I sit here now in an internet cafe in Schwerin, after another fantastic day of soaking it all in.  This morning, we visited a European Elementary School:  Europa Grundschule John Brinckman.  Their welcome for us:  a little performance by a small group of students who sang and danced to the most precious song about the importance of drinking orange juice.  Then, at the end of the song, the teachers served every one of us a glass of orange juice.   Nice!  They also had coffee, tea, or whatever we wanted to drink and brunch.  After introducing the head master, they divided us into 5 groups to visit different classes.  I had the opportunity to attend a German language class of students ranging from ages 8 to 10.  The teacher started out by playing a song on a cd that the kids obviously all knew.  Then, she did a focus lesson (ish).  Then, they went around the room looking for vocabulary words that she had posted around the room.  After they had written down all the words they had found in the room, they were to check their work (it was obvious they had done this kind of exercise before).  She tied it together with some more discussion while they followed along in their workbooks (more vocabulary development)…Then, they had to come up with either verbs or other vocabulary, write them on an index card and post it on a graphic organizer she had drawn on the chalkboard.  Everything flowed so well.  The culminating activity of this lesson…Suddenly the kids started singing a song that used these vocabulary words and they were all allowed to stand up on their desks and walk around on the desks in some kind of a rotation!  I was amazed at how they controlled themsleves during the entire lesson, but especially with the desk walking routine.  So adorable!  We met again in the teacher’s lounge for question and answer session and ended our visit on the playground with all the kids.  It is truly one of the highlights of the trip for me!

Our next visit was to the Regional Agency for Civic Education of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.  This is in the building that use to be a prison.  More details about this later, but this presentation was about GDR, political persecution and contemporary views in society.

As for now, I am headed to meet my group for dinner.  Stay tuned for more photos!

Ah, where was I?  While most of our trip has been fast paced, today we enjoyed the relaxed schedule and flexibility to stroll around the small town of Schwerin.  Schwerin is the capital of the newly united state of Mecklenburg-Lower Pomerania.  This town is picturesquely situated next to several lakes, with a fairy-tale castle on an island.  After taking a walking tour of the downtown area, we toured the inside of the castle.  Oh yeah, I forgot to mention we have two new guides from the Goethe Institut, Garrett and Monica.   They are great!

For lunch we were “on our own,” so some of us grabbed food from the local market and sat on the lawn in front of the castle.  Afterwards, we took a boat tour for 2 and half hours.  Pretty sweet!  I think my internet is about to expire, so I will go ahead and post this.  As for tomorrow, our first school visit!