Man, is this post overdue! I had been hoping to post something new for the past while, but had intended to take pictures of my surroundings first to give everyone at home a photographic impression of Nürnberg. However, I noticed that I had forgotten my USB cable in the states, which obviously inhibits me from transferring any pictures from my camera to my computer. So, please be patient until I am able to procure said cable!
I have been quite busy since my move here to Nürnberg, fulfilling a number of bureaucratic obligations such as filling out contracts, applying for a residence and work permit, registering my apartment, getting a new email address and username for school, opening a bank account, familiarizing myself with my surroundings, visiting various sightseeing hot-spots, and so many other things I cannot recall due to their tediousness and my willingness to forget their original purpose. Still, I've accomplished a great number of things and only have the remainder of my residence/work permit to finish, and I can then start to work on planning for my classes during the upcoming semester.
Speaking of classes, I had a number of meetings with my boss, Kristina, and other colleagues regarding the course material/topics. I am scheduled to teach seven classes this semester, which lasts from October 17th until the beginning of February. I will be teaching four "Technical English" courses, two of which are more of intensive English courses that revolve around mastering academic English, the other two which cover English within a technical field, such as engineering, biomechanics, IT, etc. I really haven't received any further information regarding those four classes, so I can't really divulge the details until I've met with the directors of the respective departments. I will also be teaching two beginner English classes, Vantage English I and II, the latter being a bit more advanced than the prior [hence the II :)]
These two classes will actually be quite rigorous and intensive, as the students absolutely must pass these in order to successfully graduate...so no pressure on me or the students....I've got a rough idea of how I'm going to approach these two classes, while the material covered in the courses is pre-determined. Since these are intensive English courses, I'm going to treat them as such by beginning the courses with a proficiency test to ascertain the level of my students' English and thereby determine the basis from which the course will develop. I'm then planning on having weekly quizzes as a means for the students, and myself, too, to track their progress and pinpoint which areas still need improvement/review. While that certainly sounds like a lot for the students already, I'm not planning on incorporating their weekly quiz scores into their overall grade, so as to lessen the pressure they're already being placed under. As for the weekly lessons, I have a couple ideas, but haven't really started to develop any definitive plans as of yet.
The last class I'll be teaching won't take place until the latter half of the semester, but is one that I am greatly looking forward to. The course covers effective and efficient presentation skills in English, and, from what I've heard from my boss and previous course director, most students' presentation skills are severely lacking or non-existent. Thankfully, my rigorous presentation training at CLA and throughout K college have prepared me to teach this course, and I honestly cannot put in words how excited I am to be able to teach this "subject."
The semester doesn't officially start until October 17th and I don't begin teaching until the 24th, but I obviously have a lot of preparatory work to accomplish in the meantime. I have an orientation seminar this Friday to help improve my teaching skills, and thereafter, the English department has weekly meetings to discuss upcoming and ongoing courses, the direction the department wishes to go in the next semester and academic year, and other various departmental issues. I'm slightly worried about the workload that stands before me, not because I am uncertain as to whether I'll be able to accomplish everything - if K college taught me anything, it was that there are always means to overcome mountains of work - but merely because I'm unaware of the kind of workload that is about to be thrust upon me. I'm certain it'll simply be another matter of adjustment and familiarizing myself with the day-to-day activities within and without the workplace, which I feel I'm quite apt at doing.
Aside from preparing for work, I've been spending the majority of my time around Nürnberg, visiting sightseeing places, finding places to purchase items for my apartment, and just walking about aimlessly to merely take in the sights and to discover the nooks and crannies of the city. While I planned to make last weekend a touristic one, unforeseen inclement weather inhibited my tour and successful photography of my surroundings. I instead visited one of the numerous museums here, the National Museum of Germanic History, where I learned about prehistoric and protolithic (Stone Age period) history, as well as European medieval history and culture. The museum was way to big to actually take in all the information in a single day, so I imagine I'll purchase a season pass to allow for more frequent visits. I certainly learned a number of interesting, though most likely useless words (where modern-day conversations are concerned), but still I had a blast traversing the corridors and chambers housing numerous treasures of Europe's and Germany's past.
I also stumbled upon what is now my absolute favorite store here in Nürnberg, and certainly a place I will without a doubt frequent to no end, namely Ultra Comix. As the name portrays, Ultra Comix boasts a wide collection of national and international comics, but also encompasses a wide range of fantasy books, collectibles, board and card games, painting figures (i.e. Warhammer 40K, Lord of the Rings), and other random paraphernalia related to objects that deter one from facing his current reality, lol. Since money is kind of tight at the moment, I imagine I'll start to create some sort of list of items I hope to own someday or at least something I can look forward to as a kind of reward for a long month's work! There are some amazing figurines of past video game characters that evoke the utmost feeling of nostalgia that I absolutely want to add to my collection - can anyone say Final Fantasy collectibles!?
The apartment is loosing its dungeon-esque feel to it, now that my clothes are strewn throughout the various corners of the room, and the typical look of "Paul's room" has taken over. Just like my wishlist from Ultra Comix has started to grow, I created an itemization of objects by which I wish to define my living space to make my un-humbe abode more satisfactory: I still need a duvet and an actual pillow for my bed which I'm sure will both lead to a more recuperative night's sleep as opposed to its current copacetic condition. The biggest item on my list, aside from those two "mandatory" objects, is a new desk where I can toil away and burn the midnight oil whilst grading papers and laughing at the inevitable mistakes my students are bound to make. And when I say I want a new desk, I mean a mother of a desk - one that stretches half the length of my room; I don't know why I have such a inclination towards a giant desk, especially since it would take up the little space I have, but I've always wanted a giant work space and I believe said desk would be able to fulfill this desire.
Otherwise, I hope to procure more shelving space for my inevitable book collection, whether it be for teaching or self-study purposes. I imagine anyone reading this is well aware of my propensity to accumulate tons (as is the unit of measurement, not the synonym for 'a lot' lol) in books, ranging from academic to simply obscure topics. Lastly, I absolutely must buy a couple rugs for my apartment as I currently have laminate flooring which gets dirty in a heartbeat and is not that comfortable to sit upon. Still, these are all long-term investments, and I look forward to individualizing my apartment in time!
Other than walking for miles a day - figured out it's a 3.6 mile trip from my apartment to the main train station and back - I seem to by whiling away the time by partaking in inadvertent voyeurism, listening to music, and reading my new book, "Die Rache der Zwerge", or "Revenge of the Dwarves" which is truly so captivating, I have to literally throw the book away from me to stop reading it.
I've taken it upon myself to conduct a personal intensive German course during which I am going to test out various new learning techniques. Unfortunately, my German has suffered a butchering since my last visit and even since I had to speak it at college, though I can still communicate well enough to engage in day-to-day activities with the "locals." Still, I do yearn for the ability to express myself as fluently and articulately as I once was able to, and the only way I'm going to do that is through rigorous studying! The largest impediment I see to actually re-mastering German is the fact that my days will be primarily defined by the English language, not only because of professional obligations, but also because it seems that none of my colleagues speak German to each other unless outside of the department. Therefore, I'll have to make it a personal point to delve into extra-curricular activities with natives to ensure a requisite use of the language. It would certainly be a travesty to live here in Germany and still be inarticulate after a year's residence. I think if I really put my mind to it, though, and try to immerse myself as much as possible in the culture, surroundings, and people, that improvement of my German skills will be much more natural. Time will tell....
I imagine the next couple of weeks are going to start to be more hectic, with my schedule filling up with more professional obligations and lesson planning; it is something that I am looking forward to incredibly at the moment, though I am sure I will yearn for some sort of respite after the semester and classes start. Until then, though, I plan on enjoying the remainder of my time off, reading, playing vintage video games on my lame-o computer that can only handle 16-bit graphics, and taking mindless promenades throughout and around the city. Thank goodness the temperature has gone down to an acceptable and welcomed 13 degrees Celsius...at least for now....
sounds like you're a busy bee once again and love it!
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