Fulbright Grant Program English Teaching Assistantship

Through the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant grant I taught at a middle school in a small town in Germany. My students included those from grades 5 to 10 as I taught under the supervision of several very supportive English teachers. With most of my colleagues, I completely took over their class while they observed and offered occasional input or guidance. With two of the teachers my duties were carried out in a tandem-teaching situation, as it worked better for the class chemistry and level of English knowledge. The number of students in each class ranged from 13 to 25.
My self-planned lessons included discussions of topics provided by the book, in addition to various lessons solely devoted to American cultural topics. Examples include American holidays, festivals, food traditions, national pride, sights/notable cities/national parks, the school system, cultural traditions comparing the northern and southern United States, and playing American games as a way to encourage fun learning with the fifth grade students, among other topics.
In addition to teaching in the classroom, I led two conversational workshops after school: one for beginners and one for advanced speakers of English. The students were engaged and talkative; if not always in English, they were at least ready to ask questions in German. Topics included those mentioned above, in addition to more offbeat themes such as blogs, slang, films, tourist vocabulary, etc.
As a side project, I offered my skills as a dancer and spent four weeks teaching ballroom dance basics and choreography to Shakira's "Waka Waka", which we videotaped as the students' "final exam".
From my involvement, I would highly recommend that future Fulbright grantees do the same and engage themselves wherever and whenever they can at school. It will only bring them closer to colleagues and students, and will absolutely provide a richer experience overall.