Here's yet another once I found out how inexpensive but good quality things were there, as well:
Not only did I find all my furniture needs for future purchases, but I was also able to stock my supply of kitchen utensils and *finally* a quilt for my bed; huzzah for no longer having to only sleep with a sheet over me! In my trip to the land of "I wanna buy everything here right now and then get more stuff, too" I scored a 24-piece set of silverware [for adults, I should add!], a glass container with a latch (see here, hard to describe ><) to hold my copious amounts of morning Musli, 4 drinking glasses (~16oz), a coffee cup, a silverware holder, and my quilt for a grand total of: 30.82 Euros (~$42)!! Fabulous! I will definitely be making more trips back there to fill up my apartment with more useful, currently lacking things! Another bonus is that it's only a ten-minute bike ride from my apartment - fabulous x2!
Anyway, back to less giddy adventures and the topic of this post, I completed my first week of teaching here at Friedrich-Alexander University (FAU), and it went incredibly well! I must say, the whole reality of being a teacher didn't really hit me until I was standing in my first class of the week, Vantage I, preparing for the lesson to come. When one of my first students came into the room and asked, "Is this where Vantage I will be?" I realized that it was game time, and that I would actually be back in my old, dearly missed profession of teaching. It's definitely a good thing that I decided to primarily focus on introductory information this week (with the exception to one class that meets twice a week), as it took a couple of lessons for me to get back into the swing of things. Thankfully, by the third class, I had a much better feel for being the "director" of the class, and my nerves had settled immensely by then as well.
To my surprise, I was informed at the beginning of this week that my English for Technology Students courses, for which I originally planned 3-hour long lectures, would become 1.5-hour sessions in order to create more opportunities for the students. Apparently the demand for these new classes were much higher than originally anticipated, which is great for me and the Language Center, as it means that there'll still be a job for me after this semester - and hopefully even after this academic year!
Unfortunately, there will only be one Study Skills for Technology Students course offered, which focuses primarily on preparing students to study abroad in an English-speaking country; essentially, a pre-departure, cultural class for students within the technical department of the university. There are still some details that need to be ironed out, as the majority of the students expressed an explicit disinterest in any cultural topics which is actually contradictory to the reason why they should be in that class. Apparently, they want to only learn about topics on technology, which is great but an entirely different class. Therefore, I have to discuss this "problem" with my boss and come to some sort of middle ground or what have you.
I have the feeling that it'll come down to me telling the students, "Unfortunately, none of you have the ability to read (since the course description is in English and German) and are in the wrong course, and your punishment is that you'll have to suck it up and learn about life abroad...........which is actually going to be the best thing for you if you are required to live abroad for at least six months in order to receive your degree." Obviously, the subtle hints of sarcasm and condescension won't be in my little talk with them, however, I will have to be curt and candid with them about the fact that the Study Skills course revolves entirely around cultural, and not technological, topics.
As I said, the majority of my classes were purely introductory lectures this week: going over course syllabi, tentative course material, specific topics to be covered in individual classes - grammatical or thematic - and, of course, the proverbial self-introductions. Of the seven courses I taught, only two were a struggle to get through as the students didn't really seem to react to any of my comments, jokes, energy, etc. A major portion of my teaching style is based upon the Gahman style of humor, and just humor in general, as I've found it keeps students interested and on their toes more. And if there are groups of people who are just immune or nonreactive to this, I can always tell it'll be a long semester with that class. Still, I also have the more somber, traditional lecture style as well, to suit those classes whose students want to make learning a serious matter (zzzzz, boring, but whatever!).
One thing I did with all but one of my classes was an introductory survey and a beginning of the course written evaluation. The introductory survey was to elicit information from students regarding their own impression of their level of English, strengths and weaknesses within their language abilities, and topics they'd like to see the course cover. This was especially important with my technology courses, since this is the first semester any of them are being offered, and it also opened my eyes to a number of new technological fields I was completely unaware of. In my General English courses, however, it was more a way to get students' personal opinions on where their interests lie; most students like to see that their opinions matter and that the teacher is actually listening, so egocentric [j/k]!
I've already processed all their responses and factored them into the individual course plans, and I think the students will really appreciate the further fine-tuning I've done to cater a bit more to their individual needs. Furthermore, after making some fun graphs and spreadsheets, I decided I would be showing the students the information I gathered so they can see the general level of the class and what their fellow students said.
The second evaluative piece of coursework I had students do was an impromptu essay on the topic of their field of study, their reasoning behind choosing that field, and their plans post-graduation. I figured since it would be a topic they were more passionate about and had given a lot of thought to, it would be one of the "easier" topics to discuss. My reasoning for having students do this was primarily to ascertain the general level of written English the students in my various classes possessed. Since I've never taught at this university before and didn't want to go into all my classes completely blind, I thought this would be a good way to get a good understanding of their written ability.
An additional step I took to this evaluation was to breakdown the individual pieces of their writing into the categories of grammar, vocabulary, cohesiveness & general self-expression, and spelling & punctuation. I then wrote my impression on each respective category based on what they produced for each student, which will then create the basis for their individual learning plan for their course. I just finished reading, responding to, and creating my last learning plan yesterday, and while it is certainly going to be a great personal motivational/progression tool, it took way too long to do on my part. I have a total of 82 students, and having to read 82 essays and write tiny anecdotes about five different categories for every student and making each plan unique to the student was simply too time-consuming. I had to postpone a lot of my lesson planning for next week in order to finish everything, which is too bad as I have to now complete them sometime tomorrow. Still, it was a great lesson as I now think I'll only create these plans for my technology students who will really benefit from them the most.
While lesson planning is certainly a long and thorough process, the feeling of seeing it come into fruition and have such a positive effect on my students and their attitude towards learning is so unique and rewarding. In the second session of my Vantage I course on Wednesday, I was able to get into the actual teaching aspect of the job - we learned about Present Simple and Continuous (I go and I am going, respectively) - and had some great discussions and a lot of fun with the activities planned. It's just such a great feeling to have your lessons go well and it provides such a motivating attitude and desire to push yourself further as a teacher!
With a roller-coaster week behind me and my existential high from experiencing Ikea's grandiosity, I look forward to a relaxing evening at the movies tonight and a refreshing beer at home. I've got my food shopping done for the weekend (no stores are open on Sundays in Germany, even in larger cities), so I can focus on further relaxation and lesson planning for these two days. I am off to enjoy the absolutely beautiful weather we are having today with a second bike ride - I've ridden 20 km today! - and peregrinate through the city.
ew, I just wrote a paragraph comment and it signed me out :( the first weeks is the learning process, then its up to the students to follow in your diligent footsteps :) You certainly make it easy to buy for at IKEA! Shopping has become a fascinating thing for me at the end of the week. Also, the best word of this post: peregrinate. Never heard/read it before. Way to teach overseas!
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