Naturally, since my research project will focus specifically on the school system and how educational attainment relates to social mobility, I was quite excited about visiting the classes. We were given four choices of class schedules to choose from, and I decided I’d try out Economics, Math, and Physics. The schedules were in groups of three subjects, so the other schedule choices were:
• Economics, Math, and Chemistry;
• Health, Math, and English; or
• Health (4 periods) and Biology.
I wanted to practice my German, so I stayed away from the schedule with English, though I did visit an English class at an Oberschule in Berlin two years ago. Today, it was fun being the guests in class and speaking in German with the teachers and their students. The students were in what I suppose you could call 11th grade, which at this school is the first of three years in this school. So the students we spent our day with were around 16 or 17 years old (and one 18 year old).
Each period lasts for 45 minutes, and the students actually take 2 periods of each subject. So we spent 90 minutes in each classroom. Between the 2nd and 3rd periods, there is a 15-minute break, and between the 4th and 5th periods, there is a 20-minute break. First major difference: the teachers do not have their own classroom. They move from classroom to classroom just like the students do, which means the classrooms aren’t exactly decorated.
In our first class, Economics, we also noticed a huge flat screen TV in the front of the room. You couldn’t have missed it. The teacher asked us to introduce ourselves and share why we were all there, so James spoke on behalf of our group of 5 students. Easy enough.
During the 90 minutes we spent in Economics, the teacher had her 16 students (8 guys, 8 girls) work on a number of handouts, and after they completed each handout, they discussed what they just did. Then she’d present the next lesson and hand out another sets of problems.
She came over once when the students were working on their problems, so she could talk with us. She was really nice and asked us all where we were each going. I hadn’t realized it before, but all 5 of us were going to different cities and all of them were major cities in one way or another. As far as the economics lesson in German today went, I understood most of the dialogue between the teacher and her students, but I didn’t really pay attention to the lesson though as I was busy writing down observations.
Our next class was math, which I was actually dreading quite a bit to be honest. I took a grand total of one math class during four years of college, because I was simply not interested. J When we spoke with the teacher before class, she smiled and said she had a surprise for us in class. Oh boy…
Thankfully, the surprise was a pleasant one. She had each of the students pick a card from a deck in her hand and then had each of us (four at this point as James left to join another group) take one as well. Then based on the suit of our cards, we were supposed to join a different group (we Fulbrighters were all aces, which when you say the plural form in German sounds a lot like something else). Brilliant idea, I thought. She split the class into groups and split the Americans so they couldn’t speak English to each other.
My group was awesome. Two guys and two girls who were all 16 years old. One of the girls was Indian, but was born in Afghanistan; the other girl was Russian and only moved from Siberia to Germany three years ago. I didn’t notice her accent until after she told me that, since she had very little accent. The two boys were both born in Germany. Their assignment was to look at the six problems and explain them to me (in German, of course).
Surprisingly, there wasn’t too much they had to explain as they were working on problems like:
“If f(x) = -3x + 0.5, does the point (3.5, 12) fall on the line. Show your work.”
It took me a minute, but I figured out my math. Haha. Turns out I haven’t forgotten everything. I learned new vocab words though, of course, and also learned how Germans write this out (I wrote it in the American style above):
It would be “f(x) = -3x + 0,5” and “P(3,5 | 12)”.
Our group talked quite a bit because I kept asking them questions, and they kept asking me questions too. Either that or we just talked louder than the other groups. Their career interests ranged from politics to psychology to music, and all wanted to continue their studies at the university level. If you are familiar with the German education system, you’ll know that studying at the university level is not available to every student. In fact, for most students, the choice is made by the time they are 10 or 12 years old, depending on which state they live in.
These students have a shot because they were recommended for the Gymnasium, which is the only level of the three-tiered system that allows students to move on directly to a university if they obtain their A-levels, or Abitur (a huge exam at the end of Gymnasium). If you want to read my take on it from two years ago, I can send you my paper from Humanity in Action that I wrote in Berlin with two other fellows. J
They asked me a few questions about how studying at a university is like (e.g. “Is it really hard?”) and also how long I have spoken German. They were a bit surprised that I had only started learning German at the end of 2007, which I thought was kind of funny. Though they didn’t speak to me in English, I have absolutely no doubt their English is wayyyy better than my German.
Sadly, that class came to an end quickly or so it seemed since we were having a good time. The teacher actually also included 15 minutes for the students to ask us questions at the end, but we were already doing that at my table, so we just continued. That teacher was actually previously a university professor here in Marburg before beginning to teach at this school two years ago. I thought she was fantastic. If I had had her for my math classes, maybe I would’ve taken one or two more.
Our last class was physics, which when you think about it, is a bit advanced to take at the beginning of high school. At least, I think so. Apparently, the teacher agreed with me for some of her students. The group of students who sat in the front of the room still have no idea what’s going on, she said. I asked if there was any tutoring available or just extra help in general, and she said not so much for subjects like physics since the school focuses on Health or Economics as the students’ main tracks.
The class periods themselves were probably our least entertaining. We just sat in the back the whole time and listened in whenever the teacher spoke. I did remember some of the little physics I took in high school. I took that about six years ago though, so I forgot just about everything. I also did rather poorly in the class anyway. I did take a few pictures on my cell phone though.
When the bell rang, that marked the end of our visit to the school, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The teachers all hang out in the teachers’ lounge during breaks, so we headed there during our breaks too. ‘Twas a very interesting atmosphere. Also, there was a bratwurst stand or something downstairs by the front door. Since the 6th period ends at 1 PM, most students head straight home for lunch. I can only assume that was the end of the school day since none of us were given an afternoon schedule.
All in all, I thought it was a great visit to the school, and honestly, being able to speak and understand German, even if it is a bit broken with a few mistakes here and there, boosts your confidence quite a bit. Tonight, we are doing another family dinner, and Brandon and I are making lentil soup for everyone. Should be fun. Gotta go start cooking.
Tschüss!
Sam
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