After a long week at school it was time to unwind and do some traveling around Switzerland. Saturday morning Amelia and I both wanted to be able to sleep in, so we did just that. At about noon we decided we were going to take a train to Bern. Thankfully we got super saver tickets for 25 Swiss francs one way or else it would have been 51 (transportation is very expensive here). So we set off to Bern which is the capital of Switzerland.

Once we got off the train we started walking toward what looked like and ended up being the old town. The old town is the medieval city center of Bern. Built on a narrow hill surrounded on three sides by the river Aare, its compact layout has remained essentially unchanged since its construction during the twelfth to the fifteenth century. Throughout the old town there are many shops, cafes, and restaurants.

As we walked through the old town we stumbled upon the Federal Palace of Switzerland, which is where the Swiss Federal Assembly and the Federal Council or the legislative and executive branches of the government are housed.

Next we reached the Bern Minster Cathedral. For 5 Swiss francs you could climb the stairs to the top of the cathedral for an unbelievable viewing point, so we did. Nervous at first we stated climbing the stone steps of the narrow stairwell. As we started getting closer to the top there were windows you could look through to get a sneak peak of the view, but it didn’t beat the view when we finally reached the top. You could see over the whole city of Bern and it was amazing! A view you couldn’t beat for only 5 francs.

Lastly while in Bern we saw the Zytglogge, which is a large clock tower in the middle of old town. On the hour we were told that we needed to see what the clock did as it was a cuckoo clock. We got there a little early, about 10 minutes till 3 to wait and see. Although the clock is beautiful, the production was much to be desired.

I currently have instructional control over 4 of my host teacher’s 5 English classes and took over the 5th this afternoon. The students range anywhere from 12-16, and there is one particular age group who I have in two separate classes once a week, but see them as a group in the middle of the week which makes for a very odd dynamic in lesson plans. Generally, I do an activity involving both English and arts so that the students can get a break from the structured grammar and so that both classes can do something together as they’re at different levels of English (it’s a very small school so we kind of have to make do with this sort of thing sometimes). These past two weeks on Tuesdays when I have those two classes combined, I’ve been working on the “one-word” project with them. This is essentially used as a way to set and remind students of goals at the beginning of the year, which is one reason I decided on it, but the other reason was to help my students connect singular English words with broader meanings and understandings of them. I gave them a list of words that they might consider, and although a few did choose a word from that list after looking it up in the dictionary, many knew exactly which words they wanted to use which was really cool to see. To get to this point, however, I had to do a lot of scaffolding and goal setting. I had my students list out their goals (both career and personal), then list the things they needed to do to achieve those goals, and finally, choose an English word that reminded them of the things they need to do to achieve the goals. The result was twenty-something students making these really beautiful representations of their goals while simultaneously playing around with the versatility of the English language. (I’ve included a photo of the students and myself with their work which I did have permission to take as the student’s parents sign a photo waiver at the beginning of the year)

With the class I took over beginning today, there is a huge mix of abilities as it’s an elective English course. I also get a ton of freedom in what I do with them because it’s a course meant to engage them in the culture surrounding the countries which use English and help them to practice their conversational English, so there’s not too much grammar instruction going on. Today, since Thanksgiving is Thursday, I decided to give them a little historical background on the holiday as well as a modern day perspective on how we celebrate (football, food, friendsgiving, and the parades). After doing some work with that, I brought them back to the overarching theme of the holiday which is being thankful for the things and people that surround us by doing a “thankful tree”. I drew a makeshift tree on the board and gave each student six multicolored paper leaves. Each student needed to write “I am thankful for” followed by something/one they’re thankful for and a reason why they are thankful for that thing/person. When they were done, each student shared one of their leaves before taping them all to our tree on the board. I tend to believe that older kids enjoy simple activities like this as much as the younger ones which these activities are normally catered to, and this was an example of that. For 30 minutes, the students were engaged and working on their leaves and were proud to put them up on the board. And now we have a really beautiful blackboard for the remainder of the week which is always a bonus!

Hello from Switzerland! I began my teaching practicum here about 2 weeks ago. I have been placed at a private Montessori school here in Kusnacht, about 30 minutes from Zurich. Some of you may have heard of this type of school before and some may have not. As for me I didn’t know what a Montessori school was and had to do a little research before I arrived. For those of you who don’t know the Montessori method is a child-centered educational approach based on scientific observations of children. The Montessori method views the child as one who is naturally eager for knowledge and capable of initiating learning in a supportive, thoughtfully prepared learning environment. It attempts to develop children physically, socially, emotionally and cognitively.

Specifically I am working at the Colourwoods Montessori Kinderhaus, which has children from the ages of three to six. From what I have observed and taken part in, the school seems to be very unorganized and crazy. It has been very interesting to see how the classroom operates and how the teachers go about planning lessons (if they even plan a lesson) and running such a different room than I am use to. I was curious how this method is used and implemented and I’m not sure if I like it. I have also been told by a couple of the part time teachers most Montessori schools are not run in the same fashion. I’m hoping as the weeks continue I get used to the schedule and understand more of the material. As for now I work with students doing whatever they want. So far I guess you could say it’s been an interesting learning experience and hopefully I can do more as my time here goes on.