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It's been a while! I think I have been getting progressively lazier lately, and considering that I was already quite the bum, I should probably do something to reverse that trend...
Anyways, let's talk about yesterday. Yesterday, I spent the entire morning with J's second grade class at the Grundschule. I had already developed some negative views of the school system here, so on the way to the school, I tried to neutralize them. "Keep an open mind", I told myself. "Be objective. Just because things here are done differently than you would do them, doesn't make them wrong - right?"
We begin the day at 8:45 am. The teacher comes in, and announces, "Guten Morgen, klasse 2e". The class responds, in unison, of course, "Guten Morgen, Frau Stern". (Names changed to protect the guilty...) Already, I feel like I have been transported to at least the beginning of the 20th century. "Think positive thoughts", I remind myself.
Next, we have the following dialogue (I am both translating and paraphrasing here, but I will try to convey the atmosphere correctly):
FS: So, who has done their homework yesterday.
(Pretty much the entire class raises hands. Except J, of course. We had gone to see the Lion King in Hamburg the night before. We left directly after school, and did not return until midnight - so no time for homework.)
FS: J, you did not do any homework last night?
J: No, I didn't
FS: Why not?
J: I didn't have any time.
FS (looking unpleased and with a sarcastic tone): You didn't have any time?
Me (Trying to explain and defend my son... Can she really be doing this with me sitting right here?): We went to Hamburg yesterday...
J: Yes, and we saw the Lion King.
FS (Laughs sardonically. Class laughs a bit timidly): Well, we would all like to see the Lion King on a Tuesday night... Well, you will just have more work tonight, won't you, J?
J(shrugs): Uhh... yeah...
Yep. Nothing like starting the day with a little public humiliation aimed at instilling a work ethic. Now I am sure there is a wormhole quite nearby, as this cannot possibly be happening in 2012.
Next, we have a round of random multiplication and division problems. The teacher asks questions such as 4 times 8 and 9 times 9 and 21 divided by 3. The kids raise their hands to answer. A couple of minutes go by, most kids raising their hands. J raises his - and the teacher calls on him, surprised to see his hand. Silence for what seems like a full minute. And he gives the correct answer! Auf Deutsch, even, although he was not able to repeat the question before giving the answer, as all the other children had done. Good job, J!
Oh - I should mention, Germans say their numbers backwards. Ok, I mean opposite of the English names of numbers. Twenty-eight is 'acht und zwanzig', or 'eight and twenty'. This is a triple-whammy for an American kid. First, he has to recognize the different word order, translate to English, and then solve the math problem. I am officially impressed.
After this, the kids are called to stand in two lines. The teacher stands at the front and asks another multiplication or division problem. The two kids in front are challenged to see who comes up with the correct answer first. The winner sits down, loser goes to the end of his line for another turn. First 'team' to run out of players wins.
When the game is finished, the kids all sit down and pull out their blue math binders. They are given worksheets with multiplication problem after multiplication problem. This essentially all the 'math' I have seen since January. Worksheets with multiplication, division, addition and subtraction. There are no applications. No connection to what these quantities mean, or why anyone would find it important to know such things. The class seems happy to do the work without any of these motivations. Well, everyone except J. He sits with his worksheet, sighs, does one problem, scratches, fidgets in his chair, sighs again, next problem, "3 times 7. Or 7 times 3. (He likes to repeat the commutative property nearly every time...) 7 times 3. 3,6,9,13 - wait - 12... start again... 3,6,9,12,15,18,21. 21." Sigh. Next problem. Scratch, fidget, eye rub, yawn... This last part goes on for 35 minutes. J gets about 1/3 of the work done.
This is why I am here. Frau Stern has been sending home notes. J needs to work harder in class. The TA labels him a 'dreamer' (which, frankly, I think is a compliment). It's pretty clear to me what is going on. The poor kid is bored out of his mind. Plus, he is clever. He knows that after every 45 minutes of this kind of thing, he gets to go outside and play for 15 minutes. He is just biding time, waiting to do something fun. The teacher thinks he is there to work, and gets 15 minutes rest in between. J knows he is there to play, with 45 minutes of waiting in between.
So, after the Morose and Mundane Math, we go outside and J smiles, plays, giggles and has a wonderful 15 minutes. Then, we head back inside for 'science'. I am not sure what the Germans mean by this - there was a whole unit on street signs for example, so it doesn't really look like a direct connection to the English word, but in any case, they are now doing a unit on field rabbits, and J is very interested in them. The kids are paired (the desks are already arranged so that each kid has a partner). One part of the pair reads aloud the first two paragraphs of an excerpt regarding rabbits, then the other kid reads the next two aloud. When everyone is done reading, the teacher asks questions about rabbits. J is paired with a visiting student teacher, so he reads the entire thing aloud. I am pleased to observe that he has managed to learn to read German in the past 2 months. Excellent! The teacher asks questions, kids raise hands and answer. J does not raise his hand. At some point, the teacher asks him a question directly. He answers it readily, and she seems quite surprised. I am not, but then again, I know him a lot better than she does.
Bell rings. Another 15 minutes of joy. Even better - after this break - SPORT! (sport = P.E.). Whenever we ask J about his school day here, he always says 'great!', followed by 'In sport, we played X', or 'During the break, I got a turn on the swing!'. What about the rest of the day? 'Oh, the same as always... guess what we did in sport!'
During sport, the teacher asks me what I thought of the math lesson. In retrospect, I guess she may have been asking about how J doesn't seem to be working very hard, but I took her literally, and tried to sound as neutral as possible. "Well, it is just very different from what he is doing back home." Defensive already, she asks, "What do you mean?" "Well", I say, "there isn't so much focus on memorization. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics is recommending an emphasis on concept, rather than computation... The kids just don't work as hard on memorizing multiplication facts." She seems genuinely perplexed, which is understandable. Eins mal eins (multiplication facts) are sacred here - a right of passage. M is still traumatized from learning his almost 35 years ago. I change the subject. "J loves the unit on rabbits. I have heard more about field rabbits this week than I ever thought possible." This lightens the conversation, and we talk more about the things that are going well - he has friends, he loves sport, etc. I tell her more about how J really needs to be internally motivated to do things well. She asks if we haven't considered putting him in a Waldorf school here.
I guess Waldorf would have been a much better fit. But, unfortunately, those schools are full (I do not wonder why...). Besides, we really just want him to go to school with kids from the neighborhood, make friends, learn German, and have a positive experience overall. The truth is, we are fine with how things are going. If we were to stay here for any longer period of time, yes, we would have to find something more academically appealing.
We have been telling the folks at both schools exactly this - but somehow, it seems to have a hard time sinking in. Guess we will just have to keep trying!
