Week 1

Well, I have had my first week on St. Janscollege. I have gotten my classes (2 and 3 Gymnasium) and I have observed them during several lessons. Below there is a short report about them:

Gymnasium 2:
Monday - 6th period - English
This was the first time I saw the pupils and my SPD introduced me to them. It is a very nice class and the pupils are filled with good humour. In this lesson the pupil had to talk about a book they had read. This is all in preperation of the Junior Speaking Contest, so they got quite a lot of feedback on their Use of English, use of grammar, pronunciation etc.

Tuesday - 4th period - Mathematics
The pupils were quite different in this class, they were a lot louder and they were paying less attention. I think this is because it is mathematics and the material is quite dull. The teacher, however, did everything he could to make it a bit more interesting.

Thursday - 3rd and 4th period - Geography and English
The pupils were very quiet during these lessons, they worked a lot on their own but they did not get unruly or anything like that. Two or three pupils were trying to be a bit difficult during geography but the teacher immediately warned them.

Gymnasium 3
Monday - 1st period - English
This is the first class I saw and they are extremely nice. They started of with discussing the exercises and everybody cooperated. The last 15 minutes they had to work on their homework and they did so without making any noise.

Tuesday - 1st period - English
Again the pupils work very nicely on their own. The only thing I did notice is that they tend to switch to Dutch when they talk together while making an exercise.

Tuesday - 3rd period - Geography
They start of with a bit of revision and question asking. The pupils stay quiet and listen. A fellow pupil did not understand something and they all helped her.

Tuesday - 5th period - Physics
I think it is a miracle that the pupils paid attention during this lesson. The teacher talked for 40 minutes!!! It was utterly boring. The pupils should get an award.

These were my lesson observations. I also went to the TTO-show they had on Wednesday. It was a lot of fun to see, the pupils were all dressed up for Halloween and they did several sketches. One thing we (the English department) did notice was they we need to work on fluency and the pupils need to articulate clearly.
Last but not least, on Thursday the writer Michelle Paver came to the school. I went to one of her sessions with a class of mine and it was wonderfull. She is a very nice woman and I have bought one of her books to read.