Despite particularly lacking motivation on Monday morning (although this feeling is becoming an ever present part of my Monday morning), my week hasn't been bad. My first lesson went ok and involved me supporting students as they made posters about their favourite bands, which would then be presented the following lesson. I suggested some changes and corrected a few mistakes and I enjoyed it. The next lesson was with the Year 10s and doing a little more speaking preparation. I was in the class with them and just generally assisting the teacher with any queries. However, some of the things that we being taught grated on me a little. For example, the class were working on a picture description. They had to describe what they can see in a picture and make some suggestions as to the situation. One boy exclaimed that the boy in the picture was wearing 'sports shoes' - perfectly acceptable I thought. But the teacher quickly 'corrected' him and said they were called 'sneakers'. As I'm sure you folks at home are aware, we would never say this word! Sneakers is American and I've never heard it used in the UK. These Americanisms continued as words like 'realise' were written on the board, but spelt with a 'z' instead of a 's'. It's a trend I've noticed for a while now and it gets to me a little bit. The students learn 'English', and I therefore think that they should be taught 'English', as in British English. Unfortunately the dominance of America and American English in film, music, TV etc means that everybody, even us in the UK, begin to pick up these words and I just don't like it. It's not really my position to say what they should and shouldn't be taught, but unfortunately this is the case, and I don't think it's the case in my just school either. My final class of the day was my weekly conversation class, again with a Year 10 class. We did more speaking practice in preparation for their exam, but some of the boys were being a little louder than normal. Now I'm not someone who raises their voice and I would probably agree with the statement that I'm a pushover. I find it difficult to tell others off and I know that I let students get away with too much, but I just cant bring myself to discipline them! I asked politely a few times for them to quieten down, but the quiet didn't last long. However, Germany being Germany, people like to tell others exactly what they think, so soon enough, other members of the class, indeed their friends, were shouting at them and telling them to be quiet. Not even in a jokey manner, but full-on shouting and telling them to shut up. This seemed to work and they did quieten down (well, for a bit) I just thought this was so good and shows the attitude of most young people here. This is a stark contrast to England, where anybody who tried to tell other classmates to be quiet would be laughed at and labelled 'a geek' or 'a nerd'. The class is a great class and all very friendly and I enjoy working with them, but like all teenagers they just like to talk. My difficulty in disciplining is just another reason as to why I'm never going to be a teacher!
Monday evening brought a pleasant surprise, in the fact that it was still light at 17:30! That's right, I could still see daylight at half-past five! It's such a nice change, and equally, although I often still leave the flat in the dark, by the time I reach school, the sun is rising. I actually believe that Spring is slowly coming, now that I've seen the evidence. For the past month (January felt like a long month), I was beginning to question whether Spring was indeed approaching or whether it was a conspiracy and we would forever be stuck in this cold, German winter.
Tuesday was a particularly easy day as I only had one lesson. The other lessons I normally take part in were cancelled due to teacher illness and the whole school finished early as a result of a teacher conference taking place. I'm pleased to say I used my new found free time positively and did a little essay work and planned a few lessons. On Wednesday, I recorded another listening and checked some work. The students had been discussing the advantages and disadvantages of being famous and made a poster with the different reasons. I was highly amused by one poster which simply had one disadvantage - 'You will have Haters'. Another English/American word, which the Germans now use. It made me laugh. After this, since I had a free lesson, I helped Anja with some marking. The red pen once again made an appearance and I began correcting students' texts. I was, as ever, impressed and wrote some very positive comments. I enjoyed the marking process (although it took an age! Teachers really do have it hard!) and Anja later reported that the class loved the fact that I had marked their work. I may be doing more in the future. Something else worth mentioning that occurred on Wednesday, was a conversation between me and another teacher. She was asking me to do some lessons with here and practise speaking with her class. I willingly obliged and I thanked her. But why did I thank her? She immediately picked up on this and said "I should be thanking you!" and I realised she had a point. I had pretty much thanked her for giving me more work, which although I don't mind it, seems a little odd. This was just another example of the British being overly polite. The Germans don't say thank you (or rather 'Danke') very often, but when they do, at least you know they mean it!
Thursday was a particularly interesting day. My first lesson was with the Year 5s, who were as excited as ever. They appear to have cottoned on the fact that I can speak German, so I'm inundated with German questions. I tell them to ask in English and only then will I answer, which seems to work. Now to the interesting part - The school had a visit from a former Neo-Nazi who came in to talk about his time spent in an Extreme Right Wing group, with the Year 10s. It really was interesting, yet equally shocking, as he told of some atrocious acts which he had been a part of. He now speaks out against Right Wing extremism, after seeing it first hand. Apparently he's quite well known in Germany, but as a result of his anti-right-wing campaign, he has had to relocate several times. I thought this was one-off opportunity, as there are not many of these kind of people about and I think it really had a big effect of many of the students. His presentation lasted almost 2 hours and was obviously all in German. I can honestly say that after it, I was exhausted. Honestly, I was exhausted. Despite the fact I had only been sitting, I felt completely drained. That being said, I really did enjoy it. It's amazing how much energy you need to just concentrate! I had to go and get some food and fresh air and as it happened, I actually found myself enjoying a pretzel sat on the bank of the Danube and just relaxing watching the river and the boats on it - It was very peaceful and thinking about it now, so very German! After another conversation class and a quick haircut (which I'm pretty used to now), I then rode home. The sun was shining and it was actually warm. Regensburg looked so pretty and it was another moment where I realised how lucky how I was. Or maybe it was just the fact it was Thursday, my weekend had begun, and Lois and I were going to Barcelona! Woo!
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