Many students will simply study or independently hang out with friends. The clubs that do exist may have a designated topic or goal, but they act more like friend groups than dedicated programs. Overall, there is less of a sense of school identity or school team pride than in the United States.
My day starts early and in much the same way as the students’ days. I take the train towards the school around 7:00 a.m. I assist in teaching morning classes: leading some lessons, acting as support for class activities and occasionally acting more as a human dictionary and language reference. I take small groups of German students out of class to practice their English speaking skills quite often, and this is a nice way for them to get practice in a relaxed setting, as well as for me to connect with the students as people. In these conversations, we do a lot of cultural exchange. I tell them about home in the United States, I ask them to tell me about their lives here in Germany and we compare. Of course, I get a lot of questions thrown my way, many of which are the same kinds of things that you ask me about life in Germany. The funniest and most interesting I get is: Is life in America like in the movies? There are a lot of assumptions behind this one question, so it takes a while to really understand what they mean by it. What do you think it means? How might you answer? I’ll be curious to maybe hear your thoughts the next time we call!
