Presented to me by the seventh grade class in Kostelec

It seems like it was only yesterday that I was being welcomed with coffee and cake into the bosom of my school in Weimar, shaking hands with the staff who would be my peers and colleagues for the next eight months. Now, it’s over, and has been for the last two weeks. An odd feeling, for tomorrow I’ll be heading home properly. It really will be the end of it all.

What though, have I been doing for the last couple of weeks? Well, as I said – in the Czech Republic.

Last week, Monday to Wednesday, I felt as though I’d just switched countries and was continuing my previous job. I was helping out at an elementary school in Kostelec.

The classes were, unlike in Germany, up to 15 years of age here. More of an extended primary school than an elementary school, I suppose then.
The classes were all very friendly though, as were the teachers. They all welcomed me into their lessons as if they knew of my arrival for some weeks before, which they certainly didn’t – five or so minutes it seemed was the norm.
The students were all enthusiastic, if somewhat ‘bored’ in school (or so seemed the general consensus), which made a change from Germany.

Although I took a sort-of ‘centre stage’ position in a few of the lessons in which we were talking about weather, a lot of the lessons (of which there were lots – 15 or so over the three days), I simply conversed with them all. They all seemed to enjoy this, even if they weren’t confident in speaking at all – they spoke generally in Czech, and thus the teacher did the speaking. This was sort of thus pointless, but whatever floated their boat. I was happy to be a bit of a novelty for a few days.

As I left on Wednesday, I felt as though I’d enjoyed having a bit of structure to my days again – but if I had to do that for any longer period of time, the very real language barrier – my complete lack of Czech – would have become an issue. I still am a little novelty around here it seems, as random young people still say ‘Hello’ to me in the street every now and again. Feels good!

A very interesting, fun and enjoyable few days – as was the rest of my time here: Visiting a WWII bunker close to the Polish border, a set of caves near Brno, a few castles, the Adrspach rock complex, Prague’s castle and surrounding grounds, getting cuddles off the family dog, plus much more.

Tomorrow, I’ll be back in the UK. It’s bizarre to think that this ‘is it’, as they say. The end of my year abroad proper. It’s been an amazing year – one that, despite its ups and downs, I’d not change for the world.

The day on which I finally left Weimar and Thüringen arrived. Bags packed, ready to go, off I go to Dresden. I always wanted to visit Dresden – it’s a city that I had never visited and, as I was going to Prague afterwards and the train goes through there anyway, it would be silly not to do a little detour and take a look to see what it had to offer for a day or two.

After meeting up with a friend who was brought up here, off I went to the hotel near the Neustadt. I knew from the map that it was relatively close to the Innenstadt – but just how close, I had no idea.

After passing several impressive facades, statues, fountains and DDR style buildings, we came to the bridge crossing the River Elbe. From here, you can see everything – the various churches (there are a lot of them, it seems!), government buildings and the art and music academies. Added to this, it was the so-called ‘Christi-Himmelfahrt’ (‘Ascension of Jesus’) holiday, plus the ‘Männer Tag’, where men stereotypically get a trailer full of beer (kegs, we’re talking here – I saw some bloke swigging from a bottle of beer at 9am), get on a bike and head out into the countryside and have a royal piss up. It was, thus, busy with a great and lively atmosphere!

The Innenstadt is a rather compact place. Three or four squares (crammed with Sehenswürdigkeiten, it must be said) and that is it, or so it seems. Very attractive though – certainly not to be missed!

The Neustadt area, near the hotel, is also attractive in a different sort of way. One half is dominated by a huge clock tower, a view along to the Innenstadt bridge via the ‘Hauptstraße’, with many cafes and restaurants littering the place. The other half is full of studenty clubs, bars, pubs and the like. It looks a little more run-down, but still has character.

In short, I had a great day. It was lovely to speak German for a whole afternoon non-stop (with a bit of English thrown in here and there), have a good laugh and see a new city. I realised how much I missed being in a large(ish) city – the hustle and bustle, the little nooks and crannies, the large areas to explore. While Weimar did me proud for sure, it made for a welcome change.

This was also my final day in Germany for a while – a brilliant way to round it all off. I sat in the hotel bar for a quick drink earlier and just gave a smile to myself. All in all, I’m very happy with what I’ve achieved this year. Can’t say much more than that – it’s all been said in previous posts here and there. But yes – good feelings all round.

It feels strange to say ‘That’s that’, but no doubt I’ll be back in Germany for an extended time in the future. Anyway – must dash! Next stop: Czech Republic.

Dresden photos can be seen here.

To see all of Weimar’s castle-y offerings, off I went to Schloss Ettersburg on Friday afternoon. This is about twenty minutes to the west of Weimar on the bus and the journey goes through many lovely villages and you really can see the full extent of Thüringen’s countryside along the way. Fields everywhere, and the like.
Once there though, despite the classy looking website, it became clear that it wasn’t particularly sehenswürdig. A group was there with a wedding and as I obviously couldn’t go inside the castle, I was consigned to stroll around it. There wasn’t much to it. A park with steep paths and rolling fields (which I had no desire to explore, as it was raining) and a tiny village street outside it was all it had to offer. A shame really, but there we are. The photos, if you want to see them, are viewable here.

Saturday evening was a last meal with the first set of LAs in Erfurt. It was also, as it turned out, my last forray into the great Thüringen capital. We chatted about anything and everything, over memories, experiences, what we’d miss and what we’d do again and we all vowed to meet up again when in the UK. Fingers crossed we do! It was also good to have a final roam around Erfurt’s backstreets. I’ll miss that place, and all the memories I hold along with it.

Monday heralded the beginning of the end proper. This week, I was in high demand – I did a few extra classes to say goodbye to them properly. Thus, my first class on Monday morning was Doris’ fifth graders. They asked that I wait downstairs, then surprised me with a little impromptu breakfast in the middle of the classroom! I was given a card (one of many that I received) and a round of applause, along with a bunch of flowers and a nicely decorated blackboard. Smiles all round for me – what a surprise!
Onto Anne-Rose’s seventh grade class – this was a more low-key affair, as I was expecting. They were still learning about the Battle of Hastings and associated history around that. This was pretty interesting and vaguely made me want to study history again – but then I remembered how much I’d begun to loathe it by the end of my A-Levels, so so much for that!
The evening was spent reminiscing and sampling some beer with another group of LAs in Jena. Good times – it was a lovely way to round things off and I’ll miss all of them, for sure.

Tuesday and my last day as a Language Assistant dawned. First up was the challenge of bringing the eight or so boxes of Schokoküsse , along with other assorted goodies, books I’d have to give back and the like, into school itself. Not easy, but with a bit of help I managed it!
Betty’s class was an active English lesson – we played an hour and a half’s worth of games. Good fun it was too! Along with this, the class gave me a card saying how much they’d miss me – and I’ll miss them too. They’re a nice bunch and it was a great and fun last lesson.
Onto the English department itself next, who gave me a book and a card signed from them all, along with a calendar to remind me of my time here (not that I’m likely to forget it!), plus their best wishes.
Next up was Sabine’s fifth graders – they finished off their presentations about their houses and I kept the level of fun up (relatively speaking) by giving them a wordsearch to do. A good ol’ round of applause I got from them, along with a chorus of ‘Thank you!’ and a smile!
Off I then jogged into Doris’ eleventh grade class. I do love this class – so relaxed, so friendly, so enthusiastic. They were doing poetry (or at least were labouring under that impression) – but all semblance of a lesson disappeared as soon as I entered. We all descended into a lovely relaxed atmos, in which we had a bit of banter and I taught them (on their request) English swear words. Not something I think I’ll ever be asked to do again! I got a lovely signed card from there, along with giving them my contact details – hopefully they’ll stay in contact. I think they’ll be the ones I miss the most – so nice, so friendly and up for a laugh.
After a few hugs in the Lehrerzimmer for the last time, I set foot outside the school. Officially unemployed now, but what a way to end. You can view the few photos I’ve put up of my final days at the school here.

Friends and new contacs made (all of whom, who’ll be sorely missed), new experiences had, language improved ten fold, real Germany discovered. What an amazing year.

It doesn’t stop here though – Dresden and the Czech Republic still to come for a fair while yet!

First, we were talking about Tagesrhythmus and did a survey to go with it. ‘What sort of things do you eat?’, ‘How much sleep do you get each night?’ and the like were questions that were asked. Our group was, it seemed early birds, whereas the other group were night owls.

Then, in the second half, we began with the Konjunktiv I or reported speech tense. This is used in German by news reporters and the like (and in everyday speech too, of course).
An example (to use the one I saw the other day) may be: ‘Er sagt, dass mindestens 3 erschossen (worden seien), mit weiteren 27 verletzt worden seien’. – He says that three people have been shot, along with a further 27 having been injured.
‘Sandra sagt, dass sie ein Workaholic sei und dass, sie damit nicht zufrieden sei’ – Sandra says that she’s a workaholic and isn’t happy with that.
‘Sie sagt, sie wolle sich auf ihr Studium konzentrieren ohne in einem Nebenjob zu arbeiten’ – ‘She says, she wants to concentrate on her studies without having to work in a part-time job.’
‘Er sagt, dass er keine Lust habe’ – ‘He says that he doesn’t have the inclination to do it’ / ‘Es wurde gesagt, dass sie gelangweilt sei’ – I was said that she was bored’ and so on.

Relatively easy (to begin with) – bin / bist / ist and such, is replaced by ‘sei’, declined in the same way, along with the verb taking an ‘e’ rather than ‘t’ in the third person singular. It gets more complicated though – I need to work on it!

Thencewards, it was onto the passive. I’ve no real problem with it in its basic form: “Es wird gesagt / es wurde gesagt / es ist gesagt worden” and such (it is being / was / has been said) – but when it comes to passive with modal verbs. How I hate it!
As a friend of mine said (who can do it with no problem), ‘It’s like a puzzle’. That it is.
“Die Gemuese haetten gegessen werden muessen” = The vegetables should have been eaten.

Still – it gives me things to think about and work on, and that’s always good.

All in all, this has been a brilliant resource – I’ve enjoyed every minute of the ol’ DaF, and it’ll be a real shame not to have it from now on. I’ll have uni though, but I won’t be in Germany …

The week was just a standard week really, with no real special events.

Monday, the seventh grade class was doing the Battle of Hastings.

Tuesday, I actually had a full day for once. Betty’s class were discussing question tasks, such as ‘You didn’t do that, did you?’, along with listening to a text on the CD about disappearing items in a classroom. The questions they did to this, were answered well.
The fifth grade class, meanwhile, were doing presentations based on their houses, following on from my lesson on my own house last week. They only made a few mistakes. Little things such as ‘I live in the second floor’ rather than ‘on’ and the like.
In the afternoon, Baerbel was taking Martina’s ninth graders. They were focussing on a few grammar mistakes that they’d made in their essays. They were asked to translate sentences from German to English correctly – their mistakes were corrected and all was well.

Wednesday was a short day for me – just Betty’s class in the morning, with a Nachhilfe class at 1pm. Betty’s second sixth grade class were doing the exact same as the one on Tuesday, with the exception that this would be my last lesson with them. We played a few games with them and they gave me a card at the end. Cute, really.

Thursday rolled around and the eleventh graders were in good fooling as usual. They were busy analysing poems in great detail (including all the associated gubbins such as rhyme structure and the like). They then had to summarise all of this, which they did well on.
Finally, Doris’ fifth grade class were busied with a few translations, along with scrambled letters and saying what Doris’ mimes were. Good fun!

I’ll be seeing most of these classes (except Wednesday’s groups) next week, so I’ll have one more time with them all. I’m looking forward to it!

We then moved onto a poem by Bertolt Brecht – ‘Vergnügungen’ (Joys). We analysed it (very easy), then wrote a few of our own. Good fun it was, too! We rewrote it as if it was a sentence (a long one at that), rather than a poem. This led to a construction such as this:
‘Es macht Vergnügungen, am Morgen aus dem Fenster zu schauen, ein altes Buch wieder zu finden, begeisteter Gesichte zu sehen ….’ and so on.

Onto ‘Textanalyse’ next, where we discussed the main points to analysing a text (rather easy in theory, but in a foreign language it’s a bit of a challenge, we found) – and we were then given a short, but very dense text. Some of it easy, some hard. What were the key points, key words and such?

All in all, although it undoubtedly sounds dull from the way I’ve written it, this was a bit of fun. Most importantly, a challenge too!

Sadly, this was to be my penultimate DaF course as apparently there’s a public holiday on the Friday in a couple of weeks’ time. A real shame, as I really enjoy these courses and Fridays. The three hours always fly by. Still, there we are …

On Monday, the seventh grade class were talking about the Battle of Hastings and thus learnt lots of new vocabulary (as did I, when they translated it into German). They were rather ‘active’ as usual, shall we say.

Rather than having lessons on Tuesday, the whole school had a day off, due to the 12th grade orals for the ‘Abitur’ – the equivalent of our A-Levels. I was sitting in on the English orals, and to say it put me to shame (with my foreign language skills) was putting it mildly! Their English, as I’d already experienced earlier on before Christmas, was very, very good. This included one girl who, in terms of speaking at least, sounded pretty much fluent. It’s scary, really.

Wednesday’s class with Betty was working its way gently through the textbook, again focusing on Bristol and Aardman Studios, where that much loved British animation, Wallace and Gromit is filmed.
Meanwhile, Bärbel’s tenth grade class were going over the ‘simple’ or ‘progressive’ present due to a few mistakes on their tests. These were sentences such as ‘Beth is writing postcards. She (is writing / has written) five so far. Added to this, they also got on with oral practice for an exam in June.

On Thursday, Doris’ eleventh grade class were going through their orals that they’d begun to write last week. I was also writing one with a student, and we had a good time doing that – and presenting it too. Later on in the lesson, I then held the floor for the best part of 30 minutes, as I was talking about the work that I volunteer for in the UK and what I’d experienced there – all linked in with young people and youth culture (well, loosely!), and then spoke quickly about the other charity ‘Missing People’. This was good, I really enjoyed it – and Doris said that the class had been ‘quietly impressed and touched’, so I did a good job, I think! I certainly came away feeling pleased with myself after that.
Last but not least, the fifth graders were going over the ‘simple or present progressive’, along with a few exercises that demonstrated this.

I’m in a new group now – group 9, so a bit more of a challenge (never a bad thing). This also means a host of new people – again, as last time, the nationalities are varied and diverse. Korean, Brazillian, Irish, Chinese, Romanian, Spanish and probably a couple more too.

The others all had a homework from the previous week – find a piece of literiture in your mother tongue and present it, then with a little translation into German. It was an interesting to hear other people’s languages – though incomprehensible. There are a lot of different languages in the word, with all sorts of different sounds.

The theme of this lesson (and the previous ones) was about happiness. We then went around the group and gave the words for ‘to be happy’ (glücklich sein) and ‘lucky’ (Glück haben) and noticed how it was (at least out of all these languages) just German with the one base word for both terms. As usual throughout all this, I was scribbling down all sorts of words and phrases that I didn’t know.

Over the past few days of this week, I realise that, although my German’s come a hell of a long way since July when I did the Bremen course and of course me living here for the past eight or nine months, there’s still so, so much that I don’t know. It’s not a particularly nice feeling to have – frustrating and a bit saddening at the same time. I’m not entirely sure where I subconsciously expected myself to be at the end of this year abroad, but ‘better than this’ springs immediately to mind. Of course, that’s my self-depricating side talking – I know that I can say a heck of a lot. At the same time, though – a little bit of me is slightly disappointed with the amount that I still don’t know. Still – got a lifetime to become fluent and live here and do all the things I want to do. Got to keep focused on that.

So, school. (Yes, it’s still been going on!) Two weeks have passed since I wrote the last post about it, so I’ll put in two weeks’ worth.

On Monday 2 May, Annerose’s seventh grade class were doing a bit about the Royal Wedding and revised the present perfect along with it. They had to translate a few sentences from English to German – they’re not too bad at that.
The next week, they did a text on Great Gable, a mountain in the Lake District – I revised vocabulary with them for that.

On Tuesday 3 May, Betty’s sixth grade class were learning board game vocabulary, which linked in with them playing a quick board game in the textbook, learning about Bristol. The next week, relative pronouns were the order of the day, as well as ‘whose’, and ‘which’.

Sabine’s fifth grade class were doing a sing-through of ‘Here comes the Sun’, which wasn’t bad at all. It was then onto home and town vocabulary, which linked in nicely with the lesson in the next week. I took it, showed them pictures of my house and typical British houses – cottages, town houses, estates, manors and the like, as well as revising vocabulary with them. The lesson went well and it was nice to get yet another positive lesson under my belt.

On Wednesday 4 May, as usual, Betty’s other sixth grade class did a mirror image of Tuesday’s proceedings. This held true for the next week too, except that they had a brief musical interlude, where they sang a few songs that they’d be practicing (for choir, presumably?).

Bärbel’s tenth grade class were busy with interpreting photographs – they had to do a rather detailed description on their first impressions, the perceived social / cultural / historical significance of the photograph(er), the motivations for it and such. They then did a bit of speaking practice.

On Thursday 5 May, Doris’ eleventh graders were at first given a vocab test – again on the topic of youth culture, then we all sat opposite each other and had to discuss various things. First, how our holidays went; second, what we normally eat and third, do we know anyone who diets / has dieted? In the next week, they had to write an e-mail to a friend who has weight issues – how would they deal with it? I was then tasked with writing a dialogue with one of the class, about a woman who has run away from home and is now living on the streets. This was a great bit of fun and we’ll present it this week.

Finally, the fifth graders were practicing their personal pronouns and objects (with ‘them’, ‘him’, ‘her’ and so on), and in the second week, were going through their answers to the ‘Big Challenge Quiz’, which the whole school took part in – if they win, they can get a number of pretty decent prizes. Find out more about it, at The Big Challenge website.

The accommodation
The hotel that we stayed in was the Premier Inn, a mere five minute walk away from Euston station.
Not only was the location rather good, but so was the hotel itself. Although they specialise in cheap rooms, they were very respectable – a couple of beds, en-suite, satellite TV, towels and such provided.
OK, so admittedly that’s what most hotels should provide as standard (minus the TV), but compared to where we stayed last time in November, it was nicer to say the least.

The conferencems
The conference began by a selected few of the group presenting what they’d achieved over the course of the year with their respective partnerships and projects.
There were those who’d sent each other boxes for Christmas and Easter, begun a pen-friend scheme, made films showing each other their towns and main sights, created a German music club and baking club, decorated their school’s language corridor like the Berlin Wall – amongst other things. There was lots more! In short – very impressive stuff.

The majority of people though, myself included, had little to show their efforts, either due to a lack of time, motivation or other difficulties in school – communication problems and the like. Although it sounds simple, in reality it isn’t easy to get a project off the ground and keep it there!

We then had a couple of workshops discussing the various problems (and positives) that we’d experienced and encountered along the way. (These were briefly interrupted by lunchtime, and the Syrian protest going on around the corner – which we were warmly welcomed into, but declined!)

All in all…
Although the scheme didn’t produce that much of a project for me – despite a fair crack at the whip – it’s clear that this is still a very valuable thing to be involved in, hence I’m still happy to have been involved in it.
It forges even closer links between countries and schools (they’d be relatively close anyway, one presumes, with having a Language Assistant in the classroom), and, from what was shown, is clearly a source of great intrigue, enjoyment and the breaking down of stereotypes on both sides of the project. This is particularly important in the UK, due to the lack of language learning there (one of my hobby horses!).