After working out my final timetable last week, this was the first time proper 'run through' of my new routine. It's hard to explain simply, but it essentially works out as one 'heavier' week of teaching every day Wednesday through to Tuesday, and one 'lighter week', of only teaching 4 hours between Tuesday and Wednesday.
This week is the 'lighter week', so at the start I felt pretty exhausted after my first experience of the 'heavier' week, but once I recovered got to enjoy the plenty of Freizeit I had again (more so this week, as I know it only lasts a week before it's all go again!).
For Monday I had prepared lessons on the US elections, different types of housing in England, and British icons and manners. I think that the lesson planning will get easier once I know the individual classes a bit better, their level of English, whether they prefer working in smaller groups or as a whole class etc. I get the impression that with all of that it's definitely going to be a learning curve, but overall I was pretty happy with how the classes went. On Monday evening I was in the evening school. I told them that I was 20 years old, and someone asked when I'd be 21. I looked around the room, and they all looked pretty old, so I could guess where this conversation was headed. I told them I'd be 21 next summer and sure enough they took great pleasure in informing me that I, the teacher, was indeed the youngest in the room. This is pretty intimidating, but I've decided to try and make it work to my advantage. I'm thinking that if I talk to them almost as my peers, there will hopefully be a pretty relaxed environment which will open up the conversation. Getting them to talk is, after all, my job so I'll see how it goes.
Tuesday I only had two lessons which were stereotypes and health. As health is such a broad topic I narrowed it down to eating, and then school dinners to try and make the lesson more typically British. Again, I was pretty pleased with both lessons and already feel like I'm learning so much. Before I came here, everyone warned me about how fast I speak and that I need to articulate and project my voice more. I've been trying hard to do that, as the few times that I have started to speed up when speaking English, the students faces have gone completely blank, so that was definitely good advice. Hopefully after 4 and a half months of this I'll come away with excellent presentation skills if nothing else!
On Tuesday I also managed to make it to the German conversation class at the library (after trying and getting a bit lost last week). Although it's not too advanced as they have to cater for all levels, having one hour of total exposure to German is really helpful. The participants come from all over, although mainly Eastern Europe, and so the common language is German which means no explanations or anybody slipping into English. I got to note down a few good bits of vocab and some grammar points so it was definitely worthwhile. I've resolved to go twice a week, every week, and as an incentive after 20 times of going they give you a free book - win win.
From Tuesday onwards, the 'lighter' week truly began, as I only had 4 hours of teaching left until next Tuesday. Wednesday started with my first real experience of the 'Kaffee und Kuchen' tradition they have here. It was, in a word, amazing. We went to the Salzburg branch of the Cafe Sacher, which the Sachertorte (a veryveryvery good chocolate cake) is named after. I had a chocolate cake that was very light, and very chocolatey, and very moreish and just generally couldn't be faulted. I'm very willing to embrace this past-time as far as my waistline will allow. I then headed back to take part in the family's 'music afternoon'. I'd been a bit sceptical, but in reality it was only 15 minutes and I played the piano while two others played the recorder. It was very relaxed and a lot more about enjoying it, than how good you were, so I didn't feel any pressure and would happily join in again.
On Wednesday night I headed out with another TA to see what Salzburg's Student Night had to offer. We had a very Denglish pre-drinking session with her housemates and then headed out to O'Malley's, one of the Irish pubs here, where we spent the evening. The night didn't have a particularly student-y feel to it, and there weren't actually that many people out so don't worry Mum - I won't be going too wild here!
Thursday I did a little bit of recovery, made it to the German conversation class for a second time this week (100% attendance, model student!) and then had 2 hours at the evening school. The evening school is really so enjoyable that it doesn't even feel like work sometimes. Although I don't want to be a teacher, it made me think of the quote, "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life". I really hope that I find a job like that. A group of the assistants had all met for dinner to celebrate Tim's birthday, (again one of the TA's), and I met up with them after work to go for a couple of drinks. We went to The Afro-Cafe, which is very cool. It's one of those places that tries to be cool, but also is cool, without having to try too hard. There was a similar place in Chatelet, Paris but unfortunately I never got the chance to go there. The evening was absolutely hilarious. As we've been here a bit longer now, I feel that we're all getting to know each a bit better and so everyone has started being themselves more. It's such a good group of assistants, and I feel really lucky that it's such a sociable group as well, as I know that some other regions have lost contact with a lot of their TAs.
All in all it was a good week. There was pretty good weather, good times with friends and I'm settling into my job as a teacher here too hence the title of this post - I could get used to this!
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