Official Start

The school day is finished here. Tomorrow Sven and I will start our first official day at Freie Schule Anne-Sophie. We are very excited. We have our lessons prepared for the next couple days and our desk is organized. My desk is in the back part of the room, facing the windows. I’m told I made it very homey and American-like. You can judge for yourself…

So there are a few things I know about Europe that I forget that are very different than America.

The List:

·      Shops are closed on Sunday. You can walk a whole city block and find maybe two shops open. These will be little cafes. If you think you are going to go grocery shopping for the milk or toilet paper you forgot yesterday- forget it!

·      Dogs are everywhere! Berlin is very much pet friendly. Dogs are on the train. In restaurants, at their owners feet. Dogs even go to work. Sadly, it is not a petting-friendly place. Owners are afraid that their dog may react badly so they don’t allow you to pet their dog. Many owners even have insurance just in case. (They have insurance for everything here!)

·      There are no school buses. Students need to walk, get a ride from their parents, or take public transportation. Public transportation is the most common form. I take a tram, train, and bus to get to school. I only take the bus on the days in rains or I feel lazy. So truth be told, almost everyday. The six flights of stairs is a lot of work!

·      In the shower, there is only a handheld shower-head. So you can’t just stand under the running water. OK, not every place is like this but many.  

·      Parks and open-air markets are very popular! Hundreds of people will be in one park.

This weekend I went to a cute open-air market. There are tons of spreads, meat, fruits, vegetables, flowers, and cheese! One stand would melt the hunk of cheese, and then scrap it off onto a piece of bread. It smelled heavenly. I promise to go back and buy one in the days to come.

 Afterwards, I found my favorite pizza in all of Berlin. OK, I haven’t tried it all yet but I promise you—I believe I’m in Italy when I eat it. It feels so real.

 

Well, Sven and I must be going. We will talk to you soon. All the best! Just think it’s April!!!! School will almost be over for you. Be thankful –we don’t have summer break until July 10. Until next time, we send our love. 

Answers to Questions

Hello! I am writing to answer some great questions Mrs. State's Class had for me and Sven.

Since the students get to pick their own lessons, do they get much education? 
I believe so. I can't say for certain because I haven't been here long enough. There is a 20 minutes lesson from the teacher about where the students should be. So when I start teaching, I will give a lesson on multiplication to one class and to the other, we will talk about three-digit subtraction. Then, they will go and do their learn jobs ("homework"). They know their goals to accomplish through a book. This book is full of goals or standards and they are checked off once they accomplish this goal.

Do they take their lessons seriously? 
Of course, some do and some do not. Some students are new to this approach to education and need to be trained, guided, and motivated to learn in this way. Others are already fully independent. It's interesting to see them work through their goals. 

What would be a typical homework assignment?
Actually, there is no homework. We have something called learn jobs. Students work on these learn jobs through out the day. This is typical in the form of worksheets, presentations, and hands-on activities to practice. These learn jobs are to work towards those "goals" or standards. The objective is for students not to have homework and for teachers not to have work to take home; however, it is a very long day! 

How many classrooms are in your school?
We have something called Learn Houses. These Learn Houses are the big classrooms you saw in our pictures. In one Learn House, there is 1st-3rd Grade. So our students are in different levels, separated by their abilities. So there are two Learn Houses in the primary school (grades 1-6) and one Learn House in the high school (grades 7-10). 

Do your students like/enjoy their classroom furniture/materials? 
I believe they LOVE it. It's so different and many of them come from a traditional school first. So it's a great change for some! 

Was the first picture of the students' desks (looked more like boxes)? 
I guess you could consider them desks, they keep all their work inside. They don't have an assigned desks like in the States. We don't teach while they are at a desk. They are usually in a group room or at a table standing. 


I hope this all makes sense! I love the questions, keep them coming! 

Away from school, we got to see the Berlin Wall. There are so many places around Berlin where there are pieces of the wall. 

We haven't made it to Berlin, just yet, but we find a little slice of it!

Back at school, I got my keys. It's becoming very real and official. I start next Tuesday!

School

Tonight, we are watching Disciple Me 2 and I'm lesson planning. I thought it would only be right to write to you now. Giraffe and I are having a great time.

We went to school the last couple of days and we feel very comfortable there. So much so, that I allowed the students to rename Giraffe to have a German name. So Giraffe is now Sven. We loved the name because it reminded us out of the movie Frozen.

So Sven and I have been going to school. We wanted to share some facts about our school. When we go to school, we need to take our shoes and put on our house shoes. These are slippers or just another pair of shoes. So I get to wear my slippers all day! It's pretty cool.

Unlike your schools where  a teacher controls the whole day, students here create their own plan an decide how and when they will be learning.

For teachers, there is very little planning. Seriously! I'm so surprised I don't even need to write my lessons down or turn them in. Can you believe that?!?!

Here are some pictures of our school from Facebook.

We are having fun here but miss our friends at Midd-West, Selinsgrove, Cornwall, and Goddard!

xoxo

Exploring Berlin

Hello from Berlin! Giraffe and I have arrived safely. On our first day, we relaxed and got to sleep. It is hard to adjust to the time difference. Germany is 5 hours ahead of the United States right now. So if it's 8:00 am here, it's only 3 am in the US. 

After a relaxing day, we decided that on Wednesday we would go out and explore. We saw many historical and famous Berlin sites. Giraffe loved exploring. 

This is part of the Jewish Memorial. 

We did something really cool, too! Berlin has the fastest elevator in the world so we took it! It takes you up to the 24th floor in 20 seconds! Here is a photo from the top of the building. The tallest point is the TV Tower and it's a symbol of East Berlin.

After walking around a bit more, we had a very traditional lunch - Curry Wurst mit Frits. It's like a sausage and fries. You can find Curry Wurst all over, as well as people. There are people everywhere... on bikes, walking, or just spending time in the park. 

After lunch, we had gelato and walked home. We are about to have dinner now for Mike's birthday! Will write more soon. Giraffe and I will be going into the school maybe Thursday but definitely Friday. Can't wait to share about our time there. 

Sent with Love, Miss Deppen and Giraffe

Meet Giraffe!

Hello everyone!

I want to welcome you to my exciting adventure to Berlin, Germany! Accompanying me on this once in life time opportunity is Giraffe, a little pink duck. Giraffe is my travel buddy from Cornwall Elementary. He lives near Chocolate World! Giraffe and I will keep you up-to-date on all the fun and neat things we see and do together in Europe. We are traveling to Berlin to teach at a German school. We will talk to you soon and keep you posted!