This week has been very full of excitement and lots of fun times! I think I will have to separate it into two posts, so this one will be for Monday-Friday, and then I'll do another one for this weekend!
Monday
Monday, I was scheduled to be at Long Eaton with my new form (class) of Year 7s, or sixth graders. They are turning out to be a great group of kids to be around, and I'm getting to see lots of ways to differentiate learning, which will be great when I begin teaching myself!
I won't go into too much detail about Monday because the day ended up being very trying for all students and staff at Long Eaton. The school received the news that a Year 11 student passed away over the previous weekend. The school delivered the news to all students at the Registration (homeroom) period at the end of the day. All the students and staff have been affected by this, but they've all pulled together so well and it's been great to spend time with this "school family," even in a tragedy.
I won't go into too much detail about Monday because the day ended up being very trying for all students and staff at Long Eaton. The school received the news that a Year 11 student passed away over the previous weekend. The school delivered the news to all students at the Registration (homeroom) period at the end of the day. All the students and staff have been affected by this, but they've all pulled together so well and it's been great to spend time with this "school family," even in a tragedy.
Tuesday
Several primary schools feed into The Long Eaton School, where students go at the start of Year 7. I've been spending two days a week at Shardlow Primary, which is an abnormally tiny, very English school, quite a bit away from Long Eaton. Tuesday, I had the opportunity to visit another primary school called Brooklands, which almost directly connects to Long Eaton by bridge. It's a "large" school for the area and has about 400 kids. I spent time in a classroom with Year 6 (fifth grade) students, and had a fantastic day!
The day started off with me observing a grammar lesson taught by a male teacher. This teacher had taught in the U.S. before and was very enthusiastic about my being there. He asked for my help in teaching the lesson, which was great. The students were immediately floored by my accent. :)
Next, the students had guided reading. Much to my absolute pleasure, the students were reading none other than... Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Hearing English kids read that book aloud was just really enchanting and a really cool moment!
Later on in the day, two of the fifth grade teachers gave the students time to just ask me whatever questions they wanted to about myself, school in the U.S., etc. They always surprise you with the questions they ask!
The day started off with me observing a grammar lesson taught by a male teacher. This teacher had taught in the U.S. before and was very enthusiastic about my being there. He asked for my help in teaching the lesson, which was great. The students were immediately floored by my accent. :)
Next, the students had guided reading. Much to my absolute pleasure, the students were reading none other than... Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Hearing English kids read that book aloud was just really enchanting and a really cool moment!
Later on in the day, two of the fifth grade teachers gave the students time to just ask me whatever questions they wanted to about myself, school in the U.S., etc. They always surprise you with the questions they ask!
"What football team do you support?"
...English people are obsessed with their football. I always have to explain how "football" to them is not "football" to me. I'm not really a fan of either one!
"What inspired you to be a teacher?"
I was surprised at this one! I wouldn't think kids would care to ask this, but I guess they did!
"Would you rather live here in England or live back home in Kentucky?"
This is difficult to explain to young kids, but without question, I love home. I will always be someone who loves the comfort and privacy that you feel at home. And I couldn't deal with not being near my family. As much as I do love it here in England, it's not me, for permanent. Describing what Kentucky even looks like is something kids here don't understand. Seeing big open fields and houses so far apart, riding school busses to school, not being able to walk everywhere: completely foreign. Being the only American person around is so different than anything I've ever done before and its' taught me a lot. Being American and being Southern is really cool and something I really like. (I know my Mom and Dad are glad to hear that! Ha!)
...English people are obsessed with their football. I always have to explain how "football" to them is not "football" to me. I'm not really a fan of either one!
"What inspired you to be a teacher?"
I was surprised at this one! I wouldn't think kids would care to ask this, but I guess they did!
"Would you rather live here in England or live back home in Kentucky?"
This is difficult to explain to young kids, but without question, I love home. I will always be someone who loves the comfort and privacy that you feel at home. And I couldn't deal with not being near my family. As much as I do love it here in England, it's not me, for permanent. Describing what Kentucky even looks like is something kids here don't understand. Seeing big open fields and houses so far apart, riding school busses to school, not being able to walk everywhere: completely foreign. Being the only American person around is so different than anything I've ever done before and its' taught me a lot. Being American and being Southern is really cool and something I really like. (I know my Mom and Dad are glad to hear that! Ha!)
Later on in the day, the students went to "assembly" which is something the primary school kids have every day. It's just a period before or after lunch where the whole school gets together and has a lesson together. They have usually been about what students in the U.S. would have in Guidance class. The ones I've seen have been about changes and overcoming fears and things like that. The one at this school was actually kind of like a Sunday School lesson. Here in the UK, they are required to do some sort of religious education, which is, of course,
completely different to us in the U.S.
At lunch, one of the teachers said that I sounded like Dolly Parton to her. Ha! And I'm not as country-sounding as lots of other people! It was overall a great day and I loved that school.
completely different to us in the U.S.
At lunch, one of the teachers said that I sounded like Dolly Parton to her. Ha! And I'm not as country-sounding as lots of other people! It was overall a great day and I loved that school.
Wednesday
~Oxford University~
Oxford: one of the most famous universities in the whole entire world. I had been excited about this trip since hearing it was happening when we first arrived.
Several students at Long Eaton will have the opportunity to apply to Oxford, so the school organized a visit for a large group of students, and they invited us to come too! It did not disappoint. Absolutely beautiful and very academic-looking buildings. I got to meet several students, tour two libraries, see a dorm room and student housing, and see several little famous things that you should see when you go there. Such a cool experience.
The students were all surprisingly very normal! I honestly expected them all to be walking around with backpacks and glasses, riding bicycles full of textbooks, and so brainy, but they were really nice and just like normal college students. In England, all the universities cost the same amount of money for students, so things are more merit-based. You get really great grades and have a great interview to get into Oxford, but they do choose their students based on their potential, not their background.
Some of the Harry Potter films have been shot places in Oxford, and there's several little things to notice there. One of my favorites was the door from Narnia, from the title of the post. In the book, Lucy opens the door and looks over and sees a lamp post: in Oxford, you stand at the door, look over, and see a lamp post. So cool!
Also, there is a tree in one of the gardens at the "Corpus Christi" part of the university that inspired Lewis Carroll to write "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."
Several students at Long Eaton will have the opportunity to apply to Oxford, so the school organized a visit for a large group of students, and they invited us to come too! It did not disappoint. Absolutely beautiful and very academic-looking buildings. I got to meet several students, tour two libraries, see a dorm room and student housing, and see several little famous things that you should see when you go there. Such a cool experience.
The students were all surprisingly very normal! I honestly expected them all to be walking around with backpacks and glasses, riding bicycles full of textbooks, and so brainy, but they were really nice and just like normal college students. In England, all the universities cost the same amount of money for students, so things are more merit-based. You get really great grades and have a great interview to get into Oxford, but they do choose their students based on their potential, not their background.
Some of the Harry Potter films have been shot places in Oxford, and there's several little things to notice there. One of my favorites was the door from Narnia, from the title of the post. In the book, Lucy opens the door and looks over and sees a lamp post: in Oxford, you stand at the door, look over, and see a lamp post. So cool!
Also, there is a tree in one of the gardens at the "Corpus Christi" part of the university that inspired Lewis Carroll to write "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."
See my Facebook for lots more pictures! They're hard to upload on here. :)
Thursday and Friday
Thursday and Friday were both fairly normal days at Shardlow Primary. I helped with Year 1&2 in the morning on both days, and then Reception in the afternoon on Thursday, and Year 3&4 on Friday. I have gotten to know the staff better each time I have been and they have been so fun and nice to be around. I'm excited to be able to get pictures with some of the kids next week and teach some more of my own lessons. It will be fun. :)
I can't really remember what day it was, but I've now been to two pub quizzes!! Those are really fun. At a pub quiz, you form a team, and the announcer asks trivia questions every so often. You keep track of your answers and then hand them in at the end. Whoever wins gets a cash prize or some free drinks or something of that nature. The ones I've been to so far have been really hard and we've done pretty bad, but they're really fun!
That pretty much does it for my week this week! I'll post again really soon talking about my weekend because it has been very nice too. :) It's a long weekend and we're of tomorrow too!
Hope everyone has a great week!
--Haley
I can't really remember what day it was, but I've now been to two pub quizzes!! Those are really fun. At a pub quiz, you form a team, and the announcer asks trivia questions every so often. You keep track of your answers and then hand them in at the end. Whoever wins gets a cash prize or some free drinks or something of that nature. The ones I've been to so far have been really hard and we've done pretty bad, but they're really fun!
That pretty much does it for my week this week! I'll post again really soon talking about my weekend because it has been very nice too. :) It's a long weekend and we're of tomorrow too!
Hope everyone has a great week!
--Haley