Unsere COST Student:innen im Schuljahr 22-23
Aus so unterschiedlichen Staaten wie Michigan, Mississippi und Georgia kamen in diesem Schuljahr unsere COST Student:innen, die zum Abschluss ihres Lehramtsstudiums ihr Praxissemester an der KLS durchgeführt haben. Sie haben uns im Englischunterricht von der Unter- bis zur Oberstufe durch ihre authentische Sprachvermittlung und kreativen Ideen unterstützt und die Schüler:innen ermutigt, ihre Englischkenntnisse direkt anzuwenden. Ob Diskussionen zu heiß diskutierten Themen wie Abtreibung oder Umweltschutz, Vorbereitung auf die mündliche Sprachprüfung in Englisch zum Thema Bewerbung oder auch die Teilnahme an schulischen Festen wie die Adventsfeier oder der letzte Schultag der Abiturienten, die COST Student:innen haben alles mit Begeisterung mitgemacht und nehmen neben vielen neuen Erfahrungen auch Ideen für ihre zukünftige Lehrtätigkeit in den USA mit. Lesen Sie selbst, was sie zu ihren Erfahrungen schreiben:
Maddie Gleason (Grand Valley State University, Michigan):
Hello, my name is Maddy Gleason, and I am a student from Grand Valley State University that has been a part of the COST program this semester. I was able to complete this program before graduating from my university in December of 2022. Studying abroad has been a dream of mine since the beginning of college, and I am grateful for the opportunity to do that in my last few weeks of being a college student. I have been able to spend the last 7 weeks of my student teaching semester here at KLS and this opportunity has been incredible.
As my speciality in the United States is English, I have had the chance to broaden my perspective in English classes here at KLS. I have worked with 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th, & 11th grade classes in my time here with teachers whom I respect greatly. Each class allowed me to grow in the profession and showed me new ways of viewing English education through learning it as a second language. I have loved and valued each conversation I have had with the students here, and whether they realize it or not, they have taught me so much. The students and teachers made me feel very valued as a native English speaker and allowed me to share my English language knowledge and my experiences in the US by working that into their learning. I was able to work in the 9th grade classes while they were preparing for their English oral exam and working with them through that process was my favorite experience.
This process has allowed me to learn valuable skills for being a teacher like being flexible, problem-solving, and teaching English as a second language. KLS gave me new perspectives on the teaching profession, and I am so excited to bring some of those pedagogies back with me to the US. It has been a joy seeing the community that is very apparent here at KLS. Celebrating Advent with the teachers and students was an event I will hold near to my heart forever. There is certainly something special about being here at KLS. I would like to thank the incredible teachers and students that have included me in their community and have helped me grow as a teacher. This program has made my preservice teaching education so much more than I could have ever imagined.
John Vance (University of Southern Mississippi):
Hi y’all! My name is John Vance, and I had the awesome opportunity to round out my student teaching at the Königin-Luise-Schule. I graduated from East Central Community College before starting at the University of Southern Mississippi which is where I found out about this study abroad opportunity. I spent the first ½ of the fall 2022 semester student teaching at Richland High School before flying out to Cologne to finish my student teaching there.
I spent 7 weeks working alongside the teachers and students at KLS. I observed and taught in classrooms ranging from 8th to 12th grades. It was quite impressive that I could have full English conversations with students in the 7th and 8th grades, and this just goes to show the work that the teachers and students put in. The students all seemed to be very interested in learning about different English cultures, and being from the South, I was able to introduce a whole new culture to the school. At the same time, I learned a lot about German culture both inside and outside of the classroom. The way that the teachers used discussion-based learning was really amazing, and I hope to be able to use similar learning strategies in my own classroom.
I’m looking forward to getting my own classroom in the near future, and I hope that I will someday be able to visit Cologne again. Thank you to COST, USM, and KLS for allowing my dream of studying abroad to become a reality and thank you to everyone who helped me along the way!
Hayden Reeves (aus Atlanta, Georgia, von der Auburn University, Alabama):
Hello! My name is Hayden Reeves, and I was able to join the amazing community at KLS for eight weeks in the Spring of 2023 to complete my student teaching through the COST Program. As an English Language Arts Secondary Education major, I was ecstatic to receive my placement for Cologne, Germany as I knew this would provide a unique opportunity to work with students whose first language is not English.
During my time at KLS I worked with 6th, 9th, 10th, and 11th grade English classes, which allowed me to observe and participate in a wide range of lessons and activities. Not only was I able to help students who were closer to the beginning of their English language acquisition with aspects such as pronunciation and denotation, but I was also able to engage in critical conversations and discussions about topics such as environmentalism with older students. All these experiences left me thinking of ways I could utilize the various teaching styles I was able to witness, as well as the student’s participation and involvement with their own learning into my future endeavors as a teacher.
From my first day at KLS, the students’ command of their own education and their genuine curiosity immediately stuck out to me. Moreover, the mutual respect between teachers and students was so clearly present that it made me feel extremely comfortable coming in and interacting with students in whatever capacity I was able to. My experience at KLS and in Cologne has truly made a huge impact on how I aim to continue with this profession in the future and has equipped me with many new ideas and skills that I do not think I could have developed in any other environment.
Thank you to all the teachers and students at KLS for welcoming me and allowing me to teach and learn something new every day!
Wir danken den dreien für ihre Arbeit an der KLS und wünschen ihnen viel Erfolg für ihre Zukunftspläne, sei es im eigenen Klassenraum an einer Schule oder als Master Studentin in London, wie es Ms Reeves vorhat!
WW