the first few days in school.

I teach at the CFvW Gymnasium (grammar school, not actual gym) in Ratingen. My first day was on friday so I got up at half6 in the morning and cycled into school with the son of my host family. I say cycled... he cycled, and I struggled to stay on the bloody thing trying to negotiate my way along narrow pavements whilst avoiding stray children and badly parked cars. Why we didn't cycle on the road I don't know but he seemed to be enjoying himself. Needless to say I quickly decided to walk from then on. When we arrived (just about intact) I met with my mentor for the year who is brilliant, a really friendly man who speaks understandable German (just as an aside: don't try and keep up with a conversation between two Germans, maybe it's just me but they speak so bloody fast!).

I have had a weeks worth of trying out various lessons and teachers and will next week choose the classes I want to help out in on a permanent basis. So far there have been a mixed bag:

Year 7s - they were fine, and spoke really good English.
Year 8s - only wanted to know if I had a girlfriend, nosy bastards!
Year 13s - we were doing Shakespeare, not my cup of tea.

Year 9s - didn't stop bloody talking for the whole lesson, the teachers here don't seem to mind though which is odd. A few knobs in this class, won't be going back!
Year 13s - more Shakespeare. I nearly fell asleep as they were discussing their interpretations of Sonnets, mainly because of the 6.30am start but I think I'll steer clear of lit classes now just in case!

Year 11s - I thought thay would be the most disruptive students but they were really good, and had phenomenal English. I will go back to that class.

Year 9s mkII - a different Y9 class, and they were brilliant. This lesson was different to all the others I have had so far, because the teacher let them ask me questions about myself and England for the whole lesson... I felt quite important. By the way, if a German asks you 'who has the most style, English people or Germans?', don't say the English, no matter how true it may be. I also found out that they think the concept of a Full English is horrible, they clearly haven't been to Hukaz in Leeds.

So, in the school so far so good really. I haven't had much to do but it's been a bit of a breeze. The early mornings aren't enjoyable but when you walk out of work at 9.45am it doesn't feel too bad! Also I've been invited to a teacher team building weekend in a couple of weeks, so I'll be able to see how the Germans really let their hair down.