Edinburgh, Dunblane Cathedral, and Teaching Away!

Clearly, I have not written in a very long time! Two weeks in fact! A lot has happened...so much that this morning I slept in until noon to catch up on sleep! :) So I am going to spend some of this lovely (sarcasm) Saturday morning catching all of you up on what I have been busy doing! At the end of last week, I completely took over math which feels very good because it is the biggest subject of the day besides reading and writing. In reading, I have suggested to Claire that I start taking a group out each week (twice a week), to work on comprehension skills, word work skills, questioning skills, etc. (depending on the group and what skills they need) that will help them become better readers. It is working very well so far. Oh..also I have been drug into the Senior school's outdoor education week in mid June. I am crossing my fingers that the weather gets better because this means that I am going to be doing a hill walk with them. It sounds so nice and innocent, a "hill walk". But I've heard it is going to take all day to climb this thing. Great! On the other hand...I bet it is going to be an awesome way to see the scenery of Scotland once we get to the top!! This past week, I had my supervisor come on Wednesday. That meant that I had to have everything perfectly planned for him to watch me teach the whole day!! I did math in the morning as usual and then a creative writing unit which I have also taken over recently. For math we had been doing shapes...which I am an expert at teaching because that was my big TPA unit before coming here last quarter. For creative writing, I planned something very fun and the children enjoyed it a lot. I proposed the question of "what would you do if you woke up and were only one inch tall?" They had to write about the problems they came across, such as how to get out of bed, how to open the door, what would they eat for breakfast, how would they get to school, etc.!! It was very fun and they were very creative with it. I also started my mapping unit with the kids. Beaconhurst is an open campus with multiple building, so we went outside to figure out how we would put the campus onto a piece of paper. After walking around, the kids were able to spatially figure out that there was one big building in the middle and smaller buildings that surround it. Here's what one student created! Pretty good, eh?

So after my tutor left, I received good remarks. Said that I could take over the class now if I wanted to! :)...which Claire is loving. She is able to go observe the J1 classroom and see what the students are like that will be be joining her next year. On Thursday, we went to Dunblane Cathedral (obviously in Dunblane) which is about 10-15 minutes away from Bridge of Allan. This was part of the Religious and Moral Education being Special Places to go and to worship at. The Cathedral was beautiful and the kids enjoyed leaving school for a couple hours! A few years ago there was a shooting in Dunblane where a child was murdered. Inside the cathedral there was a memorial for the child. Very precious!

Over the weekend, I went to Edinburgh with a friend. It was amazing...at least! We took the 11pm train there and then took the 11pm train home! Probably could have spent the night because I couldn't get enough of it! We got off the train at Waverly and walked around Princess Street Gardens, Princess St., and the Royal Mile up to the Castle and down to the parliament. The guy that kindly toured me around Edinburgh, his sister lives there and works at one of the small galleries (not the huge main attraction gallery), and so we went in to see what was currently there. We also went to the Elephant House to eat dinner. This is considered "The birthplace of Harry Potter" because it is where J.K Rowling started writing all of the Harry Potter books. Towards the end of the night, we went into some of Edinburgh's pubs to finish our night off right! Can't go to Edinburgh without trying some of their brews! ;) I didn't go into the parliament or the castle or anything because I am waiting until my mom and dad come...can't see EVERYTHING before they get here!! But it was fun to just walk around and see the views and get familiar with the streets. We were lucky that it happened to be a beautiful day! This weekend I am laying low and planning for the upcoming week. However, next weekend I am going to go check out Glasgow!

It's spelled "colour" not "color"

I am heading into my second full week at Beaconhurst and am very pleased with where I am at now and how much I am getting to teach. The children have accepted me as their new teacher and have very quickly bonded with me...perhaps because they are curious about where I come from (not a bad thing, curiosity)!! This past week I have started to take over math by doing a ten minute warm-up that corresponds to the lesson that Claire will be teaching that day. It has prepared me nicely for this coming week, where I will take over the whole subject of math completely - the warm-up and the lesson itself. I also did an art lesson with kids this week which entailed mixing the primary colors to create the secondary colors. It was a good, messy lesson that they enjoined very VERY much! Most of them created two pieces of art so I would say that it was a great success. I have also been teaching a few random pieces, such as health and well being and some interactive, storybook math where we read a story and then play some math games. Next week I will be taking on a few more subjects, one being creative writing. My social studies unit this term is going to be America (of course) and so we are going to be writing to pen pals back home which I have set up. So that was a bit of the teaching side...it's getting more and more busy every day and my teacher is not shy at all when it comes to handing over her classroom. She is very good at giving me feedback and making sure that she is doing her part in the program - which I very much appreciate! There is so much to learn when it comes to the standards and sometimes I get afraid that I am teaching them wrong or that they are going to look at me with a blank stare because they don't have any idea what I'm talking about. There is no language barrier, however, it's JUST different enough that sometimes I don't have a clue - I can't imagine the kids in my class if ever THEY don't have a clue. We do have spelling tests and, hence the title of my blog this time. Children come to me and ask how to spell a certain word. I have never had a problem with spelling...until now. Color and favorite and others of the like have an extra letter in them. I have to actually think about things before I tell kids to spell things the "wrong" way. This week in school, music lessons also have begun, as well as Scottish Dancing. I joined in on Scottish dancing on Friday which was great fun! Those kids definitely have a wide variety of knowledge starting at a very young age! Another event that happens on occasional Fridays is the student council meetings. One student from each grade level asks their classmates of things that they would wish to happen or to be changed in their school. The representation then goes to the meeting and voices the opinions to the teachers, the head of the junior school, and the headmaster. The staff then talks about reasonable solutions! I thought that this was a very good way to apply student voice. On the non-teaching side, I have been settling into Bridge of Allan/Stirling quite nicely and getting to see a bit of the area. Meeting lots of new people and, just the same as before, everyone is very nice and actually interested in what you might have to say. Last weekend I went to see the Stirling Castle! It was amazing to see a view of Scotland from up higher. The castle was much smaller than I imagined it would be, but it is probably one of the most important ones in the area. Today I was able to go see Loch Katrine, which is part of the Trossachs. It was absolutely beautiful out there!! The whole reason I went to Scotland was for the beauty of it all...got to see a bit of it today! We then drove to Aberfoyle, a cute little town a bit south of the Loch. We ate fish and chips (of course) and saw a show that was happening on many birds of prey! They eagle that lives here is about twice the size of the bald eagle!! Scary! Next weekend I will be going to Edinburgh....so stay in touch! :) P.S....I miss everyone at home!!! But I have to say that I am loving it here as well!

Class pictures!

This is the classroom...so small and cute because the class sizes are so much smaller. Ours is only 17 students.

I took pictures of the students while they were working so that you can see their adorable uniforms. They didn't know I was taking pictures so....lol. In the first, you can see the twins in the class.

First day of School!

Today was the first day of school and students were adorable in their uniforms! I'll have to get a picture of my class soon to post on here. At home, we don't wear uniforms with the idea of helping to express ourselves through clothing. Here, one reason they wear uniforms is to express themselves regardless. In other words, "what's behind the badge?" Students were very surprised to have another teacher in the classroom! All but one who I had met two days prior and was holding his head high to be the only one in on the secret. They were all very quiet in the morning...either on their best behavior or a slow start to the first day back! I simply got a lot of stares before being introduced and starting to talk with them about their break and what not. My first impressions about the students were very high! Each one of them come inside (have already hung their coat and backpack up in the hallway), sit in their seat, and begin drawing or reading. Attendance is taken on the computer and Mrs. Shaw says, "Good morning, Emily" while Emily responds either in German or in English, "Good morning, Mrs. Shaw". If there is no response then the student is absent! After attendance, Claire (my classroom teacher) and I had decided that I would put name tags on them for the first day so that I could quickly learn their names. In putting the name tags on them, I asked them a few questions....what is your favorite food, what did you do over break, siblings, pets, favorite subject...etc. When asking about siblings and break I kind of got stared at like I have no idea what you're talking about. They don't know what a sibling is, so I had to say brothers and sisters; and break is simply holiday. But they are smart and polite children who ask, "pardon?" when they don't understand! There were some interesting answers from students! We have identical twins in the classroom and I asked them both if they like being a twin. One said, "yes because I don't have to look in the mirror to see myself". Another girl told me about her baby lamb being born during the night. Another said that she went to Dubai for holiday and she can speak three languages already - peruvian being one because her mom is from dubai. After this, I introduced myself and showed pictures that I brought from home. I told them to raise their hand if something looked or was different than what they were used to (which was helpful for me as well!). Students were most fascinated by the mailboxes and how you put your outgoing mail straight in the mailbox and put a flag up. Also, the crosswalk and how some crosswalks have blinking lights or a flag to use when crossing. And it's not called a crosswalk in Scotland....it's a zebra crossing (black and white lines). After this, it was time for music, which I accompanied them to. At the start of music, the teacher asks four students for a piece of news because it seems as though everyone has something exciting to say when they come into the classroom! But they are NOT allowed to tell about their wobbly teeth...because at that age, all the news would be about wobbly teeth! :) After coming back from music we started doing math (which is actually "maths" not math). Instruction is very fast paced and it is quite a big deal if the schedule for the day is not followed (perhaps because it is a private school?). Warm up for math: write all the number facts that add up to ten (1+9 = 10); Write all the number facts that add up to 20; then do 20 take-away. Claire would then write 3 numbers on the board (say 7, 3, and 10) and students have to write 2 addition equations and 2 take-away equations for the numbers. Then a pair of students stand up and practice counting by 2's up to twenty (alternating), then by 5's to 50, then by 10's to 100....and then backwards. After a bit of reading and writing, the half day was about over. On the way out, the word got out to parents that I was new in the classroom by the twins. The parent came to me and said, "well she just ran to me and said Ms. Beck is the best teacher ever!" That made my day! The past couple of days have been full of meeting. A foreign language to me because of how different the standards and assessment system is! But I've been getting through it and my teacher is very open to me teaching anything on any schedule that I wish. I am going to be doing a unit on America with the kids. We will start with geography and do a wee bit of mapping. Then we'll do important symbols in America where they will then make their own symbols. Then famous/important people. We'll then go briefly into independence day and thanksgiving to finish it off! I'm very excited to get started! It's a full day tomorrow so I'm going to be quite tired! The wee ones wear me out!

Settling in to Bridge of Allan

Today is Saturday and I moved into my new home away from home. I still can't believe that I met a couple at a bar and two days later they are handing their keys over to me! Only in Scotland! Yesterday I learned four new things while venturing about....1) expected tips in bars is 0% and restaurants is only 10%. Though in the bar if you have a good connection with the bartender, you buy them a drink at the end of the night. 2) You have to wave down the bus or else they drive right by you. Luckily the first bus that went right by wasn't the one that we wanted. 3)Whisky is very, very cheap here. At least whatever we bought last night! Dad held out a 20 and the bartender told him that would pay for the whole bottle. A glass of whisky was only about 1.20. 4) Beaconhurst is a boys and girls schools, however a long time ago it merged two schools together. Beacon - the all girls school and Hurst - the all boys school.

For dinner yesterday, we went to eat italian food because everyone in Bridge of Allan says that there is great italian food on every corner. So we gave one place a try. My host family recommended a restaurant that she described as "posh"...and boy was it! I was mid sentence when I put the first bite of pasta in my mouth and my brain switched tracks to "ohh my goodness!" It was ravioli in a gorgonzola and pear sauce...for Jason's information! :) Our waiter was from Italy and very interested in us, commenting on our strong accents again. After dinner we went down to the Westerton again for a drink (the bar where I met my host family). Dad and I played flash cards with pence so that we don't have to hold our hands out dumbfounded anymore when paying for things. Dad and I had a quiet day other than viewing the third house in Alva...which was good although it really was out in the middle of nowhere. One road that leads in and out.

Today, I decided it was time to get the necessities after moving into the house. We went to the grocery store and found shampoo, soap, toothpaste...it was going to be an easy in and out trip! But what proved to be the hardest to find and had us searching all over was deodorant and a razor. I still have yet to see a women's razor anywhere and deodorant is to be found at a pharmacy for some reason. But there are men's razors everywhere. So that's what I bought! They all do the same job, right? Also, I needed coat hangers. We had to catch a bus to Stirling for this one. It is only a ten minute bus ride into Stirling from where I am living, though the bus is quite expensive - 2.20 one way. We went into the mall to try to find coat hangers but, again there was no luck. Someone finally told us to look at the Pound Store! I thought...like the Dollar Store? Really? But sure enough, they sell coat hangers! So we got a bunch of coat hangers for only 7 pounds. Oh and they also sell everything else that was on my list as well...including deodorant and razors. So note to self: when I need big things, go to Stirling. Also, side note, the opposite side of the road driving is really messing me up! I'm either going to get run over, take a bus in the wrong direction thinking that it's going the other way, or get run over! It takes getting used to looking to the right first when you cross the road and not to the left. And pedestrians don't seem to have the right of way so don't rely on that one here! 1st picture: The house I will live in for the next 10 weeks. Though they think I will end up staying for two years! :) 2nd picture: Downtown Stirling!

Long Day of Travel!

It was a long day of travel but we finally made it to our B&B in Stirling, Scotland. The first 10 hour flight featured 3 movies and a crying baby the whole way. Dad and I watched Mission Impossible and then tried our very best to fall asleep but it truly was a mission impossible with that baby. We only got about 2 or 3 hours. Also, I don't think I have ever been fed so much food on an airplane before - 3 meals! Once we got to France, we had a 2 hour layover to get some coffee before our next hour and a half flight. Of course by the time we were landing in Edinburgh, we were both just getting sleepy...once the screaming, ranting toddler got settled into his crayons. After 12 hours of flying, we still had to figure out the bus to the train, the hour long train ride to Stirling, and another bus to the B&B. Luckily everyone speaks English and they are all very nice. Some accents are MUCH harder than others and you just say "yeah, uh huh"...and go with it. At the train station, I was joking to Dad saying we have to find platform 9 and 3/4 (Harry Potter of course, which I actually don't even know if it's in Edinburgh or not) and then I saw two absolutely perfect kids wearing their Harry Potter scarves! Amazing.

We were trying to pay for a bus ticket and Dad literally stuck out his hand with a bunch of coins and said, "here take what you need". The guy just laughed and took away. Someone behind us was laughing too...we aren't very good at hiding that we are tourists. Though OUR accents kind of give it away. Once we finally made it to the B&B, Allan gave us a very useful map of the area that shows roads much better than any other map I've been trying to use. We were sick of buses/trains so we took our map along and walked to the Bridge of Allan about a mile away. On the way, I got to see Beaconhurst School, where I will be teaching, and it is literally right next to the University of Stirling. Such a cute private school and I can't wait to meet my teacher on Saturday.


Once we got to Bridge of Allan we went straight to the first house for viewing. The lady was about 90 years old. She opened the door very confused and said she was sleeping in her chair. She had no idea who I was until I said my name. The place was definitely old....and yeah....old! That's pretty much all I have to say about that one. There is another girl staying there right now in another room and will be there until early June. All three of us would be sharing one bathroom, and a tiny refrigerator, kitchen, and living space. After seeing the place, Dad and I went to get some food. On our way to food we saw a sign for beer tasting....wellll okay!! Why not? The beers were definitely original and even the girl said that they simply like to experiment. Marmalade, lavendar, chili flakes, you name it and they've probably done it with their brews.

We finally found a place to eat, although they didn't open until 5 and it was only 4. The bar, however was open so we decided we would sit down and have a beer or two before eating. The bartender was VERY hard to understand when I asked her what she would recommend to drink (since all their beers are different). I could catch a few words and I'm definitely better than Dad is. We were chatting with her as she asked us why we were here and where we've come from. We told her we've just come from looking at a house and we've still got another to look at tomorrow. As we were sitting and had just ordered a second round, she came up to me and said something about the man in the red coat over to the right and that I should go talk to him (I honestly have no idea what she said her accent is so strong). I turned to Dad with a blank stare...what am I supposed to do? She came around the bar and said, "would you like me to introduce you?" The man and his wife were regulars and come in for a drink almost every evening. I went outside with them and they started talking about a flat that they have available for rent. They weren't planning to rent it to anyone, in fact they were planning to re-model it soon. But the bartender came up to them and said, "this girl over there is working at Beaconhurst for 3 months and needs a place to stay...." And so It began. They briefly told me about the room then asked me if I wanted to look at it right then and there. So we left our beers behind at the bar, walked to their place about 2 minutes away, then came back for our beers later!

Needless to say, the flat is very nice! I would have my own living room, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and even part of the backyard. Living in Bridge of Allan is walking distance to the school, train station, and there are buses all around to get into the city. They are a very nice couple, as is everybody so far in Scotland. On the walk to the house, he said that I have a very strong accent! This is funny to hear...in fact I've never heard it before. But it is good to keep in mind while teaching. After eating dinner, Dad and I were practically falling asleep at the table waiting for our check (I literally was). We tried to catch a bus back to Causewayhead where our B&B is, but no such luck...they only come every hour past 7:30ish. So I turned my UK phone on for the first time, we called a cab home, and went to bed at 8pm. Today we look at a place in Alva, which so far the universal view seems to be that the best road there is, "the road out". It's a more "rough and dense" area whereas "you can't go wrong with the Bridge of Allan". I will see for myself later today.

Skype

Just letting everybody know that my Skype name is megan23241...I would of course love to talk to anyone while I am away! I leave in 2 days!!