The past two weeks I have been doing more observing, more introductions, and answering more questions in various classes around the school. Frau Krumrück wanted me to get to know each class before I began focusing my time on the 11th and 8th graders.
23. September: I observed Frau Krumrück's 7th grade class. I also sat in on Frau Wollenberg's 8th grade class, introduced myself, and answered questions for a bit. On a more interesting note, I started working with two Polish students (one who comes to the Lernzeit regularly, and another who comes less regularly) on reading. Frau Krumrück asked me to simply have them read texts to me, correct their pronunciation, and then have them read the text again, but I am wondering if I could look into better methods to help them. Perhaps this could be a research project in the future!
24. September: I worked with the two Polish students again today.
25. September: I saw the Polish student who comes regularly (Marvin) during Lernzeit again today. Some of the words we have been working on are starting to stick, which makes me happy. I also introduced myself and answered questions in Frau Krumrück's 9th grade class.
26. September: I went to Frau Wollenberg's same 8th grade class today to observe. The class was working on the present perfect progressive, so I learned a little bit about English grammar, too!
27. September: I sat in on Frau Krumrück's 7th grade class as they corrected their homework and did a listening comprehension test.
Some general notes from this week: Many, if not all, of the teachers I have observed seem to teach grammar without much of a context. I have seen a lot of grammar worksheets. The teachers here also tend to be blunter than American teachers to the point where I begin to wonder if they are being too mean or not.
30. September: This was an interesting day in Frau Krumrück's classroom. She began the 2-hour lesson with an activity in which we wrote down 4 items that we would take with us if we were to move to another country. We then got into groups and then had to decide on one 4-item list between the 4 of us. My group was pretty quiet, and it was tough to get them to speak English to me. Frau Krumrück then gave a lesson on the Statue of Liberty, beginning with a song called "Back in the New York Groove". She even dressed the part in a green blanket and a Statue of Liberty foam hat. It was a fun lesson, but the different parts didn't quiet go together. There were too many elements, from a discussion of the homework about American vs. British English to a text about immigrants.
I then met with the Polish student, Marvin. Finally, I went up to Herr Hettig's room by request, and he asked that I take three 11th grade students outside and have a discussion about the theme that they are working on: adolescence and independence. We ended up just chatting about the differences between the American and German school systems, as well as differences between Germany and Poland. Herr Hettig told me later that these students are the best in this particular English class, so he feels like they are bored and not reaching their full potential sitting in class.
1. October: I was picking Jesse up from the airport, so I wasn't in class.
2. October: After working with Marvin for a bit on reading, I went to Herr Hettig's history class again. This time his class was discussing the Constitution, so I was asked to talk about patriotism in the United States. It was a fairly interesting discussion, and I learned that Polish people tend to be more patriotic than Germans. I then stayed for another hour in Herr Hettig's classroom, an 11th grade class, and he asked me to start a discussion about this theme of adolescence. I had no idea where to begin, it was pretty spontaneous, but I think I did a pretty good job of keeping the conversation going by asking questions about the differences between the United States and Germany. We ended up talking a lot about prom, homecoming, and school spirit.
This was a short week, so I had Thursday (Tag der Deutschen Einheit) and Friday off to spend with Jesse.
I hope I will begin teaching lessons soon. I plan on talking to Frau Krumrück after fall break if nothing changes by then.
- Amy
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