First Day

Well today was the reason I came to Scotland - I started student teaching today!  I left at 7:30 and walked through the "park" to school.  I only had to cross the street in front of my place and the rest of the time I stayed on the walking/bike path.  It's about a 30 minute walk and luckily the weather cooperated.  Just need to find a way to carry less with me so my bag is lighter.  I carry my dress shoes and wear my "trainers". 

So the school... everyone there (and everyone I've met in the UK for that matter) was really nice.  The kids have to wear uniforms which consist of black bottoms, white shirt, black tie (even the girls).  They like to make the uniform their own by wear skirts and tights, making the ties loose, wearing sweatpants?... the list goes on.  I will be working with 4 different teachers, which is a LOT!  Hopefully I will like doing that though.  Mike gave me 6 different classes to teach/observe and each day is different.  Each class meets 3 days a week, but the times and days vary.  I will be attached to my schedule so I don't get lost from room to room or teach the wrong lesson to the wrong class.  Right now I am just observing, but I am jumping in to help students when possible.  Another strange thing I've noticed: the students are allowed to have their phones/ipods out to listen to music during class.  I don't think I will like that rule.  Another thing, they have an "intermission" after 2nd period, which means I go down to the teacher's lounge for 15 minutes.  They had cinnamon rolls for us today!  Oh yeah! :)

Alright, so the kids just might be more fascinated with me than I am with them.  And trust me... they are very interesting.  Here's a list of questions the students asked me today...
"Where are you from?" -America, St. Louis "Where is that?" -right in the middle "Is that close to New York?"....
"Do you like football?" -American football or soccer football?
"Do you like ice hockey?"
"Do you like basketball?"  -college, not pro  "It's because you like the college guys...ooohh"
"Do you have Yazoo (chocolate milk) in America?"
"I like your accent.  Say Manchester."  "Your accent is cute."
"Is it true that Americans have to be 18 to eat at McDonald's?" (she thought we did this to cut down on our obesity problem lol)

Needless to say I had a lot of fun and the kids made me laugh a lot. :)

I also decided that I will make a blog with words that are different from American English to UK English.  I will update that often.