John F. Kennedy School: Berlin

 Hello, Hello! :)

Many of you are probably wondering exactly what I am teaching while I am in Germany.  I have been asked if I will be teaching English or will it be at a military school.  At first I was unable to give a clear answer to these questions.  I knew that the answer was no but I didn't have an explanation as to what JFKS was about until I was enlightened by my wonderful cooperating teacher, Elisabeth.  She explained that JFKS is a German public school, but is affiliated with the American government.  Founded as a friendship project in 1961, JFKS maintains the idea of teaching both from the German and the American curricula and tries to foster not only bilingualism, but also biculturalism.  It is not a military school, though they did have some military kids while the wall was still standing.  Now there are American kids from the Embassy, companies, artists, and other ex-pats.  The rest of the students are German and other nationalities (English, Irish, Indian, among others).  One interesting fact that I recently learned is that Elisabeth’s mother was one of the founding American teachers at JFKS!   

Good morning from JFK!

From the moment I stepped onto campus I found the school to be fascinating.  The faculty, staff, and students all greeted me warmly with smiles and even hugs.  I very quickly felt at home and fell in love with my adorable second graders.    My cooperating teacher, Elisabeth, is loving and a breath of fresh air.  She has had these students since they were in kindergarten because at JFKS they do a form of teaching that is called looping.  This is when the teacher moves up to the next grade level with the students.  Most teachers only loop two grades but Elisabeth had the pleasure of teaching three grades for this particular class.  With looping the teachers are obviously able to get to know and understand the children much better and are able to skip times of having to review or learn about a child because they already know their capabilities and where they left off from the previous year.  JFKS has a schedule that is similar to a year round schedule in America which also helps with this area.  At JFKS they have six weeks off in the summer, two for the fall break, one for winter, and two more for spring break.  Not to mention they celebrate all national holidays for both America and Germany. 

Many aspects of JFKS are the same as most of the school that I have been in previously, however, there are also that are quite a few areas that are differing.   

Here are some tid bits of information about JFKS.

·         At JFKS the schedule changes every day.  Unlike American schools that have the exact same schedule every day of the week for the most part the students at JFKS are used to a different schedule each of the days of the week. 

·         At JFKS the students split for langue arts which is called mother tongue.  The German students go to a class where they only speak German and the English speaking students go to a class where they only speak English.  This only lasts until the 2^nd grade though and then the students switch they begin having mother tongue in the opposite language to help strengthen that language as well.  Students at JFKS attend religion classes several times a week.  Some students attend catholic classes while others attend protestant classes.  The students whose parents appose to this go to a classroom for religion rest where they have time to play or do as they please.   

·         The students at JFKS PLAY IN THE SNOW!  I was dumbfounded by this when I saw the students in their cute little snowsuits running around before school started romping and rolling in the snow.  In the U.S. we NEVER played in the snow at recess.

·         The students in my second grade class arrive at school between 7:30 and 7:45 and play outside until 10 till 8.  At this time they go inside to change out of their jackets and shoes.  They wear “house shoes” while in the classroom.  By doing this they keep out dirt and sand from the playground.   School for 2^nd grade lasts until 1:10 and then the children are dismissed.

·         The children eat lunch in the classroom every day and they eat the most DELICIOUS lunches.  They look they just arrived from Panera.  After lunch the children have 30 minutes to play outside.

·         The children also have a 10 break to play outside.  In Germany they believe that being active helps children to learn.  I completely agree! 

·         Almost all of the students in my class are bilingual.  They are brilliant and full of beauty inside and out. 

·         The students enjoy attempting to teach me German and love to laugh at the ridiculous sounds that come out of my mouth.  I am trying so hard but German is not the easiest language to learn.

I have so much more to tell you but I am spent for the day!  Tomorrow is our last day before our two week spring break and I will be doing lots of traveling which I still have to finish packing for. :) I am thrilled to be visiting Munich, Prague, Florence, Barcelona, and London over break.  I know I will have lots of exciting details for you upon my return!

 

 

 Tschüss!

Living in Deutschland

Greetings from Berlin!

I am FINALLY writing again to bring some updates about what life in Berlin has been like for the past two and a half weeks, which has been nothing short of FABULOUS!

I have been preoccupied with school and adjusting to the busy life of a Berliner.  Each day when I arrive home I literally blop down and restrain against the thought of putting time or effort into a blog.  Now that I have a little time this evening I decided to get busy with a few updates! :)

This would be Kaiser's.  One of the places I like to go for groceries.

Last week was my first full week in Berlin and I automatically felt at home (most of the time).  Some aspects about life in this city are not very different from life in America, but then again there are other things that are completely at the other end of the spectrum.  For example, as most of you know punctuality is a quality that I am ever seeking to improve.  I think God knew that Berlin was the place to help me do just that.  Of course I had to learn the hard way after making a mad dash to the S Bahn to find out that it had pulled off 2 minutes prior to my arrival.  Also, there are no Wal-marts are 24 hour Kroger’s to run to for a last minute food run.  Everything here has to be planned strategically when you use the public transit.   At the grocery stores in Berlin you are not given the option of plastic or paper bags to take your purchases home in, if you want one you have to buy it.  Therefore, everyone always has a reusable bag handy.  This is actually something I love- it is eco-friendly and it also steers me away from unnecessary purchases.  Back home I would spend way too much time perusing the aisles of Kroger and I always end up with a few extra items because it was easily thrown into my cart and I never had to consider how much I would have to carry on my journey home.  However huffing and puffing as a tread towards my apartment carrying my bag of food is a great reminder of the workout regimen I still need to begin...oops. :)

 

Here are a few more differences I have noticed:

-         Water IS NOT free! Yes, as sad as this is for an avid water drinker to hear it is true. This was a bit disturbing at first but I have grown use to the feeling of always carrying a 1.5 liter of water around.

-         Public bathrooms are also not free.  You have to pay 0,50 euro to use a public bathroom.  However, I haven't had a problem with this yet. 

-         Everything is closed on Sundays.  I love this idea...except for when I am hungry.  However, I have had this same feeling in the States when I am craving Chic-fil-a and then I realize it's Sunday.  :) 

-          No one wears yoga pants in Berlin unless they are working out.   Glad I left mine at home. :)  I love how fashionable people are in this city.  Everyone ALWAYS looks nice.  I have only seen one person walking around in sweat pants since I arrived.    People watching is something that I enjoy and being here as put me on an entirely new level.  Almost everyone looks like they just stepped out of a magazine and they have the most AMAZING shoes here.  I will NEVER be bored here. :) 

-       I have also seen very few people who are overweight.  I suspect it is because all of the walking and biking that is used as a form of transportation. Not to mention the diets that most people have seem to be healthier than most people in the States.

-        I have come to find a new food love already.  Quark.  One word, amazing.  It is difficult to make it sound as appealing as it truly is.  I often find myself explaining it like this "Well, it has the consistency of sour cream and it's a little bland but you can add ANYTHING to it and it's AMAZING, you just have to try it."  My favorite way to eat it is by adding a little milk, honey, and dried oats.  I also enjoy dipping dark chocolate in it. :)

There are so many topics to talk about that it’s overwhelming but one thing I have to say is that I can’t imagine how much I will change while living in Berlin for these few short weeks.  It seems crazy, but to speak truthfully I feel that I have already been exposed to more in the past 14 days than I have been in my entire life.  Every day I find myself looking at the world around me as though it is all brand new (because it is).  I’m in this remarkable city that holds SO MUCH history and yet it is extremely modern and unlike any place I have ever been.  I am totally in awe and have already been swept off my feet by the lovely German people, the fascinating history, the beautiful architecture, and of course the mouthwatering food.  I can’t begin to express how thankful I am to have this opportunity to student teach abroad in a place like Berlin and I am even more thankful for all of the people who helped in making this wish come true. 

I still have an enormous amount of information to tell about JFKS, my walking tour of Berlin, my tour of the Sachsenhausen Memorial, my weekend trip to Poland to visit some wonderful friends and the crazy planning that I have been trying to finish for my two week spring break that will begin this Friday.  For now I am a bit exhausted and hungry (again) so I will sign out and fill you in on those details next time.

 

Gute Nacht! (Good night) :)

Student Teaching Berlin Style: Step One- Getting There

Hello All!

 

As you know I am FINALLY in Berlin! I must add I am already falling in love with this city! It is absolutely amazing! I didn't know what to expect coming here so I feel like I have already been completely turned upside down. My house mom, Kirsten, is wonderful. She is extremely helpful and made me feel right at home from the moment I met her.  The two other girls who are here are super sweet as well. I am already learning so much. Being the minority is a wonderful, yet strange, perspective to gain on life and I know it is beneficial for my career.

 

My friend Jacqueline saying "good bye" at the airport.

The first time I felt that I was the only one around who was speaking English as their first language I was a little intimidated.   This occurrence happened when I first arrived in the Amsterdam Airport. It was odd because almost everything was written in English, however, no one was speaking English around me. My flight from Amsterdam to Berlin was about an hour and 20 min and I sat next to a wonderful lady who is actually from Berlin. I forget what she said she does for a living but she was in Ghana doing research on Diabetes. It is a 3 year study her work is doing because supposedly some groups of people are more susceptible to the disease than others. She was a wonderful introduction to the German people and she described Germans like pineapples. Tough outer shell but soft and sweet center. She said once you make a German friend you have a friend for a lifetime. By the time I arrived in Berlin I hadn't slept in 34 and a half hours because I packed the entire night before (not something I would recommend to anyone) and I wasn't able to sleep on the flights.

Awesome tunnel in the Detroit Airport the lights were synchronized with music!!!

Speaking of flights...I was 2 minutes away from missing my flight to Amsterdam! It was the scariest feeling in the entire world!!! There was not a gate number on my ticket so I asked an airport clerk and they told me to go to the gate A40.  I did as I was told- after grabbing a delicious salad from a Mediterranean restaurant in the airport.  This is also something I don't recommend!  ALWAYS double check what someone tells you.  I should have checked the computers in the airport but I assumed the clerk knew what she was talking about.  Anyway, I was just sitting there talking to a friend on the phone (Miss. Kelly Owens) when I received a call from a strange number.  It was the airport! The clerk asked if she was speaking with "Miss. Maria Brown" and then she went on to say "we are pulling your luggage if you are not here within the next two minutes! You have 2 minutes to get to Gate A56 or you will miss your flight!" I literally RAN through the airport as fast as I possibly could with a 23 pound backpack and a 25 pound suitcase! 

 

Thank goodness I made it.  I was the last person on the plane, not to mention it was the largest plane I had ever set foot on! There were easily 400 people on the flight. I was in the middle of the plane (row 26) and each plane was 8 seats wide. Every seat had a mini TV where you could create a play list to listen to your favorite songs, watch tons on newly released movies, or play video games.  By the time I sat down I was coughing up a storm and felt like a chain smoker because I still could barely breath. All of the European people were staring at me like I had 3 heads. I was quite embarrassed to say the least.  I quickly sat down and found to my surprise a lovely Italian man, he was probably in his late 60s and he was from Sicily. He was very nice and easy to fly next to. He owns some gorgeous camp sight in Italy that some 3,000 people visit each year. He was very sweet and showed me pictures and just around that time one of the nine flight attendants began to bring us our dinner, which was very delectable.  I chose a chicken dinner with salad, a roll, crackers and cheese, and a brownie.  After that I decided to watch Pitch Perfect and try to take a nap.  Pitch Perfect was great but unfortunately I was not able to sleep more than a couple of minutes at a time.  Even though it is fun to fly it is not very comfortable at all.  The flight was almost 8 hrs. long but it didn't feel like it. I definitely noticed I was becoming dehydrated during the flight. My lips were getting cracked and I was so thirsty. I wanted to get a picture of the inside of the plane to show how fancy it was but I didn't want to disturb anyone so I decided I would get one on the way home.

Here is the HUGE plane I almost missed...thank goodness I ran track. :)

 

A few hours later and still no sleep...

When I arrived in Berlin Steven (the principal at JFKS and the COST coordinator) and Olivia (one of the students from Alabama) picked me up from the airport. I was so exhausted but Steven told me he wanted me to shower and head to the school for a visit with Olivia. I was a little disappointed because I was planning on taking a nap to perk up a bit before forming any first impressions. I later found out that Steven has been a COST coordinator for 30 some years and understands how bad jet leg can be so he wanted to keep me busy in hopes of keeping me awake during the day so I could go to bed early that night to attempt to adjust my body to the time difference (which is 6 hours). I think other people probably get a good nights rest before all of their traveling, unlike me. I was so sleepy that I was literally falling asleep every other minute, on the U Baun, standing up talking to my host mom, eating at a the Coffee Cabana, you name it, it happened. Everyone definitely noticed how sleepy I was because not one person failed to comment on my horrible jet leg.  My eyes were only half open the entire day!  I was so happy when Kirsten put me to bed at 8 p.m. that night. I slept for 16 hrs. I haven't felt a bit of jet leg today and I'm so grateful I listened to everyone even though it was quite painful attempting to stay awake.  I don't think I have ever desired sleep more in my life than I did my first day in Berlin.

That is all for now.  I start my first day of school at JFKS tomorrow and I want to be well rested!

 

I will fill you in more tomorrow on how my first weekend in Berlin went!

 

Tschüss!

(That means "bye" you pronounce it like "shoes" but with a "ch")

 

P.S.

 

 

 

To all of my wonderful 4th graders at SVE and Mrs. Cary:  I miss you all and hope you have a wonderful week of school!  I will be taking your letters in tomorrow and I know the students will love each of them!