Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Hohenwestedt Tag & Nacht

Take 25 eleven year olds, stick them together all day, everyday and add just a dash of drama and what do you get? No, not the world's youngest production of Les Mis... RIDICULOUSNESS is the answer I was looking for.

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.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Ahoy there!

Well well... it has been a few weeks since I last posted about my winter break trip and honestly, not too much has been happening in Schleswig-Holstein.  The snow piled up, the temperature dropped and then the next week the sun was out and everything melted.  That's fine with me though; bring on Spring!

In mid-January the new semester started at Schule Hohe Geest (where I work), but I lucked out by still only having to teach Tuesday-Thursday.  I'm looking forward to soon starting my after school English Club, where hopefully I'll be able to encourage the students to use English more and to show them that learning a language can be fun! w00t!

February is rounding the corner to being almost over and as March approaches I am getting ever more excited for our Berlin conference.  In mid-March all of the English Teaching Assistants in Germany (and from some other countries around Europe) will be attending a week long gathering with other Fulbright grantees from the US and Germany.  Judging by what other people said of it last year, it is quite the week.  I'm excited to see other ETAs that I haven't seen since the orientation and to also meet some new people as well.  There will be tours of Berlin, speakers, networking sessions, talent showcases and of course parties.  I haven't been to Berlin since our Rotary Berlin Tour in 2005, so I can't wait to see it through older, more educated and experienced eyes.

In other, less work related news, my German class finished last week.  I was pretty happy with the grade of "2" that I got.  Just in case you freaked out when you read that, the grade scale is from 1-6, with 1 being the best. ;) I am debating taking another course next semester, in hopes of getting my C1 certificate, C1 being the highest level of foreign language certification you can get in Europe.  That would certainly be a good thing to have!  On the other hand, the class last semester was Thursdays from 7:30pm-9pm and Fridays from 3:15pm-6:30pm... which was a huge drag.  Well, considering the new semester doesn't start until April I have some time to debate it.

Last weekend I took a little trip to Hamburg to do some sightseeing.  My friend and I visited the Miniature Wunderland museum, which has huge rooms full of model trains that chug through tiny and intricate scenes from different countrysides.  We also went to The Beatles museum!  Since The Beatles were playing in Hamburg when they started to blow up.  It is a big source of pride for Hamburgers (and yes, people from Hamburg are called 'Hamburgers').  It was pretty awesome seeing it too, since I'm a huge Beatles fan. :) Another very cool thing we did was walk out onto the frozen Alster. The Alster is a lake in the middle of the city and it is very rare that the temperature drops enough for it to entirely freeze. Well, last weekend it was the perfect conditions so the city opened the ice for people to skate on and enjoy.  It was pretty much a once or twice in a lifetime experience!  Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me.  Fail.

Speaking of pictures, I got the roll of film I brought to Turkey with me developed.  Some came out pretty well, so here they are:














There were also miscellaneous photos from the first half of my year here:

Kiel

Dr. Soldberg

Denmark

Annie (fellow ETA) and her boyfriend, Matt, in Denmark.

Flensburg

Flensburg
Well, that's all I've got for now so...

Until Next Time,
Chelsea