SEAN
Elementary Education Undergraduate |
SEAN
Elementary Education Undergraduate |
As I visited the schools in Germany I thought to myself how it was going to be with the language barrier. I don't know any German and the students know some to no English at all. I won't lie, the first couple of days observing in the classroom was awkward, but I had to tell myself to start thinking differently.
The 1st grade class that I was mostly in, as that was my host's main classroom, the students didn't speak any english. It was my goal to figure out how to communicate with them so that we can both understand each other. Body language. Body language was very important in communicating with each other, I realized it was universal. This is something that will help me in my own classroom because I now know how to communicate differently to students who may not understand something. I know that I will have to take my time with these students.
0 Comments
Our first week in Stuttgart Germany was getting acquainted with our host and their school. I won't lie, observing their classrooms here at first was very awkward. The language barrier is huge, you have no idea what they are saying and it was very hard to try and focus on what they were doing. With that being said, after a few days you were able to grasp the idea of what they were saying when they were teaching in German. I am the type of person that wants to help the students when they need it, but I had to just sit back because the 1st grade classroom I was in, the students didn't speak any english. The awesome thing about that is that the students and I learned a way to communicate with our bodies and it was actually very rewarding. I learned that we don't need a certain language to communicate with each other.(I'll write more about this in another blog.)
The schools in Stuttgart compared to the schools in Buffalo are very different but also some similarities. The teaching schedule is not the same as in Buffalo. A full-time teacher works 28 hours out of the week. Two out of the five days is 8-12:30 then 2:30-4 and the other three days are 8-12:30. There are 2 built in breaks for the students during the 8-12:30 part of school. They are two 15 minutes break between every two periods, It's a wonderful thing as it allows for the students and the teachers to give their brains a break and reset. You would never see happen in the schools in Buffalo, we should probably take some notes. The students were very excited that I am here and were filled with lots of questions. "Who's your favorite president?", "Did you go to Harvard?", "What's your favorite sport?", "Are you married?".....I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Everyone at the school have been super nice to me and are always willing to help me out when I feel lost. Some of the teacher have said that they were super nervous to teach in english when I observed their classroom, because they didn't want me to judge them. I told them that they have nothing to be nervous about, I only speak one language and they speak two and that I so much respect for them. I am so thankful for my wonderful host, Lukas. He has made sure that I felt like I am home here. He has shown what Stuttgart has to offer and how to live like a German in this city. He has made me home cooked meals, provided me with the local beers from around here, and also shown me how to be a wonderful teacher. |
AuthorI am a Childhood Education Major with a concentration in Social Studies. I am very active in the Buffalo theatre community and have performed with many local theatre companies. I studied musical theatre in NYC and have worked at Walt Disney World as a Character/Parade performer. Last summer I had the privilege of traveling to Rwanda with The Anne Frank Project and I'm very excited to be traveling to Germany. ArchivesCategories |