Episode 6 - School children & teachers

As school is about to start, we sometimes remember our days as school children: the classes, the games, the teachers, the friends and of course, childhood.

Although going to school is an experience that many have had through time and space, the organisation, the technology used, the teachings can vary vastly, even for students of the same era. And of course, how we remember school back then is deeply personal and shines a light on what has mattered in our life, from then, to now.

In this month's episode, you will hear Alicia Weinum, Jeanine and Etina Arnell, Ginette and Mercedes Fleming, Frantz and Fabien Gumbs and Olga and Rosette Gumbs, describe their school's location, the teachers they had and what it was like to go to school in their neighborhoods, and then in Marigot.

1:05 - Mercedes Fleming talks about chat caused her to start school early

2:18 - Etina Arnell talks about school in French Quarter; back then, the students had 3 months of vacation. School started back in October. It was the occasion to learn other skills. Also, there were children of different levels in the same class, so the teachers had to cater to their different needs simultaneously

5:12 - Olga and Rosette Gumbs describe their middle high school and primary school

6:13 - Etina and Jeanine Arnell both went to middle high school in Marigot, but while Etina went to current Emily Choisy, Jeanine went to Nina Duverly

7:10 - Alicia Weinum recalls her primary school in Grand-Case, her secondary education in Marigot and continuing to Guadeloupe

8:31 - Fabien Gumbs remembers the classes that he did in St.Martin and those he did in Guadeloupe. He mentions the teachers that he had. Frants Gumbs confirms. They also did their secondary schooling in Nina Duverly

10:18 - Frantz Gumbs tells an anecdote where his class was making a lot of noise while their teacher was out. Their teachers rarely beat them. He then goes into another anecdote where his brother made fun of their teacher

14:10 - Rosette and Olga Gumbs says how close the parents and teachers were. Rosette witnessed this bound when a teacher called her mother immediately after a wrongdoing.

15:18 - Rosette and Olga Gumbs mention that their teachers were strict but their lessons stayed with them all through their lives