Last two days of Cambridge :(

I had my last day in school on Wednesday and the kids were very sweet. They made me a book with all of their good byes and what they really enjoyed that I taught them. Many of the students loved the new sports I taught them- Kickball, American Football ( I would say that rather than just football so it wasn't confused with football) and four square which they forgot the name of and called it 4 in a box. Haha. The two classes I had been teaching my internship all gathered in one room and they first gave me the presents they had for me. Of course I was thrown off because I didn't think they had made anything for me since I was with them every day all day. Little did I know when they sent me off to year 2 to observe a lesson on Esperanza they had plenty of time to take class pictures and write me letters. They put together a book of some of the funny things or phrases I learned and the students letters in a book with two fun pictures of each class. They also gave me the class pictures that were taken at the beginning of the year. And of course a huge bar of Cadbury dairy milk! yum yum! Before I showed them the candy I had brought for them one of the students asked " did you bring us dairy milk?" and I replied to the class that American can't compete with Cadbury so I brought something different and showed them the starbursts and airheads. They were really excited to try it. However, the school I was at has a strict no candy or soda policy so my teacher explained the students were to take it home and it was up to their parents if they were allowed to try it. As I was handing the candy out at the door as they were leaving a few of the kids would go running out yelling "We got candy from AMERICA!" Haha. Then I had also given my interning teacher and the other year 4 teacher thank you cards as well as the head teacher.

Back to my observation on year 2 of Esperanza- It was very interesting because these are 1st graders learning a new language which is designed to help them learn other languages in the future. What I gathered from it was that it was a mixture of many languages that formed the base for others. The students really seemed to enjoy the lesson and language.

Thursday morning we woke up and had our last full English breakfast, what a sad sad morning :( We headed out to do a little shopping around and a few of us went to Wren Library in Trinity College which had a display case of  a few of Isacc Newtons belongings-walking cane, lock of hair, pocket watch as well as a a copy of a first edition copy of Principia Mathematica. There was also a display case with the manuscript of Winnie the Pooh. It was pretty awesome to see in a library filled with books dating back to the 13th Century. Afterwards we went and grabbed a crepe for lunch, mine was chicken, brie, cranberry and delicious! I had not been on a guided punting tour and Kimmy was willing to go along with me so we bargained down to paying 10 pounds each and were rewarded with seeing "the backs" or the backs of the colleges. It was definitely an interesting punting tour. Of course we ran by the market afterwards and grabbed a desert crepe because we simply couldn't resist. Another wonderful choice- sugar cinnamon and butter. When we were waiting in line for the first one I was listening to what a lot of the locals were ordering and this one seemed popular. I had been looking for a popular children's book whilst in Cambridge because I noticed "The Gruffalo" was extremely popular with the kids and in stores. I even found it quite entertaining so picked one up for my future classroom and as a gift for little Liam Piam.

Thursday night all the interns, teachers and head teacher were invited to a farewell dinner at the Free Press Pub. I knew my teacher probably wouldn't come because the other two teachers from our school would not be able to make it and it is a bit of a drive by yourself from the area of our school. In all only two teachers showed up but we are a fun group of students and had a lot of fun for one of our last meetings as a group. They brought out a delicious desert and the name I will have to find out again but it was like a chocolate cake with a butterscotch pudding over it.

Friday morning Kimmy, Brittany, Grace and I had a taxi pick us up and drive us all the way to Gatwick- best decision over! It costs the same as it would have to take a bus and was much easier. Luckily we arrived at the airport early because we had packed and planned all wrong. You can take more luggage over than you can brig back. So when I planned to take on a carry on suitcase as a well as a back pack I was wrong. You can only take on one carry on and a small bag. So I had to stuff the contents of my back pack in my luggage and a few things from my carry on into me luggage because that was over the limit as well and pay 30 pounds. At that point I didn't care what I had to pay as long as I got home. Of course on the plane we were all split up again but Kimmy had the seat right behind me and no one ever sat next to her so I went and got Brittany so we all sat in the same row :)

It took forever to get through customs but luckily we made it through! It was so nice to see my family but it still seems so unreal that I even went to the U.K. for 5 weeks. This weekend will be the giving away all of the souvenirs that I bought! It really has been nice writing this blog and I think it will help me remember everything that I did a few years down the road :)

Prague and last few days of school

This weekend I had fun in Prague! Brittany and I walked our buts off, up and down hills and around areas several times but always found our way. We saw Prague Castle, Charles Bridge, Town Square and the Astronomical clock. Everything was so interesting and appeared so different from England. Much older, I had read it was one of the few cities untouched by war all of these years. Prague Castle was absolutely amazing with St. Vitus Cathedral and its dark Gothic appearance. 

Here are also several views from the castle overlooking the city. It absolutely gorgeous up there.

 Sorry, it doesnt matter what I do to these pictures one of them always comes out weird but this was the astronomical clock in Old Town Square.

Brittany and I also managed to go amazing race style yet again this weekend! Our flight back from Prague was delayed about a half hour and in turn put us on a time crunch to make it to the bus we had already paid for getting back to Cambridge. Once we landed we had half an hour to get through customs, and talk our way through it because we had forgotten our university letter, run was felt like forever to get to where the buses were with everything on our backs and made it on the bus with 5 minutes to spare!

This week is my last few days in the classroom and a few of the students still ask me the questions of how I feel about leaving. I explain that it is bittersweet because while I love seeing everything here and experiencing the culture, I miss my family very much. A few of them thought my family even came with me. How funny. On Monday I taught the students how to play kickball, yes kickball, none of the students had heard of the game nor had the teachers. So upsetting. haha. But they loved it! In turn the students showed me to play a playground game called canton ball- you slam a ball against the ground and the other team has to catch the ball before it bounces again. Most of the students were eager for me to play and the students are very considerate of others in making sure that I got a turn to bounce the ball.

My teacher also lined up for me to observe a year 2 class (1st grade) because they were having a language lesson on Esperata. I learned it is a language designed to help students learn other languages later on and has a mix of many languages in it. The teacher kept referring to it as the world language. I was able to spot a few sounds and words that I associate with different languages.

Tomorrow for the last day I am taking in candy- Starbursts and Airheads. However, my school is a candy and soda free school so I have to explain to the students that I am entrusting them with candy in which their parents decide whether or not they are allowed to have it and are not allowed to eat it on school grounds. I have no problem in doing this, just thought it would be fun for the students to try something new. However, after I got here I realized they have starburst, but not  airheads!

I have Thursday to wander about and then the teachers and head teachers are invited to a get together at the Free Press Thursday night. I plan on visiting the market and picking up a few last souvenirs before then. Then we head for London on Friday to come home!

Prague this weekend :)

I taught a lesson this past Wednesday that focused on independence day. I began with an intro giving all the students about 25 pounds each in increments of 5 and designated one side of the class English and the other side American. I tell the students I am the king and I tax everyone 5 pounds for having sugar at lunch. Then I ask the English what we should tax for next, showing I am on their side. This got the American side aroused. We kept it going and discussed why it was or wasn't fair for a few minutes. Then I began telling the students the history part of Independence Day, why England would want to keep American, going through the French and Indian war, Stamp and Sugar Act, Townshed Act, Quartering Act, Boston Tea Party and Continental Congress. All of this lesson was debate style with the students discussing what would be fair and what wouldn't have been. They really enjoyed it and learning about what we do for the 4th of July.

The next day my teacher was away from school and I taught the  same lesson twice in the morning before lunch because we team teach so the students switch classrooms. Every time I teach one lesson after the other I do better for the second one, which is expected. For most of this internship I have mostly taught literacy except for the lesson on American football I created for P.E. and the fourth of July lesson. It has definitely been enjoyable though. The entire experience has been wonderful.

Another interesting thing I discovered in the school I am placed at is the openness to talk about things. For instance on Thursday they had an hour lesson planned to talk about people that have moved on in their life, whether they have moved away, or passed away. It was tough helping some of the kids through it because I am such an emotional person and I saw several students having a hard time with it.

Brittany and I leave tomorrow morning at 4 in the morning to catch a bus to the airport to Prague. Im expecting to see beautiful architecture and castles; however I am weary of making it through the weekend. I am past the euphoria phase of culture shock and am into the homesick phase. I am thinking that because I only have a few days left I will be too sad about leaving soon to be depressed about getting home and missing my family.

Next week I intern Monday through Wednesday and have already began to tell the students when my last day will be. A few of them are upset but I explained England isn't my home and like them I live with my family and miss them. That helps them understand it a bit.

I learned  several new words this week but will have to get back on that because I cant exactly remember the translation. Look for a post beginning of next week!

These days are flying by...

July 2, 2012

Last Friday, I went to my friends school with her to see what her class was like. Let me say it was completely different from my class. Her teacher was thrown into the position two weeks ahead of time because the previous teacher went into labor. This new teacher had no idea where anything was or a lot about the kids. Kimmy had described her class as being chaotic but I thought I mean really how chaotic could a classroom be. It was nuts! Kids everywhere, artwork all over the walls, desks, tables and anywhere it would fit and absolutely no structure to the class. I simply tried to help out the best I could however am not sure of how much use I was with only one day and not knowing any names of the students or their abilities. I was able to help with the simple stuff though! In all it was a wonderful experience. We will have an interesting conversation after she is able to observe my class this coming Friday. 

Friday for dinner we had heard that there was a local restaurant by Jamie Oliver so decided to try that out. It was delicious and I took a few photos that amused me. 

Friday night we (Kimmy, Grace, Brittany and I) decided to go out to a pub and have a few drinks. We ended up meeting with 7 other girls from out program and had a fun time. I only had a cider but believe me that was plenty for me!

Saturday we began with a long wonderful walk to a tea garden, The Orchard. Just the walk to here was beautiful. We walked all along a river and through fields. The Orchard was absolutely beautiful and I enjoyed trying “Victorian Cake”. It was “quite good”, how I described it as I was eating it and has stuck ever since. 

We enjoyed spending our time in this wonderful area but were anxious to begin our Cambridge shopping. Many of us had been holding off on buying souvenirs until this weekend! I found some adorable souvenirs at John Lewis, which reminds me of a Macys but bigger. Kimmy and I actually got the last of the plain canvas bags with London pictures at the bottom. Also I have been getting one keychain from everyplace that I have gone. I am at 3 now and will be getting my last one in Prague.

Once we reached the market we were amazed even though we had been here before we knew what we wanted! For lunch we stopped and had delicious Belgian waffles. This is on my list to go back and have the Thursday before I leave. It was topped with nutella and strawberries.

We also went into a Cath Kidston store which we compare to a Vera Bradley store. It is very popular here, expensive and florally. However, it is a different type of floral, more vintage and not my style.

I also bought my nephew the cutest outfit from a sports store for just 3 pounds!

I think we all turned in early that night from exhaustion.

Then on Sunday we woke up early and there was a relay for life marathon going on for the later part of the morning, beginning at Parkers Piece. The area was packed! We weren’t sure if the market would be open but we risked it and took the leisurely stroll to find it was booming. There were completely different vendors from Saturday and a lot of them were home made.

We found an awesome crepe place however it was not open and decided to come back later. The crepe place wasn’t an actual place but more like a cart; however, it was well worth the trek back. When we came back for lunch I decided to try the ham and cheese crepe. It was absolutely delicious! Crunchy cheese on top and so melted in the middle. The only unfortunate thing was the cheese was almost too rich and too much for our taste buds (Brittany and Kimmy agreed). Another food item I will need to have on that Thursday before I leave! However, that time I think I will try a desert one.

At 2:00 we had a scheduled walking tour :) We followed the guide to Kings college and found out so much information about the chapel. How they had to lower the ground because of a donated painting, during wars they took out the beautiful stain glass windows in fear of being bombed, what period of time they think parts were made based on architecture and initials of King Henry VIII and Ann Bolyn in the wood, along with their symbol of a raven I think it was, or some sort of bird. We were also able to see the courtyard and take a few pictures.

Next we saw another college, St. Katherines. This was a college with only three sides because it was once believed in the courtyard we enclose with 4 sides that it blocked the flow of air and increased illness.

Finally we saw Queens College which was founded by two different queens at two different periods of time. We were able to the dining hall, which we were able to see being set up for a wedding but learned it looks very similar other than the color of the dishes and glasses for the students. We also walked across the mathematical bridge, made of straight lines and originally without bolts or screws.

Today, Monday I taught a lesson on American football. It got awfully confusing because when I would say football the students would think soccer and if I said soccer the students would say football. However, the students seemed genuinely interested in how it is played and how many fans the teams have. I even had a few students thank me afterwards for telling them about the sport. I learned from the students a bit about rugby because many of them would relate what I talked about football to that sport.

The students also surprised me today because I have always had great classroom management and the classrooms from what I have noticed are extremely chaotic and not much respect is given to the teacher. Enough to get the job done, but I think classroom management can be a bit poor. So I began something new to try to gain the students attention quicker and more effectively. All the classes in the school are named after gems, my class is moonstone. I told the students when I say moonstone you say rocks. A student instantly raised his hand and had seen the irony in the phrase. He said it was funny because a moonstone was a rock. They’re so clever :) Anyways, on Wednesday  I teach a lesson on the 4^th of July and am planning on most of the lesson to be discussion/ role playing with plenty of history thrown in there.

Helpful tip: Bring a proper umbrella! One thing that I have learned from being here for a few weeks now is to have a strong umbrella, one with the double layer that can blow right through it. I have already gone through two.