Eine Zwischenbilanz von Alice Hunter – in Englisch

The first half of the year ….

So, so far my Year Abroad here in Germany has been brilliant! I’ve enjoyed my time in school as well as out of school. I’ve met a lot of new people and seen a lot of new things! Here are a few highlights of my year up until now ….

FlugArriving in Karlshagen

After completing my training to be an English Language Assistant in Cologne at the end of August, I arrived in Karlshagen at the beginning

Köche
The winners of the German Food Competition.

of September. I was greeted by my mentor, Mrs Schellner and my landlady, Mrs Elle, who had prepared a wonderful meal for us! The next day I was shown around school and introduced to all my new colleagues and students. I was very nervous (especially as I hadn’t spoken German for a while), but I couldn’t have wished for a nicer welcome! The 8th class welcomed me by organizing a German Food Competition so I could taste some traditional German food.

My Job

My job at school is to help Mrs Schellner and Mrs Lange with English classes and help all students improve their English. It always makes me smile when students try to speak English to me or greet me in the corridors in English (“Hello, how are you?”) and I hope that this has improved their confidence in speaking English. I’ve really enjoyed working closely alongside Mrs Lange and Mrs Schellner, but I’ve also liked working with all of my other friendly colleagues. I’ve been to all staff meetings and events (including some teacher training at the beginning of the year) and have been made to feel part of the team, which has made my time here even more enjoyable. I’ve worked closely with Mrs Schellner with her 8th class (she is their class tutor), attending parent’s meetings and class conferences. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my job so far and am very happy that I have been able to get so involved with all aspects of school life.

Trip to England

EnglandAfter only a month in Germany, I was invited to go back to England on a week-long trip with the 9/10th classes at the end of September. We visited Hastings, London and Brighton and I saw and did a lot of new things. One highlight was the musical STOMP, which I had never seen, but my favourite part was the trip to Madame Tussaud’s, which was a lot of fun for the teachers as well as all the students. Whilst in London, I was also able to meet one of my best friend’s from home, who studies at university in London. Amy and I enjoyed a good catch up over dinner and I spent some time shopping for English goodies to bring back to Germany – particularly some English Tea!

Meeting Mr Loewen

mit LoewenIn November, Mr Loewen, a teacher from Paraguay, came to visit our school. Whilst he was here, I was able to join in on some very interesting activities. We visited Rostock University with our caretaker, Mr Rempfer and our headmistress, Mrs Schoenberg, which I found really interesting as I was able to compare it to my university in England. We also had a trip to Heringsdorf and spent an evening at our art teacher’s house, Mrs Niendorf, where we enjoyed some traditional German food. We also went bowling with all of the staff, but unfortunately, I didn’t win!

Berlin/Cologne

As part of my degree in German and French, it is compulsory to spend a year abroad (I chose to spend my whole year in Germany), which means that some of my friends from university are also living and working in Germany at the moment too. Luckily, we’ve been able to find time to meet up a couple of times, once in Berlin (where we had a guided tour around the Reichstag building) and then at the Christmas Markets in Cologne. We had a lot of fun and it was great to see people I knew after being away from home for so long!

mit FremdsprachenassistentinAnother Language Assistant

After meeting at our training week in Cologne, Susan (an English Language Assistant working in Greifswald) and I have become great friends! We have spent time together at weekends, exploring the Island of Usedom, going to the cinema or shopping in Greifswald. She has visited our school and attended a few English lessons with me and Mrs Schellner. I feel very lucky to have found such a good friend this year!

My Christmas  

After four months away, it was lovely to go home at Christmas and spend some time with my family and friends! I spent a lot of time with my parents, grandparents and my two little cousins, who had grown a lot since I’d last seen them! I took my little cousin, Ellen, to the cinema to see ‘Frozen’ and played with James and his train set for ages. In November, my parents had also moved house, so I went back to a completely different home. Thankfully I like it so it still felt like home to me!

‘Reisemesse’

On 18th January, I helped Mrs Schellner and Mrs Lange represent the English department for school. Susan came to help too. We played ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire’ about England (in English) and had prepared a match-up activity about famous sights in London. It was great to see so many people attend and support the students and I really enjoyed the student’s presentation in the afternoon.

German

After nearly 5 months in Germany, I can definitely say that my German has improved. I’ve learnt more German in the last five months than I have at university, simply because I’m completely surrounded by it every day! I’ve met lots of lovely people, who have been patient with my German, so thank you to everyone who has spoken German to me over the past months! Although I don’t speak German with our students (I always speak English, which I hope has given them confidence in speaking English themselves), they have taught me a lot of new German too!

Other highlights from school: the Halloween party with the 5th classes, the theatre trip with the 5/6th classes to see “König Drosselbart und das Mädchen Prinzessin” and the Island Safari Tour with class 9A.

Coming up: Over the last few weeks, Mrs Schellner and I have been working hard with the 6th classes on an English project. We have written, practiced and produced a short film that you’ll hopefully all be able to see it soon! I’m also looking forward to a few more weekend trips away, to see my friends from university and discover more about Germany.