For the past week, Chantry welcomed Tina Roth into our classrooms.  Tina is a German teacher in Stuttgart who came over to see the differences and similarities between school life here and in her home town.

“I’m grateful I got the chance to spend time with everyone at Chantry. First of all, I was highly impressed by the equipment and technology in every classroom.  Unfortunately, my students don’t have access to interactive whiteboards so it was refreshing to see all of the resources that the teachers use via this medium.

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Another big difference is the way students are assessed. At German schools, the teacher does not mark every single piece of work whereas staff at Chantry put a lot of time into grading and giving feedback on so many written tasks.  I do not know how the teachers in England manage such a feat – chapeau!

If you compare our timetables, you will also see many differences. Generally, students in England and Germany seem to have the same amount of lessons but we start earlier and we do not have school in the afternoon every day – at my school, for instance, the first lesson starts at 7:50 and the students have between two and three afternoons a week off timetable. The number of lessons in the main subjects also differs. German and Maths are taught three times a week along with English, which is also one of our core subjects.  I noticed your students have between 55 and 110 minutes of a foreign language each week whereas ours have a minimum of 3 hours.

There are definitely some things I saw in the classrooms at Chantry that I am going to try out on my return.   I love that pupils are rewarded for their work and effort in numerous ways and I like the mini white boards students use for giving short answers that teachers can provide instant feedback on.  One thing that made a lasting impression with me is how students’ works is celebrated through displays in the classrooms and corridors.  It creates a vibrant atmosphere and shows how much creative and hard work is done here at Chantry Middle School. Thank you everybody.  Dankeschön.”