée, it's coming all too quickly.

namaki said...

Ah la bonne époque ... sur les bancs de l'école ... mais n'y sommes-nous pas toujours un peu ? Alors gardons cette soif de découvertes ...

Anonymous said...

Those photos are great Owen! Fall is my favourite season, not just for the beautiful colours and the crisp fresh air, but that feeling of new beginnings, school starts, education continues...I love it!

Alex said...

Hi Owen, great shots, they bring my school days flooding back, cool.

Caio Fern said...

nice ones , now i felt like to take some pictures of the old school of when i was a kid .

Caio Fern said...

nice ones , now i felt like to take some pictures of the old school of when i was a kid .

Anonymous said...

What beautiful schools french have. I always thought that such those kind of schools didn´t exist but in fairy tales. Have nothing to do with the school of my childhood. Gray, poor and sad.

jeff said...

Que ton reportage photo est bien beau par sa simplicité et touchant par ce qu'il évoque ! Owen ! Tu as l'art et la manière de parler au coeur des gens !...
Alors... ces Causses ! ! ! Toujours au même endroit ?...
J'attends des photos...!
Ciao Amigo ! Et passe par le sud-Est..!...;-)

Owen said...

THANK YOU every one for all these lovely and stimulating comments... I can see the trip back to early school days touched a nice nostalgic memory location in people's minds... it does seem like yesterday sometimes...

CiCi said...

Can't get over the scissor holder. That is the kind of organization I like. Everything in its place. Even the chair legs have happy colors. Looks like a nice place learn.

Owen said...

Dedene, yes, indeed, the tadpoles are bilingual, they get French from their Maman la Grenouille and English from me, le crapaud...

Blind Fly Theater said...

Great to be back with creative souls like you, Owen!
In grammar school, photos like this at this time of year would've sparked anxiety in me, for the time of return was drawing near... but now, they are imbued with excitement, wonder, and creative enthusiasm.
Of course, I'm a sucker for colorful photos, too.
All of these are great, Owen! If I had to choose one, though, I'd say the dark clouds and window shot is my favorite. Funny, though... it's the least colorful of the bunch. Hmmmmm.
David

The Sagittarian said...

phew, and made it here! I'm tired after all that rushing between posts, do I get a "player of the day" award or something? No? Oh well, I'll take myself back to my place for a tipple.
Love those Blackeyed Susans, very pretty.

Nathalie H.D. said...

A lovely series of photos Owen. I first thought it was a public school but then I was startled by the nativity scene on the window - the virgin mary tipped it off :-) The French are so serious about the total absence of religious reference in their public schools!

Sorry for being so distant those past days, I was on holidays. Do I need an absence note from my parents?

Nathalie H.D. said...

I followed the link to blogland lane and it led me astray as blog browsing can. What a beautiful journey it was!

Daisy Deadhead said...

You just walked in, no security check-in or special badge required?

Obviously, no place in the USA. :(

Owen said...

Hi Daisy,
Well, it's a very small school, no kids were there, normally closed for the summer, but the teacher who was there knows us, as both our girls went there, she let us in... but yeah, not in the US... although who knows, heavier school security may be coming... there have been some school shootings in Europe too... sadly...

Sar@h said...

Dame, ! — de 12, non acquis !
Oh les pauvres. Pour moi, non acquis, c'est quand il n'y a vraiment rien !
16 à 20 = Acquis
10 à 16 = à renforcer
5 à 10 = En voie d'acquisition

Quel bande de fainéants, ces instits, ils travaillent même pendant leurs vacances ! Des vrais drogués !

ladydi said...

It was fun to see the similarity to schools here, and the differences as well. It sounds like everyone else liked the scissors photo, too! And the flowers, and the maps, and the letters. . .

desi said...

The Black Eyed Susans (that their real name?) are BEAUTIFUL flowers!

just had to let that out! :D