The last two weeks have been incredibly draining, both at school and in the WG.
Last week, I put in 15 hours of face time in the classroom because I was transitioning between my old and new schedules. I'm back at 12 scheduled hours now (actually, I only taught 8 hours this week due to teachers being sick), but my workload outside of school has gone up!
I think I've mentioned that I seem to be the only ETA in Germany who writes the majority of her own lesson plans and who teaches large groups by herself in most classes. Just to clarify, I do not teach entire classes by myself (I *have* taught Vertretungsstunden with another teacher as a warm body in the room); I usually take half of the class (which is still 16+ students). Other ETAs do pull-out groups and/or take half of the class, but they don't have to prep 9+ lessons/week. :) The great thing is that I'm starting to work with a lot of parallel track classes, so I can reteach a lot of my lessons. For example, beginning next week, I'll use the same lesson plan with three Leistungskurse (LK), and since I'm in all of the 10th grade classes, I'll end up repeating quite a few lessons by the end of the year.
This week was also the Fachkonferenz for English. In the past, I haven't attended these meetings-- actually, I was never invited to attend. However, I was invited to this meeting for some reason, and I decided to go. Bonus points for collegiality? I have to say, I knew that the English teachers were a relatively non-dysfunctional and cohesive group, but I didn't realize how willing they were to do tandem work with other classes. For example, they're setting up an online Lernraum with extra practice material for all LK students, and they talked about working with other classes to set up opportunities for speaking practice, writing, and grammar practice during the normal class hours. (Snaps for My Gymnasium and the teachers!) They're also a flexible group: after E mentioned that she already was splitting her LK and giving me the stronger group for speaking, HJ decided to let me try the same thing with his classes. (Unfortunately, the main reason that we're splitting the LK is because the teachers have an abnormally high number of weak students.)
Even though I didn't have a lot to say during the Fachkonferenz, I got a boost of confidence in my German skills after realizing that I understood the entire two-hour meeting. The teachers only used four words that weren't in my passive vocabulary, and I could figure them out from the context. (Snaps for me, too!) Also, I have to say that observing the power dynamics at work at the Fachkonferenz was also very entertaining. The more senior teachers joked around, teased each other, and referred to things they've tried in the past, while the younger teachers and Referendare sat there quietly.
As for life in the WG, I've been overworked and underpaid. On Monday, I had to watch Dumpling for an extra four hours on top of the normal four hours, and Mama gave me 9 Euro and two wedges of cheese. On Tuesday, I babysat for two kids for four hours, and Mama bought me cookies. This weekend, I'm dog-sitting and guinea-pig-sitting, and I probably won't get paid at all. (On the other hand, I did whine to Mama about how the dogs peed and pooped all over the apartment last night, despite my 11:30 PM and 6:30 AM potty trips...) I think I am going to become extremely busy in the evenings all of a sudden.
At least I don't have any foreign language classes until April. I got a 1,7 in my C1 German class, which was about what I had expected. The strange thing is that I scored an 85 on the placement test in October, which put me solidly in the middle of C1. I just retook the placement test, and I got a 78. Bizarre. I'm going to chalk that up to a bad test day, but I probably should ask the professor if I should retake C1 or take C2. (I have an unusually large gap between my speaking level and my oral comprehension, reading, writing, and grammar levels. I think I am about B2.2 in speaking, beziehungsweise C1 3/4 in everything else.) To make up for not having German class, I decided to read all of the Harry Potters auf Deutsch. It's a great vocabulary builder, and I hope it'll help with lexis, as well.
One last thing: someone found my blog by searching "rice crispies berlin," which is all kinds of awesome. Yay for chocolate Rice Krispie Treats!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
A Busy Week...
Have you ever tried to negotiate your schedule with nine teachers, in your second language? No? Well, it's not fun, but I think I've finally settled on my twelve hours! I'm now in a 7th grade class, an 8th grade class, two 9th grade classes, all of the 10th grade classes, and four 12th grade classes. Woot!
Highlights from the last week:
- The 12th grade class that I was angry at two weeks ago redeemed themselves by being totally into my lesson on civil rights and Brown v. Board of Education. I gave them a choice between continuing in the Civil Rights Movement and looking at the 2008 election, and the response was unanimous: "CIVIL RIGHTS!" Unfortunately, my Freedom Summer lesson plan didn't go quite as well; I had planned it around the song "We Shall Overcome," and then there weren't any speakers in the room. The students were pretty engaged, though.
- I visited two 10th grade classes last week, and the teacher told one class that I couldn't speak any German. Unfortunately, she didn't remember that I had spoken auf Deutsch the last time I visited that class and that we had walked into class speaking German to each other. :)
- Today, I went back to the 10th grade class that is bound and determined to get me to speak German. One boy is still convinced that I'm monolingual, but another girl walked in and started chatting away to me in German. Not fair!
- I had some extra time on Tuesday, so I visited the 5th graders. They didn't behave especially well, but they are so adorable... awww.
- After killing some time with the 5th graders on Tuesday, I went to a local cafe with two teachers and another student about my age, who is studying German, English, and Lehramt. It's always nice to meet more people my age, and I walked away with even more respect for the teacher that I work with. (I don't know the other teacher very well; she's not an English teacher.) There is a reason that I want to stay in her class, even though it's an age group that I'm not particularly good with: she has such a good rapport with the students, and she can get them under control extremely quickly (and without yelling). I just love her classroom management style; I think I'm going to have to take her out for coffee later in the year and pick her brain about how she does it.
- I also really respect my new BL's teaching style: she's less maternal, more strict, but still completely approachable and fair. The students don't try to bargain with her like they do in other classes. (My first BL's teaching style was somewhere in-between the last teacher's and my new BL's methods. I liked her style, too!)
- Of course, singling out these teachers doesn't mean that I disagree with how the other teachers control their classrooms. :) Overall, the English teachers are extremely kind and don't humiliate the students.
- I also visited the last 10th grade class and another 9th grade class, and both seemed nice. The 10th graders were very chatty, but the 9th graders were one of the quietest classes that I've had so far!
- J and I went to the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) to see The Guard. I have to admit, I wasn't a fan of the film for at least the first half, but I ended up really liking it. :) After the movie, I went to My Gymnasium's choir concert, which lasted for three hours! I couldn't believe how long the choirs sang... (The choir also made me immensely grateful for my school's performing arts program... but I do prefer the focus on academics at Gymnasien.)
- On Monday night, I met up with a few students from my German class. We ended up trading tongue twisters in our native languages! I can now pronounce "szczebryzszymie." Say hello from K if you see a Polish guy walking around and muttering about pickled peppers and woodchucks. Quote of the day: "Weil die Polen nach Prag gekommen sind!" The Polish student could turn every conversation into needling the Czech student about her (actually nonexistent) dislike for Polish people. :)
And one thing that American teachers can't say:
Teacher: "As you can see, we have a guest today. This is K, and she is going to supervise you during the film. If you don't behave, she'll shoot you."
The students' reaction? "Oh, yeah, she's an American!"
They probably could use a cultural stereotype lesson. :)
Highlights from the last week:
- The 12th grade class that I was angry at two weeks ago redeemed themselves by being totally into my lesson on civil rights and Brown v. Board of Education. I gave them a choice between continuing in the Civil Rights Movement and looking at the 2008 election, and the response was unanimous: "CIVIL RIGHTS!" Unfortunately, my Freedom Summer lesson plan didn't go quite as well; I had planned it around the song "We Shall Overcome," and then there weren't any speakers in the room. The students were pretty engaged, though.
- I visited two 10th grade classes last week, and the teacher told one class that I couldn't speak any German. Unfortunately, she didn't remember that I had spoken auf Deutsch the last time I visited that class and that we had walked into class speaking German to each other. :)
- Today, I went back to the 10th grade class that is bound and determined to get me to speak German. One boy is still convinced that I'm monolingual, but another girl walked in and started chatting away to me in German. Not fair!
- I had some extra time on Tuesday, so I visited the 5th graders. They didn't behave especially well, but they are so adorable... awww.
- After killing some time with the 5th graders on Tuesday, I went to a local cafe with two teachers and another student about my age, who is studying German, English, and Lehramt. It's always nice to meet more people my age, and I walked away with even more respect for the teacher that I work with. (I don't know the other teacher very well; she's not an English teacher.) There is a reason that I want to stay in her class, even though it's an age group that I'm not particularly good with: she has such a good rapport with the students, and she can get them under control extremely quickly (and without yelling). I just love her classroom management style; I think I'm going to have to take her out for coffee later in the year and pick her brain about how she does it.
- I also really respect my new BL's teaching style: she's less maternal, more strict, but still completely approachable and fair. The students don't try to bargain with her like they do in other classes. (My first BL's teaching style was somewhere in-between the last teacher's and my new BL's methods. I liked her style, too!)
- Of course, singling out these teachers doesn't mean that I disagree with how the other teachers control their classrooms. :) Overall, the English teachers are extremely kind and don't humiliate the students.
- I also visited the last 10th grade class and another 9th grade class, and both seemed nice. The 10th graders were very chatty, but the 9th graders were one of the quietest classes that I've had so far!
- J and I went to the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) to see The Guard. I have to admit, I wasn't a fan of the film for at least the first half, but I ended up really liking it. :) After the movie, I went to My Gymnasium's choir concert, which lasted for three hours! I couldn't believe how long the choirs sang... (The choir also made me immensely grateful for my school's performing arts program... but I do prefer the focus on academics at Gymnasien.)
- On Monday night, I met up with a few students from my German class. We ended up trading tongue twisters in our native languages! I can now pronounce "szczebryzszymie." Say hello from K if you see a Polish guy walking around and muttering about pickled peppers and woodchucks. Quote of the day: "Weil die Polen nach Prag gekommen sind!" The Polish student could turn every conversation into needling the Czech student about her (actually nonexistent) dislike for Polish people. :)
And one thing that American teachers can't say:
Teacher: "As you can see, we have a guest today. This is K, and she is going to supervise you during the film. If you don't behave, she'll shoot you."
The students' reaction? "Oh, yeah, she's an American!"
They probably could use a cultural stereotype lesson. :)
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Random Updates
I realized that I haven't talked a lot about My Gymnasium recently, so here's an update about what has been going on:
- Despite the fact that it has been a mere four weeks since Christmas break, Berlin decided that last week would be a great time for another break. Yay!
- One of the teachers decided to switch me out of her 7th grade class and put me with her 12th grade class. Good move, if you ask me-- the 7th graders don't behave well for the main teacher, so they ran all over me. Plus, 7th graders are still doing a lot of scripted work and grammar, and I'm pretty much incapable of explaining English grammar.
- I am unhappy with another 12th grade class because I let them pick the discussion topic, and then they didn't bother to read the 1-page article that I provided... and they were over 5 minutes late to class. It was pretty much a waste of a class, and I was looking forward to the topic (the Dream Act).
- The 7th grade class that I was worried about before break ran into some problems with their grades: two had to leave the school, and two new students joined the class.
- Just before break, I had one of those brilliant moments that every teacher dreams of: I was with one of my favorite classes (a notoriously difficult 9th grade class that actually behaves better for me than for many of their teachers) with a substitute teacher. Because the sub was supposed to teach an English lesson even though she doesn't really speak English, I volunteered to throw together a lesson about twenty minutes before class. For about ten minutes, all of their eyes were on the text, and everyone was listening to the student who was reading. It made me smile. :) Of course, they started to act up a bit later, but it was great while it lasted!
- I get to revise my schedule tomorrow! I'm hoping to pick up a 9th grade and 10th grade class.
In other news:
- I love love love the WG dogs.
- Passed the CSET for Foundation Level Math! Woo! (The pass rate for subtest I and II is 26% and 35%, respectively, for people who have less than 24 credits of math and who took the CSET for the first time.)
- Apparently, the Super Bowl was a valid excuse for missing German class. I might have watched the game if I had known that in advance...
- I am getting to be very experienced with German Apotheken. During one of my first trips to Germany, I was allergic to the detergent and broke out in a massive rash. On the next trip, I walked through nettles while hiking. This time around, I've been sick on and off for the past two months. In the US, if you've had a sore throat, cough, and pressure around your sinuses for a week, you'd probably get an antibiotic or some kind of medicine. In Germany, I got sage tea. I went back and demanded cough syrup, and it's an all-natural thyme-flavored syrup. Needless to say, my cough hasn't gone away...
- Despite the fact that it has been a mere four weeks since Christmas break, Berlin decided that last week would be a great time for another break. Yay!
- One of the teachers decided to switch me out of her 7th grade class and put me with her 12th grade class. Good move, if you ask me-- the 7th graders don't behave well for the main teacher, so they ran all over me. Plus, 7th graders are still doing a lot of scripted work and grammar, and I'm pretty much incapable of explaining English grammar.
- I am unhappy with another 12th grade class because I let them pick the discussion topic, and then they didn't bother to read the 1-page article that I provided... and they were over 5 minutes late to class. It was pretty much a waste of a class, and I was looking forward to the topic (the Dream Act).
- The 7th grade class that I was worried about before break ran into some problems with their grades: two had to leave the school, and two new students joined the class.
- Just before break, I had one of those brilliant moments that every teacher dreams of: I was with one of my favorite classes (a notoriously difficult 9th grade class that actually behaves better for me than for many of their teachers) with a substitute teacher. Because the sub was supposed to teach an English lesson even though she doesn't really speak English, I volunteered to throw together a lesson about twenty minutes before class. For about ten minutes, all of their eyes were on the text, and everyone was listening to the student who was reading. It made me smile. :) Of course, they started to act up a bit later, but it was great while it lasted!
- I get to revise my schedule tomorrow! I'm hoping to pick up a 9th grade and 10th grade class.
In other news:
- I love love love the WG dogs.
- Passed the CSET for Foundation Level Math! Woo! (The pass rate for subtest I and II is 26% and 35%, respectively, for people who have less than 24 credits of math and who took the CSET for the first time.)
- Apparently, the Super Bowl was a valid excuse for missing German class. I might have watched the game if I had known that in advance...
- I am getting to be very experienced with German Apotheken. During one of my first trips to Germany, I was allergic to the detergent and broke out in a massive rash. On the next trip, I walked through nettles while hiking. This time around, I've been sick on and off for the past two months. In the US, if you've had a sore throat, cough, and pressure around your sinuses for a week, you'd probably get an antibiotic or some kind of medicine. In Germany, I got sage tea. I went back and demanded cough syrup, and it's an all-natural thyme-flavored syrup. Needless to say, my cough hasn't gone away...
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