first week in Germany

Wednesday 29 August I moved in to my new room in Germany. After unpacking my boyfriend Hidde stayed with me for one more day. Thursday, we went to the city Neuss. The following days I spend preparing for my internship and getting to know the neighbourhood.

Monday 3 September my internship started at the ISR international school in Neuss. I met my supervisor and the team from grade 1. There are four classes with an average of 20 children aged 5-6. The class where from many different nationalities such as Germany, Japanese, Chinese, Polish, Indonesian, Moroccan, Arabic.

First thing that noticed me was that they learn a lot for their age, they have the following subjects:

-        German

-        English (reading writing)

-        Math

-        handwriting

-        Music

-        IT

-        Advising

-        PE

-        Science

-        Art

With Germany they teach words, letters, sounds, colors, body parts.

With English they already learn how to build a sentence, Capital and Full stop.

With science they lean at this moment about what tings are living and what not and Germs.

The classroom is also different from how the classes in the Netherlands look. The classes are more designed for learning and working. Playtime is only outside, they don’t have building or play corners. The lessons are structured and challenging. Unlike in the Netherlands they don’t have much choice of what to do, they get explanation, work together with the teacher and after that they work on their own on simple tasks.

The class starts at 8:30 am.

10:00 is snack time, they can eat a snack till 10:15. After 10:15 they go outside and play until 10:40.

At 11:45 we go to the lunchroom with the children and let them get their food. Some children bring lunch with them, which is usually a warm meal. The others get in line to get food from the cafeteria. They always can choose between 2 meals, one is vegetarian. At 12:10 play time starts till 12:55.

The school ends at 15:15, after that some children have after school activities such as, soccer, music or Japanese

My first weak was mostly observing children and the teacher. Next week I can start on guiding a child with his pencil grip.

I am really looking forward on next week!