If you happen to be involved in teaching English in France, or in any foreign country, the issues raised in this memoir of participating in the French competitive examination ("l'agrégation") for teacher accreditation will pique your interest. If you've experienced some cross-cultural frustrations, you will perhaps find the humor in this book familiar.
The author is an American forty-something former IT professional, naturalized French citizen with a French husband, and mother of two children in French schools. She speaks fluent French and has a degree from a prestigious French university. Finding herself dislocated from her work in IT, she decides to challenge the uniquely French competitive examination ("l'agrégation") to become qualified for 'lifetime' employment as an English teacher. Up until making this momentous decision, the author had felt well-grounded in her own assimilation into French life, saying, "[I had been] accepted to a fine French business school, I had worked successfully for fifteen years in managerial positions in French companies and been elected to local government. My children were perfectly integrated, excelled in French, enjoyed school and their friends. I loved living in my town in France and appreciated the company of my neighbors. I probably thought that I had integrated."
She goes on to say: "What the year preparing for the agrégation showed me was just how superficial this all was. My French language skills, sufficient to manage multimillion-dollar projects, were insufficient to qualify me to teach English in a French public school..." To her credit, what is predominantly a memoir of frustration retains its sense of humor, refrains from whining, and raises some very interesting questions about the problems of cross-cultural language teaching.
Running in the background of this fine narrative are the day-to-day frustrations and small obstacles easy to relate to: daring to re-enter school where most of your classmates are half your age; a lengthy commute to a byzantine complex where event the natives have difficulty finding their way to classes; a native husband who is not very animated in his support of her studies; the parenting of children who speak native English, yet are sometimes forced to learn wrong English by their teachers in French schools.
This "docu-fiction" was originally published in France in 2007 and reportedly contributed to debate on education and the effectiveness of teaching English as a second language. France is coping with issues of ethnic and racial discrimination with regard to assimilation and integration of foreigners, and this book apparently touched a few nerves, hopefully to enact some change for the better.
I enjoyed this book and admire the author both for writing it (originally) for French consumption and for taking on the entrenched French education system. I'm glad it's now available in English. In the Epilogue there are indications that things are changing with English education in France. I hope Ms. Zuckerman will be inclined to follow up on these changes in future writings.
Recommended.
