DAY 34 (13/03)

At half past 7, we went off to John Cleveland, another school, this one’s a science school as Groby is a language school.
My first lesson I observed was French and we were immediately surprised, the pupils were so quiet, respectful, they knew the ‘conditionel’ and the ‘imparfait’,…

During the French lesson, someone’s cell phone went off and he had to give it to the teacher. This school is far more strict than Groby, though Groby has its charms too!
The French lesson was especially about their speaking skill. They played some games where the teacher asked a question (sentence) in French and the pupils (boys against girls) had to say that question (sentence) in English, so translate it in a correct way. This was really nice! And they could speak French very well too!
They also played speed dating and some discussions, what they liked about it, peer correction,… Creative, interactive lesson!

The second hour, we had a tour throughout the school. We saw the reception area, some classes and they even have a “punishment room” (sounds kind of kinky I know, but they had a more specific name for it, which I can’t remember) where pupils have to go when they behaved bad in class. The problem, the discussion or anything else is written down on paper, done as well by the teacher as well by the pupil and they talk about it until it’s solved.
When a pupil behaved really, really bad, they have even got little separated places, pupils facing the wall and walls next to you. They have to do their homework or do extra tasks. But apparently, sitting here doesn’t occur a lot. Luckily… I would get mad in there…

What I have also seen is that there are quite a lot of younger teachers, which is nice!
I am certainly going to ask the address of this school and inform if there are any upcoming vacancies.

The third hour, I observed an English lesson, which was mainly about poems.
The teacher started off with a kind of questioning time, a sort of quick recap from the previous lesson. One pupil was sitting in the front of the classroom, and the other pupils were allowed to ask questions in turns. Nice exercise.
Afterwards, they discussed ‘the mirror by Sylvia Plath’, a poem we have also seen with Mrs. De Brandt (now I am thankful we have seen this poem, it’s a nice one too!).
Some meanings and difficult, double meaning, words were explained and discussed.
At the end of the lesson, she did an energizer, some crazy, active activities to wake the pupils up again !! Was really funny to do !!

Then I observed a lesson called ‘Study Plus’. This was a group of 6 and another little part in another class (6 more I think) and they had to work on their portfolio.
They were working in little groups and they had to invent something and describe, test it out, change, adapt,… They had some great ideas and I took pictures of their inventions.
It’s a great idea to use in my own class later on! ;-)

The last lesson we observed was religion, this was about Martin Luther King (and she made the comparison with Barack Obama, very good).
Nice lesson, given by Sophie herself. She used a PowerPoint and it was an interactive lesson. She’s a nice teacher and the pupils were nice too!
I really enjoyed this school and all her lessons. Thanks to Sophie (connections ;-)) all this was possible ! So thank you Sophie! :D

Kiss