I went to the Europaschule today (the practice school where my students practice teaching). I had plans to finish up the lesson from last week, which involved differences and stereotypes about the U.S. and Austria. The teacher was supposed to email me about what we would do after that, but he never did. Something possessed me to prepare something just in case, so at the last minute, I did. And it was a good thing I did, too.
I went to the school a bit early to see if I could talk to Christian (the teacher) before the lesson. I wasn’t even sure if he was still expecting me because he had never emailed. I get there and ask a woman in the teachers’ office if he would be coming soon and I discover that he’s giving a presentation at the teacher college, so he won’t be coming. Hmm, good to know. So he’s not there and I prepare to leave. But, the woman reminds me that there’s a second teacher that works with that group, so the class is not canceled.
I decide to wait around a bit to explain to the second teacher (Regina) that I was supposed to have class with Christian and ask her if she would like me to stay. She informs me that Christian told her that I would be teaching the whole lesson! I tell her that I was not aware of this. She tells me that she has nothing prepared, so I tell her that I have something I could do. So I do it. It goes okay, I guess.
Regina also decided we should end five minutes early for reasons I didn’t understand, which was weird because I wasn’t quite finished with the lesson. Maybe she was looking at a different clock? I was also hoping I could speak with her afterward about what I could have done better, but she simply said goodbye to me and left.
It was weird.
Well that’s interesting! That would be a SIMILARITY between many Americans and Austrians -sliding by, unorganized, causing confusion in others’ lives, etc. It is even more interesting to see the similarity in you and Will! I’ve seen the frustration that comes with people like you 2 having to deal with those people who can’t seen to stay on task. You two like to be prepared, (were you a Boy Scout?), follow the plan to the end, be well organized,etc. So while you go thru more aggravation than others, I do think people like you & Will have less problems because you don’t create them yourselves, get more accomplished, and are better off in the long run.
………….and that’s all I have to say about that!
Apparently you don’t know us very well. I’ve been trying to get a video done for two days and haven’t made very much progress!
I’m glad to hear you are getting more of the experience you were hoping for. It’s a good thing you have foresight to plan ahead for unexpectancies.