Time certainly does fly while working. By the end of the day I can't seem to push myself to do anything productive. I really don't know how the other teachers can do all that they do! I have an 80% work load of a normal teacher (it is a first year teacher thing) and I can barely find the time in the week to plan, grade, teach and perform all the duties required. Some of it is that the stuff I have to teach is far more advanced and very different from what I had in the states. But I will never complain about what it is like in the states again. I don't mean to say that teaching in the UK is better then in the US though - I miss being at Murray very much - it is just much more intense a job over here. Much of my planning has gone to creating (as close as I can with the curriculum) AVID notebooks for my classes. For the most part the kids seem to enjoy it more then regular notes and video lessons - the test will be how they do on the assessment that is coming up in the next few weeks.

During the holiday two weeks ago my father came to visit and we travelled around to Dover to see the White Cliffs - you can even see France from the castle in the town! We also spent a few days in London seeing all of the touristy sites.

This past weekend, while travelling with the other American teachers, we went into London for dinner and a show at the theatre and on our way back to the train station stopped by Buckingham Palace. Since it was very late (and raining) there weren't many people around. I noticed that one of the gates was open and we stood by it just for fun. Then all of a sudden a car - all lit up inside - comes rolling in through the gate! It was the Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen of England. It all happened so fast so no one thought to get out a camera - but we were less then ten feet from the Queen! It was so cool.

Back Again

The cost of living here is far more expensive then I originally expected - with some budgeting I hope to have internet connection to my flat at some point. As it is I only can use the schools after classes have ended to keep in contact with people. I have developed a system that helps me keep the complex schedule straight in my head and have been getting better at keeping pace with the rest of the science department. Students are loud and difficult to keep quiet - there is not as much respect for authority here and both the teachers and students suffer from this. It gives us a headache and the students have a harder time keeping up. I might just have to ignore the schools behaviour policy and revert back to the methods I know that worked last year in Wilmington.

On weekends I have gone out to nearby towns and did the tourist stops along the way. This past weekend I explored the town of Dover which is close enough to see the coast of France! Next weekend is the 942nd anniversary of the Battle of Hastings which led to the establishment of England as a country. There are supposed to be big bonfires on the beaches and parades down in the Old Town. The Old Town is just that - very old! With narrow streets and Tudor style buildings it looks like a scene from a Dickens novel on some streets. After the festival next weekend my father is coming to visit and our plan is to travel to Belgium or Holland. Two more weeks and we get our first vacation - we haven't had a break since school started in September - not even a long weekend! I will be looking forward to a rest.

The days are getting shorter and the night comes early this far north - I forgot the change in latitude was so great. North Carolina is at 35 while England is at 50 - nearly the same as Siberia!

Until next time...

Its Been A While

The time does fly while working here in Hastings. The pace at which the classes go is very fast and I never know what classes I will be teaching from day to day. The school is on a two week rotating schedule and during that time I see the year 7 - year 9 kids six times while only three times for the year 10. (For those that don't know year 7 would be our grade 6and so on) The classes are each an hour and are grouped according to ability. There are the classes with all the high ability and so on down the line to the classes filled with those that seem like they could care less about the work done. The students are also aware of where they are placed in this system and seem to act accordingly. The largest of the classes I teach is 30 but there are others that teach up to 34. Theses are the higher ability classes and it is only the lower performing students that the class sizes are around 14 to 19. The lowest academic class I have is about 10 students. There are teaching assistant in the some but not all of the smaller classes which is a help. The school is organized in an interesting manner - each department has a head or chair who would be the equivalent of an assistant principal and above them is a deputy headmaster and then the final authority is the Headmaster. The place seems to run on a corporate style system. I am still learning what is and is not the way to teach students here. Strangely they seem not to understand that the US is very different and while we both speak English there are many differences - there are some students who think I am "kinda stupid". The school is an all boy school and it seems to me that there is a distinct lag in the maturity level of those here and those I have taught in the US. My experience here so far has led me to believe that if I can make it here there is nothing I would find daunting at any US school.
Enough on teaching - the apartment I have is quite large, the door has been fixed and the back garden area has been renovated. I am beginning to learn to cook on a gas stove but have burned several of my attempts. Just this weekend I was able to put up some curtains - which have helped to keep the place a little warmer. There are two huge bay windows that heat seeps out of at an alarming rate. I shudder to thing what the heating bills will look like in the winter. There hasn't been a day over 72 since I arrived and the days are rapidly getting shorter, darker and colder. I was thinking of getting a car to drive over here but the cost of most items as well as the rent are significantly higher then in the states so that might not be able to happen. The desire to have a car and the freedom it gives has been one of the hardest adjustments.
I continue to slowly acclimatize myself to the way of life here and am looking forward to the October break - (family is coming to visit!) This break I plan to stay in town and get myself ahead of the game for the rest of the year - the other breaks I hope to find somewhere exciting to travel to.

Until next time...

A Moments Rest

I have a few minutes between classes right now. The past few weeks have been very hectic. Learning all about both a new school and how things are done here but also having to learn a new grading, testing, discipline and teaching methods has been almost overwhelming. There are eight different classes that I teach with ages ranging from 6th grade to 9th grade (sometimes back to back) and topics that can go from simple chemical reactions to complex genetic research. The curriculum is set out for the teachers but there are still many hours (at least for me) of planning involved. Luckily there are lab technicians that set the labs up for the science department and they are a great help.
The students are all very similar to those in the States - the only real difference is the accent and uniforms.
I will try to post later but since moving into my flat I don’t have internet yet - or water (a pipe burst Sunday and it still is not fixed).
Other then that all is well.

Wandering Aimlessly

I am being a bad teacher and have been avoiding prep work for classes – but to my credit it is hard to plan when you don’t know what you are supposed to teach. Wasted today looking around the town for appliance stores, laundry places and supermarkets.

It rained most of the day. :-(

I put up a map of where Hastings is in relation to London and France.

Finally Connected To The World

It took some time but I was only just today able to connect to the internet to post here. I have a backlog of things to write but I will try to keep it brief.

August 24th
-Slept in and then went out late afternoon to wander toward the school to see how long of a walk it would be. Got turned around - these streets are really confusing - so I ended up in a section of town called Silverhill. From there it was back to the B&B to start planning lessons for the next week.

August 23rd
-Went across town to the East Hill which is a 700 acre park along the coast and explored a small section before returning to the Bed and Breakfast I am staying at for the next week.

August 22nd
-Went around the area looking at the places that were on the leasing agencies website. A very interesting town with a lot of nice looking neighborhoods. Old but quiet and clean for the most part. Spent most of the day exploring the town.

August 21st
-Tried to stop by the school around 1pm but no one was around. Explored the town - it is about the size of Wilmington only set on many hills. Stopped by a realtor to see if there were any places to rent in the area. Went back to the hotel for a nap but ended up sleeping until the next day.

August 20th
-Did some last minute banking and errands in Wilmington. Then headed to the airport to drop of the rental car my parents had gotten and catch the 2:30pm flight to Charlotte. From there I was on the 8pm flight to London Gatwick. After an quiet and quick seven hours and it was on to the train to Hastings.

The days have fallen away far too fast! The work permit arrived as well as many forms to complete for the school. There was a bit of a scare for me when I was told (with less than a week to go) that it would be over ten days to get an approved visa. I was frantic to say the least. Two days later it was all approved. Gotta love government agencies! Now all that is left is to get the plane ticket a place to stay when I get there and a permanent place to live. No sweat!