SCHOOL LUNCHES

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I realize that I went to elementary school in a VERY small school that probably does not represent the norm of American elementary schools, but when I combine that with my experience in a (more normal) middle/high school, I still come up with the same conclusion: lunch works differently here at school.

There are several differences. First, let’s talk about the time factor. There are two hours for the students to eat lunch and play. First, they play outside for about about twenty minutes. Then, the whistle blows and they line up in their two straight lines and are walked to the cafeteria, which is off on the left side of the building.

Oh! I’ll take this opportunity to point out that the kids are walked from the playground into the bathroom to wash their hands. The bathroom is unisex (there is a boys’ side and a girls’ side, but they are only separated by a (not quite) half-wall with sinks on either side), first of all, and has a GLASS door on either side of it. They walk through a glass door from outside, use the bathroom facilities (there are urinals, keep in mind), and then walk through another glass door to get into the hallway of the building. It seems to me we never had doors you could see into in any bathroom, elementary school or not, that I have been to.

Anyway. Now let’s talk about the choices the students have. You have two choices: go home for lunch (many students do) or eat what you are served at the cafeteria (called the cantine here). I have never seen a single student bring a lunch to school; I’m not sure if it is prohibited or not, but I am sure that even if they could, they would not, since the French think it very important to “manger chaud le midi” - eat something hot at lunchtime.

The lunch itself is quite a lot of food! I am NOT used to eating that much at lunchtime. There is an entrée (this means appetizer, by the way, not main dish), often some sort of salad or something with veggies in it, a plat principal (main dish) with a side dish, and a dessert. The main dish is usually some kind of meat, and the side dish can be anything from potatoes to green veggies. Oh, and there is almost always some sort of sauce involved - heaven forbid the meal be too plain. There are also pitchers on every table that the students can fill with water for their table. Most students do drink a small glass of water, but at the end of the meal, not while they eat. People really do not drink while they eat here.

One side note: one day I thought they were having something very sort of American-bad-cuisine for lunch. When I was served, I had what looked like hot dogs and onion rings on my plate. I thought this was very strange in comparison, but hey. I sat down to eat my meal, about which I was less than thrilled, and bit into what I thought was a hot dog. It wasn’t. It was andouillettes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andouillette). And the onion rings? Not onion. Calamari. So, a school lunch of calamari rings and andouillette. Something you would never see in an American cafeteria. It wasn’t bad, actually.

Another difference in French school lunches is that there are not lunch monitors that just walk around to make sure that the students are eating and not playing around. Instead, several of the teachers eat at the cantine with the students. They go through the line like the students and then place themselves at various tables with students throughout the cantine. During lunch, they talk with the students at their table and periodically yell at other tables who are doing something out of line. I feel like a rockstar when I walk into the cantine, because the students fight to sit at my table - I love it! Then, during lunch, we translate what we are eating and make sentences: “I am eating rabbit and potatoes and prunes.” “I do not like prunes.” “I love rabbit.” …You get the picture. I love it! That’s what I love about teaching - making it tangible and useful for the students.

The students also have to ask permission for EVERYTHING - to start eating, to stop eating, to get more of something, to refill the water pitcher, to start eating their dessert.

Just a couple differences I noticed.

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