A busy school week and a VERY important day!

As I'm becoming more accustomed to the schools and the way they do things, I'm beginning to play a bigger role and on Monday I found myself in my most active role yet! I had been asked the previous week, if I would like to teach the year 8's about the difference between American English and British English. I thought this was quite an interesting topic and was keen to get fully stuck in, so I agreed. I prepared some bits over the weekend and then it was time for Mr Begley (Cringe!) to get to work! The pupils were excited at first to have a totally new teacher. They were very well behaved but in terms of contributions from the class - well, the phrase 'blood out of a stone' comes to mind. They were very quiet and even when the teacher prompted them from the back of the classroom, it didn't really have much of an effect. I played the song 'Lets Call The Whole Thing Off' to try and illustrate the differences in pronunciation of certain words and they seemed to like that. They struggled with the worksheet that I gave them, but that's understandable, as it was pretty hard! It looked at two different passages, one in British English and one in American English, and it had gaps which the pupils had to fill in. So on the British English sheet, the missing word would be petrol, whilst on the American English sheet, the missing word would be gas. Other words included Motorway - Highway, Taxi - Cab etc. We didn't manage to check all the answers as I ran out of time, but of course I still had time to give them some homework - He's a mean one, is that Mr Begley! The teacher said she thought I was very natural and I did enjoy it. It was a good experience for me.

After that lesson, it was time to speak with the year 10s. I had prepared the classic 'Who Am I?' game to do with them. This worked well but the only problem was, was that they were too good! They played several games and only 15 minutes had passed. I hadn't prepared anything else, so the last 15 minutes was filled with very small, small talk and lots of awkward silences. I told them they could leave early as we had done everything I had planned, but they were too scared that they would get told off, so they stayed! This is something that would never happen in my previous school, so I was very surprised. If someone gave me the chance to leave a class early, I would have leapt in the air, fist pumping and crying 'Yiippeeeee' and then ran out of the door in a flash. They did seem a little annoyed that I hadn't been as prepared as maybe I should have been, but next time I will make sure I have lots of extra activities to keep these super-clever, English learners busy!

Tuesday was a particularly short day at school, as it was the day of annual Teachers Trip. I was a little nervous, as I didn't really know many teachers going. At times it was a little awkward as all the teachers had already established friendship groups, so I found myself flicking between for a while. We went to a nice restaurant in a small village close to Regensburg for some delicious lunch and then walked to a castle where we were going to have a tour. The walk involved lots of hills and forest tracks and the weather was lovely and the scenery was equally as nice. We then reached the castle, which wasn't really as spectacular as some of the other castles I've already seen here in Germany and it's now used as an old peoples home. As we arrived we met our tour guide. As it turned out, this old-ish man was appropriately named Fritz Jägdl - He couldn't have been given a more German name if his mother had tried. And to go with this über-German name, he spoke with a thick accent and spoke in dialect. For those who don't know, there are lots of different types of German spoken in Germany. The German that we're taught is the standard German or 'Hochdeutsch'. However, each region has it's own particular accent and often, dialect. The accent situation is comparable to England - Scouse, Geordie, Irish, Welsh - All accents, but accents that everybody can (usually) understand. The thing with dialect, is that it's almost a totally different language. So much so, that someone from North Germany would not be able to understand someone from Bavaria, if that person was speaking in Bavarian or 'Bayerisch'.

So back to the tour - Fritz spoke in Bavarian. I don't speak Bavarian. Therefore, I couldn't tell you anything about the castle I spent two hours being told about, other than he said something about the year 1800 and that for a short time it served as a prison. Doing a two hour tour in a language you don't understand really isn't much fun, just to let you know. I was however, encouraged by the fact that many teachers also struggled to understand him, and I thought it was really thoughtful that some of the teachers even attempted to translate some of the things being said. It was a long afternoon and by the end I was pretty fed up. My brain actually hurt from trying to decipher the weird, mumbling, utterances that Fritz spoke in. But on the positive side of things, I really feel like I got to know a lot of the teachers a lot better and I did speak a lot of German, so I guess I'm glad I went.

                                                   Nice Castle, but I couldn't tell you anything about it!


On Wednesday, I took another class totally alone. It was my mentor teachers class and she was away for the day. The lovely Anja had already prepared what they needed to do, so I just had to ensure they did it! It was a year 7 class and I really enjoy working with these younger pupils. They were very excited as I walked in, but at the same time they respected me and listened to what I had to say. Before every single lesson, the pupils must stand up and the teacher says "Good Morning/Afternoon" and the pupils all reply simultaneously "Good Morning/Afternoon Mr/Mrs/Marcus" (it's not Herr or Frau because these are English lessons, remember!) It felt very special and a little surreal hearing them all greet me like this. They worked through their necessary worksheets and I helped when needed. I do find it very difficult explaining why we say what we do and the grammar behind it. For example, could you explain to a student how to form and use the Past Progressive tense? What about the Present Perfect? I can't recall ever being taught these in my English lessons. I have been taught all about these tenses in German but not in English. As native speakers we just 'know' what to say and how to say it. Explaining the reasoning behind this is very difficult.

The lesson went well. I didn't need to raise my voice or tell anyone off. They worked hard and efficiently and I had very little to do, to be honest. But I enjoyed it and will feel even more confident next time I'm in this position. Towards the end of the class, some of the students asked if I could speak German. I replied that I couldn't. So they began to teach me something. "O.K. Say this...Ich" They said. "Ich" I replied, trying to sound as confused and English as possible. "heiße" "heiße" "Marcus" "Marcus" "Ich heiße Marcus" "Ich heiße Marcus" "Hooray!" They all shouted, as they celebrated teaching me how to say my name. Most of the other students in the school know that I can speak (bad) German, but I wonder how long I can keep my lack of German knowledge up with this class. It could be amusing.

Later I went to a year 9 class and just practised some conversational skills with them. Their English was particularly good. One boy asked me how old I was. "20" I replied. "20!? You look about 17!" Hmm. I'm not really sure how to take this...

On Thursday I helped out firstly with the young year 6 class. I ended up doing quite a bit with them and did an exercise where I said a number / day of the week in German and they had to write it in English. They seemed to like hearing me speak German (I told them that I had learnt just a few numbers and days of the week especially for this class) and I most impressed when they were able to spell 'Wednesday' correctly - I still have to think twice before writing it! I then did a presentation about Australia with a new year 10 class. They were really cool and I really enjoyed working with them. They also knew my name before I had even introduced myself, so it is clear to me that I'm getting a reputation around school - although I'm not sure if its a good one or a bad one. My final class involved taking students out of the classroom and talking with them in small groups. This went well, although it is difficult as the abilities really vary and some are very shy. Normally when I ask them if they have any questions to ask me, they all shake their heads. But today, one group kept asking me questions. I quickly worked out that this was a 'stalling technique' as they didn't want to go back into the classroom and actually learn! But hey, at least they were talking!

I also nipped out into the town centre when I had a free hour and when I came back it was break time. As I entered the playground where all the pupils were playing, I was literally mobbed! Everybody was shouting my name and trying to talk to me. I honestly can't go anywhere in the school without somebody running up to me and saying hello. I really do think this is fantastic and I love it! If this continues, I'm going to have to reserve an extra seat on my flight back to England next year - One for me and one for my ego!

Lois arrived on Thursday afternoon and we get to spend over a week together which is really nice. We celebrated surviving our first term in Germany by sharing a huge sundae at one of the many ice cream cafes around Regensburg. The ice cream here is just amazing and no matter what time of day it is there is always someone eating ice cream - rain or shine, hot or cold. It appears there is never a time when ice cream is not acceptable, which is something I could certainly get used to.

Friday was one of the most important and significant days of my time here so far. The event planned on Friday would have a lasting effect on me. It could make me or it could ruin me. That's right people, it was time for my first German haircut. I was pretty intent on the fact that I didn't want to return with a typical, 1980's style German mullet, for which the Germans are infamously well known for (I have seen some of these about) so Lois and I researched some useful vocabulary that I could use at the Hairdresser's. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty nervous as we made our way to the Hairdressers in the town that I had already decided I was going trust with neatly trimming my beautiful locks. As we entered, we were instructed to take a number and take a seat. This is a very efficient service indeed. It requires no booking and it means the 'first come, first served' policy is strictly adhered to. It reminded me of when I was younger and I would visit Clarks shoe shop with Mum and Dad to get my new school shoes for the coming year. At least you can try shoes on before you buy them. Getting your hair cut is a little more...risky.

I had prepared a little description of what I wanted. I was called up and took a seat and fortunately my hairdresser seemed friendly. I explained I was English and that my German wasn't that good. I told her I wanted my hair to be 3mm long around the back and sides (Typical Germans, eh! - They want exact measurements and clear instructions) and just thinning out on top as I wanted to keep it fairly long, so that I could 'sweep' it to the side and maintain my Leonardo Di Caprio look (See previous post!) She got started and I immediately regretted opting for a 3mm length on the back and sides. I had thought, that 3mm was the equivalent to a 'number 3' in England, which is what I normally get. However, as I type this with a military style short back and sides, I now know that it is not. However, she didn't take much off the top and it turned out ok. I do like it and it does mean that I shouldn't have to get my haircut again until I'm back in England over Christmas. It could have gone ALOT worse and it was another experience that I will remember for a long time. I cant imagine there's many people who have had their hair cut in a foreign country with very limited 'haircut' vocabulary. Now
its this sort of useful stuff they should be teaching in schools!

So, Lois' family arrive tomorrow morning and we are meeting them at Nuremburg airport. We have a few ideas of things to do, but I think we will just decide on the day and see how we all feel. Nevertheless I'm really looking forward to it. I will update next week on all the happenings.

Bis bald