And in case anyone is curious what a typical week of school is like for a 5th-grader at E.-O.-Plauen, here is Ulrike's class's schedule:
The first break is basically recess - the second one is sometimes another recess, sometimes lunch. I can't really figure it out, and it's different depending on what the schedule is like for a certain day. Recess is different from what I remember from grade school - the teachers don't take their classes outside, the kids just go, and then a bell rings that tells them they have to go back to class. There are usually a couple teachers outside during the break but the kids are basically on their own during that time. The classes with a * are only for kids that are struggling and need extra help. AG stands for "Arbeitsgemeinschaft," I haven't figured out exactly what this means but I know there are different AGs for different things - for example, there is a soccer AG and a drum AG. I think they're sort of after-school clubs.
Also, you did indeed see Islam on the schedule. In Germany there is not a separation of church and state like we have in the U.S., and so kids have religion class at school. Usually they pick between Catholic and Protestant, and then they added a sort of non-religious alternative, Ethics. Some schools in certain areas now of course have almost exclusively Muslim students, so those schools now - although this is still highly controversial - offer Islam class. Religion classes aren't just taught by anybody - they of course have teacher certification but also have some sort of certification from the state churches, or in the case of Islam class, a mosque. Not sure how all that stuff technically works. But anyways, not all the kids go to Islam class, but I think most of them do. I'm not exactly sure what the other kids do instead.
Expect more updates to come! Tomorrow I'm not going to school because Ulrike doesn't have many English classes and I have to go to the dentist - the last appointment available this week is Friday at 11:30, and it would be a hassle to ride all the way down to school for an hour and then have to leave. (If you're curious, my tooth that has a crown has become very sensitive to hot and cold. I'm sure this can't be good news, so I figured I should see a dentist as soon as possible. I'm kind of nervous.) Next week is orientation in Cologne, so I'll try to report on that. And don't think that I've forgotten about the post on man capris and socks with sandals. The other day an acquaintance actually was wearing both - and not just any socks, but black socks. Yikes. I would've taken a picture but I had just met the guy and I thought he might be offended.
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3 comments:
Very nice pictures - what a lovely school!! But I don't understand Ulrike's schedule. You told me she teaches English and Math, but her schedule looks like she teaches a lot of subjects. Please explain.
Love you and miss you,
Muttilein
That's not Ulrike's schedule, it's her class's schedule. The kids who have Ulrike for "homeroom" have the schedule I posted. Ulrike's schedule looks very different - she goes to different classes and teaches English and then also teaches math for her own class.
Each class also has a special name/number - Ulrike's class is 5b for example. I guess they could just say Frau Kauter's class but they give it a number too. The other fifth grade class Ulrike teaches is 5a, and she also teaches 4a and 4c (4th grade) and 3c (3rd grade). I'll post Ulrike's schedule once it's settled - right now she has a few periods where she is supposed to be teaching German or something but they haven't really gotten it all figured out yet, she's really only supposed to be teaching English and then math for 5b.
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