At the seminar in Reutlingen

Hey everybody,

last week I was watching an assessment because
the trainee teachers had their first assessment of the second state exam.

For the past seven months they’ve attended school and civil service law. The lecture took part every second Wednesday from half past two till six o’ clock. They got to know the legal background of their future job.

For the exam they had to learn lots of clauses by heart. For example, they needed to know when pupils get a suspension from school or how teachers have to behave. They also learned about the duty of supervision and what happens when they breach this duty.

The assessment was an oral exam that lasted 20 minutes.

In the exam the trainee teachers got an example case and had to comment on it or they had to solve a problem which occurred in the case.

Finally, the first exam is over and the trainee teachers can concentrate on their projects at school they have to bring to completion.

Eilidh in Beuren!!!

Hey there!

You cannot imagine what I did last week!! I was with Karina and our grade 5 and together we went to a special museum.

The latter is in Beuren and is an “open-air exhibition” where we were able to live in a way people did more than 200 years ago! That was just awesome!!! I visited five different houses and was surprised how the people had lived in the past. Of course there had not been a heating for the families but the guide told us that due to that fact the cowshed had been built next to the kitchen to bring warmth to the people! Isn’t that amazing??!!

Later on we were divided into two different groups. I decided to be part of the so called “fire-group”. A lady from the museum did a workshop with us. She showed us how a fire had been lighted more than 200 years ago. We even were allowed to try those different methods… but to be honest, I didn’t manage to light a fire but the little ones did!!

By the way, there was also a nice little bakehouse! I found a leaflet with different recipes there (you can see it in the picture)

I am looking forward to trying the the “Dätscher”- whatever that is =)

What a wonderful day in Beuren!!!

Road trip to Karlsruhe

This weekend I was with Julian. He is a teacher trainee at Burgschule Köngen. Köngen is a small town located east of Stuttgart. When I arrived in Julian´s flat in Nürtingen on Thursday, we first watched tv together. I really enjoy watching cartoons!!! I stayed overnight at his flat and Julian gave me his spare bed. Next morning we drove in Julians car to his school in Köngen. He invited me to watch his PE lesson. The students had to run very fast. I was glad that I didn´t have to join in because I have gained a little bit weight lately. After lessons he invited to a special road trip to his hometown in the wild west of Baden-Württemberg. I was looking forward to that because I have never seen the Black Forest before. So when we arrived in Karlsruhe the sun was shining and I could see the mountains in the distance.What I didn´t know was that Julian wanted me to help carrying his brother´s furniture to his new flat. It was really exhausting because it was the hottest day of the year and I still have my winter fur. But he bought me a big beer and I was happy again. Now we are going back to Nürtingen because Julian has to go to Reutlingen on Monday....

Out and about: Kohlberg - Metzingen - Neuffen

Today, I met Eveline. She is a trainee teacher at Schönbein- Realschule Metzingen (near Reutlingen) and lives in Kohlberg. Kohlberg is a tiny village near Metzingen, but it seems to be OK (it is very quiet though). When we came home, she introduced me to her flatmate Bruni and I was enchanted the moment I saw her. I think she likes me, too – what do you reckon? Just look at the photo. I like her a lot... In fact, she's the most beautiful rabbit I've ever seen. (And I've seen many rabbits in my life!)

Tomorrow, I'll go to school with Eveline. I'm looking forward to meeting the kids. Before, we'll have to prepare her lesson. She said I will be part of the English lesson, too! How exciting!

At school

It was quite cool at school (uuuh, that even rhymes). The kids liked me a lot (especially the girls). They couldn't believe I had really travelled all the way from Scotland! I knew all the words they learned in their English lesson, but I learned something else: In April, there's a BOYS' DAY. Boys can get an insight into "typical girls' professions", that sounds very interesting in my eyes.

In the staff room, I met nice teachers and saw their 'motivation glass'; unfortunately, it was empty, so no sweets for me...

Tomorrow, I'm going to meet another friend in Neuffen. Goodbye, Kohlberg!

Eilidh participates in a meeting of the German department

Hello everyone!

Last week I visited the Realschule in Blaustein.

The teachers there have big plans for their pedagogical days which are appointed on the 27^th and 28^th of May this year.

The main topic will be the internal differentiation in the classrooms. I participated on the meeting of the German department, where all German teachers met to decide the focus they will work on during these two days. They agreed on orthography and were all willing to bring in material and prepare own material in teamwork.

I think that’s a great idea because I noticed that the proficiency level of the pupils concerning orthography varies a lot. Of course we also discussed the problem that if a teacher wants to advance weak pupils and therefore prepares a lot of material for practice, the pupils who are already able to write accurately are often unattended.

This shall be avoided and that’s why all the teachers meet in Schwäbisch Hall. They are going to create materials for each class on important orthography topics. These topics all include exercises with different levels of difficulty. In this way the stronger pupils are challenged while the weaker pupils have a chance to work on their problems and get advanced.

The German department plans to arrange fix phases for free studies when pupils are allowed to learn in their own learning speed.

I’m really sad that I can’t participate in these two days as well – the teachers promised they’d bring cake!

Eilidh on an adventure

Hello everyone!

Today I got to go on an adventure. The school my new friend Natalie teaches at had a day where the whole school went on different trips. Some classes went swimming, others went ice-skating. Some even went skiing.

I got to go on a trip to a place called "Sensapolis". It is an indoor adventure park where you can do a lot of fun things like climbing a volcano or a high ropes course. They also had many slides that were a lot of fun but I only tried out the easiest ones. The others were way too scary :)

Everyone was very excited and enjoyed the stay there. I also took a couple of pictures to give you somewhat of an impression of how it looked there. It was amazing! I really would have enjoyed staying a bit longer but unfortunately we had to leave after only a couple of hours.

Anyways, if I should ever get the chance to go to that adventure park again, I would go in a heartbeat. Maybe I'd even find the courage to try the most dangerous slide :)

Visit at the primary school in Schönaich

Hey friends!

I´m happy, because today I was allowed to leave this small paper box. I´m really glad about the fresh air out there.

In Schönaich, a small town, I got to know a group of student teachers for the subject English. They all seemed to be very busy. We talked a little bit about the differences between teaching English in primary and in secondary schools and about possible difficulties.
It was quite interesting but I didn´t say anything, because my German isn´t good enough yet.

One of the students there took me to her home.
Hopefully she will give me good food and a comfortable place to sleep. I´m looking forward to meet her pupils on Friday!

Greetings to all of you!
Eilidh