This week I started at my second school. My Monday morning didn't start off too well, as I arrived at the school and was taken into the staff room by the secretary, and after waiting for ten minutes or so, I was informed that my contact teacher at the school was signed off ill for three days and they didn't have a timetable for me. Luckily some of the English teachers adopted me for the morning and I was passed around different classes until they found my timetable, which then turned out to be wrong, so I will have a different timetable when I go back in two weeks! However despite all of this, all the teachers were very helpful, and one of the teachers especially. She's letting me share her desk, and gave up an hour and a half of her own time on Monday to go through everything with me, introduce me to everyone and answer all my questions. She was a life saver!
Something I have also found about the school is that the children are louder, and like to chat amongst themselves in class. One of the teachers said that this might be because it's a sports school, rather than a private school like my main school, and this can make teaching difficult when you have to spend half the time asking them to be quiet. I've found myself using many phrases I remember my teachers using, like:
"I'm talking, so no-one else should be."
"Please can we listen to one another?"
...and my personal favourite:
*to person who is talking* "Could you please repeat what was just said?"
That being said, I have had some really good lessons this week. The students like to have fun, so if you're willing to laugh along with their jokes and make the lessons entertaining, they will actually participate and learn something. And that is the point of me being there, to give them fun lessons and to get them to speak in English, not to just do textbook exercises. I've also realised how rewarding it feels when someone who has been messing around, actually joins in the discussion and makes a really valid point!
So this week was exhausting but rewarding, and hopefully when I go back in two weeks, I will get to meet my contact teacher (I still haven't met her) and things will be easier, as I've found my feet a little more in the school.
Apart from work this week, I went to watch the quarter finals of the Generali Ladies Linz tennis tournament, which was great fun! We ate cake, watched some great tennis, and even learnt all the tennis terms in German in the process!
I also went to visit one of the English Assistants who lives in a town outside of Linz called Steyr. She gave us a guided tour of the town, and here are some pictures:
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| There are mountain goats living in the castle moat in Steyr! |
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| Two rivers meet in the centre of Steyr, and it's beautiful. |
I also have a fair amount of lesson planning to do, as the last two weeks have mainly been me doing the same introductory lesson over and over again, whereas now, I've introduced myself to everyone, and I start teaching on the topics they are studying. This week, I will be doing lessons on character profiles, the evil within people (linked to The Lord of the Flies), and ways to learn a foreign language abroad - so quite a variety!
Next weekend we have a long weekend, as it's the national holiday on Monday 26th October, so some of the other TAs and I are planning a long weekend trip to Prague which is very exciting! My next blog post will be all about our adventures there :)
Thanks for reading!
Laura
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