SÉBASTIEN

Who is the handsome young man following me around school lately ?
That`s Sébastien Duhaime, my student -teacher, my rookie, the relief pitcher of the future ( man I`m poetic this morning ).
But he`s not just that.
He`s also an ex-student of Jean Nicolet, graduated in 2004.
He`s a musician in a band .
Watch him on Musique Plus after Christmas.
He`s from St.Francois Du Lac.
He`s very friendly and soft-spoken.
He laughs at all my jokes so I like him.
An English teacher who plays in a band ?
I love musicians so if he teaches English on top of that,how can I not like the guy ?

He looks very quiet and calm, which he is, don`t get me wrong, but the guy has guts too.
He actually pleasantly surprised me last night.
As some of you know, last night was the Grade 6 visit at school.
Every year grade 6 students and their parents of the school board come and visit our great school.
We teachers present tons of stuff we do at school to our guests.
I , like every year, present the English Concentration Program to the parents in the auditorium while my English co-workers present the program to the students.
I always prepare my 10 -minute presentation in advance.
Sébastien was going to be there for the evening at the auditorium not knowing he would actually take part in it !
Keep in mind you are talking to hundreds of parents in one big room while you`re up on the stage .
It can be very uncomfortable for a rookie !
But I had warned Sébas yesterday that I would push him out of the nest very soon to test his wings and flying skills.
I did reassure him that I would be there to support him and pick him up if he crashed.
But he thought that wasexclusively for the classroom.
Little did he know I would push him out of the nest right on a stage.
Obviously, I knew he could handle it, I`m NOT that mean !

So anyways, I show up at school at 6:00 p.m , all ready and share the presentation with him.
First thing he says :
" You`re not thinking of making me talk in front of all these people are you ? "
You should of seen his face : deer in the headlights look.
And to that I answer : " Well kind of, I`ll go grab some coffee downstairs , I`ll be back in a few minutes and we`ll talk about it "

I figured 3 things :

1-He`ll run and won`t be ther when I come back.
2- He`ll be crying when I come back.
3- He`ll smack me behind the head and then ask me what he has to do in the presentation.

None of those happened
We sit down, I show him my outline of the presentation.
I ask him if he could talk about a specific point and he agrees to do it.
After a few minutes of dicussion he tells me with a mischievious smile and a twinkle in his eye :
" It `d be fun if we did a little skit or something ."
" You mean like a mini-play ? "
" Yeah, like that " he says.
Keep in mind , it`s 30 minutes BEFORE we get on stage at this point.
" That`s a great idea ! " I say.
And we worked on our skit .
30 minutes later, we were presenting it at the auditorium.
I thought I was going to surprise HIM with having him aprticipate in the presentation, but as it turned out, he surprised ME with his guts to go all the way !
And he was so good during the skit too.
He improvised a little and almost had me crack up during the skit so much he was funny.
So ladies and germs, he`s not just cute, he`s got brains and guts and he`s my student-teacher.
Mommy was proud of her rookie.

So Sébastien will teach my kids this week .
I thought of having him start gradually on Monday but you know what, he`s ready for the major leagues now .
He proved it.
Oh, I`ll be on the side ( side-show Annie ) watching, but after yesterday, he proved me I may not have to pick him up in little pieces after class.

Here`s the link to Sébastien`s web site for his band.
Go and listen :
www.myspace.com/fictioninmotion


Sebastien is the last one on the right in the picture.
Lucky me, I got the c.d of their music to play in my truck.
Thanks Sébastien.
Love the name of the band by the way.
Enjoy.

Here`s AC/DC official website :
http://www.acdc.com/home.php


I`ll have pics this week to post so swing by later .
No rest for the wicked.
Tata darlings
Annie

PS : Sec.4 : November 27th
Muséee d`Art Contemporain de Montréal
Exhibition: Sympathy For The Devil
We leave at 8:30 and come back for the buses 3: 45.
My helpers : Katherine Bourgeois, Paul Lachance and Pierre Bergeron.
Can`t wait.