I was in a pretty big range of classes today, from the 3rd form (13) to 7th (17), so I had to adjust my language a lot depending on the level. The 7th form class that I taught was 22 boys, no girls. It was a bit crazy, I don't know how anyone can keep a class like that engaged in learning for the whole hour! I did alright, but mostly because I was a new face, and they wanted to show off. The teacher told them that I didn't speak German, which made it a bit hard to talk about myself, since speaking German is sort of a big thing in my life. It did force them to speak more English since they'd have to explain what they were trying to say if they couldn't find the right words. I think it's good practice, but so far I just tell the classes that I speak German, but I won't be speaking it in their classroom. This helps the lower levels, because they know I can understand them if they don't know how to say something in English.
I don't know if I'll ever really get a handle on the schedule and classrooms at Bad Vöslau. I'm on a four week rotation there, so every week I have a different schedule and it doesn't make much sense to me at the moment. The schedule at Berndorf will change each month, so I'll have a little more time to get used to that.
Now for a bit about Gymnasium vs. Realgymnasium. Both of the school buildings that I'm teaching in have both of these types of schools. In larger towns there are usually a few different kinds of schools, but in smaller towns they usually just have these two types. The Gymnasium is like a college prep high school, they take a wide range of classes, and in their last two years they have to pick a few subjects that they're really interested in and take further classes in those subjects. Those classes take place in the last two hours of the day, when the younger kids have gone home. I'll be teaching one of those tomorrow about the death penalty in the U.S. (I'll be doing lots of preparing later tonight!) The Realgymnasium is sort of a cross between a regular high school and a vocational school. Most of the kids in the RG won't be going on to a university, but they may go to a school sort of like a Tech college that specializes in a few different (but related) areas. This is just a summary of what I've seen/heard/read about the different types of schools here. Like I said there are many more in larger towns, but Bad Vöslau and Berndorf are too small to have more than just these two.
Some more interesting observations about Austrian schools:
- Students usually change shoes (into slippers, or indoor only shoes). They don't do this at Bad Vöslau right now, but that's probably because they're going to rip down that building and put up a new one that's big enough for the school.
- There's a big room where all the students leave their bags, shoes and coats (no lockers). More precious things (like motorcycle helmets for the older kids) are kept in the classroom.
- Students pretty much just stay in their classrooms and the teachers change rooms. I'm not a huge fan of this since I like decorating a classroom, and it's nice to be able to leave your things spread out in your room. Instead all the teachers have a small table in the staff room. There really isn't much room for anything! At Bad Vöslau I have a small bit of table and a chair for myself, but in Berndorf there aren't any free tables or chairs, so the other language assistant and I just hang out in the staff kitchen/lounge when we're not in class.
- There isn't really a lunch break. Most students leave around 1, so there's no need to serve lunch to them. They do offer lunch for the kids who have classes later, and they get that during the short afternoon break (usually about 20 minutes).
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