Week #3 in Germany

This week was my last week to sit in on classes before I actually start teaching in my conversation groups next week. Monday I sat in with a 6th grade, Tuesday 8th, Wednesday 10th, Thursday 9th and today 5th. It was really interesting to see the variation in classes, ranging from the super-sweet well behaved 5th grade, to the overly obnoxious hormonal 9th grade. But with all the classes, I was incredibly impressed at their level of English. The 5th graders understood when I introduced myself and were able to ask me lots of questions and understand the answers, and the 9th graders understood every disapproving word I said, as I told them they should be ashamed of themselves for being so immature. Albeit, that was a negative experience, but the fact that they could understand me telling them off in English still made me proud.

Through all my experiences this week, the most awe-inspiring thing for me was the flexibility of the teachers. I spent one day with a specific grade, while my colleagues spent the day constantly switching gears. What's more, is that they teach a variety of subjects. Back home, we'll typically have a teacher that teaches, say, 7th and 8th grade English, and someone else who teaches 7th and 8th grade History, and that's the only grades and topic they teach all day, every day. Over here, they'll have a teacher who teaches grades 5 through 13 English, German and Geography, and they have to change the topic or grade they're teaching almost every period and every day. One of my colleagues said it must get boring to teach the same topic, but I would think it would get exhausting to be constantly changing. 

In the end, to each his/her own. All I can say is, I'm glad that I get to stay with upper level English, repeating the same topics everyday, and know that my lesson plan is tried and true by the end of the week.