Today I went for the second time to a 6th grade Regionalschule class. Last week when I went they were extremely interested (albeit fidgety) and asked me tons of questions about myself. This week however, as soon as the teacher and I walked into the room fighting broke out (or more likely continued) among the students and two girls burst into tears. I sat myself down at the teacher's desk in the corner while the real teacher took over in German to try to solve the problem. As I sat there, slack-jawed and squinty-eyed, trying to concentrate and follow the discussion of what had happened, the voices just kept rising and more tears started flowing.
It was just like watching a reality drama show! But it was real! And it was 6th graders! That made it not so great. Once I finally figured out what they had been fighting about, I almost stood up and yelled at them in English, "Are you guys really THAT ridiculous??" From the sounds of it, one girl had been looking weirdly at another girl and the other girl got mad and familial insults flew, then one girl shoved another but the other told everyone she punched her... and that's where I got lost. By that point in the lesson most of the class was giving their input against one girl and the one who's side everyone was on was sobbing on her friend's shoulder while intermittedly yelling things that, if translated to English, could have sounded like something from Jerry Springer. It was in German though, so the interaction was more like this:
Thankfully there was half a room between the girls, or else it might have ended the same way. The teacher I was with did a wonderful job of being fair and settling everyone down as much as possible, and we were able to finish the last third or so of the lesson as planned. Or so I thought. While the students were supposed to be writing down "celebration words" in groups, I walked around and noticed one group had only written down "borrring". I told them to write more and they flat out refused. While we were going over the words the groups had written down I noticed two boys in the front eating glue sticks. What the hell? On top of that, hardly anyone was paying attention at all and the poor teacher had to continually stop to get everyone to listen again.
The whole lesson was so weird and so not what I'm used to, but I suppose that might be what all the teachers refer to as the difference between the Gymnasium students and the Regionalshule students. It could also be an example of "Pubertät" that the teachers are constantly complaining about. The other 6th grade class I have loves answering questions, is always engaged, (for the most part) listens intently, and I usually teach a half of the class without the teacher there at all. The class today sort of scared me. One of the more vocal and rough looking girls was much bigger than me too, which wasn't a good feeling.
It was only after class that I remembered why most of the kids looked familiar. In the first weeks at the school I had to do a substitution lesson for a gym class. Their gym class... and it basically had gone the same way, but with more flustered-ness from me and even more crying on the girls' parts. One girl had even run away from the gym building and we couldn't find her! Super! They scarred me in my first month, but I am determined to over come them. I will gain their respect and they will end up listening to me, if its the last thing I do.
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