This week consisted of saying goodbye to my parents again as
I embark on my last 10 weeks on the Erasmus programme now knowing that I am now
over half way and the countdown starts until I am home again in Northern
Ireland.
Also this week our three week placement block began. Ashleigh and I are in the same school – The International
School of Kreuzlingen, Konstanz - which is a private school. The differences between this school and
schools at home are endless and their structure of a school day in some ways is
completely different.
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| Outside my school for three weeks |
This school is not only a primary school but also a middle
school. It consists of a small number of
pupils - approximately 40 in total - with the kindergarten/primary school
having 25 pupils over three classes. When at home we would be used to this
number in one whole class! My class is
PY1 it has only 7 pupils ranging for three years old to six. It is somewhat strange getting used to
‘teaching’ three year olds, and trying to retain their attention for a short
ten minutes is an achievement in its own.
Coming to school for this age group is more about learning social skills
and getting used to the school environment.
The older children within the class all speak English but it is not
their native language and it is fascinating witnessing them not only speak
English fluently but also German and in some cases Arabic. All this before reaching the age of six! I can’t help feeling somewhat inadequate in
the language field as I witness pupils switch from one language to another, however,
the children are loving the opportunity to help me out with some German words
and so are actually teaching their teacher!
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| My classroom in the attic |
The school structure is somewhat different to schools in the
UK. Firstly visually this school looks
like a house – and that’s what it is - a renovated house…! The school canteen is actually the house
kitchen and this is where the children have their morning break and lunch. The
living room of the house converted into the library and the classrooms are
upstairs where you would expect the bedrooms to be. My class is situated on the top floor of the
house or should I say in the renovated attic. The school playground is the
garden areas of the house and is equipped with a trampoline at the front and a
slide at the back. Another important
point to note is that all schools in Germany and Switzerland do not have a
school uniform although at my school they do have some strange ‘rules’ about
school dress. Upon arrival in the
morning for classes – which begin at 8.30am – the children go to the basement
of the house where they leave their school bags, take off their shoes and put
on their slippers for the day. Certainly
different to school life and rules at home.
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| Classroom from another view |
At home classrooms are notably very structured with all desks
in view of the Interactive White Board and with each pupil having their own
seat and table. This is not the case in
this school with only one table which has seven chairs around it. There is no interactive white board, no whiteboard/chalk
board or even a teacher’s desk. It
really is viewed as a fun and relaxing place to learn with the teachers and the
principal of the school on first name terms with the pupils. The school’s motto is:
“Passion
for learning and success”
This emphasis
in this school is not purely about driving the children to learn but about
teaching them to become independent learners.
As they state:
“…a strong emphasis on
the idea of lifelong learning…”
The
teaching style in the school is more based on providing the children with
resources and then allowing them to research the
particular topic. This is different from
home where the teacher stands at the front of the classroom dictating what is
going to be learnt. This shows that in
this particular school the emphasis is on the teacher becoming a facilitator. Having a small number of pupils within the
class means that each child’s individual learning needs are easily met and
lessons are moulded to suit their needs more efficiently.
I have already
seen so many different ways to teach and over the next couple of weeks I am
certain there will be much more to take on board and so help me become a better
teacher.
Wish me
luck - Tschüss
Stephanie
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