Summing up my experiences as a German Language Assistant at Farlingaye High School in Woodbridge, Suffolk

Goodbye Suffolk…
This week was my last week as a Language assistant at Farlingaye High School. All in all I really enjoyed the three months of my stay in England.

I have gained interesting experiences at my workplace and met many kind and friendly people, so that there were many goodbyes the last days. Now my suitcase is packed. I am going to elaborate on my experiences and start with my work at Farlingaye High School.

Benefits and impressions of my at Farlingaye High School
I benefited from my work at Farlingaye High school in so far that my varied schedule allowed me to learn about the teaching objectives and methods of language teaching in different age groups. Also, teaching German made me aware of challenges learners face when learning a foreign language. Since German is my mother tongue I could spot certain difficulties that occurred regularly in spoken or written language. I would definitely say that I gained important experiences in terms of language teaching and improved my own language awareness and abilities.

What challenged me was that my schedule was dense so that it was hard to get into a routine. I tried to compensate that by reflecting on the work I have done from time to time. I still believe I learned to be flexible in my internship. Also, I would have liked to work in more lessons than I did since teaching a class with a set schedule is different from working with smaller groups and practice with them individually.

I have also experienced that support by colleagues improves work and offers a relief from stressful situations. The teachers at the language department exchanged ideas daily and helped each other on many occasions. I enjoyed the good relationship between the staff, but I noticed the high pressure the teachers felt.

I experienced a clear hierarchy between staff at school. Especially the head teacher has got a lot of power and was almost feared by the other teachers. Teachers have to use strict marking schemes. A few days ago a correction of one teacher at school was criticized of being incomplete. As a consequence an inspection of the whole staff follows. Though I cannot judge in how far the marking of the teacher was not complete, the reaction shows the importance of control at the school I have been working at.

Apart from that, assessments play a huge role in work routine in the school system. Grades of students are compared to objective grades which are calculated previously. When the objective grade is not reached, the teachers have to explain what they tried in order to reach the grade. In my view they need to justify their work constantly. In addition, league tables of exam results are published so that the schools are in a serious competition with each other.

These are some of the characteristics of the school system I got to know that were unfamiliar to me and I am critical about the high competition and pressure. Nevertheless it is interesting to learn about a different system in a foreign country and to engage with people’s views on different topics. It made me aware that school culture tells a lot about attitudes towards education. I am thinking of dress codes at school, activities outside of lessons etc. that differ from country to country. While experiencing school culture at a school in England I came to think about characteristics of the German system I was not aware of before.

Life with a host family
A very important part of my stay in England is the good relationship to my host family. I felt very welcome here and spent time with my host parents chatting after work and in the evenings. Also, my host mother took me on trips to the seaside or other towns. I believe that the fact that we ate together most of the evenings was very important for a good relationship. As an exchange student it is really helpful to have got people to rely on. Also I think it added a lot to my cultural experience sharing my everyday life with my host family.
I am aware that a stay with a host family can also lead to severe conflicts, though that was not the case with me. Sometimes there is nothing one can do about it. But what I regard as important is to be interested in the routines of the family one stays with and engage in conversations and activities (though everyone needs his or her independence, of course). Also, I believe it was helpful that I got in touch with the family a couple of weeks before I arrived in order to get to know each other a bit and exchange important details, for example on certain routines. The teacher who was in charge of my internship and supervised me at school also was in touch with my host family. It is important that the people organizing the stay abroad keep in contact and that there are possibilities to address someone if problems occurred.

Statement after three months
Summing up, I benefited from my internship in England in several ways. I experienced culture at my workplace and in my daily life and in addition could gain practice in foreign language teaching as I hoped I would do before I went to England.
I found my placement via the organisation of InternedUK, who offer internships from 6 weeks up to 6 month. But you should apply well in advance, since InternedUk looks for internships at schools and families to accommodate you after you handed in your application. How long it takes to get a placement depends on the schools and on the possibilities of staying with a host family. The internship is not paid. The fees I paid are made up of 180 pound per week, that include the accommodation and fees for internedUK. A certain amount of money was charged before I went to England. You can pay the amount of fees in individual rates. But the organization provides information that are surely more reliable than me.