Back to Schule, Day 3

Breakfast was again at 7am this morning, but today it was to our advantage to have an early breakfast because we had to leave the hostel at 8 am with Manka to travel to an untraditional German secondary school. Once at the school we met with one of the directors of the school, who explained why their school was unique to other German schools. To begin with, they accept students who are both slower at learning and students who are exceptionally bright, and they put these students into classes that have mixed grades. For example, there were classes with 7th and 8th grades, classes with 9th and 10th graders, and classes with 11th and 12th graders. With this system they are trying to encourage peers to help each other learn versus just the teacher teaching. Another unique aspect of this school is that the majority of the students curriculum revolves around project based learning. Every week students explore new projects that help them learn research methodologies, encourage curiousity, and help them learn how to be active, independent learners. Students are also encouraged to become strong independent learners through this school because it requires students to take 13th year of school in which they solely focus on studying and preparing to take the tests that will determine which universities they are eligible to attend.

After discussing with the director we were able to split up into groups of two and three to visit some of the classrooms for an hour. I visited an English classroom, and was surprised by both the similarities and differences between their classroom and the classrooms i was used to in my high school. The class had approximately 20-25 students, and the students had grouped themselves in what i am assuming is their group of friends. Even just based off their attitudes, you could tell which students were higher performing and which were less enthused about school. I was surprised at how little english was actually spoken in the classroom, and the students i was sitting next to explained that they practice english only once per week in school, and english class is more about learning vocabulary, sentence structure, gramar, and other aspects of the english language. This made it very apparent who studied independently and who didn't. I ended up having to move to speak with another group of students because the group i sat with when i first arrived in the classroom were having a difficult time maintaining a conversation with me. The next girl that i talked with spoke english very well though, and she was fascinated with American pop culture. She was very entertaining to talk with, and i am very grateful for the opportunity to have visited a school in Germany, which is not an opportunity that many visitors to germany have.

After we finished at the school we were done with activities for the day, so a group of us explored the area for lunch. I had my first Doner, which is similar to a gyro, but in my opinion, much tastier. Its really a shame that there aren't good Doner places in Seattle, because i am going to sorely miss having a Doner shop on every corner!