Week 24

This week we came back from winter break, which was two weeks long.  During the winter break I met with the student from the Regionalschule for two more tutoring sessions.  I then met with her again the Monday we went back to school and on that Tuesday.  It seems like what she wants from these sessions is help with homework and occasional test preparation, so I have been helping her answer questions, write texts, and practice different grammar forms.

On the first Tuesday back, February 18, I went to Frau Krumrück's 11th grade class and watched the students give presentations about the varieties of English.  On this day students presented information about British English, Irish English, and Australian English.  I also gave a short presentation about American English, although I felt that there was so much information and so much I wanted to say, it was hard to pare everything down to a 10 minute presentation.  I really enjoyed talking about American English though.

On that same Tuesday in the 5th and 6th lessons I was in class with the 12th graders.  In the first hour the students worked on a grammar activity, but in the second hour I lead a discussion with two separate groups.  It was a bit tough because the students who aren't taking the English portion of the Abitur stayed for both groups, but I still gave the second group a couple minutes to write down key words and thoughts about the subject before we discussed.  The topic Frau Krumrück gave me was "How can the problem of high unemployment be solved?"

Finally on Tuesday I did some reading tutoring and met with my group of 7th graders in the Lernzeit.  With the 7th graders I lead a discussion about what they did during the two-week break, first having them make some notes about the topic, just as I had done with Frau Krumrück's 12th graders.

Wednesday was a little more relaxed.  I went to Herr Hettig's 11th grade English classes to talk about what makes a nation.  In both classes Herr Hettig first presented a standard definition of "nation."  Then I talked about what I think makes the United States a unified country and how it differs from the standard definition, focusing on the issue of diversity.  Students then created lists of the elements of a country (culture, traditions, sense of belonging, etc.), and I walked around the room to help.

On Thursday I led another discussion with a group of Frau Krumrück's 12th graders.  This time the theme was "Who has the greatest influence on the economy?"  I am glad the students had some great ideas about this topic, since I am no economist!  In the 5th and 6th hour Herr Hettig then requested that I take groups of students into an empty classroom and just have conversations with them in English.  We ended up talking about hobbies, hopes for the future, and a little bit about American culture when the students asked questions.

- Amy