American Politics and British English

My attempts to lead lessons last week met with mixed success.  My Thursday morning started with leading a listening exercise with the 6^th graders…they comprehended quite a bit, but the exercise I designed didn’t allow them to speak with each other very much.  My week then dissolved into a disaster with the 8^th graders on Friday.  I wanted to explain to them the idea of the electoral college and therefore the idea of swing states, since I’m from one, but the lesson went from bad to worse…the video I found about the electoral college played half-way and then crashed the computer, and when I attempted to use the whiteboard to explain the process, I was met with blank looks and absolutely no one would answer my questions.  The lesson dissolved into the teacher trying to explain the process in German to them, and they still didn’t understand. 

Wasted lesson aside, I’m mostly upset because I feel like it was a really horrible introduction to me/my teaching for the kids…after something like that I think they’re going to be really hesitant to engage and be conversational with me.  Had that happened in the 9^th grade class I went on the class-trip with, I feel like it wouldn’t have many negative repercussions; they’re comfortable enough with me that we could easily have a positive, communication-filled lesson the next day.  So that’s my biggest fear right now, but only time will tell.  Happily, my week ended on a really positive note, with the other 8^th grade class engaging a ton with me.  We did some listening exercises where they had to take notes on what I was telling them about my family, myself, and Cleveland, and the next day one of their assignments was to plan a fun day for me in the region – they were all super excited to share their ideas, which mostly included eating and shopping.  It was pretty cute.  Less cute was the fact that a bunch of the girls think I look like Kristin Stewart (I’ve definitely gotten that before in Germany, not sure why) but I guess there are worse American celebrities to look like. 

My interesting German-schools-are-so-different observation of the day is that there are no school buses.  Kids ride the public busses, with tickets paid for by the school system (or at least I’m pretty sure that’s accurate…) and the public buses are scheduled around class times.  So, in the morning my bus arrives half-an-hour before the first class starts, and I can catch a bus back to Detmold after the 4^th, 5^th, 6^th, or final period.  It’s awesome and adorable how these kids just take themselves around the city, and I’ve never noticed a kid freaking out over a lost bus pass.  Quite responsible of them, no? 

Aside from not knowing the students well enough (oh, and not knowing how to teach), British English is my other big problem here.  I’ve gone to correct what people have said, only to learn that what they’re saying is totally appropriate for British English!  For example, instead of saying “review” for a test, they say “revise.”  Which just sounds super funny to me!  Turns out I’m going to be learning German and English this year…

For the next two weeks, though, I’ll be on fall break – crazy, since I totally feel like I just got here.  I’ve been decently touristy the past few days, and I’m headed to Zurich next week for 4 days, but I’ll write more on that later.