Diary of a Lehrerin

My journey as an EFL/ESL teacher and Masters student, with some travelling in between.

[diarylehrerin]

Internship: Grundschule Frickingen

For the past month, I have been an intern English teacher at Grundschule Frickingen. The students range from Grade 1 to Grade 4. I am mainly teaching the Grade 1-2 students, which has been very fun but challenging. The Grade 1 and 2 students are in the same class, so the students are on different levels in terms of German. This means that overall the students do not write in English since they are still learning to write in German. It has been quite a struggle to teach English to children who do not yet write in the language. Thus, I focus on teaching songs, playing games, and having activities such as crafts or colouring that involve learning English. 

I do not get too in-depth with grammar, rather, I focus on vocabulary. I incorporate visuals with vocabulary so that they are able to identify the image in any sort of situation. I am quite pleased as to how much the students remember and how they use the vocabulary outside of the English lesson. This makes me very excited! 

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Outside of Berlin is the city of Postdam, which is known for the palace of Sanssouci. This was the summer palace of Frederick the Great.

1. Sanssouci- Only has eleven rooms in the whole palace. Frederick would have visitors occasionally; however, it was mainly for his private pleasure. Even his wife was not permitted to visit!

2. ‘Ancient’ Ruins- During the time this palace was built, ‘ancient’ ruins were considered posh and a way to emulate Roman culture. These are not actual ruins, rather, built just for the purpose of the Roman way.

3. Chinesisches Haus (The Chinese House0- This was the tea room, with a mixture of Rococo and Chinese oriental architecture.

4. Neues Palais (New Palace)- This is known to be the largest Prussian Baroque Palace.

5. Hollaändisches Viertel (Dutch Quarter)- I thought this was magnificent! The architecture reminds me of Haarlem. 

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Berlin is very close to Dresden, so it was a great opportunity for a weekend holiday. I have been to Berlin previously, so I knew much about the city and its popular historic and cultural spots. Here are some highlights:

1. Molecule Man Sculpture in the Spree River

2. Bradenburger Tor- Commissioned by King Federick William II of Prussia and built in the 18th century. The design is modelled after the Propylaea in thens, Greece. This follows the traditional classism design popular to the time. 

3. Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas (Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe)- This memorial is said to have been built above Hitler’s former bunkers. 

4. Building: Nazi style architecture

5. St. Nickolai-Kirche (St. Nicholas’ Church)- Oldest church in Berlin

6. Berliner Dom

7. Marx-Engels Forum- Statues of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, authors of The Communist Manifesto and founders of the Socialist Movement. Practically every city in East Germany has a “Karl Marx Straße.”

[diarylehrerin]

Last Days at Gymnasium Klotzsche

My four weeks at Gymnasium Klotzsche were fun and very rewarding; I gained so much insight about teaching English as a foreign language. I just started an internship at Grundschule Frickingen, so I am looking forward to applying what I have learned from observation and my experience teaching. 

The English teachers at Gymnasium Klotzsche planned an afternoon for me and my colleague that involved eating traditional German food and talking with them outside of the classroom. This was the first time the faculty had planned such an event, so I was very honoured that they enjoyed me and my colleagues in the classroom. It was a great opportunity to learn more about being a teacher in Germany and to receive advice. Teachers in Germany are in charge of more than one subject area in middle school and high school levels, which is different from the one or two subjects American teachers instruct. In fact, many of them taught other modern languages such as French or Russian. One teacher explained that he taught 26 lessons a week. 

Another point made was that some English teachers only learned the language inside of the classroom, without any contact to native-speakers. This is true of the established teachers, who learned English when East Germany still existed. Further, this is noticeable as the teachers would make certain grammatical, spelling, and pronunciation errors in the classroom. Some of the phrases and idioms used in the lesson were out of touch due to the fact of never experiencing colloquial language. Often times these teachers asked me and my colleagues for reassurance or more appropriate ways to say phrases. Nevertheless, their English skills were very good. 

I noticed the same sort of trend in other places regarding established English teachers. I would be curious to know if some schools require teachers  to take a refresher course or even a test to make sure their language skills are contemporary. 

[diarylehrerin]

I found this obelisk in Meißen fascinating. Made in 1722, this obelisk informed Augustus and those of wealth (able to afford a carriage) how far cities/towns were from Meißen by carriage. This is the first time I’ve seen an obelisk of this kind in Europe; and I hope to find more in the near future.

[diarylehrerin]

Meißen is known as the birthplace of European Porcelain. Under Augustus II (Augustus the Strong) Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus invented porcelain, but died soon after the success. Johann Friedrich Böttger, who worked under von Tschirnhaus took over and announced that porcelain has in fact been created. Production of porcelain began in 1710 from Böttger’s laboratory in Albrechtsburg castle in Meißen (first three photos).

While in Meißen I took a tour of the Meißen porcelain museum. This included a step-by-step demonstration of how pieces are made from their construction to the painted elements. I was quite surprised to learn that the company keeps molds of everything they make, thus only delicate additions such as flowers are done solely by hand. All of the pieces are hand-painted and the process is quite meticulous. The museum also included porcelain pieces from the 18th-century until today. It was interesting to see the change in style and the types of collections based on various countries and themes. I left with a nice piece of Meißen porcelain for my mother! 

[diarylehrerin]

Radeburg

[diarylehrerin]

Community Classes: Radeburg

While in Dresden, I taught community classes every Thursday in the town of Radeburg, which is about 45 mins outside of Dresden. My class consisted of fifteen adult students that are at intermediate level. The first class I taught I was extremely nervous; however, over time I warmed up to my students and my lessons. 

Overall I taught them for three weeks, an hour and a half for each lesson. The topics I covered included: directions, weather, household chores/habits, and recommendations. 

This was a great experience, as I got to see how adult students functioned in a language learning environment and how they learned language. My group of students enjoyed conversation, thus I incorporated many activities that involved pair and group work. This was made possible due to the fact I had at least five assistants through my lesson, and they were able to sit with the students and help when needed. 

Since the students were adults, I anticipated they wanted to learn foremost language that would be useful in real-life situations. I formulated my lessons with the communicative approach--language learning focusing on interaction. Many of the exercises incorporated into the lesson emulated possible real-life situations. For example, an activity for directions required students to give directions to various tourist sights in Washington DC. I incorporated an actual map of DC, which the students enjoyed.

Similar to the students at the gymnasium and at university level, my class wanted immediate and explicit error correction of grammar and pronunciation.I’ve had students tell me to correct them immediately if they were wrong. There is a evident cultural difference between Americans and Germans in regards to error correction. 

Overall my lessons got on exactly as planned and it was always fun. However, one area I need to work on in the future is the explanation of grammar points. Being a native speaker of English, I never really think of the explicit grammar rule or even exceptions. When teaching grammar, it is important to anticipate any areas where there may be misunderstanding or exceptions. I hope to improve with this area of teaching through more experience 

[diarylehrerin]

While in Prague, I had an Art History moment. When I looked at the facade of St. Vitus Cathedral, I immediately thought of Hans Memlings Last Judgment ca. 1467-1471. Jesus is depicted as in Matthew 27 when he is crowned King. This depiction is common in icons depicted in Byzantine style. The rest of the scene away from the Byzantine style and looks towards Netherlandish depiction. The blue wing angels are reminiscent of early Renaissance Art of the time. 

[diarylehrerin]

On Saturday I went to Prague. I was very excited to return and see some of my favourite highlights of the city! It was extremely busy with tourists and locals crowded the streets for the hockey final. However, above are the highlights of the day!

1. Overview of Prague whilst watching to the Castle

2. Franz Kafka’s house on Golden Lane (No. 22)

3. St. George Church

4. St. Vitus Cathedral

5. Charles Bridge

6. Astrological Clock 

7. Me relaxing!

[diarylehrerin]

TU Dresden Observation

Along with observing gymnasium, I also observe university courses. Last week I observed an English for Business course and a Refreshers course not geared to any specific type of terminology. The operation of both courses was starkly different from one another.

The professor of the English for Business course was very direct and explicit--he corrected pronunciation and grammar errors instantly. Whereas in the Refresher, recasts were consistently used, making the feedback implicit. This allowed students to catch their own mistakes rather than just telling them. Feedback is such an important facet of L2 acquisition and causes lots of controversy. I appreciated observing the two types of feedback and how students responded. 

It seems the feedback was appropriately used based on the audience. The English for Business course featured engineering and business students and responded positively to the explicit correction. They seemed to have preferred that over the few times the professor did try implicit feedback. The Refresher course has a range of students, but the collective goal seemed to be improving and maintaining English skills. Thus, implicit feedback is more adequate. 

As I spend more time observing both TU and gymnasium, I hope to gain a better grasp as to how I would give feedback to my students.

[diarylehrerin]

Thursday I went to die Sächsische Schweiz for a hiking trip. The area is on the Elbe River and featured picture-esque German cities. There is the Elbsandsteingebirge (rock mountain range), which is also called Bastei, and each rock features a different name. The scenery is reminiscent of the popular Lord of the Rings films. Hikers are able to rock climb and when they reach the top of a rock peak, they engrave their name. The views from the top of the rocks are spectacular. One is able to see Festung Königstein across the way, little towns, and fields of bright yellow rapeseeds!

[diarylehrerin]

Gymnasium Dresden Klotzsche

The second photo is a stained glass window in the main school building from 1970. Very much Communist art of the time. 

[diarylehrerin]

First Day of Observation

On 12 May, I had my first day of observation at the Gymnasium Dresden Klotzsche. The school is located in the suburbs of Dresden. This school is particularly interesting because there are two school buildings across the street from one anther--the first is the elementary school and the second for grades 10 and up. Within the next year or so there will be a new school built to integrate all the students.

I was met at the train station by two 16 year old students. They gave me and my colleagues a lovely tour of both schools. The main building of elementary school students was built during the Communist Era and showed in the architecture. The new building across the way was a a series of modern “cubbies,” thus was temporary.

One aspect of both schools that appeals to me was the amount of student artwork throughout the hallways of the buildings. The students are very talented and the school heavily advocates the arts. Essentially every wall in the school is covered with student work.

Once in the classroom, I heard student presentations about environmental issues. This is a 10th grade class, and the students’ English proficiency is advanced level. The students had a few pronunciation and verb conjugation issues, but overall were able to give their presentations with little mistake. After each presentation the teacher gave very helpful feedback regarding content and grammar. The teacher would reiterate key points of each argument, then proceed with some corrections regarding grammar. Students seemed attentive and overall found the feedback helpful.

Unfortunately due to testing I only observed one class; however, I am looking forward to observing classes for the next few weeks! 

[diarylehrerin]

Historic Centre of Dresden 

[diarylehrerin]

Guten Tag!

Hello, my name is Lori. I am from America, currently teaching in Germany. I am progressing through my MA in TESL. This is my first time teaching in Germany so I am very excited! My background is in Art History: I have my undergraduate degree in Art History, with French and Renaissance Studies; and, my first postgraduate degree is in Art History from the University of St. Andrews. Last summer I taught English in Romania as a volunteer. It was a life changing experience that caused me to switch from a PhD in Art History to an MA in TESL. Thus far I have enjoy my program and experiences! This blog is to share my experiences teaching and travelling. Enjoy!