Computerteach

Tomorrow we are leaving for Leipzig and will need to travel by train for the four hours to get there. I am excited to see a city in the former GDR and I can’t wait to see what has been done to the city since reunification. I have seen a few pictures but I want to see the real thing. I may not be able to do a lot of blog entries for the next week because of access from my laptop. If there is a gap please look for the full updates when I return after the fifth of July. If I don’t get a chance, please enjoy Canadian Independence Day on the 1^st of July. The picture for today is me on the patio for the staff room. It has become my office for the last three weeks. One challenge for their teachers is that they have a space in the staff room and that is the extent of their space. They travel from room to room so they have very little personal space for books or other resources. But I was able to get my desk just like they did, I just was on the patio outside. They were very gracious about letting me use this space and access the internet from school. I can’t say enough about how well we were treated by all of the staff.

Last night we had the chance to see the ceremony for the students that have successfully completed the Arbitur. It is the test for school completion in Germany. The ceremony was a little long but they include several pieces into a single ceremony. At Rangeview we have the Academic Awards night, the Convocation, and the Graduation. At the Heimschule Lender they start with a church service and then move to a light buffet.  After the buffet we went into the Gymnasium Achern’s sports room. (To put our American twist to the phrase: we went into “Gymnasium Achern’s Gymnasium.”) The ceremony started with all of the enthusiasm that a celebration should have. The students entered to a mix of Elvis Presley songs. The students had chosen “Love me Lender” as their theme and the night carried the theme throughout. It was fun and had a great sense of joy. When the students were seated they had a few speeches and then handed out the academic awards. They had a band made up of students that sang a few songs. They were fantastic and of course, they did an Elvis song or two. They gave some scholarships and recognized the tops students in the class. They then gave out the certificates based on the concentration that they have had for the last two years. Frieda’s certificate was in English and the teachers in charge of the form had a couple of minutes to speak about the group. It was nice to see a close connection between the students and their faculty advisor. It could serve as a model for mentoring programs elsewhere. Then the band played a little more and then the highlight of the evening. The Abifilm! It was the senior class video. It was about 40 minutes but was a focused film that had several scenes. The best was the portion about the grade 5 students that have rolling backpacks. The graduating students portrayed police and were pulling over the students with these backpacks. They conducted sobriety checks, checked the roadworthy condition of the backpacks, and of course they had to check that they had enough insurance. They other scene that was very funny was a spoof on Nature shows and going into the wild to learn about the habits of the “animals” that inhabit the other local school and their rival. It was very funny and creative. The picture for today is Frieda and her parents last night. It is wonderful to have been able to share this important evening with them: