So today in our first class, I joined my partner in Math. It was a little past 8 am and I still wasn't fully awake yet. I still felt like a zombie. Math seemed extremely long and boring as they learned about limits and ratios. I wrote in my journal to update my recent events and thoughts. Once I was finished, I decided to read. I didn't get much reading done. I ended up closing my eyes a few times adn slowly bobbing my head, hoping the math teacher didn't notice. But she doesn't even acknowledge us anyway.
Our next class was Latin. We changed rooms. We had to pick up our stuff, walk across the courtyard to the music building and had our lesson in there. We stood behnind our chairs and said "Guten Morgen" and then sat down. They read through their Latin phrases which I found very boring. Because I was still tired, I continued to write my thoughts in my journal. At the end of the lesson, they practiced this song they are going to sing for a teacher who is retiring. I secretly recorded a bit of the song and it was catchy. :-) When they started to sing, Olivia, Jordan and I were amused. We figured out some of the lyrics, " we will miss you, don't go, we loved learning...." and stuff like that.
After the lesson, we had homeroom with all of the Americans. We talked about the things/activities we have been doing with our families and more ideas for our talent show. Next, we had English (my favorite class) :-) We learned about gangsters in Britain. I helped my German partner, Jana, with English words and adjectives describing the story. It was interesting hearing how the German students present their thoughts to the class, how they perceived the story and learning new English words from Olivia, Jordan and me.
After English, we went to biology. We once again stood behind our chairs and greeted our teacher, Frau Busch by saying "Guten Morgen, Frau Busch" and then we sat down for the lesson. At the beginning of class she reviews what the students had to do for homework by asking questions. Frau Busch gets frustrated when a student doesn't know the answer or gets it wrong. But then again, what teacher wouldn't be frustrated.
In each class all the students are alert, paying attention and participating. In all of the classrooms are green chalkboards that the teacher and students use during class to teach the lesson. The boards are at the front of the room. There is no clock. No provided tissues. Each student brings their bag with all the daily supplies. Like today, I have a few small snacks, a bottle of water ,my journal and a book to keep myself busy along with my sport clothes for "Sport" or gym class. I also have tissues for my stuffy nose and a jacket for the cooler classrooms. None of the teenagers here wear sweatpants or sporty clothing, all nice clothes or jeans. Most don't wear belts, which I think is weird, especialliy for some girls who may need one. The guys and girls usually wear running shoes or Converse. My white Converse fit in greatly. The cursing and profanity on the t-shirts is new, but it is different. Each student carries a binder with lots of paper. And a pencil pouch with pencils, pens, a pen that looks like white-out and erasers. Oh! And all of the teens write in cursive, which is something we learned in elementary school but we never ended up using. Handys (we call them cell phones) are banned during school, which isn't bad. Kids aren't distracted this way. After the students take notes on the lesson, they are assigned homework, which is similar to what we do. We will learn a lesson, then do a worksheet or a section of the homework on the new lesson. Another thing about the classrooms, when you talk, it echoes. So if you do talk, you must whisper. Most of my classes at home, we have individual desks. In my classes here, they have tables in rows which two people sit at. And here the chairs are wood and metal, versus ours are usually made with plastic. As I write my homework in biology, a German student who is shy shares a table with me. Her text book is tiny. Ours are like giant dictionary/brick books. Theirs are like a magazine. In some of my classes at home you might see kids sleeping, yelling, texting or not doing anything at all. In the Gymnasium, you can't do any of those. You must pay attention or you will get bad marks and if you get too many, you have to go to the Realschule, which is a comparison to failing a class at home. It would be embarassing. Some teachers are more strict than others and some do not care to help you. Or they pick favorites and you may or may not get help.
Aww...it is raining outside. The bell rang and Jana and I left class and walked back to the main building where we will have Geographie, as Jana calls/spells it. Once again when the teacher stood in front of the class, we greeted him by saying "Guten Morgen" and sat down for the lesson. I think they are learning about climates, the equator, the horizon and where things are on the world map. But other than those few things I picked up, I have no idea what they are talking about unless they are whispering someething about Americans, Germany adn stare at me. Ja, they may think I don't understand but I know enough German that I can understand what they are saying about me in German. Ha! Joke's on them. This teacher does not like talking in his class. He is writing definitions for some words in vocab and he is trying to give clues. Oh, and when the students wiat to be called on, they sit and wait unlike some students at Bettendorf who wave and flail their arms all over the place unitl the teachers says their name. Each class is about a half an hour, I think. Some appear longer than others, especially during a "Dopplestunde", which are two periods of one subject, like when we were in middle school where we would have Language Arts for period 4 & 5.
In Geography these girls were passing around this paper with sea creatures and Olivia drew Mr. Krabs and Jordan and I drew the Krusty Krab with the sign. They put our picture on the wall! Then we had gym with the history teacher. We played volleyball. It was also a Dopplestunde and it was fun! :-) I like it compared to our gym class. It's easier. :-p
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