Spring - Part One

For some reason the Brits don't have a "winter" term but this feels decidedly like winter! There's been a lot of rain, some very strong winds, days and days without seeing the sun, and some rather hard frosts. Thankfully school is mostly warm and I have a car to keep out of the worst of the weather. This has been a very short half term (only 6 weeks) which has been great to not feel like we are slogging through the last week or so.

My year 7s have been testing the boundaries and have needed reminding about who is in charge. They have mostly been squashable however, and we are rolling along quite happily again. We had some great lessons around Karneval and Valentine's Day and it has been great to see some genuine enthusiasm for language learning. It is also rewarding to see many of them grasping the basics of German and being able to apply their knowledge to new learning.

My year 8s are a certainly a mix of classes I love to teach and others which can try my patience at times. My top set are making fantastic progress and are a breath of fresh air on a Wednesday morning. They keep my spirits up and hope alive that students can engage well with a foreign language! My other two classes are also making progress but maintaining interest and positive behaviour can definitely be a challenge. I think there will be set changes after half term too which will shake things up - hopefully for the better!

Year 9, well. I think things are actually improving with my tutor group overall. It doesn't always feel like it but when I step back and look at it, we have definitely had fewer issues and things seem more relaxed. We have had set changes with my German class and that has certainly shaken things up. We are still in the settling process so it will be interesting to see how things are when we go back. It is also a tricky time as students have made their choices for GCSE next year - including which language they are going to continue with. This means keeping focus could become quite a challenge!

I continue to have a good relationship with my year 10 class who are making steady progress through the year. It was rewarding to see them apply their learning and techniques I've been drilling into them when we did a progress check just after Christmas. It's always nice to see things aren't just going in one ear and out the other!

Year 11. I'm not sure that there is much new to say about these guys. There have been moments when I felt like we'd had a decent lesson, and then the next they were totally disrespectful again. School continues to be amazing with their support especially as we had a big crackdown on behaviour which the girls in particular responded very negatively to. But, we haven't got all that much longer with them before study leave begins so just have to keep plodding on.

It's been nice not to have every weekend booked up with things and time to just relax at home with flatmates and Ed. Ed and I have been doing fortnightly Regency dance lessons (isn't he wonderful?), and our house has two new inhabitants. Meet Caspian and Wesley! They are bringing us much joy :)

I've started to think about what the future might hold and what getting a work visa would require. It is all rather depressing to be honest - I think the chances of being able to stay are very slim. The school has to advertise nationally in two places for 28 days. They then have to prove that no British candidates were suitable for the role. Basically if someone applies and they meet the minimum requirements for the job, the school has to employ them - even if I am better qualified. I think I'd pretty much have to be the only candidate to be successful! And then I have to come home to NZ to apply for the visa - which is not quite what I have envisioned for the summer. So, that's the situation at the moment. Going to have to wait and see how things pan out....