First Days in Tuttlingen

The theme of the day on Monday was identifying similarities and differences. It was the first day that our students went to school at IKG with their partners, and it was also the first time on this trip that Ms. Dupuis and I had some insights into the workings of the German education system.

In the morning, we were welcomed to the school by the principal and all of the staff. It was the first of what will be many experiences of someone speaking to us in German while we patiently wait for the translations. It was a great feeling to be so warmly welcomed into the school and to be so positively received.

The staff and students have been very accommodating and have jumped at the chance to practice their English with us. All of us feel grateful for this, as it seems to be a struggle to learn German phrases. Some of the students, though, have been working very hard at picking up some German (apparently I am a "silly moose"). As the days go by, we have all found it a bit easier for our minds to work with the German language and we all find ourselves picking up little phrases here and there.

Ms. Dupuis and I were treated to a tour of the school by our host teacher, Verena. We were very impressed at the school facility and the openness of the building. We were also very impressed by the gymnasiums (using the word here in the traditional North American sense), and that the school had access to so many sports fields and facilities for student programs. It is challenging to our training, though, to see how much open and self-directed time students have at school, even the young grade 5 students. Students start at different times on different days. Some classes start as early as 7:30 and some as "late" as 9:00. Students are able to go home for lunch or to use this time for their studies or, as happens often, to leave the school. This variety of start and finish times is accommodated by a strong public transit system. Students generally seem to make good use of this time as the school and the families have strong expectations for how students will do in school.

Our students themselves had some interesting observations about their classroom experiences, including just how similar the classes are. Even when they don't know the specific details of what is happening in class, they are still able to get the gist of it as the processes are very familiar to them.

After their classroom experiences, our students had some time with their partners to either go home for the mid-day meal or to get in some shopping or touring about the town. The public transit systems here are very convenient and our students, with their partners, have found that it is very easy to get around using a combination of buses and trains.

It was this public transit system that we all used, German and Canadian students, to travel out to Seitingen-Oberflacht to tour the local church, the museum (where we saw artifacts from the Alaman who were an early Germanic people who lived in this area.

The tours were organized by the parents of Edgar, Hunter's partner, Herr and Frau Welte. Our hosts for the tours also treated us to a traditional German meal of wurstsalad (sausage salad). This salad was made using a secret family recipe that people would travel from far and wide for when Herr Welte's parent ran a restaurant.

This was popular among some of our students and, for others, it was... well...a challenge to the pallet. I wonder if after two weeks the kids will be craving food they now have to work at to eat? It was very generous for the Welte family to host and feed us and we are grateful for their hospitality!

Tuesday morning the students gathered at the school for our tour of Tuttlingen. This was led by the English department head, Hellmut Dinkelaker, who was also the person who initiated the exchange program. We met two of the deputy mayors, one in charge of planning for the city and the other in charge of the schools. We were also taken to one of the towers on the Rathaus (city hall) for a birds-eye view of the city. After the tour, the students headed off with their partners, many went swimming and others went on to a wide variety of activities all over the Tuttlingen region. Wednesday, we will have a tour of one of the medical instrument manufacturers, spend time in class and also more time with host families. On Thursday, we will all be traveling to Strasbourg, France, for a tour of that city, including its famous canal and cathedral.