A whole new world.

So, we have been very bad at updating the blog. Mainly because we are so busy with learning student names, learning new jargon, learning colleagues names, being observed, marking workbooks ETC... that we have just not had the energy to post to the world.

Anyway, we are surviving. Teaching in England is really teaching in a whole different world. The curriculum isn't that different, it's the strategies and tools that motivate students that are so very different. We can't share many details as we have been warned the internet is not always a private place to tell stories about students. But all we can say is we are sort of re-learning how to teach. Many if not most of the strategies that were dynamite at home, are cause for laughter here. We have been told many many times now at the school that you must earn your respect, you don't simply hold it by being the adult in the room. And how to earn that respect we have yet to figure out. Yelling is one option- not one we are totally comfortable with. But when in Rome... or something....

We are really lucky that the staff has been very supportive and there are a few students here and there that say sweet things in their little accents that remind us why we are here. In the Year 9 class, which is approximately grade 8, we are studying Charles Dickens. We read Oliver Twist this week and it was SO adorable hearing them say "Please sir, I want some more" in their perfect little accents. And the other two Canadian teachers have been a huge support for us. It's like being a student teacher again and going into the staff room giving a fellow student teacher that look. And they just know what you are thinking. It's usually I need to cry/scream/laugh but they always know.

Anyway, on another note, we finally have broadband internet (yeah!) so I will post more pictures right now actually so that you can see more of what we have been up to.

Miss you all Canada. Miss you all.