Best thing ever! The students as well as staff, call me "Miss." Nothing else, just "Miss." It's adorable and I love it so much. They say things such as "This is miss." "Miss said not to do that." I love it.
First Period:
I was assigned to be in the library again to help out a teacher. At first I sat there awkwardly like the new kid, while kids ran in and out. I felt really awkward to be honest. Then a lady came over to me and introduced herself. Side note: For some reason I can never remember people's names so I don't remember hers. But I will find out her name.) She was the teacher I was supposed to be working with this period, but the student who needed help wasn't there. So, she simply sat and talked to me. She was seriously the nicest person I have met here. She is from Romania and has been in London for nine years, I believe. We talked about our homes, and what to do in London, and she helped me make sense of my confusing schedule. She truly made me feel welcome in this new place, and I am quite grateful for her. I feel as though her and I will be friends.
Second Period:
Next I made my way to assist with the Year 9 Geography exam to help a dyslexic child. My job was to read the exam to him and then write down his answers. Apparently, his dyslexia is so bad that it hurts his test taking skills. So that's where I came in. It went well though he laughed at a few of my pronunciations but we got along well. And let me tell you, this child is precious. He is thirteen and simply adorable. For reference purposes, I will call him "my favorite." Yes, sadly I have already chosen a favorite. After he finished the exam, we had some time so we chatted about differences in our school systems. He's adorable. I simply can't get over it.
Third Period:
My third class was math with the six years. These children are roughly 11 years old and there are usually less than fifteen in a class. Side note: The children have fifteen minutes to get from one class to another. That is an outrageous length of time. Because the school spans four buildings, I understand if they are coming from one of the farther away ones, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Their classes are right next to each other. Therefore, between classes these children go crazy. Screaming and slapping and running. It's like recess. So, I get to third period (and I've also noticed that teachers get there at the latest time possible, which means more unsupervised time, and more chaos.) So, I simply stand there amongst the madness, just watching, waiting, not knowing what to do. I tried to engage a child in conversation, but he would not have any other that. He was wearing glasses that looked like Harry Potter, so that's why I decided to talk to him. Some of the more open children did talk to me.
Finally the teacher comes and the children were given a packet to complete, which they somehow managed to settle down for. After they finished they were split into the weaker students and the stronger to review a previous test. I was given the stronger kids to work with. So we sat down and began to go over the answers and they were supposed to correct them. For the most part, they went over things well, and of course were easily distracted, so I had to constantly remind them to focus. Harry Potter child slowly started to act out and refused to correct his math or even turn the page. And then it hit me. He is not Harry Potter, he is Tom Riddle. AKA Young Voldemort. I'm not kidding people. He began to mutter things under his breath and threaten the others and became enraged when other children got answers right when he didn't. I truly tried to get him to follow along and to explain the problems to him, but he simply became angrier.
Fourth Period:
After lunch in the staff room, I had english with year six. So, I had the majority of my previous students with a few new ones. Tom Riddle was there. Once again they came in screaming, etc. The class was good however with no true problems, just the general chatting and distractions. The children were very sweet and did seem to like me, which is great. And I was able to remember the majority of their names.
Fifth Period:
In fifth period, once again I had the year six kids and we had ICT. ICT is basically a computer class. However, the teacher was absent so they had a substitute. He was an older man who blatantly told me he had his own work to do. Peachy. The kids had a worksheet left my their teacher, and that took all of fifteen minutes. What are we supposed to with the last 45 minutes?! So the sub turns to me and says he doesn't know what to do. It was up to me. Sink or swim. They had a science examination the following day so we decided on science hangman. It was great besides the yelling and chaos that came with the game, but it was whatever. They had nothing else to do. Tom Riddle had not finished his worksheet but took part anyways. I did keep reminding him gently to finish his sheet. Well once again, this made him very angry and he made angry comments and tried to break pencils. Good grief. He didn't end of finishing his worksheet, in fact he angrily scribbled all over it, and he yelled at another boy.
I feel as though the teachers are aware of this problem. And since there isn't a full time counselor, that source of aid is lacking as well. That's all very interesting. I am looking forward to learning more about the British school system.
So that was the end of the day. In all honesty it went by quickly and I totally enjoyed everything and the students. This will definitely be a learning experience. Tomorrow's schedule is different from today, so it will be a brand new experience. I was told that the older students were in exams so that's why I had younger ones, so I should be working with older ones in the future.
Just for fun, here a few academia words that differ from ours:
Time table: Schedule
Revision: Studying
Full stop: Period (like the punctuation)
Mark: Point
I was told that they liked "ya'll" Heck yes.
Week Three: Day One: Internship 2
No comments:
Post a Comment