My first day at e.o.plauen-Grundschule, an elementary school in Kreuzberg, a mostly Turkish neighborhood in Berlin, where I taught English as a Fulbright assistant.
I have to go to bed soon but I absolutely had to write about my first day of school today!!! First of all, it was pretty unexpected... I'm not actually supposed to start until after my orientation, which is next week. But all the kids go back to school today, and since I'm already here I thought it would be exciting to experience the first couple days of school, since it's kind of a big deal. :) I emailed the teacher I'll be working with last week to ask her if I could come visit the school this week, and I didn't here back from her until late last night, just in time to head straight to bed so I could get up early today and go to school!
To put it simply - it was wonderful. I am so incredibly happy to be where I am. I'll even admit - when I stepped onto the school grounds I got a little teary-eyed. I have read about German schools and studied the situation of immigrant schoolchildren for several years, and to finally be at an elementary school in Kreuzberg was almost like traveling for the first time to a foreign country you've always dreamed of seeing, that you've read and learned about for years. It was a similar feeling to how I felt when I first visited Germany my sophomore year of high school. I don't know why I didn't think through it sooner, but the feeling was totally unexpected... and incredibly beautiful.
I absolutely adore these kids. The teacher I work with - her name is Ulrike - has a 5th grade "homeroom" class, and teaches English and math for her homeroom as well as a few other classes - for English, another 5th grade class, two 4th grade classes, and a 3rd grade class. I will probably be assisting in all of those classes. Today I met Ulrike's homeroom class and the two 4th grade classes. Almost all of the kids are Turkish. In Ulrike's homeroom there are two German boys, and in the 4th grade classes there is a Lebanese girl, an African boy, and a few others who aren't Turkish. The kids all speak German pretty well though, and speak mostly German with each other - though I wasn't with them at recess. The kids got to interview me and they asked the funniest questions - first the obvious, where I'm from, how old I am, if I have siblings, what my hobbies are, my favorite color, but they also had to know if I was married, and when I said no, if I had a boyfriend! They also wanted to know my parents' and brother's names, and where/how I learned German. One kid asked if I'd ever seen Indians, and what they look like! :) Then Ulrike had them guess what 3rd language I am learning, and when they guessed Turkish they were very excited and got to ask me a few questions in Turkish. They liked the idea that I could teach them my language and they could teach me theirs.
For English class, the kids all get to pick English names. They had names like Mary, Betty (they thought it was cool that that's my mom's name too!), Nicole, Jennifer, Sandy, Miriam, Angela, Olivia and the boys were Henry, Harry, Bob, Johnny, Michael... Keep in mind, they learn British English. In their textbooks there are pictures of little British kids in their British school uniforms - so funny! But Ulrike is not a teach-out-of-the-textbook kind of teacher. She is very spunky and likes to have the kids up and moving around, singing and dancing. We sang songs like "Good morning to you," "10 Little Indians," and, my favorite, "5 Little Frogs." I'd never heard this one before, but it is very funny and involves some dancing and jumping. :)
The school itself is very nice. The building is beautiful - not like American schools, which are often just big brick boxes, but a 4-story dark brick building with big windows and a big courtyard where the kids play at recess. Instead of a big huge cafeteria, there is a kitchen where the food is prepared and then the kids eat in a couple different smaller lunchrooms at round tables. I'm pretty sure all the kids eat the cafeteria food, but they bring their own snack for the morning. The kids are at school until 4:00 because the school is on a "full-day" program (Ganztagsschule). A lot of schools with mostly immigrant students do this because the kids don't have much support at home for their education - a lot of their parents have little education or don't speak much German, and education isn't always as much of a priority in their culture as it is for Germans. After around 1:30 or 2 the kids don't usually have any more classes, but they can get homework help and take part in sports clubs and other activities. The kids do almost all of their homework at school.
The teachers I met were very nice, as well as the principal. The teachers' lounge is basically the same as in the States (I spent a decent amount of time in Brentwood High's when I shadowed Emily Sherman) except the teachers don't eat lunch there - instead they eat in the lunchrooms where the kids eat, and sometimes they sit with the kids too. Another thing that's interesting is that when the students have a different teacher for a different subject, it's not the kids who change rooms but the teachers! The kids stay in the same room for most subjects (not gym and such, of course!) and have all their books and supplies in that room, and the teachers move around to teach different classes. (In secondary school this changes and the kids change rooms.)
By far the greatest part of the day was meeting the kids. They seemed so excited to have a new teaching assistant, and they were really having fun today. Just to see the look in their eyes, the way they are hungry to learn and to grow (though many don't really know it yet :) and to be loved and valued. Their faces are all so beautiful! I absolutely cannot wait to get to know them all and to go on this adventure with them. I am totally in love!!!
Now I absolutely have to go to bed so I have plenty of energy for Ebru, Ayse, Hasan, Orhun, Ali, Nuray, Melek, Mimi...
Friday, December 10, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Where it all began
Teachers often get asked when, where, why and/or how they decided to become a teacher. I think it's important not to forget that initial inspiration, so for those who haven't already heard it, here's my story.
As a senior in high school looking ahead to graduating and starting college, I was fairly certain I wanted to major in international relations. I definitely wanted to study abroad in Germany for a year and also learn a second foreign language, but international politics seemed like what was I headed toward. To my own surprise, before I even got to college I had already changed my mind about that.
When I tried to find a summer job after graduation, the pickings were pretty slim. I applied to a handful of places and didn't get anything; all the "cool" jobs (like bookstores and coffee shops) were already taken. My little brother, however, had been active in a volunteer program for young teens at Adventure Science Center, a children's science museum in Nashville, and happened to hear that they were looking for assistants for their summer day camp. Working at the science center wasn't exactly my idea of a "cool" summer job, but it was my only offer and the pay was pretty decent, so I took it.
For the most part, my job was fairly boring. I spent most of the day in supply closets, pulling supplies for the classes and reshelving them after use. The most exciting times were when I got to supervise the kids during lunch and aftercare. I had always liked kids, and these kids were pretty fun most of the time.
One day toward the end of the summer, I came to work to find that one of the summer camp teachers had suddenly become sick and one of us camp assistants would have to fill in for her; I was given the choice between doing my usual job or being a teacher for the day. The lesson plans were already there, so all I had to do was carry them out and keep the kids interested. I opted to try my hand at substitute teaching; it would surely be more exciting than organizing the supply closets.
Sure enough, I was right - it was a blast. And sure enough, the next day, the same teacher was still sick, so I got to substitute for her again. I didn't think much of it; I was just glad to get to do something more interesting than my usual job. But about a week or so later, my boss came to me with a surprising request. She told me that they hadn't been able to find a teacher for two weeks of camp that were coming up, and since I did a good job substituting, she thought perhaps I might be willing to teach those two weeks of camp. I enthusiastically agreed!
By the end of those two weeks I was absolutely in love with the kids and was always going on and on to friends and family about how much fun I'd had. Something in the back of my mind was beginning to tell me that maybe I was meant for a very different career than what I'd originally had in mind. It was a mentor and former teacher of mine at church who pointed this out to me and brought what had been in the back of my mind to the front of it. I wanted a career in which I could work more directly with people, and I couldn't get the idea of teaching out of my head.
Not only did I begin thinking seriously about teaching at that time, I also had this image in my mind of myself teaching Turkish students in Germany. Just over four years later when I stepped onto the school grounds of e.o. plauen Grundschule in Berlin-Kreuzberg that dream became a reality.
As a senior in high school looking ahead to graduating and starting college, I was fairly certain I wanted to major in international relations. I definitely wanted to study abroad in Germany for a year and also learn a second foreign language, but international politics seemed like what was I headed toward. To my own surprise, before I even got to college I had already changed my mind about that.
When I tried to find a summer job after graduation, the pickings were pretty slim. I applied to a handful of places and didn't get anything; all the "cool" jobs (like bookstores and coffee shops) were already taken. My little brother, however, had been active in a volunteer program for young teens at Adventure Science Center, a children's science museum in Nashville, and happened to hear that they were looking for assistants for their summer day camp. Working at the science center wasn't exactly my idea of a "cool" summer job, but it was my only offer and the pay was pretty decent, so I took it.
For the most part, my job was fairly boring. I spent most of the day in supply closets, pulling supplies for the classes and reshelving them after use. The most exciting times were when I got to supervise the kids during lunch and aftercare. I had always liked kids, and these kids were pretty fun most of the time.
One day toward the end of the summer, I came to work to find that one of the summer camp teachers had suddenly become sick and one of us camp assistants would have to fill in for her; I was given the choice between doing my usual job or being a teacher for the day. The lesson plans were already there, so all I had to do was carry them out and keep the kids interested. I opted to try my hand at substitute teaching; it would surely be more exciting than organizing the supply closets.
Sure enough, I was right - it was a blast. And sure enough, the next day, the same teacher was still sick, so I got to substitute for her again. I didn't think much of it; I was just glad to get to do something more interesting than my usual job. But about a week or so later, my boss came to me with a surprising request. She told me that they hadn't been able to find a teacher for two weeks of camp that were coming up, and since I did a good job substituting, she thought perhaps I might be willing to teach those two weeks of camp. I enthusiastically agreed!
By the end of those two weeks I was absolutely in love with the kids and was always going on and on to friends and family about how much fun I'd had. Something in the back of my mind was beginning to tell me that maybe I was meant for a very different career than what I'd originally had in mind. It was a mentor and former teacher of mine at church who pointed this out to me and brought what had been in the back of my mind to the front of it. I wanted a career in which I could work more directly with people, and I couldn't get the idea of teaching out of my head.
Not only did I begin thinking seriously about teaching at that time, I also had this image in my mind of myself teaching Turkish students in Germany. Just over four years later when I stepped onto the school grounds of e.o. plauen Grundschule in Berlin-Kreuzberg that dream became a reality.
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