Monday 1st - Sunday 7th February
As the title suggests, it is, indeed, nearly time for the holidays again! It doesn't seem like I've been back at work very long at all to be honest, and certainly I haven't been to many places! I have only got one week until the holidays arrive, during which I shall be heading to the Berlin, which I'm very much looking forward to!
School was pretty standard this week. One of my 7. Klasse at the Gesamtschule have now been divided from a class of 31 to classes of 15 and 16, which is apparently a 'normal' class size for languages. The teachers were somewhat surprised to discover that 31 was a pretty average class size when I learnt French at school!
I have also begun to to undertake some private tuition. The reasons for this are two-fold; the primary reason (seeing as I live in a capitalist society) is financial gain - I offer my services and receive money. The second, somewhat less fiscal reason, is that it gives me something to do in the evenings. One of my students is a trainee English teacher, and the other a psychology student from the uni. It's nice to get to meet some new people, and certainly from the teacher learn some new things myself (e.g. teaching methods, materials etc.).
The Gymnasium at which I work held its Tag der offenen Tuer (Open Day) on Saturday, which involved me being at work for 8 in the morning! I shan't discuss my thoughts about holding open days on a Saturday on here again, those of you have read this blog up until this point, will undoubtedly be bored by them! I was able to actually teach a lesson on Open Day. I taught a 6. Klasse (Year 7 equivalent), who had only been learning English since September. It was an eye-opening lesson; the kids were pretty much able to understand everything I said, and the lesson was conducted wholly in English for my part - something of a difference to the Gesamtschule, where they are able to understand a fair bit, but they have been learning English for one year longer, and are probably not as good! What was also interesting about Open Day was the different amounts of effort the teachers went to in terms of deciding what to wear! The Schuldirektor (Headmaster) had a suit and tie on, other teachers had also dressed up a bit (i.e. suit without tie), some had dressed as if it were a normal day (shirt and jeans), and others had got up, gone "It's Saturday, all my work clothes are in the wash, where are my DIY clothes?" (Naturally they would have said this in German, but as it's a ficitious, imagined occurence, I shall allow you the ease of having it in English).
Following the Open Day, I met up with Claire and Esther and we had a nose around the Art Gallery in Saarbruecken. This was OK, there were certain things that were eye-catching, interesting, some more traditional works of art, and some that I could have done (and I missed the artisticly talented gene when I came onto this Earth - my sister seemed to get my share!). Following the art gallery we headed for lunch in the city, and had a drink there, when we heard that Will was coming into Saarbruecken to watch the rugby at the Irish Pub. So, we thought we'd do the friendly thing and tag along! So, the evening was spent watching the England v. Wales match in the Irish Pub, drinking some Stowford Press Cider! Those of you who know me, will know that Sport wouldn't be my Mastermind Specialist Subject. However I learnt more about the rules of rugby in that one evening than from the 5 years of compulsory PE I did at school. The key principle, which, to be fair, I did already know, is that you run forwards and through backwards. If you have the ball, it's a good idea not to stand still as there are likely to be some rugby players with the finesse and elegance of a Tomahawk cruise missile homing in on you! Still, the result was approved by the majority of the pub (mainly English and Irish ex-pats, who took the mick out of the sole Welshman there). One thing that did become apparent is that during the time when Wales had the ball, Jones and Williams stood a good chance of having posession!
Sunday was a day spent tidying my room, I decided that it needed doing, and as everything is closed on sundays I set about it. It actually didn't take as long as I had envisaged, and so I had intended on writing this blog entry then, but just forgot about it, so here it is, slightly late again!
Coming up next week, is the day trip to Worms, and the preparations for my week in Berlin during the holidays!
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