New Schedule

As Tuesday marked the start of the second half of the school year, all the students’ and teachers’ schedules changed, which meant mine did too.  While I’ve happily held on to some classes, like my adorable sixth graders, and sadly lost some, like my awesome ninth graders who I went on the class trip with, I’ve also got some completely new ones.  This quarter, I’ve got a fifth grade class – they’re wild but super enthusiastic – a different ninth grade class, and some additional upper-level-classes.  The teachers want me to help prep the 13^th graders for their oral English exams, and while its exciting to know I’m helping out with something really important, it’s also a little scary.  Hoping we get them all to a good place before the exam…!

The most positive thing about my new schedule, though, is that I’m working with some different teachers, and thus feeling even more integrated into the system.  It’s amazing how friendly everyone is once I get to know them a bit; they’re always inviting me to birthday celebrations and the like.  The feeling of integration and purpose that comes from working at a school is incredible, and it’s genuinely been a much more positive experience overall then when I was at university in Tübingen.  

Tuesday was a really great day for me, as when I walked into my sixth graders’ room, the teacher handed me his book and said “want to teach these two pages?” For really the first time, I just did it, without getting all flustered or questioning myself or needing an hour to think about what I should do.  It’s really exciting that I’m developing a feel for how to organize a class period and direct the students through various activities, and since these kids are super enthusiastic and sweet I’m able to focus on my teaching and their learning without dealing with any behavior issues.  Biggest issue? I keep forgetting to make them use complete sentences! I think this is because normal conversations do not consist of complete sentences, so statement that sound (and are) still very correct aren’t necessarily the statement/kind of practice that is going to help the kids actually develop their English to the highest level possible.

In conclusion, two things about German students that continue to crack me up:

1.     German kids are obsessed with white-out.  Each student appears to have two or three different kinds, and they use them in their personal notes, not just on a assignments…very few students seem to be able to cross things out, leading to veryyyyyyy slowly produced work. It’s all just very orderly and German.

2.     German kids have absolutely decked-out pencil cases. In addition to the pens and pencils one would expect, they have their white-outs, various rulers, glue sticks, colored pencils, highlighters, etc…they’re extremely well prepared, but again, this leads to some slow classroom work, as they alternate between colors and writing materials.

Basically, the Germans learn their orderly and elaborate ways early!