Today, I spent my day at another one of my twelve partner schools, and it turned out to be exactly the kind of day I imagined when I first applied for my Fulbright.
After arriving around 7:45 AM, I headed straight to the classroom, where I would meet the teacher with whom I had been in contact. Having met with this teacher before, I knew this school was a former Realschule, which is the middle track of the former three-tiered school system.
Hence, as it has been explained to me by several individuals, kids in these schools were mainly considered "not intelligent enough" for the grammar school (Gymnasium) or were "intelligent enough" to not be in the lowest track or the Hauptschule. I completely disagree with this system of tracking, but there are multiple reasons why. I can explain those another day perhaps, when I'm writing more of my research findings.
For now, I'll just share some of the stories from my experiences. The teacher had so wonderfully set up my day that I had scheduled interviews of two or three students for 90 minutes total at a time broken up by 20 minute breaks. Not only that, I was able to get a wide range of students with various backgrounds: Turkish, Palestinian, Korean, just to name a few.
Of course, I can't actually ask the students for that information given the strict guidelines of the Berlin Senate's human subject research standards. However, many of them shared their personal backgrounds with me on their own accord.
All of my interviews were done in the Music Room, so there were electronic keyboards, drums, and guitars around the room. I felt like the new teacher in the school with my single key for the day.
During one of the periods where I did not have any interviews, I joined the teacher in her 9th grade English class. There only 10 or so students in the class, but that might've been one of the toughest classes I've seen so far. The first twenty minutes saw countless instances of students talking out of turn, being rowdy, or simply being unruly.
When they finally quieted down, I was introduced as "Mr. Sam Lim" and immediately they all wanted to ask questions. The problem: they didn't know how to ask in English.
So the teacher said they could ask in German, and I would answer in English. Some of the most interesting questions/dialogues with me:
Student: How old are you?
Me: 23.
Student: "Was??? (What???)"
Me: How old did you think I was?
Student: ...40! (Hysterical giggling)
Student: Do you have a girlfriend?
Me: No, not at the moment.
All the boys in the class (looking at the row of giggling girls): Ooooooooh!!!
Interesting, to say the least.
I should say that, in this particular school, I spoke in German the whole day since the students' level of English knowledge is rather basic. In fact, I could literally feel my German getting better as the day wore on. As I was conducting my interviews, I even started throwing in follow up questions in German that weren't written on my questionnaire.
After school, I spent about an hour in the Music Room with some students who play music together regularly. They're some of the best students in the school, and they've earned their teachers' trust to be in charge of the Music Room key for the afternoon. They tried playing some songs for me, but two of their "bandmates" were gone. Nevertheless, it was fun chatting. The courtyard just downstairs was also quieting down as kids started heading home.
The students in the Music Room also asked me to say "long sentences" in English for them as if I were talking to my professor back home, so they could show me how much they actually understood. I was impressed; they understood everything I said, even while I was speaking with my normal diction. Basically, even if they can't necessarily speak fluently, they can understand quite well.
While we were in the Music Room, one of the students I had spoken to earlier stopped by and asked for some help with English homework. There was tutoring going on next door with a teacher, who actually studies at the Humboldt University. So I went next door, met him (turns out, he's British and speaks impeccable German), and spent some time going over their English texts.
The students in 10th grade have an exam coming up called the MSA or Mittlerer Schulabschluss. It's essentially their high school diploma, but they have to pass this test to receive it. As far as I can tell, the MSA is probably the German equivalent of the American high school diploma. There are other exit certifications, but I think it's quite silly to try and compare them to American equivalents (even though I just did...just trying to help contextualize it, that's all).
The student wanted help with English as she was feeling very anxious about her oral presentation coming up at the beginning of May. We worked through the text of her oral presentation today, and I think she walked away with a few key things drilled into her head. :) I'm such a grammar nut. But as I told her, many Americans make these mistakes anyway, so she should not feel bad. That said, I wanted her to have the best grasp of English, so she's working hard.
Unbelievable how hard she's working—staying after school for the extra tutoring, then when time was up for that, she headed to another school for more tutoring. They weren't kidding when they said they don't really have free time...
I left the school later than I had anticipated, but it was well worth it to spend my whole day there with the students and teachers. I have a lot of thoughts to organize though as the Easter holidays approach. Tomorrow morning I have my last few interviews before the two-week holiday and then I have to catch a train to Marburg for my monthly medical trip. Then I fly to London on Thursday evening. Looking forward to that!
The other day, I saw British chef Jamie Oliver on The Daily Show, so I checked out his old show, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. He tried to change the school district's school food in the "unhealthiest city in America." If you have time, watch it. It'll piss you off. Not only was the school serving nearly 100% processed food (like pizza for breakfast, chicken nuggets for lunch, and strawberry or chocolate flavored milk to go with each meal), but the local radio host was a complete jerk who said, "I don't like it when people come in and tell me what to do."
Ok, I agree with him on this point; I don't like it either when someone tells me what to do. However, when the facts clearly show that those kids are getting fatter and fatter because of their eating habits, the schools have a responsibility, I think, to feed them better. People should've realized that. What's more, the school district's director of food or whatever absurdly told Jamie Oliver that "the kids have to like your food" otherwise they'd have to serve the kids processed food (like the pizza, corn dogs, etc.) because that's all they'd eat—and they needed to eat. Well, no duh, 'cause you've been stuffing them with processed crap for years.
Anyway, I only watched the first two episodes, but the complete resistance to change from the cooks, the school district reps, and the local media just made my blood boil. At least, some of the community members/families started to buy into the healthy eating idea.
By the way, as I told one teacher at the school today, I think change—no matter how difficult and uncomfortable—is always a move to become better (we were talking about school reform). I don't think anyone ever tries to change for the worse (do they?). That said, change doesn't always result in "better," so we keep trying and people will always have differing ideas of what's "better." But the key, I think, is to try. So you have to give the school district credit for at least trying Jamie Oliver's plan for the week. I just hated to see how begrudgingly they did everything. Isn't the bottom line doing what's best for the students?
The reason I even brought this up is because, after watching that show, I took a good, hard look at my own eating habits. Now, as much as I've been cooking in Berlin, I've also eaten my share of crap foods (a hefty one too). So I've decided to cut all the crap (processed foods) that I had been eating (out of convenience) and will always eat fresh foods. I also decided I need to eat more fruits and vegetables, which if you know me, are not normally part of my vocabulary.
First meal after this decision: pasta with tons of fresh stuff. I threw in freshly chopped mushrooms, zucchini, carrots, celery, Nürnberger sausages, onions, and garlic. Topped off with freshly ground sea salt, black pepper, and basil, that smelled sooooo good. Then I threw in my two cans of pasta sauce before realizing I should really buy fresh tomatoes and a small bottle of tomato sauce next time.
Not bad, eh? I even ate an apple for dessert 'cause I was so disturbed by Jamie Oliver's show. What I eat is one thing though; how much I eat is another. Normally, I stuff myself silly. I think those days are over.
Apologies if this blog post seemed to swerve in many different directions. I have much on my mind from my research, and I have much to write down. So when I started writing the blog, it just came out. But, hey, that's what a blog's for, right? :)
Toodles,
Sam
After arriving around 7:45 AM, I headed straight to the classroom, where I would meet the teacher with whom I had been in contact. Having met with this teacher before, I knew this school was a former Realschule, which is the middle track of the former three-tiered school system.
Hence, as it has been explained to me by several individuals, kids in these schools were mainly considered "not intelligent enough" for the grammar school (Gymnasium) or were "intelligent enough" to not be in the lowest track or the Hauptschule. I completely disagree with this system of tracking, but there are multiple reasons why. I can explain those another day perhaps, when I'm writing more of my research findings.
For now, I'll just share some of the stories from my experiences. The teacher had so wonderfully set up my day that I had scheduled interviews of two or three students for 90 minutes total at a time broken up by 20 minute breaks. Not only that, I was able to get a wide range of students with various backgrounds: Turkish, Palestinian, Korean, just to name a few.
Of course, I can't actually ask the students for that information given the strict guidelines of the Berlin Senate's human subject research standards. However, many of them shared their personal backgrounds with me on their own accord.
All of my interviews were done in the Music Room, so there were electronic keyboards, drums, and guitars around the room. I felt like the new teacher in the school with my single key for the day.
During one of the periods where I did not have any interviews, I joined the teacher in her 9th grade English class. There only 10 or so students in the class, but that might've been one of the toughest classes I've seen so far. The first twenty minutes saw countless instances of students talking out of turn, being rowdy, or simply being unruly.
When they finally quieted down, I was introduced as "Mr. Sam Lim" and immediately they all wanted to ask questions. The problem: they didn't know how to ask in English.
So the teacher said they could ask in German, and I would answer in English. Some of the most interesting questions/dialogues with me:
Student: How old are you?
Me: 23.
Student: "Was??? (What???)"
Me: How old did you think I was?
Student: ...40! (Hysterical giggling)
Student: Do you have a girlfriend?
Me: No, not at the moment.
All the boys in the class (looking at the row of giggling girls): Ooooooooh!!!
Interesting, to say the least.
I should say that, in this particular school, I spoke in German the whole day since the students' level of English knowledge is rather basic. In fact, I could literally feel my German getting better as the day wore on. As I was conducting my interviews, I even started throwing in follow up questions in German that weren't written on my questionnaire.
After school, I spent about an hour in the Music Room with some students who play music together regularly. They're some of the best students in the school, and they've earned their teachers' trust to be in charge of the Music Room key for the afternoon. They tried playing some songs for me, but two of their "bandmates" were gone. Nevertheless, it was fun chatting. The courtyard just downstairs was also quieting down as kids started heading home.
The students in the Music Room also asked me to say "long sentences" in English for them as if I were talking to my professor back home, so they could show me how much they actually understood. I was impressed; they understood everything I said, even while I was speaking with my normal diction. Basically, even if they can't necessarily speak fluently, they can understand quite well.
While we were in the Music Room, one of the students I had spoken to earlier stopped by and asked for some help with English homework. There was tutoring going on next door with a teacher, who actually studies at the Humboldt University. So I went next door, met him (turns out, he's British and speaks impeccable German), and spent some time going over their English texts.
The students in 10th grade have an exam coming up called the MSA or Mittlerer Schulabschluss. It's essentially their high school diploma, but they have to pass this test to receive it. As far as I can tell, the MSA is probably the German equivalent of the American high school diploma. There are other exit certifications, but I think it's quite silly to try and compare them to American equivalents (even though I just did...just trying to help contextualize it, that's all).
The student wanted help with English as she was feeling very anxious about her oral presentation coming up at the beginning of May. We worked through the text of her oral presentation today, and I think she walked away with a few key things drilled into her head. :) I'm such a grammar nut. But as I told her, many Americans make these mistakes anyway, so she should not feel bad. That said, I wanted her to have the best grasp of English, so she's working hard.
Unbelievable how hard she's working—staying after school for the extra tutoring, then when time was up for that, she headed to another school for more tutoring. They weren't kidding when they said they don't really have free time...
I left the school later than I had anticipated, but it was well worth it to spend my whole day there with the students and teachers. I have a lot of thoughts to organize though as the Easter holidays approach. Tomorrow morning I have my last few interviews before the two-week holiday and then I have to catch a train to Marburg for my monthly medical trip. Then I fly to London on Thursday evening. Looking forward to that!
The other day, I saw British chef Jamie Oliver on The Daily Show, so I checked out his old show, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. He tried to change the school district's school food in the "unhealthiest city in America." If you have time, watch it. It'll piss you off. Not only was the school serving nearly 100% processed food (like pizza for breakfast, chicken nuggets for lunch, and strawberry or chocolate flavored milk to go with each meal), but the local radio host was a complete jerk who said, "I don't like it when people come in and tell me what to do."
Ok, I agree with him on this point; I don't like it either when someone tells me what to do. However, when the facts clearly show that those kids are getting fatter and fatter because of their eating habits, the schools have a responsibility, I think, to feed them better. People should've realized that. What's more, the school district's director of food or whatever absurdly told Jamie Oliver that "the kids have to like your food" otherwise they'd have to serve the kids processed food (like the pizza, corn dogs, etc.) because that's all they'd eat—and they needed to eat. Well, no duh, 'cause you've been stuffing them with processed crap for years.
Anyway, I only watched the first two episodes, but the complete resistance to change from the cooks, the school district reps, and the local media just made my blood boil. At least, some of the community members/families started to buy into the healthy eating idea.
By the way, as I told one teacher at the school today, I think change—no matter how difficult and uncomfortable—is always a move to become better (we were talking about school reform). I don't think anyone ever tries to change for the worse (do they?). That said, change doesn't always result in "better," so we keep trying and people will always have differing ideas of what's "better." But the key, I think, is to try. So you have to give the school district credit for at least trying Jamie Oliver's plan for the week. I just hated to see how begrudgingly they did everything. Isn't the bottom line doing what's best for the students?
The reason I even brought this up is because, after watching that show, I took a good, hard look at my own eating habits. Now, as much as I've been cooking in Berlin, I've also eaten my share of crap foods (a hefty one too). So I've decided to cut all the crap (processed foods) that I had been eating (out of convenience) and will always eat fresh foods. I also decided I need to eat more fruits and vegetables, which if you know me, are not normally part of my vocabulary.
First meal after this decision: pasta with tons of fresh stuff. I threw in freshly chopped mushrooms, zucchini, carrots, celery, Nürnberger sausages, onions, and garlic. Topped off with freshly ground sea salt, black pepper, and basil, that smelled sooooo good. Then I threw in my two cans of pasta sauce before realizing I should really buy fresh tomatoes and a small bottle of tomato sauce next time.
Not bad, eh? I even ate an apple for dessert 'cause I was so disturbed by Jamie Oliver's show. What I eat is one thing though; how much I eat is another. Normally, I stuff myself silly. I think those days are over.
Apologies if this blog post seemed to swerve in many different directions. I have much on my mind from my research, and I have much to write down. So when I started writing the blog, it just came out. But, hey, that's what a blog's for, right? :)
Toodles,
Sam
1 comment:
Yay for food revolutions! It can be hard to eat better, but in the end its (probably) worth it. And hurray for fruits and veggies!
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