Regular readers of this site may recall that she is being taught “school English”, which was defined as spelling “colour” with a “u”.  Whilst not exactly the words “British English” that I would like it to be defined as, I am at least happy that I do not yet have to explain that other countries leave that “u” out and in some cases even use other words for the same things.

It was whilst I was helping her revise for a vocabulary test a few days ago, that I suspected the time may already have come, and further inspection of her vocabulary book confirmed my suspicion.  In some cases, I found the translations to be unusual, but in some to be down right wrong.

And since there were some entries from her teacher in the book, I am assuming that she has seen the offending words and that this is not just a mistake that took place copying them from the blackboard.

1. feet, foot = Fußzehen; the “Zehen” are actually the toes, not the feet.  Since “Zehen” is in the plural, foot would be wrong anyway.

2. gloves = Fingerhandschuhe; I have never heard of this definition before, for me a glove is just a Handschuh and has places for the fingers.  Anything else is a mitten (“Fäustling” or “fingerloser Handschuh”).  But to be fair, I have since found the word “Fingerhandschuh” in a children’s dictionary.

4. boot = Wanderschuh; a boot is a “Stiefel”, the “wander-” prefix implies that the shoes or boots are for hiking.  But if it’s a hike boot, then I would use “Wanderstiefel”, and ohne “Wanderschuh” if it’s not got the high sides, ie. it’s a shoe.

5. pullover = Pullover; here I just pointed out that it can also be called a “jumper”.

6. hat = Hut, Mütze; “Mütze” for me is a cap, or a small child’s bonnet.  I guess you might say “hat” to some things in English that you say “Mütze” to in German, but these are surely the exception.

7. cap = Kappe; this is not strictly speaking wrong, but again, I would use “Mütze” to translate “cap” most of the time.

8. shirt = Hemd, Bluse; “Hemd” is correct, but “Bluse” is a blouse, and I have not been able to find a dictionary in my collection yet that says anything else.

9. vest = Weste; is this the first sign of American English creeping in?  Then it would be correct. And a “life vest” (life jacket) is a “Rettungsweste”.  A bullet proof vest is a “kugelsichere Weste”.  BUT the British underwear garment called a “vest” is an “Unterhemd”, and a “Weste” is a waistcoat.

10. I feel bad – Mir geht’s schlecht; in this form (unabbreviated it is “Mir geht es schlecht”), I am saying that I don’t feel very well, or that I feel ill, or that I don’t feel very good.  If I feel bad (eg. guilty about something, or sympathy with someone else’s problem), then it would be a completely different sentence.

I’d be interested to hear from anyone who either agrees or disagrees with my points here.  Please leave a comment below the post and let me know your thoughts.

Some other posts on this topic that you might like to read:

• Elternabend – parents’ evening German style
• German Schools and Modern Teaching Methods
• Starting school

The numbers 1 to 6 roughly correspond to A to F in the British system as well, although 5 is usually the lowest that will be given for anyone actually completing the work or a test, with 6 reserved for those who don’t do it at all.  There are also the + and – grades in-between.

But how do the marks get decided for each child in the first place?

One possible answer to that question, and probably the most plausible in many subjects, is be the teacher making the decision.  This does, of course, require a competent and fair teacher, but having heard horror stories of parents going in to schools to demand that their children get better grades (in some cases where the child had not actually done the work or even attempted a test), I had hoped not to end up in that situation myself.

Except that there are other ways to decide the mark a child receives, such as settings bands for each mark and converting the number of right answers in a test to the final mark that way.  So you might have 59 possible points available, and set 53 to 59 points to be a 1 (A), 45 to 52 to be 2 (B), 37 to 44 to be 3 (C), and so on.

I have it on good authority and from multiple sources that such tables exist, and are in some way standardised.

However despite my initial hope, I got to a point where I could not always understand why marks were being awarded that didn’t fit into this schema.  So in the end, I asked (at an Elternabend).

It turns out that regardless what may exist at a higher level, there are schools that unilaterally decide to use a different scale, at least for certain subjects.    So in my example above, a score of 52 out of 59 may get you a “2″ in one subject, but  it only be enough for a “3″ in another, even within the same school!

But it doesn’t stop there, because in some cases it appears that a type of “quota” system is in place, which can result in children being moved up or down a band if the quota is full.  Whether this definitely goes in primary schools I cannot say for sure, although I think it’s pretty unfair on the children if they learn for a test only to be marked down if everyone does well.  In secondary education the system does, however, seem to be in place in some schools.

It’s that type of system that seems to take away the merit of the individual child, and instead moves the emphasis onto their ranking within the class.  At the end of the day, this can not only demotivate the child, but if the class always has the same number of children attaining each of the grades awarded, then any deficit the class may have as a whole could possibly go undetected.

Some other posts on this topic that you might like to read:

• German Schools and Modern Teaching Methods
• English language teaching in German primary schools
• Elternabend – parents’ evening German style

Yes, it takes place in the evening, and generally speaking at least one parent of each child is present.  But not every teacher turns up, unless they have been requested to.  The evening is not even officially run by the school, but by an elected representative from among the parents, who arranges the date with the form teacher.

The evening is more an organisational affair.  We arrange dates like the class Christmas party and discuss who will be bringing what to it.  We get shown books that we “could” buy for the class if everyone agrees to do so, although in my experience hardly anyone dares to criticise the books being recommended and on one occasion when several parents were critical or even against the purchase, the “everyone” vote was quickly turned into a “majority decision”.

And being critical appears to be something that is not done on these evenings, as is anything too specific to one or more children.  Such topics are quickly brushed aside because “they don’t interest everyone present”, and should be talked about “in an individual meeting” between the parents and teachers concerned.  In my opinion that leads to problems that may concern the whole class not being discussed, unless enough parents agree beforehand to bring the subject up.

Academically it appears to be normal practise for there to be an outline given of the subjects taught during the coming year and what sort of scope these will have.  There might be some hints of how much homework there is going to be and when to expect any tests.  That said, I’ve learnt not to rely on this information too much as it is often soon forgotten and things get changed.  The evening may be minuted, but these are sometime so general, that I my own more detailed notes are more useful to me later than the official version of events.

Even at this stage, although it is possible to ask questions, if they are too critical they are likely to be put spawn an “individual meeting”, unless enough other parents jump in to support them.  If an answer is forthcoming, it is not always helpful either.  I once asked which version of English was going to be taught at my daughter’s school.  “English English” was the first answer I received, which I was not satisfied with so this was clarified as “School English”.  The question was finally resolved by me being told that “colour” would be spelled with a “u”!

So when do find out how well our daughter is doing at school?  Well, apart from the results of any tests and her end-of-year marks, there are Elterngespräche where we get to meet one or more of her teachers to talk about her performance in the different subjects.

Except that these are usually around midday.  Perhaps that’s why they don’t called them “parents’ evenings” in the first place?

Some other posts on this topic that you might like to read:

• Starting school
• English language teaching in German primary schools
• German Schools and Modern Teaching Methods

At Worldfest, the parents of the pupils attending the school sell food and drink as well as arts and crafts from their home countries.  With 19 countries represented, there was certainly a wide choice of things to try, from more well-known dishes such as pizza (Italy), sushi (Japan), and Bratwurst (Germany), to more exotic items like Blini and Pirozhki (Russia), Poffertjes (Netherlands) and Bulgogi (Korea).

Food at the Indian stand

The elderflower lemonade from Sweden certainly made an interesting – and refreshing – alternative to the usual type of drinks at such festivals.

With the school celebrating its 50th anniversary this year as well, the festival was particularly well visited, with alumni swelling the numbers to an estimated 3,000 visitors!  In the entrance, a selection of vintage cars were on show from the 1960s and 1970s – the early years of the school, accompanied by their owners who were happy to explain their cherished automobiles.

Amongst the first visitors were the Interior Minister of the State of Hesse, Boris Rhein, the Mayor of Oberursel Hans-Georg Brum, and with the Hessentag only a few weeks away, the Hessentagspaar (Charmaine Weisenbach and Christian Peter) were also present.  After stopping for photos at a 1961 car, they were taken on a tour of the school.

Hans-Georg Brum (left) and the Hessentagspaar (centre) in front of a 1961 Mercedes

Entertainment was provided by the pupils in the form of the FIS Jazz Band, an 8th Grade Flashmob and dances from places like India and Russia – nationalities found among the 1,700 pupils.  For the pupils themselves there were games and bouncy castles.

The FIS Jazz Band

Inside the school building the arts and crafts area offered jewellery, English books, and even oriental rugs, with the British Tea room offering a good chance to get out of the sun and enjoy some strawberries.

Inside the school

Although there was a slight drizzle at one point, the weather otherwise stayed fine.  Indeed, once the sun came out for the afternoon, it was very much the place to be for the ex-pats in the area and I saw many familiar faces.

For more information on the school (in English), visit the homepage: www.fis.edu

Click here for more photos of the Worldfest

Some other posts on this topic that you might like to read:

• New playground at the Maasgrundweiher
• The Hessentag has started
• The Hessentag Nature Trail

But I wasn’t quite prepared for the cultural shock that followed, and am still often left trying to work out whether it is a difference between the national systems that I am observing, or whether times have just simply moved on.

When I went to to primary school in England…

… the teacher wrote on the blackboard and we copied down the words, sentences, sum, etc. into our exercise books.

… we had text books that had exercises in, but these had to be copied into our exercise books before we did them

… handouts were something that you took home with you

… we learnt things like the times tables by heart, because we repeated them so much verbally in class, and the teacher would make sure that everyone had their turn

… we added and subtracted numbers by writing them above each other and drawing a line underneath

… standard stationary items like drawing paper were provided by the school

… we rarely had homework.  If we did, it was usually to learn something like the times tables, or spelling.

… school finished at 3.30pm

My experience so far of German primary school has been…

… that there is a blackboard in the classroom, but not much gets copied down from it other than the homework.  Any exercises to be done are either pre-printed on handouts or on pages of a pre-printed exercise book.  Even words that are to be learnt for a spelling test often come on a printed piece of paper.  On the other hand, if there is something parents need to know, such as when a test is going to be taking place, the pupils often have to write it down themselves in their homework books.

…  things are not learnt by heart, at least not in class time.  This appears to be something we are expected to do at home.  As for each child having a turn at answering a question in class, this concept seems to be foreign and it is not uncommon for parents to be told that their children do not put their hands up enough to offer an answer.

… there are different methods for adding and subtracting numbers, but definitely not by writing them in columns.  To calculate sums with numbers between 21 and 100 I have counted 7 different methods!  They have such names as the Autobahnmethod and the Verliebte Herzen. I might try and explain these another time.

… almost everything has to be purchased by the parents, like paper, pens, exercise books and drawing paper.  Of course, not just any type, there are often recommendations as to which brand to buy so that everyone has the same colours etc.

… there is typically homework in at least two subjects per day, which is sometimes of quite a plentiful quantity.  Of course, if the child has not understood the material during the class time, then the parents become surrogate teachers for the afternoon – which is ironic considering that homeschooling itself is not permitted.

… the school day finishes at lunchtime, sometimes even before noon.

So is this the modern way to teach primary school children, or is it just the way things are done in Germany?  I welcome your comments!

Whatever the answer, there is a market served by schools that offer a more rigid form of education.  The most well-known are the Montessori and Waldorf schools, the latter of which has a reputation for not using text books in class.  In fact, the reputation is not without basis, because the Waldorf method of teaching requires the teachers themselves to create the materials that they use, rather than simply following the steps through a book.

Of course, these alternatives are not without their cost, and from outside the system it is hard to understand why these alternatives need to exist at all.  But from the inside, I am beginning to understand the system more, and wondering why the state school do not apply more traditional methods.

Some other posts on this topic that you might like to read:

• English language teaching in German primary schools
• How marks are decided in German primary schools
• Elternabend – parents’ evening German style