Training and first day

Ritchie in our hotel room

Maria in der Aue

On Monday I went to a training program at Maria in der Aue, a beautiful hotel near Köln. I was surprised to meet over 140 other English assistants and they were only for 3 of Germany's regions. Apparently there are over 900 foreign language assistants in Germany at the moment! Most of the people in my course were from the UK and Ireland although there were 5 other Kiwis and one lone Australian. They did a lot of explaining of all the paperwork we have to do (German bureaucracy huh?) and then attempted to tell us enough about teaching to get us through the next 9 months. I am SO glad that I know a bit about this already. I can't imagine what it would be like going into a school with only a day and a half of training. I personally didn't learn much but I guess that's a good thing. I did meet a lovely Irish girl and some of the people who are living near me.

Climbing in a sports store in Köln

Yesterday was my first day at school and it was definitely a bit overwhelming. The school has 1300 kids between the age of 10 and 19 but it looks like I'll be mostly working with the older kids. My mentor teacher seems really nice and so was everyone else I met. Every time I was introduced to a class they were told that I speak no German, therefore they have to speak English! Pretty funny trying to pretend that I had no idea what was going on. The scary bit is that they want me to take classes on my own. Technically this is not allowed but they think I'll be fine with just 13 kids. It's definitely daunting to think that I'm going to have be organising my own lessons by myself right from the start but at least they mainly want me to do speaking practice. So no difficult grammar lessons. I've also been asked to start a Drama club with the younger kids - again by myself. These kids don't speak a lot of English so that will be interesting to see how it goes. I've been given my keys and told that I am under no circumstances to lose the keys! Would be just my luck to be the one that means all the locks in the school have to be changed.

I believe I shall be the first person to send in an insurance claim. Had to go to the doctor yesterday with nasty itchy bites. Apparently they aren't from a mosquito but some other bug with a nasty poison that they've been having problems with this summer. Basically just have to wait for my immune system to sort it out and try not to itch it in the meantime. The bites are also very sore so a bit unpleasant.

Overall it looks like school is a welcoming and nice place to be. Yes, it's scary to start off with but I hope that it will get easier and I can fall into a routine quickly.

At St Martin church in Köln