Something New

Well, these past two weeks have been just a little crazy, right? How about a new, temporary but full-time gig to make it all the more crazy? Right. If you had told me two months ago when I agreed to be the interim office manager of Alliance Française de Pasadena that my first day of work would be the day that everything gets shut down and moved to digital, I would have laughed in your face. Well, here we are.

I had everything all planned. With the traffic-y commute, I would go to bed super early and wake up at the crack of dawn, drive out to Pasadena, work out, then go to work. When I am done with my work day, I would continue to write and/or hang out with my friends in the area while waiting for traffic to dwindle before driving home. And yea, those plans went down the drain.

So, what exactly have I been doing these past two weeks? I’ve been helping teachers get on Zoom, curating resources, and coming up with ideas for classes that would serve the community and be achievable online synchronously. I’m also coaching teachers through this instructional shift and helping them feel less anxious. I don’t know if I actually help them feel less anxious… but shrug hopefully! Our classes are going to be different, it will feel different, and it’s going to be a-ok!

It’s been an adventure learning about everything necessary to run the Alliance Française. My skills are definitely put to the test and I keep forgetting that I cannot do everything. Also, not everyone will be happy. That is a-ok. We will be ok. The really neat idea is that we are hoping to offer more children-friendly events which will create AF de Pasadena as a space to use the language in the community. I hope parents and other French-speaking community members will reach out.

Ooo, something else that is exciting: Two colleagues and I also started a podcast called Struggle for Change. We are now searchable via iTunes. Yay! They’re short interviews and stories of educators in which they share the struggle that they have. It’s not easy being an educator. We’re adapting and rolling with the punches all the time, as the world has witnessed these past 2 weeks.

Y’all, we got this. It takes a whole bunch of us working together to make the magic happen.