Back To School!

I have officially been in London for a week! It does, however, feel as though I have been here for longer (this is a good thing)! I suppose this feeling comes from the fact that we did not start internship or class until last night? Whatever the reason, I am already starting to feel at home :)

As I mentioned, yesterday was my first day of interning at Roxeth Primary School in Harrow, London. This school is enchanting. First off, it is a lovely, Victorian style building that was very recently redone. As I said in my last post, the school is very diverse; there are 36 languages spoken and the children come from literally all over the world. I am fascinated by this diversity, as I am use to being in a school with either mostly Caucasian or mostly Hispanic students. In the future, I would be delighted if I could work in a school with a quarter the amount of diversity.

I must tell you about a typical British school day, as I find some of their routines both wonderful and ridiculous all at the same time. First off, there are a number of "breaks" throughout the day, in which the students go outside for 20 minutes and the staff literally drop everything and go drink tea in the staff room. This is practically unheard of in America (even when teachers do get breaks at home, they are constantly go go go), so even though it should be relaxing, I feel as though I should be doing something! 

Another curious aspect of the school day is the fact that each of the classroom teachers also teach gym, art, music etc. If I was left with the task of teaching music or art at home, I think I would be fired within the day!! Teachers also have a half a day each week for planning. Another teacher literally takes over the class for half of a day so teachers can plan...wow! One other interesting thing is that they have a school assembly every single day of the week. What it's for, I am not yet so sure :P

Now that I am in a school, I am actually surrounded by British accents 24/7 (those of you who know me know that I am loving it). Because I am only around these accents all day, I actually find myself thinking in a British accent; it's pretty of funny. In fact, today I literally caught myself saying in a British accent "nice to meet you" to a student; I was so embarrassed and literally stopped myself mid-sentence because I was so shocked at what was coming out of my mouth. By the time I get home in December, I may very well be speaking in a full on British accent!

That's about all I have time to write about for now, but if there is anything specific anyone would like to hear about in my next blog, please feel free to comment and let me know!

xoxoEmalie