die Entscheidung - the decision
wow. i have definitely made my decision about which german class to choose.
today was the day i was supposed to teach a unit of class. we had some text to read and then i had about 10 questions for the class to demonstrate comprehension and to practice using the new verb conjugation they are just learning. i got through the first paragraph of text, asked for questions, and explained one of the vocab words. i guess i didn't explain it to the teacher's liking because she then spent the next 50 minutes explaining the one word. from the faces of the other students i knew that they all understood it about 5 minutes in, but repetition is this teacher's thing. that's good in theory, but given how long she carried on i now understand exactly why my new group is two chapters ahead. after a while i got bored of being her scribe and not actually teaching so i just sat down. at 12:35 she asked me to start teaching again. class ends at 12:30. i asked a few of the questions, handed out my word search homework assignment and said, "i think that's enough for today."
after class a bunch of us went to laura's house for lunch. it was a really comfortable group, and we all work well together. i had missed them. but they all talked about how bored they were in class today and how it had been like that for a while. they also were amazed at how well i could speak and were a little jealous that i was so far ahead. a few expressed an interest in trying my new group, and others planned a time to discuss with the teacher how class could move along a little faster.
i had spent the last 3 or 4 weeks in my new group wanting to be back with my old group. today's experience, and monday's as well, showed me that i am far better off with my new group. i am happy now to be learning for those 3 hours a day instead of rolling my eyes or chatting about a good restaurant in the neighborhood. it will take a little work on my part to stay in touch (if no one switches groups), but now i know for sure it is worth it. my friends are worth the work of staying in touch, and my german skills are worth the sacrifice of a super-friendly environment.
thank you all for your comments and suggestions. i think i knew this would be my decision but i just had to make sure it was absolutely the right one.
today was the day i was supposed to teach a unit of class. we had some text to read and then i had about 10 questions for the class to demonstrate comprehension and to practice using the new verb conjugation they are just learning. i got through the first paragraph of text, asked for questions, and explained one of the vocab words. i guess i didn't explain it to the teacher's liking because she then spent the next 50 minutes explaining the one word. from the faces of the other students i knew that they all understood it about 5 minutes in, but repetition is this teacher's thing. that's good in theory, but given how long she carried on i now understand exactly why my new group is two chapters ahead. after a while i got bored of being her scribe and not actually teaching so i just sat down. at 12:35 she asked me to start teaching again. class ends at 12:30. i asked a few of the questions, handed out my word search homework assignment and said, "i think that's enough for today."
after class a bunch of us went to laura's house for lunch. it was a really comfortable group, and we all work well together. i had missed them. but they all talked about how bored they were in class today and how it had been like that for a while. they also were amazed at how well i could speak and were a little jealous that i was so far ahead. a few expressed an interest in trying my new group, and others planned a time to discuss with the teacher how class could move along a little faster.
i had spent the last 3 or 4 weeks in my new group wanting to be back with my old group. today's experience, and monday's as well, showed me that i am far better off with my new group. i am happy now to be learning for those 3 hours a day instead of rolling my eyes or chatting about a good restaurant in the neighborhood. it will take a little work on my part to stay in touch (if no one switches groups), but now i know for sure it is worth it. my friends are worth the work of staying in touch, and my german skills are worth the sacrifice of a super-friendly environment.
thank you all for your comments and suggestions. i think i knew this would be my decision but i just had to make sure it was absolutely the right one.
posted by jordan at
6:40 PM
1 Comments:
:-)
By
Anonymous, at May 25, 2006 2:19 AM
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