Yesterday (December 21) marked three months of my teaching at Michaeli–Gymnasium München and Gymnasium München Riem. I have really enjoyed my time at the schools and improving my teaching abilities. A significant amount of my time this month has been spent bouncing around classrooms that need assistance at Michaeli–Gymnasium München. It’s allowed me to lecture on more topics and work with new students on conversation skills. I’ve met more teachers and worked alongside them which has opened me to more teaching styles.

My new lecture topics have included:

• The U.S. Civil War
• The Rocky Mountains
• U.S. election processes and how young people are voting on
• The Hunger Games trilogy
• Lewis and Clark and Sacagawea

As I return to most of my normal classes, the students are eager to ask more questions and learn as much as they can from the lectures. I still occasionally field questions that are difficult, including some about guns and mass shootings.

To get a group of tenth graders interested, I asked them to ask about American stereotypes. Interestingly, a few asked about if we were all bad at geography. I told them about how that isn’t inherently true, but the education systems are different across states so some people may have different understandings of the map and U.S. history. I’ve also spent a lot of time explaining why the U.S. doesn’t have state militias anymore and how the U.S. military has evolved. I sometimes feel a bit out of my league with what I’m teaching because I don’t want to get too technical and lose the students.

I also led two Kahoots with my sixth graders on the past progressive tense and they loved it. They shared the prize of some Haribo gummy bears, and I hope they were calm enough for their next classes. I also got to see a few of my students play their instruments in a concert in the foyer in between two classes (Pause). It was lovely to see and hear. One of my students smiled when she saw me there. I’m really feeling like a part of the schools, and it’s been quite a fun experience.

There are a few cultural differences I’m still not used to, especially surrounding Christmas. There are Christmas trees in classrooms and hallways as well as wreaths with candles for the advent. I was quite confused upon seeing the first one of each and asked about it. There are even holiday decorating competitions between the classes and the winner gets a small prize. The students seemed to really enjoy the tradition. I went to public schools in the states and that would not have sailed, so it was definitely a new experience for me.

I also had my first snow day because the trains weren’t running. I simply texted the teachers I was supposed to work with because school went on even though some students and teachers were absent. I’m curious to see if there will be any more extreme weather and if it will cause a full snow day or additional train trouble. Only time will tell!

As always, there are still some scuffles between students. I’ve had a student accuse another of stealing money, another accused someone of calling them the n-word (there is a similar slang word in German that means “bro”) and two students argue over a chair during self-organized learning. There is a learning curve to the job, but I do mainly have the teachers take on the larger issues.

I’ve also had students ask if photos I took were photoshopped and question where I was when I took different weeks to work with other teachers and classes. Their excitement to have me back was kind, but some jokingly demanded I be in their classes every week. I have been forgetting students’ names, though, because of the running around. I have made myself seating charts in case of emergency, though.

Subbing

Technically, we are not allowed to be a substitute teacher during the Fulbright grant. At the last minute, the teacher I was supposed to work with in an eighth-grade class at Michaeli–Gymnasium München called in sick with COVID (more commonly called Corona here). There were several teachers out for various reasons, so I did sub for him. There was a teacher next door who I could check in with if needed, so it felt safe. There were 15 students in the class due to some ailments and it went well. I introduced myself during the first 45 minutes and let them ask questions before taking a break and doing some grammatical exercises.

I’ve also covered for a few teachers Gymnasium München Riem with another teacher in the room, which is encouraged. It does usually require me to get to the school for an earlier class, but it always works out and the actual substitute teachers appreciate it.

Monthly overview

Some of the English teachers from Michaeli–Gymnasium München invited me to the Englischer Garten Weihnachtsmarkt. It was a lovely way to spend a Thursday evening and it is one of my favorite markets in München. I met new teachers I had not interacted with much and caught up with the usual suspects. One of the teachers even bought me a Christmas ornament there as a surprise for the holidays.

I wrote a few of my regular teachers Christmas cards and gave them small gifts as well. I’ve also been practicing more German and wrote all my cards in German. It will be weird without school for two weeks, but we’ll manage! I have my first visitors soon and I’m excited to show them my schools if they would like to visit them. Bis später!