Hey guys - we've been doing a whole series on how school is going for our four kids, from Kindergarten to Gynmasium! Here are the other videos in case you missed them. Kindergarten Culture Shocks - th-cam.com/video/ITr2nQj9UZ0/w-d-xo.html Kindergarten - Our Daughter's Experience So Far - th-cam.com/video/vhmv4vSrQ74/w-d-xo.html What German School is Like for Our American Kids - th-cam.com/video/gJxD0uLOS4s/w-d-xo.html
Once I had a math problem in elementary school this was something like this: "Herr Müller hat 2 Hunde 5 Katzen und einen Fisch. Wie alt ist er.". The problem wasn't really like this but it felt as it were written like this. About the thing with the class names. When you don't know the letter of the class of someone else but you know who is the class teacher you will use the last name of the teacher. But I only can Say that this is what I experienced but I think other germans can relate to it aswell
In case you relocate someday within Germany, you'll probably notice there is no uniform nationwide school system in Germany, becuause education is "Ländersache". So every state in Germany has its own school system. Some examples of differnces: A few States have 6 years of primary school. You change to the higher schools wirh the beginning of the 7th grade. Bavaria has a three way school system with Gymnasium, Mittelschule and Hauptschule. Some states only have a two way system with Gymnasium and a combined school for everyone doesn't making it to the Gymnasium. In most states you can get your Abitur there as well if you do an extra year bridging the gap to the Gymnasiun level. In some states you generally do your Abitur after twelve years, in some 13 years are more common. There are different rules for private schools and even for the stuff you get tought. For example: In Bavaria Religion is a regulary subject you can choice and get marks for. In Berlin that's unthinkable. They once hat an plebiscite about this subject. It was rejected with a big majority. After-school care is relativly new in the former western part of germany. In the eastern part it has a far longer history and so is more established.
American "school food for the poor" is what again? Sorry ... but you need to include QUALITY in your assessment! Jamie Oliver (a british TV chef) had an episode about ITALIAN school food ... and there the moms of the children would come to the school kitchen and cook for their children ... and if you get a chance to compare italian "cafeteria" with anything in Germany ... it is an experience. Germany: edible / ok; Italy: good restaurant quality ... I dread what US cooking would be like.
Telling the school on time that your child is sick is also a safety thing. Many kids walk to school and if they are not there on time something might have happend - like an accident or something. Then the school would inform the police.
Or kids might decide to stay at the playground for the school day and tell their parents that they were at school and the teachers that they were sick :D
i dont think that its a "safety" thing, but an "insurance" thing. the school is responsible for the kids during school hours and if one gets hit by a car during that time period the school gets sued / is responsible. as soon as they get the krankmeldung they are no longer responsible. thats the reason why schools dont allow students to leave the school property during "school time" at all.
It is also due to the fact that school attendance in Germany is compulsory, whereas in the US you could also homeschool your kids. So calling the school in the morning and checking on families also ensures that children are actually attending school and parents "fulfill" their kids their compulsory education.
What I experienced from friends whose first language isn't German: they actually tend to have a lot of trouble learning German in Berlin or a similarly big city. Since it is really "en vogue" to speak English (in cafés, bars, etc.) , you don't really need German in these bigger cities. Thus, a lot of friends have trouble using their German skills in everyday life. While it might be harder for you and your kids to learn the first things in German with no bigger second language programs around, I think it might be an advantage to live in a smaller town where you are more "forced" to practice your German every day. Chin up, your kids will do great, I'm pretty sure! 😊
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife So long as the kids are playing with other (German-speaking) kids and having fun doing so, they will learn the language better than they ever could in a classroom. Language wants to be spoken to be learned ;) About the sports shoe issue: the reason schools here are so fussy about the soles being white is that colored soles can permanently leave skid marks on the floors of the indoor sports halls. So making sure this doesn't happen helps preserve the school resources for future students. Most likely, the sport-pants thing also has some kind of health and safety reason. Breaks in school are usually meant for snacks, between breakfast and lunchtime, as the days in the Grundschule are not too long. So anything that is easy and quick to eat works best. My son hates eating fast, so he tends to take some nuts and dried fruit. Easy to eat and high in energy ;) For bigger meals...there are usually after-school programs (Hort) kids can be registered to (for example if both parents work) where the kids will get a warm lunch and then have help with homework as well as activities. These programs tend not to be free of charge, but low-income families (or those with no income) can apply to have the fees covered by the government, and they can apply for "Bildung und Teilhabe" which covers the bigger chunk of the meal cost (here, instead of paying 4 euros per meal the parents would pay 1 euro) So families who are overwhelmed with having to provide meals for their kids do have this option in addition to the social support.
I remember heavy book bags being a topic when I was a kid - though we were allowed to leave books at school. But then you'd inevitable forget the stuff you need for homework so, it's a gamble :D Advice from adult me on carrying a heavy backpack: Chest strap is nice but hip strap will change your life! If your boys are really struggling and aren't growing into their backpacks, maybe try small hiking packs that have a padded strap around the hips to redistribute the weight.
I ended up with a bent /curved back for life from carrying heavy school books daily in a heavy backpack as i walked to school in Ireland too. We had lockers but the teacher would give us homework and we needed to carry heavy books for science, business, maths, french etc...it all added up. To prevent my brother having the same problem my mom bought my brother 2 sets of each of his school books. I used to always get new school books...but my mom bought my brother secondhand school books from the students in the year above.. And could then afford to buy him 2 copies of each book.
@@traceymarshall5886 It's kind of excessive with so much homework in a day. Maybe they should instead extend the school day a bit and let the free time be more free.
I never realized that kids going to their school on their own is a thing. I was going on my own to school and back home every day for ten years. In Europe that's so usual nobody is even thinking about it.
I'm french, 61, it's was the same when I was young. As a mother, I lived near the schools, primary school and école maternelle ( from 3 to 6 years old) , just on the other side of the road. New build erea and the parents were used to take and collect their children by cars, and try to park the nearest they can, even if they live less than 500m away ! Parents were shocked when they discovered than my young son walk alone to school at 7 year old. He only had a few 100 m on the pavement to walk and a zebra crossing to cross the road ! We taught him how to walk alone in safety. Some parents still drive their kid to secondary school, some let them take the public transport but without any "street behaviour learning" , it's why there is quiet a lot of street accident involving 11 years old here.
My nephew is 5 and walks to school by himself. He lives in a smaller community in South Florida. Kids still walk to school by themselves. It's just they never do it in bigger cities.
Yea, not only do we walk alone to school, but from an early age we also come home to an empty house if parents are at work :) I think we learn to become independent at an earlier age. In the US it's not uncommon for parents to be involved in deciding about their college/university program, I think that would be unheard of in Europe. MIght be because of the late legal age in the US? or because parents pay for their education? Just guessing - maybe someone has a better answer.
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife Traffik and even the very streets are organized in a different way. So it is kinda only natural that you drive your kids to school when most areas are very car depended and some streets don't even account for people walking around. It's just not really safe (anymore) in the states to have your kids walking to school for the most part and thus it became a part of culture to not do it, even in the few towns left were it would actually be safe.
It’s always interesting when you teach us something about the US, such as the fact that classes are named after the teachers. I didn’t know that! You should do more of that.
These "fill in" or "complete" homeworks are repeats of problems done in class. It's often extends the schoolbook. Some teacher will add something like a page number on the homework to help the parents. :-) First thing you have to ask "what have you done in the last class session?" and then guide the kid though what it has learned. As far as i know it's different in the USA. This type of Homework don't really rely on the class lesson. It helps to remember it, but it's not really needed top do the homework. In Germany the homework is to make the kid remember the lesson, and with that fixate it in memory. Not to make it learn the lesson.
My daughter went to Grundschule/elementary school in Hamburg. They had a program in the afternoon called Nachmittagsbetreuung/afternoon care where kids could stay in school, eat lunch, do their homework, play inside or outside in the Schulhof/school yard. It was meant for children where both parents were at work in the afternoon. The lunch was cooked in a commercial kitchen specialised on children's food and was delivered before lunch break. Although this school was right in the center of Hamburg they had a goat enclosure and shed in the school yard and kept a small herd of goats. To take care of goats was then part of curriculum and the parents were involved too. Parents had to do 'goat service' on the weekends looking after the goats, feeding them, cleaning up, because the school yard and playing ground was also open on weekends. During school holidays the goats were brought to a farm. During one my 'goat services' on a Sunday the billy goat climbed the fence of the enclosure and escaped in the school yard. This must have been a funny picture - me chasing the goat followed by bunch of children laughing and screaming.
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife Aber den Kindern geht es sehr viel besser, wenn sie gleich nach der Schule nach Hause dürfen, um sich in die Arme ihrer liebevollen Mutter zu kuscheln und sie erst mal Fünfe gerade sein lassen können!
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife Ah, but then they should offer lunch at least for the kids staying for the Mittagsbetreuung. (All too often, there is no proper cafeteria and the kids will just eat in whatever room they are for the Mittagsbetreuung with the food delivered.) So it's possible that there is a lunch break at around 1pm when all classes have finished... My daughter's school has a "Mittagsbetreuung", a "Hort" and a "Ganztagesklasse" all with different lunch arrangements! In Bavaria and many other areas in Western Germany, it was assumed that most kids went home to eat lunch with their stay-at-home mum for a long time. (Really there were a lot of informal child care arrangements and many kids just went home by themselves). But in the last 2 0 years or so, there has been a real effort to increase the child care options for primary school children (on the off-chance that the mother - yes, or the father, but in most cases really the mother - might need or want to work more than the 3 hours between 8 and 11🙄). Many schools thus added lunch facilities but that's not always easy to do in an existing building, so there are lots of compromise solutions like eating in classrooms. In addition, Covid restrictions have also changed things. In my daughter's school only grades 3 and 4 are allowed to eat in the cafeteria, grade 1 and 2 eat in their classrooms...
@@runnerfive4479 Coming from East-Berlin I actually had a little culture shock myself here in Bavaria. Grundschule in Berlin is 6 years and especially in grade 5 and 6 you often have 6 classes a day, which meant that school ended at 2pm. For obvious reasons we had a real cafeteria with the food being cooked in the school. Until last year my kids went to elementary school in Munich. The school shared its building with a Mittelschule and a Realschule so it at least had a little „Pausenverkauf“. However, we now live closer to the Alps and my 3rd graders new time table actually includes a 1,5h break over lunch with absolutely no option of eating or at least staying in school 🤯. So she comes home for an hour to eat. Unfortunately that‘s the exact time frame I pick up my 3 yo from Kindergarten, so I‘m not even home. And the reason I’m technically at home during that time is because I’m still in Elternzeit with our youngest. I mean I knew Bavaria/West Germany is different from the East in regards to working mom rates, but it was still kinda shocking to have it rubbed into your face that „a good mom“ is a stay at home mom that awaits her children with a freshly cooked meal 🤮.
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife Oh and I‘d like to ad, the Grundschule my friends kids attended in Munich actually had a program that started at 7:30 and provided a free breakfast for the kids, because it was situated in a very mixed area regarding parents income/social status. And while the social security network should provide enough food for the family, it’s also a reality that - as you mentioned - abusive parents do exist 😞. But that ‚before school starts‘-program this early did also help families where the parents had to leave the house before the children did, due to doing shift work for instance. The school was newly build and founded and the district was really lucky to have a headteacher that went beyond herself to push her agenda for social equality and making school a pleasant experience for every kid, not just the well kept ones.
Normally in Grundschule there is a 10 minute "Frühstückspause" after the first break at around 10am. The kids just sit at their desk and eat the food they brought from home. Sometimes teachers are reading a story to them during that time. Where I live the Grundschulen have a cafeteria, but only for the kids who stay until the afternoon und need to eat lunch. They get a warm lunch there.
Okay yes, this is what our school does also. Now it makes sense - since children each lunch at home. At first we couldn’t figure it out at all! Now it’s funny looking back.
Normally isnt really a word we can use in germany. Because we have 16 different systems for school (every state has its own) and regional differences. The bavarian abitur for example is a lot of the time seen as better than the other states.
Same here in Rheinland-Pfalz. Breakfast time at the first break and a lunch If you stay up to four o'clock (when you are at Ganztagsschule=whole day school). But our kids have a place under their desk so they don't have to carry that much. And school ist ending every day at the same time because there is a school bus driving them to neighbour villages.
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife Here in Baden-Württemberg it is 15 min at the first break for lunch and then the second one is the "playtime-break". You are right that it could be good to have sth like a cafeteria where kids in need could have a free breakfast. I only know that for lunches in secondary schools. Kids in need can ask for a support or even for free lunches under certain terms and conditions and would then receive the money from the "Teilhabepaket" for these lunches in order to be able to have lunch together with the other kids. Some cities or regions might also offer other solutions. I have friends at a primary schools in an area with a high amount of needy students and there they have found a solution so that all kids would have breakfast together. They found a sponsor who gives them fresh fruits and vegetables and apart from that they have donations of other food or money so they could buy butter, cheese and so on from it. Then the have this meal all together, so nobody brings food from home and therefore also nobody would know who can afford it and who can't. But I have only heard of that once. IN other classes they have a "free fruit program" sponsored by the state, which means that producers of the region would receive a contract to deliver apples or other fruits for free to the classes and would then of course get paid for it by the state. In some schools it is daily, in others for a certain period in the year, others do it every day or on an irregular basis...there I think it depends very much of the city / region you live in...
We had packed lunch from home in Ireland when i was in school in the 80s/90s. This consisted of sandwiches and a juice. The sandwich in those days was "jam" or "banana". The banana sandwich bread would be soggy by the time lunch arrived. Sometimes i had egg mayonaise or like a garlic mayo in my sandwich and the other kids complained of the smell as we were eating in our unventilated classroom 🤣 I learnt not to bring them again. Hopefully covid will change the no ventilation in schools in ireland...the windows are kept closed in winter before covid
Parent involvement in Grundschule is fun! When my kids were still Grundschüler, I did all kinds of things (because I was basically a Stay at home mum): Verkehrshelfer (helping at the zebra crossing), Lesepate (giving individual reading classes in grade 1 and 2), Schulobsthelfer (cutting up fruits and veggies once a week and distributing them in class), Lesekreis (holding additional reading and writing exercises in group), additionaol German classes for immigrant kids, and the classical stuff as member of the Elternbeirat (Parents council), being a Klassenelternsprecher (representative of one class organizing address lists, cookie baking for events etc.) and member of the Förderverein (the association that helps organizing and funding the Grundschule). I also enjoyed being an "accompanying mum" for field trips (hikes, cinema, museum). Our Grundschule was one of the "cosy" ones where I knew all teachers and the headmistress. Today I only get in touch with our Grundschule when it comes to environmental education (planting bulbs, a field trip to the meadow and similar).
Just for Info the "Entschuldigung" is so important because in Germany children have to go to school for about 12 years by law. So if your child is beeing not at school for a long time without an "Entschuldigung" the school is supose to inform the authorities about that and in worst case they sent the police to pick up the child at home and bring them to school. And parents can get a punishment by the law for not sending the Kids to school.
Yes totally, that makes sense. And actually, we did not explain this well in the video. In the US the parents also have to report to the school if the child is sick. I think the difference for us was that we had to call the school. But it’s a small difference that doesn’t matter so much.
and, just to add that, you as a parent will be very happy about that in the nearer future, namely, if your child will visit Gymnasium and will go there by himself or herself, you'd be noted IMMEDIATLY if the child won't show up at school, which will help you knowing that everything's fine if the phone won't ring.
In America children are reqiired by law as well to go to school. And we need to tell the school when children are sick. The difference is that the report needs to be in before school starts. It was a surprise for me that the system shuts down when school starts. Just a difference I need to adjust to.
I actually grew up in one of the poorest cities in Germany and we rarely had kids come to school without food. Like you said, assistance is provided to the families at home like unemployment benefits and Kindergeld. The teachers did have extra bread and stuff in case someone didn’t bring food. If that happens often the teacher will call child protective services for sure, though. As for lunch, in elementary school we never had a cafeteria, we just went home at 1pm and had lunch then. If you stayed longer in the OGS (Offene Ganztagsschule) you were provided with lunch. They might have changed that system by now, I’m not sure. At my Gymnasium we had a one hour lunch break and you could get lunch at the cafeteria if you wanted. Most kids actually didn’t want that! We rather ate a packed lunch during school and enjoyed our mom’s homemade meals when we got home 🤷🏼♀️ Now at university I basically live at the cafeteria but that’s just because I’d have to do my own cooking at home now 😂
In Ireland every parent regardless of income gets a government social child benefit of about €200 per week per child...until they are 21. So its impossible for children in ireland to have any excuse not to actually have food. If the family is homeless...the government will rent them a home and if none is available they will live in a hotel which is not ideal but our social system needs alot of work as they waste money on hotels instead of building more social homes
In Sweden everybody gets a free hot meal. Maybe because a hot meal for lunch and proper lunch break is a cultural thing at workplaces too and most restaurants have daily lunch deals. (I know that in many countries sandwich/snacks is normal for lunch and dinner is the BIG meal). So aside from the cost, to me it seems like a lot of fuss for parents to prepare food for all kids and for kids to carry. But the quality depends on what the local municipality decides to spend. In our city school lunch was very cheap... And kids always complain. But you don't have to be hungry. I guess many kids would prefer sandwiches and snacks of their choice but for parents it's convenient. I and now with the economic hardships (energy prices, inflation, interest rates) I've heard that kids eat more at school so they have to prepare a lot more.
a few things for context 1: you as a parent are not supposed to know when they have Sport/gym class. The child is. That's why there is a plan, forgetting your sport bag is very much frowned upon, making you a "Turnbeutelvergesser", literally someone who forgot to bring said bag and meaning the being a thoughtless, unorganised student. 2: pretty much the same with books and school supplies. Your children should only bring what they need the very next day. Every day they need to pack their Rucksack/Ranzen anew. This gets more important the more subjects are introduced. Having each subject a different color for "Hefter" and "Arbeitsbücher" (foulders and worksheet collections) as well as regular books helps big time. The "Stundenplan"/timetable is for them, not the parents. It shows them when they are supposed to be where doing what and infers what might be needed. That's why they learn to read clocks in first grade and should wear one. 3: Why school grades have letter suffixes? This is because the children change both rooms and teachers during the day, commonly even at first and second grade (which might be somewhat less the case in such a small village school). The teacher who gives lessons in writing/Deutsch isn't nessessarily the one who does math and Sachkunde (natural sciences inroduction). But what remains constant is their group of fellow students, their group. They will keep the letter. 2A will become 3A, then 4A, it always being the same students getting growing up. In Gymnasium, they will travel in between rooms every 45 or 90 min lesson, changing teachers every time. This allows schoolrooms to be specificly tailored for teaching any given subject. 4: don't help with homework unless your kids get really stuck (and not even a sibling or a friend can help). Most (if not all) homework is designed to be done by the children themselves, as it is usually a repetition of what was done in school already. They are supposed to know what to do. Them asking for help means either they did not comprehend their lessons or they really just want to rope you into doing them for you. 5: Hot Lunches are done only once school goes on after midday. Which in a 4 grade Grundschule might mean never. Weiterführende Schulen/further schooling will have a designated lunchbreak and a cafeteria serving real meals. Snacks and drinking might even be permissible during the lessons, otherwise just when they get a minute. 6: In regards to poverty: actual food poverty is as guessed not really a thing that happens (and underfeeding your child would get child services involved anyway, it's a sure way to loose custody to the state). Parents get Kindergeld, plus "Kindergrundsicherung" if they don't have a job or earn less than what is considered necessary, which means a kind of basic income for children. Also poor parents can bring any kind of extra costs due to Klassenfahrten (school excursions, starting at 3 days and later up to two weeks), lunch money, school supplies, daytrips and so on to the local government (where to exactly might differ) for reembursement, so their children should never be in fear of being excluded from school activities due to factors beyond their contol (unlike losing or forgetting your gymbag). 6: when they are somewhat mature (opinions differ, I got mine at age 8), give them a housekey (like on a flexible chain with a snap hook/Karabinerhaken going on their jeans, so they don't lose it). Since stay at home moms (or dads) are somewhat uncommon, elementary school age children are expected to get home from school, get themseves something to eat and pass the time (meaning doing what they think is best) until a parent comes home from work. The whole German system has them being in charge of indepentent routines, with little supervision at all. 7: school starting at 8:00 is a luxury. Expect Gymnasium to start earlier. Mine began at 6:45 Uhr, every day
Our oldest two go to gymnasium now and it starts at 8:00…yeah all of these rules about the sports bag and homework make sense when the child is born and raised in Germany and already speaks fluent German. They do not make sense when the child has just moved to a new country and the school and doesn’t speak the language yet.
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife i understand both sides. you didn't know what to ask for that could be different and the school didn't know what to tell you that might differ
In the classroom of my elementary school there were shelves, similar to the IKEA-Kallax-shelf, where each child was allocated one box. So the books I carried with me were reduced to those in which I had to do homework. My elementary school friend arranged it the other way around: she had her books at home and packed her bag every evening and only put in the books that were necessary. Both systems were not perfect: I often forgot my books at school and couldn't do my homework, but she forgot hers at home and then got into trouble at school. But together we were the dream team because there was one set of books at school and one at home. xD the a, b, c topic: the teacher's name can certainly change. You usually have the same class teacher for 3.4 years, but also there mostly different teachers in math, German, etc. Most schools have a capacity to accept around 80/90 children per year, with a class size of 25-30 that does 3 classes: a, b and c. This is actually the case across Germany. If the school capacity is higher you can easily add d, e, f,... We didn't have a cafeteria in the elementary school either. just the sandwiches from home. I grew up in Berlin and Kevin is right: Actually, the social system is supposed to provide enough support so that all children can be sent to school with snacks by their legal guardians, the reality is of course different in individual cases. We children shared, at least until teachers noticed it and tried to organize more support at home. The importance of lunchtime is roughly comparable to our outdoorbreak (Hofpause in German). At least during non-Covid times, you were sent out during the 20-minute breaks, along with your "Brotdose", no matter what weather. In German children's and youth films, this is usually on of the central location because the greatest nonsense and the greatest fun could happen during that time: epic snowball fights in winter, playing hide and seek with the boys and girls, the first kiss, etc.
I ended up with a bent /sloped back from carrying school books in a heavy backpack as i walked to school in Ireland too. We had lockers but the teacher would give us homework and we needed to carry heavy books for science, business, maths, french etc...it all added up. To prevent my brother having the same problem my mom bought my brother 2 sets of each of his school books. I used to always get new school books...but my mom bought my brother secondhand school books from the students in the year above.. And could then afford to buy him 2 copies of each book.
German Bowling is called "Kegeln" and there are 9 pins. There are normally no cafeterias in school. You just bring your Brotzeit with you or go in "town" and buy something for lunch. But only the end of Gymnasium, when you've got Nachmittagsunterricht
It's very interesting to listen to that video. I'm a "Grundschul-teacher" in Switzerland. We have like a mixed system (USA/Germany). An american familyl moved to our small village a few weeks ago and the 7y. old girl goes to my class and I never knew how her school system back in America was. We have our own desks with the material, they only need to carry their homework, we have a lot of assistance in class (intense german, special needs teacher ect.). But they also have their Stundenplan and school ends either at 11:55 or 15:00. And of course, they also walk to school on their own. 😇 Thanks for comparing the systems.
The sport with 9 pins is called Kegeln, its like bowling, only a little different. I was poor in school, i went to every trip. If we couldn't pay, i only had to go to the school bureau, got a paper and we send it somewhere. It was paid for me. For the great Trips at the end of school, we had to bring 10 euro a month in the last year. And then the class decided where to go with our budget.
Kegeln wurde in den USA zeitweise verboten, das dazu stellen eines weiteren Kegels und die Löcher in der größeren Kugel waren Methoden um das Verbot zu umgehen.
When I went to school in Bavaria about 50 yrs ago, my school back was sometimes heavy, but never so much that it hurt. Check with the "Stundenplan" of your kids, they don't need all the books every day, that's one of the reasons to have a schedule. In Gymnasium my heavy bag days were the days we had geography, because we needed the "Diercke Weltatlas", which was huge. Hope that helps.
@@kevinmcfall5285 a trick we did in Gymnasium is to get 2 books of the most heavy ones :) or what they allowed us in Gymnasium as well to share a book with your "Sitznachbar"
That's different depending on the school. I remember my backpack being very heavy in Grundschule, all children and parents complaining. Then I thought I was smart and just packed the books I would need according to the Stundenplan. That day our teacher decided to do something else than was on the plan and was really angry with me for not having ALL the books with me. I still think that teacher acted stupid, but for the rest of Grundschule I always brought all the books. In weiterführende Schulen like Gymnasium it is at least common to only bring what is needed that day. And that depends on the region as well. In some regions you own the books, they are expensive, so you need to carry them around. In other regions the books are owned by the school and are only handed out when needed. I don't think lockers are common at school anywhere in Germany, though I think that having them might be nice for the children.
the thing about food: just like you said about kindergarten, kids are encouraged to listen to their hunger cues and eat accordingly. and as they usually already learned that before starting school, they will continue to eat whenever they feel hungry. growing up, cafeterias didn't exist because we all were back home at 2pm the latest and could eat lunch at home. from my experience working as a social worker, teachers usually will notice if a kid regularly has no food at school or not enough or even only extremely unhealthy options. in those cases they will write the parents a note in the Hausaufgaben-heft or whatever communication system there is in that particular school. and as you mentioned, the social welfare system makes sure every family should have enough money to provide food for everyone. if a family doesn't, it's usually a much bigger problem. I saidly received a few phone calls from concerned teachers telling me about their student not having breakfast. it's my job then to figure out where exactly the problem is. do they really not have the money and need help applying for welfare, Kindergeld, etc.? is the mother depressed to the point of not having the energy to pack lunch? in one case it turned out, the parents packed a huge breakfast everyday but the daughter ate it all before even arriving at school. Usually it's a much bigger issue than having honest financial troubles. a subsidised school lunch would certainly be a short term solution for the affected kids. but the way it works now is that we are trying to tackle the cause of the missing breakfast instead of "just" feeding the kids one meal a day.
That is such a good point! The German system takes care of the problem of hunger at the root, instead of only putting a temporary bandaid on the problem by feeding child at school. So much better to empower the family to do it.
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife thinking about it now, I'm not sure if there was ever that conscious decision to do it like we do it now. maybe social workers and concerned teachers are cheaper than setting up cafeterias and free school lunches. who knows. but I guess it still works out for the best in terms of the bigger picture.
I absolutely agree with OP. At my previous primary school we were in an area with many refugees who simply didn't know how German school works and the rest were exclusively low income families. The city provided us with a designated social worker to help tackle these issues. The students all loved her because they quickly realised that we were "on their side" if you will. When the first covid lockdown hit, one of the boys came to the school building independently even when there weren't any classes because his parents weren't providing any meals at home and he knew he'd find help with us.
The reason you usually wouldn’t find a cafeteria in a Grundschule is that there is no need for it, since school ends after your daily schedule (12:45/13:15 around that). If you are working parents and need your kids to be looked after in the afternoon, that’s Nachmittagsbetreuung, organized/offered by your town (Gemeinde), usually not free. If such a thing exists, you’d either have catered meals or would have to supply the food for your kid. I think the above is true for any state schools in Germany, private schools may differ (but then of course you have to pay for any extras as well). Then there is the concept of Ganztagesschule (all day school), which starts in the morning but ends at around 15:00/16:00 (mandatory, paid as well, but homework would be done in the afternoon + non-curricular activities like music, arts, sport activities).
it varies in the different bundesländer, in Berlin for example they get meals in every elementary school because there is a full free day care service in all of the schools. the more conservative bundesländer like bavaria and baden württemberg are known to be very hesitant with that. Also teher no free kindergarden which is different in eastern bundesländern an city states.
@@rannugsobaelli7021 they are starting it in Bavaria. The problem is that there aren't enough parents sending their children to the all day class, so the next years it will be offered to all or regular all day school.
I teach Korean at University. Using different colours to highlight grammar is very helpfull, also certain patterns in dialogues, phrases in texts.... It helps you memorize "Artikel" in German when writing der-Wörter, die-Wörter and das-Wörter always with the same colour for each Artikel.
The Sports classes are mostly held in sports arenas that have wooden floors. The same kind of floors for basketball, the second most popular sport in Germany, handball (A sport completely foreign to the Anglo-sphere), indoor football, and badminton. To avoid damaging the floor, making it slippery and making it dirty, you need shoes designed for indoor sports (the ones with a soft plastic sole, which are mostly basketball, handball and badminton shoes (the Addidas ones in the video are designed for badminton).
Mh. Kinda doubtful about the wood thing; at least the gyms I know are all special product floors for gyms (special vinyl and rubber and whatnot materials). They are very grippy, also a bit soft. Dark soles leave a sort of eraser mark on them; yeah, it'd be a mess if people went into them with random shoes. Wasn't a big deal when I went to school though; usually you just ran around in your socks then (granted, if it was some specific activity maybe you'd have to sit out).
Yeah!😄 german teachers definetly loooooooove a nice and clean handwriting😂 in most of exams (Klassanarbeiten/Klausuren) the teacher gives speachial points for the handwriting and the esthetic. In german these Points are called „Formpunkte“ and can be very important😄 But your progress in language and handwriting is soooooo incredible (in such a short time😱) I am sure you will get the full amount of „Formpunkte“ 😉 Hope you keep yourself this inspiring enthusiam! Love your videos!
In my professional life, I very rarely needed neat handwriting. When I studied, I marked down notes for myself. Ok. But nobody else needed to decypher them. I only write short notes to colleagues and I can reign in my writing, so that anybody can read them. Beyond that, letters, applications, whatever are written by computers and printed and only signed (if even) by hand. I consider neat handwriting an outdated skill.
@@michelaushamburg6766 - as both mentioned correctly, it's the act of writing that is connecting a kid's brain cells at that young age. That's why. That's a proven scientific fact. An extra set of brain cells hasn't become outdated ever since.
@@michelaushamburg6766 the fact that the skill nowadays isn't much needed, does not mean it is unnecessary. Imagine a case of emergency, where a person doesn't have the chance to use a mobile or tablet, and also doesn't have access to a computer. The only way to call help is a "physical" note on a sheet of paper - now the person who never trained handwriting skills will write down the call for help, and the finders of the note are not able to read it. Feels bad, man, doesn't it?
The Entschuldigung is so important, cause the kids come often on their own to school (like yours).- The teacher is checking every morning if every child is here- and save. Not injured somewhere on the street…
Road safety for pedestrians is being taught in kindergarten and elementary school here in Germany. Children TV picks this up and repeats the important bits. There are a lot of programs, that provide first graders with reflective or neon safety gear, so they are seen. When I was in first grade, my teacher would control every day, who had their neon green baseball cap on and the class with the most frequently worn safety gear in our grade would get a prize. This is also why most Germans might be pretty lax about road safety rules at night but pay a lot of attention to being an example for the kids during daytime. For example you will be scolded for jaywalking in front of kids, but less so, when there are no kids around to see you. I have an elementary school nearby and it is easy to observe how some parents let their kids take more and more resposibility for their way to school during their first and second year. It starts out with hand holding, then the kid gets to walk a bit ahead, until after several months, kids are "going home alone" with their parent trailing a few hundred feets behind them.
We even go to a seperate track in Dublin Ireland to learn cycling and rules of the road...it would be like a driving school for an adult. It has pretend roundabouts, traffic lights, zebra crossing etc to teach children how to ride a bicycle safely on the road
That's Maria Montessori: Lernen mit Herz, Kopf und Hand. It's more or less the main concept of the montessori style. The hand is very important.When i remember right, the heart connects the head with the heand, but i could be wrong since it's a long time i last read about montessori. I could imagine there are small issues in math too, since . and , is used differntly. There is bowling and there is Kegeln, Kegeln only has 9 pins. The pins are called ... Kegel :). Kegeln is a traditional sport in germany, whereas bowling is an american import. Cafeterias are very rare and you see them more likely at bigger schools with older pupils, but it's nothing like in the US. If you want to see how it's done really well, you should watch "What to invade next" from Michael Moore, the part about France. Their cafeterias are awesome.
The floor of a sports facility can costs more than 50.000-100.00€. So of course the right shoes - which doesn't produce marks - are important. There is even a sign "no marking" on the sole for this reason. The shoes you showed are just normal white sneakers and not sports shoes
I love the kinderartzt building. How neat you can walk there also. Love that town you live in. What a dream to be outdoors so much. Things will get better. Yes, love the wandertag! So happy for you all. It will all work out ❤
We didn’t have a cafeteria in my Grundschule at first (1999-2004) but when I was in third grade, the parents and the schoolboard organized a Kiosk in school where you could buy sandwiches and snackbacks with fruit and veggies if you wanted, it was subsidized by the state and donations and ran non-profit, so that was nice. My school was really small though, and very rural, we were so few a cafeteria probably wasn’t feasible. Later at Gymnasium we had a cafeteria, and kids from lower-income housholds could get financial aid for that.
Es ist toll, wie unterhaltsam und detailreich ihr über eure Erfahrungen sprecht. Es macht Spaß euch zu zuhören und zu realisieren, wie groß die Unterschiede zwischen dem deutschen und dem amerikanischen Schulsystem sind.
Most school have a kiosk where you can buy drinks and food. But its usually up 5th grade. In Grundschule you have to provide your kids with food. At my Grundschule you could get milk or Kakao on a Programm everyday 😊 i loved that.
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife Not every Grundschule, but some or most Grundschulen, have a "Pausenverkauf". It's mainly the "Hausmeister" who sells Wurstbrötchen, Brezen, Getränke at the break times. Sometimes there is a bakery or butchery just next to the school and before school starts in the morning, lots of kids buy a "Leberkässemmel" or a Breze there. (Ok, sorry for my mixing German and English).
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife My Gymnasium also had a Pausenverkauf (during a 20-minute break in the morning) which was actually operated by a local bakery. At some point during my school career the custodian started selling milk separately from that; I think that was part of some kind of program by the government to ‘improve’ the nutrition of the students or something the milk industry/farmers lobbied for.
If you can't afford food you can go to the "Tafel" (as in Table with food, not blackboard) and get food there. It's not connected to school and provides people in need with food in general, not just school kids. So the kids would already come to school with packed lunches anyway.
You will also qualify for the BuT "Bildung und Teilhabe", where you can apply for money to cover school lunches, excursions, transport to/from school, books, etc. You can apply if your income is below a certain level (usually you would receive other social benefits like unemployment or housing benefits).
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife in later schools if there are school meals for children, poor parents can have the state pay most of the cost if the do a "Antrag" too.
In the 80s my family was not rich, but quite wealthy in Germany. My father gave me some food for school AND (without the knowledge of my father 😁) my grandgrandma also gave me additional food. So I was able to share it with my classmates that didn't have enough food - or food they didn't like to eat 😄.
Hi Folks, how times are changing. My schoolbag was made of leather with a schoulder strap attached. Contents : a piece of slate with a wooden frame, a wooden ruler, a utensil box made of wood with a set of special pens for the slate board, a sharpener for them and sponge on a string for cleaning the slate. Once or twice a week the infamous Turnbeutel! Second or third class the slate + utensils had to be replaced with a booklet with lines for writing and a second one with a checkered paper for arithmetics. Instead of the pens for the slate, we got a Federhalter and some Federn (nib & nibholder), a set of nib cleaners. The ink was provided by the school and placed in small bottle, crafted into the schooldesk. The refill was done by the schools caretaker, a mean authority! In the pause, they would give us small bottles of milk or cocoa, depending on what was available. Sometimes a Butterbrot or an apple. My younger siblings never had it like this, because the slates,ink,nibs and stuff was replaced by pens or fountain pens. Just like Kevin, my father used to complain how much he had to dash out every beginning of the school-year. We were six kids!! Thank you for sharing your adventures and enjoy the sunday. Oh - When the girl has her first day in school - do not forget the extreme important Schultüte ! ;-)
It is a bit strange that the Grundschule lets the kids go home early without you knowing. Look through your papers if there was one document you had to sign that you are ok to let your kids walk home in cases of skipped classes. If you are not ok with that, the kids will stay in school (under custody) until the regular school end (around 12.00 or 13.00). I thought that was required by law.
Been sent home as early as 10:30 way back when i was in Grundschule (70s/80s). Only had a 4min walk though. But all the other kids went home early too some days. I think we only had 2 days going to 13:10 even.
I liked it a lot if sometimes we could go home a little bit earlier. And if any kid had no parents at home yet, we went with a friend who lives nearby or neighbours... Sometimes neighbours get keys too, so that kids who don't have one or forget it can get in :D
That would've been the case for us too in primary school -what a feast for us as kids being let off the hook early :-D in certain circumstances. Our way home was only like 7 mins walk. But my mum was a housewife anyway and taking care of my baby sis, so she'd be home anyway. We were also in a small village primary school, two grades were taught in one classroom and there were usually two teachers on side, the principal teaching 3rd and 4th grade and another teacher for 1st and 2nd grade, so imagine if one takes sick, it wouldn't be too easy to find a replacement in the quick. I remember when I started school my class teacher was sick and they brought an older teacher back from retirement I assume, my mum had being taught by her already.
In elementary school kids usually only go to the cafeteria if they are enrolled in the "ganztag" (after scholl/afternoon programm). All kids usually eat their breakfast either in the 15-20 minute break after 2nd period or in the breal after 4th period.
The game with nine pins in it is most likely "Kegeln", it's basically a smaller version of bowling. Also the kinds of math problems with "kryptic notes" are text exercises, which are about knowing the math as much as about figuering out how to extract the relevant information from the text. Regarding the quarantine for a certain class only: All schools have devised a system of cohorts now. The cohorts should not come into contact with each other, so that only the cohort a kid is part of needs to quarantine as only those kids had contact. Most schools use there already existing devision by class for that purpose. The Klass designations are not that important in other curcumstances, but since (at least in primary school) the kids have all subjects in that group, they will find most friends in there class. The written excuse is to document that the child really was sick and didn't just skip school. This is important since there is a school mandate in germany. Also if a child is excused by the parent to often the school can require a doctors note for every day of abcence to enshure that the kid isn't forced to stay out of school by the parents.
Yay, you've got a kid playing ice hockey. In southern bavaria ice hockey is a big deal (like football in other parts), and both he and you will get to know more Germans.
The show thing was so funny. Those black/dark soled shoes leave marks on the floor of the „Turnhalle“. When I was a kid we made a game out of marking up the floor with black lines XD.
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife haha, not really. I was always that rule abiding eager to learn girl, but kids do get ideas sometimes where you just go „but why?“ cause as you know they do not think about consequences. I certainly did not expect my teacher to complain to my mom about destroying the „Turnhalle“XD
As for your question regarding the support of lower income families and school lunch, if your school offers lunch because it long days (mostly when you have more than 6 hours of school) you can apply for support and get the lunch paid from the state. So the kid can partake in the lunch and eat with their friends, even if its more expensive than bringing their own food.
About your question regarding school cafeteria: Yes, in Grundschule it's very exceptional to have a cafeteria. Possibly in the big cities they may sometimes have that, but definitely not in small towns. Even in Gymnasium it's not always there, specifically you'll often see an Aula for eating your own prepared meals, but without a kitchen or even a food counter. Regarding the kids without their own lunch, teachers are strongly encouraged to pay attention for signs of neglect. If your kid regularly doesn't bring a school lunch, their teacher will usually be talking to you about that. If that doesn't solve the problem, it will probably be escalated with the Jugendamt as a child neglect issue.
We live in a small town here in the north and the Grundschule where my kids went to had a cafeteria where the kids can eat lunch (you need to register your child if you want him/her to have lunch in school and pay a small amount for lunch for the entire school year). Most of the the kids who eat lunch in school stay for after-school classes (usually children of single parents or both full-time working parents). They would have lunch in school, do their homework, and play at the park within the school (yes, it's a big bonus that there's a park within the school! The park, however, is only open for the public once school is over and all the schoolchildren have gone home). Also, they have had two morning breaks (20 min- & 15-min breaks) so they have enough time to finish the sandwiches and fruits that I've prepared for them. Every two weeks, volunteer parents would come to bring fruits from the local farmers. It's part of the school programme where the parents would prepare the fruits in school for all the students to share. Classes would finish at 11:50 so the kids would normally have lunch at home. Now that they're both in Gymnasium, they have two 20-min breaks in the morning since they have more classes. Classes are dismissed at 12:50 so they both have lunch at home. They also have a cafeteria where they can buy food or snacks, should a student forget to bring his/her lunchbox.
In Finland, they dumped cursive handwriting being a compulsory part of the curriculum back in 2015. Typing skills are considered more important for tomorrow’s world there. I can’t say I agree, I can see no reason why you should not acquire both skills at an early age. Also, love letters with printed characters look somewhat clumsy 😊.
The poor performing students in my single sex girls secondary catholic school in ireland in the 1990s are typewriting classes for those girls as they were not academic....it was believed giving them classes such as home economics baking, sewing, making clothes and typewriting would be better. The typewriting in the 1990s was to help them get a career in administration
Handwriting was also the only class for which I had a failing grade in elementary school. I had started programming by then (around 1980) so my argument was that everyone would use computers to write by the time I'd graduate. Carrying too many books to school was already a problem in my country (Belgium) in the 1980s, that's why kids started using backpacks instead of the old-fashioned book bags with a single strap that I had to use (which made children lean over to one side). Interestingly we have the same 'standardization' of class names: animal names for kindergarten and letters for elementary school.
When a school is more efficient and strict the time spent learning is more effective so then there is more time for school outdoor activities. Makes sense.
Interesting perspectives. Grundschulen tend to be set up as „half-day“ schools so the kids come home for lunch. When the mother works, there is usually a „Hort“ where the kids are taken care of until later in the day and they would get a meal there. Have you had to explain long division yet? The German way of doing division is extremely complicated and I was unable to help my kids when they had these problems. I think the American way was much easier.
Had exactly the same experience as you. In the German long division version, the numbers are kept in your mind, not written down. After the first year of Grundschule we opted to send our daughter to the Nachmittagsbetreuung, because as an only child, she would have more opportunities to play with friends and she would do her homework there with a teacher's assistant, sparing me some headaches.
Tipp for to havy Bags: I only packed the School Materials for the Day. If i only had 3 Classes that day i only had the stuff for the 3 Classes. Also most schools schould have Lockers. Meaby not the Grundschule but the Gymnasium should have some. At least evry school i did go to had some. (Some of them you needed to pay a pfand or a small monthly rent in my case 5€) but 90% are free. I left all the books i didnt needed in the locker and only took home what i needed for homework or for studying.
hi, i love watching your videos. Maybe ypu can make one and answer how life of your cat has changed. maybe a different food, was she at a german vet?, etc
Fun fact: We have two types of cursive in Germany - it seems to me that your children learn „vereinfachte Ausgangsschrift“ instead of „Schreibschrift“. Of course it‘s not only your children, it hasd changed some time about 20 years ago in Bavaria, afaik. When I was in elementary school, we wrote in Druckschrift in grade 1 and 2, Schreibschrift in grade 3 and vereinfachte Ausgangsschrift in grade 4.
I believe the religion class schedule is because of availability of teachers - the protestant/catholic class may taught by local pastors (who have their own work schedule that the school needs to work around) while the ethics class is often a normal teacher. Or it's because their religion teacher is only part time employed.
Normally religion os taught by „normal“ teachers who have studied religious instruction. And since all of them also teach different subjects they can’t give the different lessons at the same time.
In bavaria there also exist Religion teachers employed by church. They often work in up to 5 schools, so their timetable is quite complicated... (I am one of them). So you have to work out a timetable where for example the catholic children have their classes whereas the others can go home earlier. And the next day vice versa.
@@claudiakarl7888 I went to school in Thuringia, and during my Gymnasium years, my religion teacher always was a pastor, not a teacher. That's why some kids chose religion over ethics, as religion class often was canceled because the pastor had other engagements that were more important (usually funerals).
Coming from Schleswig Holstein, my first thought was "How many religion lessons do they have?" We had it only once a week from year 1 to 9 , and in the Oberstufe (year 10 to 12), we could choose between religion and philosophy. And also drug prevention was scheduled for religion, at least in my school. And if your parents don't want their kids in religion class, they could sign them out quite easy (at least from the German state of view).
- Every Grundschule wich offers "Nachmittagsbereuung" oder has the profile "Ganztagsschule" has to provide a warm meal to every kid joining it. - There are two types of Schreibschrift being teached in Germany. They are called Vereinfachte Ausgangsschrift and Schulausgangsschift. The principal decides about wich one will be teached, so it can vary from shool to shool. Usually the children learn to write cursive in 2nd grade, but when a teacher thinks all the pupils master the regular letters with certainty, they may start earlier oder later. - Currently there are not so many teachers around, who had Deutsch als Zweitsprache as a subject at university, but the subject gained in popularity since the big wave of refugees in 2015/2016.
Hey, At first i like your content very much, its interesting to see your perspective as an expal and at least it is very funny. As a teacher in northern Germany some information, that i.m.o. has to be the same, even in Bavaria. 1.) The daily schedule is to give the kids a reliable daily structure., which is very important for their development. Griffins sports teacher seems to be very strict, maybe he doesn`t know that he just moved abroad? Concerning the schools ending: a) In Germany we have a system called "Verlässliche Grundschule" (reliable Elemantary-School). It is different from Bundesland to Bundesland, but e.g. in Schleswig-Holstein we have class 1+2 reliable at school till 11:00 clock and class 3+4 reliable till 12:00 clock. b) If Kids are sended home earlier for some reason, the school calls the parents to inform them. If the parents are at work, the kids can stay at the OGS (Offene Ganztagsschule/open all-day school) till the parents have quitting time. There they can have lunch, do homework or just play. 2.)Handwriting and cursive is of course an important focus in elementary-school. Sadly we are mostly not as far we want in digital classes as we should (or could) be. Therefore class works are written in handwriting (ther are almost no multiple-choice-tests like in the US). I have corrected so many tests and believe me, i am sooo happy, when i am able to read, what the pupil wrote. :) 3.)Some others just posted about german bowling with nine pins called Kegeln, so i won't go into that further. I think it is just a matter of time to get used to the style of tasks. 4.)According to the class names by using a,b,c etc.: Unfortunatly in most german schools we have a lack of teachers, so the class tacher may change sometime. Therefore it is easier for the kids to remeber that they are in e.g. 3a than to remember that they are in e.g. Frau Müllers class, than change to Frau Schulzes class, than change to Herr Meyers class etc. Alongside it makes the organization within school a lot more simple. 5.)This one really surprised me. Normally you have two 10-15 minute breaks in the morning, where the pupils can eat and drink. Every school i know has a cafeteria, where the kids ca buy drinks and breakfast things like Croissants, buns, fruits, drinks etc. for breakfast. At lunch (mostly within the "OGS") they can choose between three different meals to eat at school (normal, vegetarian and muslim-style). Kids, whose parents don't have enough money to pay for the meals get a coupon. This system is called "Bildungs und Teilhabepaket". This includes meals at school, assumption of costs for school trips, school supplies etc. 6.)You need to alert the school, because the "chain of maintenance" has to be obtained. Just imagine one of your kids has an accident on their way to school. In the worst case nobody will notice that, but if the school is missing him or her (he or she ist not there and you haven't told the school that he or she is sick today), they will instantly initiate the necessary steps. Sorry for my poor english and the long text I appreciate your wonderful and inspiring Videos. Greetings Rob
to 2) handwriting also is really good for brain developement. I have a toddler now and I'd rather have less digital lessons than more for him. There are enough studies that digital learning is not as good as analogous learning simply because more senses are being used. 5) I've never seen an elementary school with a cafeteria, only "Weiterführende" had one.
Ellas first day of school will be another culture shock, i think. The most important thing for her will be her Schultüte. It is a kind of big cone made from paper or something, filled with sweets and little gifts. Often there will be a date in the kindergarten to make one, together with the Kids. But this depends on the Kindergarten.
Sometimes parents independently make or organize extra "Geschwister-Schultüten" for the siblings for this day. They are usually quite a lot smaller than the real Schultüten for the real first day of school and are only there so that younger siblings do not have to be jealous. But since Ella's older siblings never had a German Schultüte, they might be happy too, who knows ... 😉
As a teacher myself I appreciate how relaxed you are as parents. If something goes wrong in the communication between you and the school or if there are cultural misunderstandings, you just say "Well, happens", move on and see it as an experience to learn from. There are lots of parents who, in your situation, would have called the school every other day just to complain. I think it's much easier and nicer to work together as teachers and parents if both sides don't overreact when little things go wrong. It's also a great attitude to teach the kids!
As a mom of two boys in Gymnasium in Munich I can tell that this statement illustrates perfectly what bothers me most about our school. They explicitly want the "well happens"(your words)-parents when they forget to inform (parents or pupils) on important things, don't hold their promises, blame pupils for things they are not responsible for. But the school would never dismiss kids and parents with that "well happens" if they mess up things unintentionally, even if the school did not care to clarify the regulations and proceedings properly. But I assume your school is different, is it?
18:16 well... There is "Kegeln" which is played with 9 pins and smaller balls where you don't have to put your fingers in and is therefore also nicer for kids to play :D
In the Netherlands school system is kindergarten (peuterspeelzaal) from 2 - 4 years and it’s from 8:30 to 11:45/12:00 o’clock 2 days in the week The basisschool (elementary school) is from 4,5 to 12 years old. On Monday, Tuesday, Thursday are from 8:30 - 12:00 than the children are going to home to eat or children stay at school to eat there by a TSO tussen schoolse opvang (between school care) and the school start than again at 13:15 - 15:15 o’clock and Wednesday and Friday are from 8:30 - 12:00 o’clock
@@LaurieMag the books are at School so there get assignments in every class. when the assignments are not finished at the end of the class then they have to take them home to finish home.
when I went to elementary school in our small village in BW religion class was split up between protestants and catholics. however as in our region basically everyone is catholic the class for the protestants was made up of all protestant kids grades 2-4 which came down to a total of 7 students (me included). we also had to stay an hour longer on that day to attend religion class as our priest didn't have time when the other catholic class took place and during that time everyone who wasn't catholic gathered together in another classroom where we either did our homework, could ask questions or played games.
Opposite for me and my sister in Oldenburg, northern Germany in the mid 60s. We both were the only left footers in the whole Volkschule. We had a spare period every week where we didn't have to do anything. 😁 No religious study for nearly 3 years. Although we still went to a local church every week. I don't believe that was the reason I stopped going to confession in my teens.
Cursive handwriting also differs within Germany. There are at least 3 different handwritings depending on the state. I learned the Lateinische Ausgangsschrift and Blockschrift in primary school, but today, the Vereinfachte Ausgangsschrift is most common. But there is also the Schulausgangsschrift of the GDR.
Bowling needs 10 Pins - German "Kegeln" has 9 Pin´s - Kegeln is more free in which way you want to play - like a set of cards you can play different games - and in a group it makes fun... should find someone who can introduce you... :-)
Kegeln (similar to bowling, but different) has nine pins. There are only few areas where you have schools, where kids really have few food. In this areas there are often social associations like the Tafeln (Food Banks), sometimes the booster clob (?) Förderverein of the school, the social worker or even the teachers who care for this. Sometimes there are even wealthier families who know this, and give their kids an additional brekfast to share. In our Grundschule there is no need for this, but if a child forgot their breakfast, all other kids are very willing to share something from their breakfast.
Does your school have some sort of daycare or Hort for after school hours? Your kids could stay there if there are terminated classes and you don't want them to leave school so early or unexpextedly, which I totally get. Me and my sister stayed there when we were still young in school. Communication with your kids is key otherwise. If they have "orders" ;) to come straight home from school all is fine, but if they can't tell you that school ended early (do they have phones?) and they decide to explore or get some ice cream or something on the way it makes the whole thing very unpredictable. I did that mistake as a very young child and it was a huge learning experience for me. I went home with a friend, (first time I ever did) forgot the time, never thought about informing my parents, went home, saw my mother arrive home an hour later, crying because she had been searching for me, thinking I was lying in a ditch somewhere or had been kidnapped. Thinking back, I never had the big "Don't go with strangers, don't go anywhere without informing us" talk, so it wasn't completely my fault, but we certainly had that talk then. It certainly was a big scare for everyone, me included to see my mother crying like that. I'm totally fine with kids leaving school an hour or two early (it is the same school walk after all) but for the fact that you, as the mother, have no idea, which I totally get. You never knew to expect them early. If, and only if, something bad had happened on the way, that's not the thing you wanna beat yourself up for not knowing. I don't have kids but that is defenitely something I would do: that they always tell me when school ended early, just so I know they are not there anymore. I am forever a burnt child with that childhood trauma I guess. ;D
Loved reading your story! I can imagine your mom was so scared! Yes our school does have Hort afterwards. We’ve thought about putting Griffin in it so he can play with friends and eat lunch.
What's the law in Germany about letting kids leave school early? In Austria, the parents have to be informed if school finishes earlier or later than usual, especially with young kids. Same reason as telling the school your kid is sick. Something could happen on the way and nobody would know about it...
@@maracuja1009 Actually the school is not allowed to send the kids home early, at least in elementary school. Even when the teacher is sick and the school can’t provide a substitute they cannot simply send the kids home - for all the reasons mentioned. I wonder whether there was a note that wasn‘t delivered or got lost in translation 🤔. That was the case with our children when they were home earlier than they should have been. That‘s why in elementary school every such note has to be signed by a parent, to make sure the parents know of it. But then again mistakes happen and once in a while they slip through 🤷♀️.
In my old elementary school we were able to leave our stuff under the table, in my current school (5-13 grade) we have lockers. But we still have to carry lots of stuff because of homework This video honestly made me realise how hard it must be for other people who didn't live in germany their whole life to get used to it
I don't know any German elementary school with a cafeteria or sth similar. You have to take care that the kids bring enough food with them. A lot of elementary schools are much too small that it doesn't make any sense, having a cafeteria. Sometimes there is a "Elterninitiative" to organize the selling of "belegte Brötchen" or "Brezeln" during the break. But then you have to find enough parents who are willing to help voluntarily.
German 9-pin-bowling indeed has nine pins. It's called Kegeln and is quite fun. But I can totally empathize with the unintelligible problem setting in school. Grundschule is usually only in the morning. So kids are not expected to have a full meal at school. Kids whose parents cannot afford the field trip usually can apply for support with the school.
13:49 We had lockers, usually the books stayed at school (they were anyway belonging to the school in order to reduce costs for the parents to buy books). Mostly our teachers did summary handouts and the homework was as well on the handouts. Therefore one only had to carry some sheets of paper home. Fun story: My home was 1,5 KM from the school, when I had a broken ankle I was supposed to walk to school (on the way back I was picked up by a friend of my mum on most of the days) - Every week the plaster had to be reinforced twice as it broke under the strain ;) - After 3 weeks the plaster was getting so heavy that they had to replace it altogether ;)
I am sorry for your son to have had this experience in sports classes. There definately would have been a kid-friendlier and softer way to handle the situation than the one that teacher chose. As you say it depends on the individual though and I (also being a teacher in Ger.) personally would have considered a way to not exclude your son from classes.
Especially new in the class that must have been quite sad for him being branded "outsider". I think there are some insurance reasons (because of the pockets), but then the teacher may have simply excluded the rougher exercises.
Normally the school sends the parents a letter at the start of the year that would tell you about the sport shoes and that the soles have to be in a light color. But maybe they only did it for children in the first year and assumed parents knew for the following years.
I think as a child it was really good to learn that I have to be prepared and on time. And it is my responsibility to find out what to bring/wear/know. Of course you cannot know everything. Sometimes one makes mistakes. But being sent outside is a quite regular thing. It doesn't hurt. Worst case you get bored. You should not take it to serious. Some kids actually missbehave to be thrown out of class, so they don't have to participate in a subject they don't like. ;)
In Bavaria where I went to school. Grundschule was never longer than 6 classes. 2 classes, 15 min break, 2 clsses, 15min break, 2 classes, home. You are expected to have you breakfast before you go to school and have lunch at home. Once you get to 5th grade school days tend to have more than 6 lessons a day. The break after the 6th lesson is 30min and that is the "lunch break". Kids are allowed to go off the school grounds to a nearby grocery store/bakery/kiosk or use the cafeteria in school, or ofc eat their food brought from home. I have not seen a secondary school that has no cafeteria or food cart for the 30min break, but I didn't change schools a lot. So my experience is limited.
I had to laugh so much while watching your video. We moved from russia to germany when i was 4 years old. I came home so often with tears in the eyes. My parents had exact the same problems. It was horrible for me sitting there while the others plays soccer during the gym hours. Or having no costume while the Karnevalsparty :-D. Now i'm 33 and fortunately my children don't have these problems :-)
Anita is right. Depending on the principal, pupils aren't allowed to go home early without notification until 10th grade 7 9th, let alone in Grundschule. They'd make themselves strafbar if sending a kid home without letting the parents know AND beeing allowed to do so. In Bavaria, which is the region you actually live in, teachers aren't even allowed to send children out of the classroom and leave them unattended. Really, that is a big thing over here. If there was no paper, signed by you, you should escalate that pretty quickly.
@@bellathemusicaddict it’s not allowed but teachers still do it when they trust the students. I’ve never heard of anything happening due to a kid being released earlier.
I had a brilliant education in math at my gymnasium. It was hard but very rewarding. After school I studied economics (which is very math based) and I already knew everything math related from school.
That cozy-family-feel you had at your old school will surely increase a lot post-covid. Schools everywhere had to scramble and be "down to business". Of course, we Germans have that mindset anyway, but during these times even we had to kick it up a notch. I'm not saying it will be just like your old school, but I'm sure it will get much more like it, don't worry!
In schools that are known for having a big number of poor kids, breakfast ist often provided. If there is no lunch at school ( if the school is a Ganztagsschule lunch is even common in primary school) poor kids often visit private institutions like “die arche”. Kids not only get lunch there but even help with homework and can play afterwards.
Normally the separation of class groups makes it easier to have that cozy family feeling, especially in Grundschule and a small town of yours. You only communicate with your kids teachers and other parents of this group.. maybe due to COVID restrictions things are still different, but I‘m sure you‘ll get to that point. Concerning the books and utensils you‘re kids have to carry.. maybe you should look into a „Schulranzen“. They are specifically designed for young and small kids who have to carry all kind of school supplies. They are for sure not cheap, but will help your kids a lot, at least in Grundschule. When I was in school, I participated in an exchange programme and actually went for a few weeks to the states, where I also went to school and had to participate in the school day like all the other kids. What I actually like about the German school system compared to the us: kids stay in their class/group environment. They do everything with their group of kids. If they have another teacher for a specific topic (maths, religion etc), the teacher will come to their classroom and they stay together. That‘s why school are split in different levels, and not the kids within the same grade
In Belgium the classes/forms are numbered too, e.g. 3A, 3B, ... in promary school as well as in secundary school. In Kindergarten it is often with animal names. But in my grandchildrens' primary school, which is a Freinetschool, classes are named after animals too: de blue beavers, the brown beavers, the woolfs, ... love your videosbecause I spent lots of weekends and holidays in my parents' second house in the SchneeEifel.
Activities: When I was in Grundschule, we often went to the forest, when the weather was appropriate and our teacher showed us the different plants, animals and so on. And in the end every child (or two together, if they wanted) was allowed to build a little house out of sticks and moss. "Pfüat Euch" is the bavarian abberviation of "Behüte Euch Gott", which you wish each other when parting. If you only talk to one person it is "Pfüat Di" ("Behüte Dich Gott").
I'm from Canada, and my classes were also separated by letters. My elementary school cohort was too big to be in 1 class, so we were split into 2 or 3 groups each year. I think it's more common to refer to a class by the teacher's last name in schools where they have Homeroom teachers, but we didn't do that at my school
and I was also separated into animal groups in kindergarten, probably because it's easier for younger kids to remember that they're a tiger or a fish or whatever, rather than a letter-number combo
It is funny hearing you talking about the "what letter are you in" at school. It is pretty straight forward though. A class in Germany usually cannot have more than e.g. 30 students as otherwise the teacher could not focus on each one of them. So, if at 5th grade you have 54 students at a specific school, you have 5 A and 5 B to separate the 54 students at 5th grade into classes A and B, making each class with 27 students. Hope that clears it up;-)
in the schools I went to, you had to call before the start, because the teachers get informed before class and know about it when doing the attendance call. the written one you have to do is probably because they cant know if its actually the parents if its just a interactive thing on a website
When I heard the story about the gym class, I was very surprised (if not to say "shocked"). I guess some teachers forget that these are still young children... Whenever my son forgot his gym shoes, he had to come to the gym hall on socks and watch (which is bad enough for a child that loves sports). At least his gym teachers usually let the kids without proper gym clothes help with getting balls, ropes etc from the storage. There were teachers in Gesamtschule later on though, who judged "forgetting your clothes" as "having no interest in sports and trying to skip" and wrote down a "6" (F) for the sports class this day for anyone without gym clothes. This was horrible for my son because he loved sports - he did not forget his gym clothes ever. Only his math homework ;o)
The naming of the classes 5A 5B 5C and so on is simply to distinguish the individual classes. This has nothing to do with the level of the students. In some schools the classes are also separated with numbers after the grade, so for example 10.1 10.2 10.3 Students usually stay together throughout their time in each school, while teachers may change sometimes.
I remember being in Volksschule (its the austrian Grundschule) and having to carry my heavy school bag, my sports bag and an extra bag for „textiles Werken“ (idk if you have this subject in Germany) every Monday. A great workout to start the week right as an 8 year old, luckily my school was just 10 minutes away from home by foot 😂
I went to a "Gesamtschule" after the "Grundschule" it's a type of school day that is more like the American school system with a breakfast break in the morning and a one-hour lunch break in the afternoon. It's a full day school and it usually ends at about 3 or 4 o clock in the afternoon. I always liked it very much and was never hungry at school so maybe consider such a school after the "Grundschule" for your kids. Many people will tell you it's not as "worthy" as a German "Gymnasium" but that was a long time ago. I made my A-level exams there and after that, I studied. It really depends on how the school is like in general. No matter where you send your kids after Grundschule, definitely go there and look at it before you send your children there. On the Gesamtschule and also on basically every other school I know that comes after the Grundschule, they absolutely have a cafeteria where kids can sit down and eat. A Grundschule usually has no cafeteria the kids can go to. That's pretty common. In fact, in many areas, we have the problem that kids are not well supported by their parents when it comes to lunch. Often, especially in the Grundschule, we have no lunch programs for kids that don't get food with them to school. It's more common in the school type that follows after the Grundschule. Most of the time the schools organize a system like that alone, not the school system which I find very sad. There is no common program that we have in the entire country.
As for the heavy bookbags: Some schools offer the possibility to leave the books that aren't needed for homework in the classroom. In my elementary school for example every kid had a shoe box where we could store our primers because reading was mostly only done in class. Maybe inquire with other parents or the class teacher if that is an option at your school :)
What you might have already learned in Germany is that being organized is a very big part of German culture - and if you are organized things run pretty smoothly here. To name a German phrase "Ordnung ist die halbe Miete". It is not just about having the room clean or organized - but in your case with school it means to have the school schedules in mind and to plan your week around them especially when your kids start to write important tests in Gymnasium - or to pack the school bags. In Gymnasium it even makes learning a lot easier - especially when it is about languages especially Latin.
Hey guys - we've been doing a whole series on how school is going for our four kids, from Kindergarten to Gynmasium! Here are the other videos in case you missed them.
Kindergarten Culture Shocks - th-cam.com/video/ITr2nQj9UZ0/w-d-xo.html
Kindergarten - Our Daughter's Experience So Far - th-cam.com/video/vhmv4vSrQ74/w-d-xo.html
What German School is Like for Our American Kids - th-cam.com/video/gJxD0uLOS4s/w-d-xo.html
Don't worry the A-B-C and so on is not a measure of learning ability or such. It is just a way to keep all the classes apart according to the year.
Ask the teacher for "Deutschförderung" , "Förderung von Migranten", "außerschulische Hausaufgaben-hilfe"
Once I had a math problem in elementary school this was something like this: "Herr Müller hat 2 Hunde 5 Katzen und einen Fisch. Wie alt ist er.". The problem wasn't really like this but it felt as it were written like this. About the thing with the class names. When you don't know the letter of the class of someone else but you know who is the class teacher you will use the last name of the teacher. But I only can Say that this is what I experienced but I think other germans can relate to it aswell
In case you relocate someday within Germany, you'll probably notice there is no uniform nationwide school system in Germany, becuause education is "Ländersache". So every state in Germany has its own school system.
Some examples of differnces:
A few States have 6 years of primary school. You change to the higher schools wirh the beginning of the 7th grade. Bavaria has a three way school system with Gymnasium, Mittelschule and Hauptschule. Some states only have a two way system with Gymnasium and a combined school for everyone doesn't making it to the Gymnasium. In most states you can get your Abitur there as well if you do an extra year bridging the gap to the Gymnasiun level. In some states you generally do your Abitur after twelve years, in some 13 years are more common. There are different rules for private schools and even for the stuff you get tought. For example: In Bavaria Religion is a regulary subject you can choice and get marks for. In Berlin that's unthinkable. They once hat an plebiscite about this subject. It was rejected with a big majority.
After-school care is relativly new in the former western part of germany. In the eastern part it has a far longer history and so is more established.
American "school food for the poor" is what again? Sorry ... but you need to include QUALITY in your assessment!
Jamie Oliver (a british TV chef) had an episode about ITALIAN school food ... and there the moms of the children would come to the school kitchen and cook for their children ... and if you get a chance to compare italian "cafeteria" with anything in Germany ... it is an experience. Germany: edible / ok; Italy: good restaurant quality ... I dread what US cooking would be like.
Telling the school on time that your child is sick is also a safety thing. Many kids walk to school and if they are not there on time something might have happend - like an accident or something. Then the school would inform the police.
Very good point! We hadn’t even thought of that. Good to keep the kids safe.
Also, we have Schulpflicht. Kids have to go to school.
Or kids might decide to stay at the playground for the school day and tell their parents that they were at school and the teachers that they were sick :D
i dont think that its a "safety" thing, but an "insurance" thing. the school is responsible for the kids during school hours and if one gets hit by a car during that time period the school gets sued / is responsible. as soon as they get the krankmeldung they are no longer responsible. thats the reason why schools dont allow students to leave the school property during "school time" at all.
It is also due to the fact that school attendance in Germany is compulsory, whereas in the US you could also homeschool your kids. So calling the school in the morning and checking on families also ensures that children are actually attending school and parents "fulfill" their kids their compulsory education.
What I experienced from friends whose first language isn't German: they actually tend to have a lot of trouble learning German in Berlin or a similarly big city. Since it is really "en vogue" to speak English (in cafés, bars, etc.) , you don't really need German in these bigger cities. Thus, a lot of friends have trouble using their German skills in everyday life. While it might be harder for you and your kids to learn the first things in German with no bigger second language programs around, I think it might be an advantage to live in a smaller town where you are more "forced" to practice your German every day. Chin up, your kids will do great, I'm pretty sure! 😊
Yeah very good points. It’s harder at first but we are all going to learn much faster.
I do think things will turn out well. Thanks for the encouragement!
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife So long as the kids are playing with other (German-speaking) kids and having fun doing so, they will learn the language better than they ever could in a classroom. Language wants to be spoken to be learned ;)
About the sports shoe issue: the reason schools here are so fussy about the soles being white is that colored soles can permanently leave skid marks on the floors of the indoor sports halls. So making sure this doesn't happen helps preserve the school resources for future students. Most likely, the sport-pants thing also has some kind of health and safety reason.
Breaks in school are usually meant for snacks, between breakfast and lunchtime, as the days in the Grundschule are not too long. So anything that is easy and quick to eat works best. My son hates eating fast, so he tends to take some nuts and dried fruit. Easy to eat and high in energy ;) For bigger meals...there are usually after-school programs (Hort) kids can be registered to (for example if both parents work) where the kids will get a warm lunch and then have help with homework as well as activities. These programs tend not to be free of charge, but low-income families (or those with no income) can apply to have the fees covered by the government, and they can apply for "Bildung und Teilhabe" which covers the bigger chunk of the meal cost (here, instead of paying 4 euros per meal the parents would pay 1 euro) So families who are overwhelmed with having to provide meals for their kids do have this option in addition to the social support.
they actually tend to have a lot of trouble learning German in Berlin or a similarly big city....Das stimmt einfach nicht!
@@Poshypaws It's just the experience I got from my friends
I remember heavy book bags being a topic when I was a kid - though we were allowed to leave books at school. But then you'd inevitable forget the stuff you need for homework so, it's a gamble :D
Advice from adult me on carrying a heavy backpack: Chest strap is nice but hip strap will change your life! If your boys are really struggling and aren't growing into their backpacks, maybe try small hiking packs that have a padded strap around the hips to redistribute the weight.
I ended up with a bent /curved back for life from carrying heavy school books daily in a heavy backpack as i walked to school in Ireland too. We had lockers but the teacher would give us homework and we needed to carry heavy books for science, business, maths, french etc...it all added up. To prevent my brother having the same problem my mom bought my brother 2 sets of each of his school books. I used to always get new school books...but my mom bought my brother secondhand school books from the students in the year above..
And could then afford to buy him 2 copies of each book.
@@traceymarshall5886 It's kind of excessive with so much homework in a day. Maybe they should instead extend the school day a bit and let the free time be more free.
I never realized that kids going to their school on their own is a thing. I was going on my own to school and back home every day for ten years. In Europe that's so usual nobody is even thinking about it.
I'm french, 61, it's was the same when I was young. As a mother, I lived near the schools, primary school and école maternelle ( from 3 to 6 years old) , just on the other side of the road. New build erea and the parents were used to take and collect their children by cars, and try to park the nearest they can, even if they live less than 500m away ! Parents were shocked when they discovered than my young son walk alone to school at 7 year old. He only had a few 100 m on the pavement to walk and a zebra crossing to cross the road ! We taught him how to walk alone in safety. Some parents still drive their kid to secondary school, some let them take the public transport but without any "street behaviour learning" , it's why there is quiet a lot of street accident involving 11 years old here.
Yeah isn’t it interesting how it’s so normal for Europeans and not at all common for Americans?
My nephew is 5 and walks to school by himself. He lives in a smaller community in South Florida. Kids still walk to school by themselves. It's just they never do it in bigger cities.
Yea, not only do we walk alone to school, but from an early age we also come home to an empty house if parents are at work :) I think we learn to become independent at an earlier age. In the US it's not uncommon for parents to be involved in deciding about their college/university program, I think that would be unheard of in Europe. MIght be because of the late legal age in the US? or because parents pay for their education? Just guessing - maybe someone has a better answer.
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife Traffik and even the very streets are organized in a different way. So it is kinda only natural that you drive your kids to school when most areas are very car depended and some streets don't even account for people walking around.
It's just not really safe (anymore) in the states to have your kids walking to school for the most part and thus it became a part of culture to not do it, even in the few towns left were it would actually be safe.
It’s always interesting when you teach us something about the US, such as the fact that classes are named after the teachers. I didn’t know that! You should do more of that.
I did :)
These "fill in" or "complete" homeworks are repeats of problems done in class. It's often extends the schoolbook. Some teacher will add something like a page number on the homework to help the parents. :-)
First thing you have to ask "what have you done in the last class session?" and then guide the kid though what it has learned.
As far as i know it's different in the USA. This type of Homework don't really rely on the class lesson. It helps to remember it, but it's not really needed top do the homework.
In Germany the homework is to make the kid remember the lesson, and with that fixate it in memory. Not to make it learn the lesson.
Naja, ist aber oft auch Vorbereitung für die nächste Stunde.
My daughter went to Grundschule/elementary school in Hamburg. They had a program in the afternoon called Nachmittagsbetreuung/afternoon care where kids could stay in school, eat lunch, do their homework, play inside or outside in the Schulhof/school yard. It was meant for children where both parents were at work in the afternoon. The lunch was cooked in a commercial kitchen specialised on children's food and was delivered before lunch break. Although this school was right in the center of Hamburg they had a goat enclosure and shed in the school yard and kept a small herd of goats. To take care of goats was then part of curriculum and the parents were involved too. Parents had to do 'goat service' on the weekends looking after the goats, feeding them, cleaning up, because the school yard and playing ground was also open on weekends. During school holidays the goats were brought to a farm. During one my 'goat services' on a Sunday the billy goat climbed the fence of the enclosure and escaped in the school yard. This must have been a funny picture - me chasing the goat followed by bunch of children laughing and screaming.
Love this! A goat herd! Okay our school also has Nachmittagsbetreuung, we forgot to mention that.
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife Aber den Kindern geht es sehr viel besser, wenn sie gleich nach der Schule nach Hause dürfen, um sich in die Arme ihrer liebevollen Mutter zu kuscheln und sie erst mal Fünfe gerade sein lassen können!
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife Ah, but then they should offer lunch at least for the kids staying for the Mittagsbetreuung. (All too often, there is no proper cafeteria and the kids will just eat in whatever room they are for the Mittagsbetreuung with the food delivered.) So it's possible that there is a lunch break at around 1pm when all classes have finished...
My daughter's school has a "Mittagsbetreuung", a "Hort" and a "Ganztagesklasse" all with different lunch arrangements! In Bavaria and many other areas in Western Germany, it was assumed that most kids went home to eat lunch with their stay-at-home mum for a long time. (Really there were a lot of informal child care arrangements and many kids just went home by themselves). But in the last 2 0 years or so, there has been a real effort to increase the child care options for primary school children (on the off-chance that the mother - yes, or the father, but in most cases really the mother - might need or want to work more than the 3 hours between 8 and 11🙄). Many schools thus added lunch facilities but that's not always easy to do in an existing building, so there are lots of compromise solutions like eating in classrooms. In addition, Covid restrictions have also changed things. In my daughter's school only grades 3 and 4 are allowed to eat in the cafeteria, grade 1 and 2 eat in their classrooms...
@@runnerfive4479
Coming from East-Berlin I actually had a little culture shock myself here in Bavaria. Grundschule in Berlin is 6 years and especially in grade 5 and 6 you often have 6 classes a day, which meant that school ended at 2pm. For obvious reasons we had a real cafeteria with the food being cooked in the school.
Until last year my kids went to elementary school in Munich. The school shared its building with a Mittelschule and a Realschule so it at least had a little „Pausenverkauf“. However, we now live closer to the Alps and my 3rd graders new time table actually includes a 1,5h break over lunch with absolutely no option of eating or at least staying in school 🤯. So she comes home for an hour to eat. Unfortunately that‘s the exact time frame I pick up my 3 yo from Kindergarten, so I‘m not even home. And the reason I’m technically at home during that time is because I’m still in Elternzeit with our youngest.
I mean I knew Bavaria/West Germany is different from the East in regards to working mom rates, but it was still kinda shocking to have it rubbed into your face that „a good mom“ is a stay at home mom that awaits her children with a freshly cooked meal 🤮.
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife
Oh and I‘d like to ad, the Grundschule my friends kids attended in Munich actually had a program that started at 7:30 and provided a free breakfast for the kids, because it was situated in a very mixed area regarding parents income/social status. And while the social security network should provide enough food for the family, it’s also a reality that - as you mentioned - abusive parents do exist 😞.
But that ‚before school starts‘-program this early did also help families where the parents had to leave the house before the children did, due to doing shift work for instance. The school was newly build and founded and the district was really lucky to have a headteacher that went beyond herself to push her agenda for social equality and making school a pleasant experience for every kid, not just the well kept ones.
Normally in Grundschule there is a 10 minute "Frühstückspause" after the first break at around 10am. The kids just sit at their desk and eat the food they brought from home. Sometimes teachers are reading a story to them during that time.
Where I live the Grundschulen have a cafeteria, but only for the kids who stay until the afternoon und need to eat lunch. They get a warm lunch there.
Okay yes, this is what our school does also. Now it makes sense - since children each lunch at home. At first we couldn’t figure it out at all! Now it’s funny looking back.
Normally isnt really a word we can use in germany. Because we have 16 different systems for school (every state has its own) and regional differences. The bavarian abitur for example is a lot of the time seen as better than the other states.
Same here in Rheinland-Pfalz. Breakfast time at the first break and a lunch If you stay up to four o'clock (when you are at Ganztagsschule=whole day school).
But our kids have a place under their desk so they don't have to carry that much.
And school ist ending every day at the same time because there is a school bus driving them to neighbour villages.
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife Here in Baden-Württemberg it is 15 min at the first break for lunch and then the second one is the "playtime-break". You are right that it could be good to have sth like a cafeteria where kids in need could have a free breakfast. I only know that for lunches in secondary schools. Kids in need can ask for a support or even for free lunches under certain terms and conditions and would then receive the money from the "Teilhabepaket" for these lunches in order to be able to have lunch together with the other kids. Some cities or regions might also offer other solutions. I have friends at a primary schools in an area with a high amount of needy students and there they have found a solution so that all kids would have breakfast together. They found a sponsor who gives them fresh fruits and vegetables and apart from that they have donations of other food or money so they could buy butter, cheese and so on from it. Then the have this meal all together, so nobody brings food from home and therefore also nobody would know who can afford it and who can't. But I have only heard of that once. IN other classes they have a "free fruit program" sponsored by the state, which means that producers of the region would receive a contract to deliver apples or other fruits for free to the classes and would then of course get paid for it by the state. In some schools it is daily, in others for a certain period in the year, others do it every day or on an irregular basis...there I think it depends very much of the city / region you live in...
We had packed lunch from home in Ireland when i was in school in the 80s/90s. This consisted of sandwiches and a juice. The sandwich in those days was "jam" or "banana". The banana sandwich bread would be soggy by the time lunch arrived. Sometimes i had egg mayonaise or like a garlic mayo in my sandwich and the other kids complained of the smell as we were eating in our unventilated classroom 🤣 I learnt not to bring them again. Hopefully covid will change the no ventilation in schools in ireland...the windows are kept closed in winter before covid
Parent involvement in Grundschule is fun! When my kids were still Grundschüler, I did all kinds of things (because I was basically a Stay at home mum): Verkehrshelfer (helping at the zebra crossing), Lesepate (giving individual reading classes in grade 1 and 2), Schulobsthelfer (cutting up fruits and veggies once a week and distributing them in class), Lesekreis (holding additional reading and writing exercises in group), additionaol German classes for immigrant kids, and the classical stuff as member of the Elternbeirat (Parents council), being a Klassenelternsprecher (representative of one class organizing address lists, cookie baking for events etc.) and member of the Förderverein (the association that helps organizing and funding the Grundschule). I also enjoyed being an "accompanying mum" for field trips (hikes, cinema, museum). Our Grundschule was one of the "cosy" ones where I knew all teachers and the headmistress.
Today I only get in touch with our Grundschule when it comes to environmental education (planting bulbs, a field trip to the meadow and similar).
Okay cool! I’m looking forward to it. Glad to hear of your experience.
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife You can probably go along for Wandertag or other field trips, they always need parents for extra supervision
Just for Info the "Entschuldigung" is so important because in Germany children have to go to school for about 12 years by law. So if your child is beeing not at school for a long time without an "Entschuldigung" the school is supose to inform the authorities about that and in worst case they sent the police to pick up the child at home and bring them to school. And parents can get a punishment by the law for not sending the Kids to school.
Yes totally, that makes sense. And actually, we did not explain this well in the video. In the US the parents also have to report to the school if the child is sick. I think the difference for us was that we had to call the school. But it’s a small difference that doesn’t matter so much.
and, just to add that, you as a parent will be very happy about that in the nearer future, namely, if your child will visit Gymnasium and will go there by himself or herself, you'd be noted IMMEDIATLY if the child won't show up at school, which will help you knowing that everything's fine if the phone won't ring.
In America children are reqiired by law as well to go to school. And we need to tell the school when children are sick. The difference is that the report needs to be in before school starts. It was a surprise for me that the system shuts down when school starts. Just a difference I need to adjust to.
The 'Schulgesetz' demands 9 years of school visits. Usually you finish off with a 'Hauptschulabschluss' then and start an apprenticeship.
@@kathrin9674 that depends very much on the school.
I actually grew up in one of the poorest cities in Germany and we rarely had kids come to school without food. Like you said, assistance is provided to the families at home like unemployment benefits and Kindergeld. The teachers did have extra bread and stuff in case someone didn’t bring food. If that happens often the teacher will call child protective services for sure, though.
As for lunch, in elementary school we never had a cafeteria, we just went home at 1pm and had lunch then. If you stayed longer in the OGS (Offene Ganztagsschule) you were provided with lunch. They might have changed that system by now, I’m not sure.
At my Gymnasium we had a one hour lunch break and you could get lunch at the cafeteria if you wanted. Most kids actually didn’t want that! We rather ate a packed lunch during school and enjoyed our mom’s homemade meals when we got home 🤷🏼♀️
Now at university I basically live at the cafeteria but that’s just because I’d have to do my own cooking at home now 😂
Okay very good to know. Thank you for explaining this.
In Ireland every parent regardless of income gets a government social child benefit of about €200 per week per child...until they are 21.
So its impossible for children in ireland to have any excuse not to actually have food. If the family is homeless...the government will rent them a home and if none is available they will live in a hotel which is not ideal but our social system needs alot of work as they waste money on hotels instead of building more social homes
In Sweden everybody gets a free hot meal. Maybe because a hot meal for lunch and proper lunch break is a cultural thing at workplaces too and most restaurants have daily lunch deals. (I know that in many countries sandwich/snacks is normal for lunch and dinner is the BIG meal). So aside from the cost, to me it seems like a lot of fuss for parents to prepare food for all kids and for kids to carry. But the quality depends on what the local municipality decides to spend. In our city school lunch was very cheap... And kids always complain. But you don't have to be hungry.
I guess many kids would prefer sandwiches and snacks of their choice but for parents it's convenient. I and now with the economic hardships (energy prices, inflation, interest rates) I've heard that kids eat more at school so they have to prepare a lot more.
a few things for context
1: you as a parent are not supposed to know when they have Sport/gym class. The child is. That's why there is a plan, forgetting your sport bag is very much frowned upon, making you a "Turnbeutelvergesser", literally someone who forgot to bring said bag and meaning the being a thoughtless, unorganised student.
2: pretty much the same with books and school supplies. Your children should only bring what they need the very next day. Every day they need to pack their Rucksack/Ranzen anew. This gets more important the more subjects are introduced. Having each subject a different color for "Hefter" and "Arbeitsbücher" (foulders and worksheet collections) as well as regular books helps big time. The "Stundenplan"/timetable is for them, not the parents. It shows them when they are supposed to be where doing what and infers what might be needed. That's why they learn to read clocks in first grade and should wear one.
3: Why school grades have letter suffixes? This is because the children change both rooms and teachers during the day, commonly even at first and second grade (which might be somewhat less the case in such a small village school). The teacher who gives lessons in writing/Deutsch isn't nessessarily the one who does math and Sachkunde (natural sciences inroduction). But what remains constant is their group of fellow students, their group. They will keep the letter. 2A will become 3A, then 4A, it always being the same students getting growing up. In Gymnasium, they will travel in between rooms every 45 or 90 min lesson, changing teachers every time. This allows schoolrooms to be specificly tailored for teaching any given subject.
4: don't help with homework unless your kids get really stuck (and not even a sibling or a friend can help). Most (if not all) homework is designed to be done by the children themselves, as it is usually a repetition of what was done in school already. They are supposed to know what to do. Them asking for help means either they did not comprehend their lessons or they really just want to rope you into doing them for you.
5: Hot Lunches are done only once school goes on after midday. Which in a 4 grade Grundschule might mean never. Weiterführende Schulen/further schooling will have a designated lunchbreak and a cafeteria serving real meals. Snacks and drinking might even be permissible during the lessons, otherwise just when they get a minute.
6: In regards to poverty: actual food poverty is as guessed not really a thing that happens (and underfeeding your child would get child services involved anyway, it's a sure way to loose custody to the state). Parents get Kindergeld, plus "Kindergrundsicherung" if they don't have a job or earn less than what is considered necessary, which means a kind of basic income for children. Also poor parents can bring any kind of extra costs due to Klassenfahrten (school excursions, starting at 3 days and later up to two weeks), lunch money, school supplies, daytrips and so on to the local government (where to exactly might differ) for reembursement, so their children should never be in fear of being excluded from school activities due to factors beyond their contol (unlike losing or forgetting your gymbag).
6: when they are somewhat mature (opinions differ, I got mine at age 8), give them a housekey (like on a flexible chain with a snap hook/Karabinerhaken going on their jeans, so they don't lose it). Since stay at home moms (or dads) are somewhat uncommon, elementary school age children are expected to get home from school, get themseves something to eat and pass the time (meaning doing what they think is best) until a parent comes home from work. The whole German system has them being in charge of indepentent routines, with little supervision at all.
7: school starting at 8:00 is a luxury. Expect Gymnasium to start earlier. Mine began at 6:45 Uhr, every day
Our oldest two go to gymnasium now and it starts at 8:00…yeah all of these rules about the sports bag and homework make sense when the child is born and raised in Germany and already speaks fluent German. They do not make sense when the child has just moved to a new country and the school and doesn’t speak the language yet.
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife i understand both sides. you didn't know what to ask for that could be different and the school didn't know what to tell you that might differ
In the classroom of my elementary school there were shelves, similar to the IKEA-Kallax-shelf, where each child was allocated one box. So the books I carried with me were reduced to those in which I had to do homework. My elementary school friend arranged it the other way around: she had her books at home and packed her bag every evening and only put in the books that were necessary. Both systems were not perfect: I often forgot my books at school and couldn't do my homework, but she forgot hers at home and then got into trouble at school. But together we were the dream team because there was one set of books at school and one at home. xD
the a, b, c topic: the teacher's name can certainly change. You usually have the same class teacher for 3.4 years, but also there mostly different teachers in math, German, etc. Most schools have a capacity to accept around 80/90 children per year, with a class size of 25-30 that does 3 classes: a, b and c. This is actually the case across Germany. If the school capacity is higher you can easily add d, e, f,...
We didn't have a cafeteria in the elementary school either. just the sandwiches from home. I grew up in Berlin and Kevin is right: Actually, the social system is supposed to provide enough support so that all children can be sent to school with snacks by their legal guardians, the reality is of course different in individual cases. We children shared, at least until teachers noticed it and tried to organize more support at home. The importance of lunchtime is roughly comparable to our outdoorbreak (Hofpause in German). At least during non-Covid times, you were sent out during the 20-minute breaks, along with your "Brotdose", no matter what weather. In German children's and youth films, this is usually on of the central location because the greatest nonsense and the greatest fun could happen during that time: epic snowball fights in winter, playing hide and seek with the boys and girls, the first kiss, etc.
I ended up with a bent /sloped back from carrying school books in a heavy backpack as i walked to school in Ireland too. We had lockers but the teacher would give us homework and we needed to carry heavy books for science, business, maths, french etc...it all added up. To prevent my brother having the same problem my mom bought my brother 2 sets of each of his school books. I used to always get new school books...but my mom bought my brother secondhand school books from the students in the year above..
And could then afford to buy him 2 copies of each book.
German Bowling is called "Kegeln" and there are 9 pins. There are normally no cafeterias in school. You just bring your Brotzeit with you or go in "town" and buy something for lunch. But only the end of Gymnasium, when you've got Nachmittagsunterricht
It's very interesting to listen to that video. I'm a "Grundschul-teacher" in Switzerland. We have like a mixed system (USA/Germany). An american familyl moved to our small village a few weeks ago and the 7y. old girl goes to my class and I never knew how her school system back in America was.
We have our own desks with the material, they only need to carry their homework, we have a lot of assistance in class (intense german, special needs teacher ect.). But they also have their Stundenplan and school ends either at 11:55 or 15:00. And of course, they also walk to school on their own. 😇
Thanks for comparing the systems.
Ah very school you’re a teacher in Switzerland! It’s good to hear how things are done there.
The sport with 9 pins is called Kegeln, its like bowling, only a little different.
I was poor in school, i went to every trip. If we couldn't pay, i only had to go to the school bureau, got a paper and we send it somewhere. It was paid for me.
For the great Trips at the end of school, we had to bring 10 euro a month in the last year. And then the class decided where to go with our budget.
Kegeln wurde in den USA zeitweise verboten, das dazu stellen eines weiteren Kegels und die Löcher in der größeren Kugel waren Methoden um das Verbot zu umgehen.
When I went to school in Bavaria about 50 yrs ago, my school back was sometimes heavy, but never so much that it hurt. Check with the "Stundenplan" of your kids, they don't need all the books every day, that's one of the reasons to have a schedule. In Gymnasium my heavy bag days were the days we had geography, because we needed the "Diercke Weltatlas", which was huge. Hope that helps.
We definitely switch out books for the gymnasium kids. Otherwise they would die!
@@kevinmcfall5285 a trick we did in Gymnasium is to get 2 books of the most heavy ones :) or what they allowed us in Gymnasium as well to share a book with your "Sitznachbar"
That's different depending on the school.
I remember my backpack being very heavy in Grundschule, all children and parents complaining.
Then I thought I was smart and just packed the books I would need according to the Stundenplan. That day our teacher decided to do something else than was on the plan and was really angry with me for not having ALL the books with me.
I still think that teacher acted stupid, but for the rest of Grundschule I always brought all the books.
In weiterführende Schulen like Gymnasium it is at least common to only bring what is needed that day.
And that depends on the region as well. In some regions you own the books, they are expensive, so you need to carry them around. In other regions the books are owned by the school and are only handed out when needed.
I don't think lockers are common at school anywhere in Germany, though I think that having them might be nice for the children.
the thing about food: just like you said about kindergarten, kids are encouraged to listen to their hunger cues and eat accordingly. and as they usually already learned that before starting school, they will continue to eat whenever they feel hungry. growing up, cafeterias didn't exist because we all were back home at 2pm the latest and could eat lunch at home.
from my experience working as a social worker, teachers usually will notice if a kid regularly has no food at school or not enough or even only extremely unhealthy options. in those cases they will write the parents a note in the Hausaufgaben-heft or whatever communication system there is in that particular school. and as you mentioned, the social welfare system makes sure every family should have enough money to provide food for everyone. if a family doesn't, it's usually a much bigger problem. I saidly received a few phone calls from concerned teachers telling me about their student not having breakfast. it's my job then to figure out where exactly the problem is. do they really not have the money and need help applying for welfare, Kindergeld, etc.? is the mother depressed to the point of not having the energy to pack lunch? in one case it turned out, the parents packed a huge breakfast everyday but the daughter ate it all before even arriving at school. Usually it's a much bigger issue than having honest financial troubles. a subsidised school lunch would certainly be a short term solution for the affected kids. but the way it works now is that we are trying to tackle the cause of the missing breakfast instead of "just" feeding the kids one meal a day.
That is such a good point! The German system takes care of the problem of hunger at the root, instead of only putting a temporary bandaid on the problem by feeding child at school. So much better to empower the family to do it.
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife thinking about it now, I'm not sure if there was ever that conscious decision to do it like we do it now. maybe social workers and concerned teachers are cheaper than setting up cafeterias and free school lunches. who knows. but I guess it still works out for the best in terms of the bigger picture.
I absolutely agree with OP. At my previous primary school we were in an area with many refugees who simply didn't know how German school works and the rest were exclusively low income families. The city provided us with a designated social worker to help tackle these issues. The students all loved her because they quickly realised that we were "on their side" if you will. When the first covid lockdown hit, one of the boys came to the school building independently even when there weren't any classes because his parents weren't providing any meals at home and he knew he'd find help with us.
The reason you usually wouldn’t find a cafeteria in a Grundschule is that there is no need for it, since school ends after your daily schedule (12:45/13:15 around that). If you are working parents and need your kids to be looked after in the afternoon, that’s Nachmittagsbetreuung, organized/offered by your town (Gemeinde), usually not free. If such a thing exists, you’d either have catered meals or would have to supply the food for your kid. I think the above is true for any state schools in Germany, private schools may differ (but then of course you have to pay for any extras as well).
Then there is the concept of Ganztagesschule (all day school), which starts in the morning but ends at around 15:00/16:00 (mandatory, paid as well, but homework would be done in the afternoon + non-curricular activities like music, arts, sport activities).
This makes so much sense! Thank you.
it varies in the different bundesländer, in Berlin for example they get meals in every elementary school because there is a full free day care service in all of the schools. the more conservative bundesländer like bavaria and baden württemberg are known to be very hesitant with that. Also teher no free kindergarden which is different in eastern bundesländern an city states.
@@rannugsobaelli7021 they are starting it in Bavaria. The problem is that there aren't enough parents sending their children to the all day class, so the next years it will be offered to all or regular all day school.
I teach Korean at University. Using different colours to highlight grammar is very helpfull, also certain patterns in dialogues, phrases in texts....
It helps you memorize "Artikel" in German when writing der-Wörter, die-Wörter and das-Wörter always with the same colour for each Artikel.
Great tip!
The Sports classes are mostly held in sports arenas that have wooden floors.
The same kind of floors for basketball, the second most popular sport in Germany, handball (A sport completely foreign to the Anglo-sphere), indoor football, and badminton.
To avoid damaging the floor, making it slippery and making it dirty, you need shoes designed for indoor sports (the ones with a soft plastic sole, which are mostly basketball, handball and badminton shoes (the Addidas ones in the video are designed for badminton).
The proper shoes are signed "non marking". If you want to be 100% on the safe side, buy indoor shoes. A good shoe shop should know this of course.
Mh. Kinda doubtful about the wood thing; at least the gyms I know are all special product floors for gyms (special vinyl and rubber and whatnot materials). They are very grippy, also a bit soft. Dark soles leave a sort of eraser mark on them; yeah, it'd be a mess if people went into them with random shoes.
Wasn't a big deal when I went to school though; usually you just ran around in your socks then (granted, if it was some specific activity maybe you'd have to sit out).
@@Sp4mMe I think it highly depends on how old the school is, the never grippy floors are pretty new.
Yeah!😄 german teachers definetly loooooooove a nice and clean handwriting😂 in most of exams (Klassanarbeiten/Klausuren) the teacher gives speachial points for the handwriting and the esthetic. In german these Points are called „Formpunkte“ and can be very important😄 But your progress in language and handwriting is soooooo incredible (in such a short time😱) I am sure you will get the full amount of „Formpunkte“ 😉 Hope you keep yourself this inspiring enthusiam! Love your videos!
Not in Bavaria any more
@@elisabethlemoigne5710 interessant! Wusste ich gar nicht, danke😊 aber trotzdem vielleicht eine interessante hintergrundinfo(dachte ich😄)
In my professional life, I very rarely needed neat handwriting. When I studied, I marked down notes for myself. Ok. But nobody else needed to decypher them. I only write short notes to colleagues and I can reign in my writing, so that anybody can read them. Beyond that, letters, applications, whatever are written by computers and printed and only signed (if even) by hand.
I consider neat handwriting an outdated skill.
@@michelaushamburg6766 - as both mentioned correctly, it's the act of writing that is connecting a kid's brain cells at that young age. That's why. That's a proven scientific fact. An extra set of brain cells hasn't become outdated ever since.
@@michelaushamburg6766 the fact that the skill nowadays isn't much needed, does not mean it is unnecessary. Imagine a case of emergency, where a person doesn't have the chance to use a mobile or tablet, and also doesn't have access to a computer. The only way to call help is a "physical" note on a sheet of paper - now the person who never trained handwriting skills will write down the call for help, and the finders of the note are not able to read it. Feels bad, man, doesn't it?
The Entschuldigung is so important, cause the kids come often on their own to school (like yours).- The teacher is checking every morning if every child is here- and save. Not injured somewhere on the street…
Yeah that makes so much sense and keeps the kids safe.
Yes exactly. We didnt think about that!
Road safety for pedestrians is being taught in kindergarten and elementary school here in Germany. Children TV picks this up and repeats the important bits. There are a lot of programs, that provide first graders with reflective or neon safety gear, so they are seen. When I was in first grade, my teacher would control every day, who had their neon green baseball cap on and the class with the most frequently worn safety gear in our grade would get a prize.
This is also why most Germans might be pretty lax about road safety rules at night but pay a lot of attention to being an example for the kids during daytime. For example you will be scolded for jaywalking in front of kids, but less so, when there are no kids around to see you.
I have an elementary school nearby and it is easy to observe how some parents let their kids take more and more resposibility for their way to school during their first and second year. It starts out with hand holding, then the kid gets to walk a bit ahead, until after several months, kids are "going home alone" with their parent trailing a few hundred feets behind them.
We even go to a seperate track in Dublin Ireland to learn cycling and rules of the road...it would be like a driving school for an adult. It has pretend roundabouts, traffic lights, zebra crossing etc to teach children how to ride a bicycle safely on the road
That's Maria Montessori: Lernen mit Herz, Kopf und Hand. It's more or less the main concept of the montessori style. The hand is very important.When i remember right, the heart connects the head with the heand, but i could be wrong since it's a long time i last read about montessori.
I could imagine there are small issues in math too, since . and , is used differntly.
There is bowling and there is Kegeln, Kegeln only has 9 pins. The pins are called ... Kegel :). Kegeln is a traditional sport in germany, whereas bowling is an american import.
Cafeterias are very rare and you see them more likely at bigger schools with older pupils, but it's nothing like in the US. If you want to see how it's done really well, you should watch "What to invade next" from Michael Moore, the part about France. Their cafeterias are awesome.
26:11 That is the cutest thing ever :D soo süß!!!!
The floor of a sports facility can costs more than 50.000-100.00€. So of course the right shoes - which doesn't produce marks - are important. There is even a sign "no marking" on the sole for this reason. The shoes you showed are just normal white sneakers and not sports shoes
I love the kinderartzt building. How neat you can walk there also. Love that town you live in. What a dream to be outdoors so much. Things will get better. Yes, love the wandertag! So happy for you all. It will all work out ❤
We didn’t have a cafeteria in my Grundschule at first (1999-2004) but when I was in third grade, the parents and the schoolboard organized a Kiosk in school where you could buy sandwiches and snackbacks with fruit and veggies if you wanted, it was subsidized by the state and donations and ran non-profit, so that was nice. My school was really small though, and very rural, we were so few a cafeteria probably wasn’t feasible. Later at Gymnasium we had a cafeteria, and kids from lower-income housholds could get financial aid for that.
Es ist toll, wie unterhaltsam und detailreich ihr über eure Erfahrungen sprecht. Es macht Spaß euch zu zuhören und zu realisieren, wie groß die Unterschiede zwischen dem deutschen und dem amerikanischen Schulsystem sind.
Most school have a kiosk where you can buy drinks and food. But its usually up 5th grade. In Grundschule you have to provide your kids with food. At my Grundschule you could get milk or Kakao on a Programm everyday 😊 i loved that.
Oh fun! Okay yes our kids’ Gymnasium has a kiosk, but not the Grundschule.
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife Not every Grundschule, but some or most Grundschulen, have a "Pausenverkauf". It's mainly the "Hausmeister" who sells Wurstbrötchen, Brezen, Getränke at the break times. Sometimes there is a bakery or butchery just next to the school and before school starts in the morning, lots of kids buy a "Leberkässemmel" or a Breze there. (Ok, sorry for my mixing German and English).
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife My Gymnasium also had a Pausenverkauf (during a 20-minute break in the morning) which was actually operated by a local bakery. At some point during my school career the custodian started selling milk separately from that; I think that was part of some kind of program by the government to ‘improve’ the nutrition of the students or something the milk industry/farmers lobbied for.
If you can't afford food you can go to the "Tafel" (as in Table with food, not blackboard) and get food there. It's not connected to school and provides people in need with food in general, not just school kids. So the kids would already come to school with packed lunches anyway.
Ah okay, so like Kevin was thinking. Good to know!
You will also qualify for the BuT "Bildung und Teilhabe", where you can apply for money to cover school lunches, excursions, transport to/from school, books, etc. You can apply if your income is below a certain level (usually you would receive other social benefits like unemployment or housing benefits).
A „Tafel“ is what you guys would call a Food Bank
@@runnerfive4479 We got the BuT for 2 years until our income rose. Thankful.
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife in later schools if there are school meals for children, poor parents can have the state pay most of the cost if the do a "Antrag" too.
In the 80s my family was not rich, but quite wealthy in Germany. My father gave me some food for school AND (without the knowledge of my father 😁) my grandgrandma also gave me additional food. So I was able to share it with my classmates that didn't have enough food - or food they didn't like to eat 😄.
Hi Folks, how times are changing. My schoolbag was made of leather with a schoulder strap attached. Contents : a piece of slate with a wooden frame, a wooden ruler, a utensil box made of wood with a set of special pens for the slate board, a sharpener for them and sponge on a string for cleaning the slate. Once or twice a week the infamous Turnbeutel! Second or third class the slate + utensils had to be replaced with a booklet with lines for writing and a second one with a checkered paper for arithmetics. Instead of the pens for the slate, we got a Federhalter and some Federn (nib & nibholder), a set of nib cleaners. The ink was provided by the school and placed in small bottle, crafted into the schooldesk. The refill was done by the schools caretaker, a mean authority! In the pause, they would give us small bottles of milk or cocoa, depending on what was available. Sometimes a Butterbrot or an apple. My younger siblings never had it like this, because the slates,ink,nibs and stuff was replaced by pens or fountain pens. Just like Kevin, my father used to complain how much he had to dash out every beginning of the school-year. We were six kids!! Thank you for sharing your adventures and enjoy the sunday. Oh - When the girl has her first day in school - do not forget the extreme important Schultüte ! ;-)
Oh yes the Schultute will be so fun!
HolyMoly, da hing aber noch das Bild vom Kaiser im Klassenzimmer, oder? *lol*
@@agn855 Nee - es war ein Bild von Ludwig II.:-))
@@agn855 Bildungsminister war ein Herr Maunz.
It is a bit strange that the Grundschule lets the kids go home early without you knowing. Look through your papers if there was one document you had to sign that you are ok to let your kids walk home in cases of skipped classes. If you are not ok with that, the kids will stay in school (under custody) until the regular school end (around 12.00 or 13.00). I thought that was required by law.
Okay good to know!
Ja, ist es auch . Aufsichtspflichtsverletzung. Hochgradig unlustig so was, ich wäre komplett durchgedreht.
Been sent home as early as 10:30 way back when i was in Grundschule (70s/80s). Only had a 4min walk though. But all the other kids went home early too some days. I think we only had 2 days going to 13:10 even.
I liked it a lot if sometimes we could go home a little bit earlier. And if any kid had no parents at home yet, we went with a friend who lives nearby or neighbours... Sometimes neighbours get keys too, so that kids who don't have one or forget it can get in :D
That would've been the case for us too in primary school -what a feast for us as kids being let off the hook early :-D in certain circumstances. Our way home was only like 7 mins walk. But my mum was a housewife anyway and taking care of my baby sis, so she'd be home anyway. We were also in a small village primary school, two grades were taught in one classroom and there were usually two teachers on side, the principal teaching 3rd and 4th grade and another teacher for 1st and 2nd grade, so imagine if one takes sick, it wouldn't be too easy to find a replacement in the quick. I remember when I started school my class teacher was sick and they brought an older teacher back from retirement I assume, my mum had being taught by her already.
In elementary school kids usually only go to the cafeteria if they are enrolled in the "ganztag" (after scholl/afternoon programm). All kids usually eat their breakfast either in the 15-20 minute break after 2nd period or in the breal after 4th period.
Okay yes! We forgot about that, thank you.
In my elementary school every kid had a wooden box for books. We painted the boxes ourselves on the first day of school.
Oh nice!
The game with nine pins in it is most likely "Kegeln", it's basically a smaller version of bowling.
Also the kinds of math problems with "kryptic notes" are text exercises, which are about knowing the math as much as about figuering out how to extract the relevant information from the text.
Regarding the quarantine for a certain class only: All schools have devised a system of cohorts now. The cohorts should not come into contact with each other, so that only the cohort a kid is part of needs to quarantine as only those kids had contact. Most schools use there already existing devision by class for that purpose.
The Klass designations are not that important in other curcumstances, but since (at least in primary school) the kids have all subjects in that group, they will find most friends in there class.
The written excuse is to document that the child really was sick and didn't just skip school. This is important since there is a school mandate in germany. Also if a child is excused by the parent to often the school can require a doctors note for every day of abcence to enshure that the kid isn't forced to stay out of school by the parents.
Yay, you've got a kid playing ice hockey. In southern bavaria ice hockey is a big deal (like football in other parts), and both he and you will get to know more Germans.
Oh cool! Didn’t realize it was so popular here, but it makes sense as we have lakes that freeze over in the winter.
The show thing was so funny. Those black/dark soled shoes leave marks on the floor of the „Turnhalle“. When I was a kid we made a game out of marking up the floor with black lines XD.
🤣🤣🤣 so you were one of the troublemakers? 😜
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife haha, not really. I was always that rule abiding eager to learn girl, but kids do get ideas sometimes where you just go „but why?“ cause as you know they do not think about consequences. I certainly did not expect my teacher to complain to my mom about destroying the „Turnhalle“XD
As for your question regarding the support of lower income families and school lunch, if your school offers lunch because it long days (mostly when you have more than 6 hours of school) you can apply for support and get the lunch paid from the state. So the kid can partake in the lunch and eat with their friends, even if its more expensive than bringing their own food.
About your question regarding school cafeteria: Yes, in Grundschule it's very exceptional to have a cafeteria. Possibly in the big cities they may sometimes have that, but definitely not in small towns. Even in Gymnasium it's not always there, specifically you'll often see an Aula for eating your own prepared meals, but without a kitchen or even a food counter.
Regarding the kids without their own lunch, teachers are strongly encouraged to pay attention for signs of neglect. If your kid regularly doesn't bring a school lunch, their teacher will usually be talking to you about that. If that doesn't solve the problem, it will probably be escalated with the Jugendamt as a child neglect issue.
We live in a small town here in the north and the Grundschule where my kids went to had a cafeteria where the kids can eat lunch (you need to register your child if you want him/her to have lunch in school and pay a small amount for lunch for the entire school year). Most of the the kids who eat lunch in school stay for after-school classes (usually children of single parents or both full-time working parents). They would have lunch in school, do their homework, and play at the park within the school (yes, it's a big bonus that there's a park within the school! The park, however, is only open for the public once school is over and all the schoolchildren have gone home).
Also, they have had two morning breaks (20 min- & 15-min breaks) so they have enough time to finish the sandwiches and fruits that I've prepared for them. Every two weeks, volunteer parents would come to bring fruits from the local farmers. It's part of the school programme where the parents would prepare the fruits in school for all the students to share. Classes would finish at 11:50 so the kids would normally have lunch at home.
Now that they're both in Gymnasium, they have two 20-min breaks in the morning since they have more classes. Classes are dismissed at 12:50 so they both have lunch at home. They also have a cafeteria where they can buy food or snacks, should a student forget to bring his/her lunchbox.
In Finland, they dumped cursive handwriting being a compulsory part of the curriculum back in 2015. Typing skills are considered more important for tomorrow’s world there. I can’t say I agree, I can see no reason why you should not acquire both skills at an early age. Also, love letters with printed characters look somewhat clumsy 😊.
The poor performing students in my single sex girls secondary catholic school in ireland in the 1990s are typewriting classes for those girls as they were not academic....it was believed giving them classes such as home economics baking, sewing, making clothes and typewriting would be better. The typewriting in the 1990s was to help them get a career in administration
The German game with pins you're looking for is Kegeln. It's basically Bowling but with only nine pins and the balls are smaller.
Handwriting was also the only class for which I had a failing grade in elementary school. I had started programming by then (around 1980) so my argument was that everyone would use computers to write by the time I'd graduate.
Carrying too many books to school was already a problem in my country (Belgium) in the 1980s, that's why kids started using backpacks instead of the old-fashioned book bags with a single strap that I had to use (which made children lean over to one side).
Interestingly we have the same 'standardization' of class names: animal names for kindergarten and letters for elementary school.
Oh cool to know it’s similar in Belgium! And so cool you were already programming in 1980 - way ahead of your time!
When a school is more efficient and strict the time spent learning is more effective so then there is more time for school outdoor activities.
Makes sense.
Hi, I am from Germany and tere is really a "German bowling" with 9 pins, wich is really common. Is is called "Kegeln"
I'm sure 37 people have said it already, but German bowling does indeed have nine pins. It's called Kegeln. :-)
Interesting perspectives. Grundschulen tend to be set up as „half-day“ schools so the kids come home for lunch. When the mother works, there is usually a „Hort“ where the kids are taken care of until later in the day and they would get a meal there. Have you had to explain long division yet? The German way of doing division is extremely complicated and I was unable to help my kids when they had these problems. I think the American way was much easier.
Had exactly the same experience as you. In the German long division version, the numbers are kept in your mind, not written down. After the first year of Grundschule we opted to send our daughter to the Nachmittagsbetreuung, because as an only child, she would have more opportunities to play with friends and she would do her homework there with a teacher's assistant, sparing me some headaches.
"... when the mother works ..." :D ... (Stay-at-home mothers work ALL THE TIME. They are just not getting paid.)
@@ingeborggroth1415 Sorry! I, of course, meant mothers working outside of the home!
Yeah they are a lot differents, even I am from Switzerland, I know about the differents.
Wünsche euch einen guten Start in die neue Woche. XD
Tipp for to havy Bags:
I only packed the School Materials for the Day. If i only had 3 Classes that day i only had the stuff for the 3 Classes. Also most schools schould have Lockers. Meaby not the Grundschule but the Gymnasium should have some. At least evry school i did go to had some. (Some of them you needed to pay a pfand or a small monthly rent in my case 5€) but 90% are free.
I left all the books i didnt needed in the locker and only took home what i needed for homework or for studying.
hi, i love watching your videos. Maybe ypu can make one and answer how life of your cat has changed. maybe a different food, was she at a german vet?, etc
Fun fact: We have two types of cursive in Germany - it seems to me that your children learn „vereinfachte Ausgangsschrift“ instead of „Schreibschrift“. Of course it‘s not only your children, it hasd changed some time about 20 years ago in Bavaria, afaik. When I was in elementary school, we wrote in Druckschrift in grade 1 and 2, Schreibschrift in grade 3 and vereinfachte Ausgangsschrift in grade 4.
I believe the religion class schedule is because of availability of teachers - the protestant/catholic class may taught by local pastors (who have their own work schedule that the school needs to work around) while the ethics class is often a normal teacher. Or it's because their religion teacher is only part time employed.
Ah okay! That makes sense.
Normally religion os taught by „normal“ teachers who have studied religious instruction. And since all of them also teach different subjects they can’t give the different lessons at the same time.
In bavaria there also exist Religion teachers employed by church. They often work in up to 5 schools, so their timetable is quite complicated... (I am one of them). So you have to work out a timetable where for example the catholic children have their classes whereas the others can go home earlier. And the next day vice versa.
@@claudiakarl7888 I went to school in Thuringia, and during my Gymnasium years, my religion teacher always was a pastor, not a teacher. That's why some kids chose religion over ethics, as religion class often was canceled because the pastor had other engagements that were more important (usually funerals).
Coming from Schleswig Holstein, my first thought was "How many religion lessons do they have?" We had it only once a week from year 1 to 9 , and in the Oberstufe (year 10 to 12), we could choose between religion and philosophy. And also drug prevention was scheduled for religion, at least in my school. And if your parents don't want their kids in religion class, they could sign them out quite easy (at least from the German state of view).
- Every Grundschule wich offers "Nachmittagsbereuung" oder has the profile "Ganztagsschule" has to provide a warm meal to every kid joining it.
- There are two types of Schreibschrift being teached in Germany. They are called Vereinfachte Ausgangsschrift and Schulausgangsschift. The principal decides about wich one will be teached, so it can vary from shool to shool. Usually the children learn to write cursive in 2nd grade, but when a teacher thinks all the pupils master the regular letters with certainty, they may start earlier oder later.
- Currently there are not so many teachers around, who had Deutsch als Zweitsprache as a subject at university, but the subject gained in popularity since the big wave of refugees in 2015/2016.
Hey,
At first i like your content very much, its interesting to see your perspective as an expal and at least it is very funny.
As a teacher in northern Germany some information, that i.m.o. has to be the same, even in Bavaria.
1.) The daily schedule is to give the kids a reliable daily structure., which is very important for their development.
Griffins sports teacher seems to be very strict, maybe he doesn`t know that he just moved abroad?
Concerning the schools ending:
a) In Germany we have a system called "Verlässliche Grundschule" (reliable Elemantary-School). It is different from Bundesland to Bundesland, but e.g. in Schleswig-Holstein we have class 1+2 reliable at school till 11:00 clock and class 3+4 reliable till 12:00 clock.
b) If Kids are sended home earlier for some reason, the school calls the parents to inform them. If the parents are at work, the kids can stay at the OGS (Offene Ganztagsschule/open all-day school) till the parents have quitting time. There they can have lunch, do homework or just play.
2.)Handwriting and cursive is of course an important focus in elementary-school. Sadly we are mostly not as far we want in digital classes as we should (or could) be. Therefore class works are written in handwriting (ther are almost no multiple-choice-tests like in the US).
I have corrected so many tests and believe me, i am sooo happy, when i am able to read, what the pupil wrote. :)
3.)Some others just posted about german bowling with nine pins called Kegeln, so i won't go into that further. I think it is just a matter of time to get used to the style of tasks.
4.)According to the class names by using a,b,c etc.: Unfortunatly in most german schools we have a lack of teachers, so the class tacher may change sometime. Therefore it is easier for the kids to remeber that they are in e.g. 3a than to remember that they are in e.g. Frau Müllers class, than change to Frau Schulzes class, than change to Herr Meyers class etc.
Alongside it makes the organization within school a lot more simple.
5.)This one really surprised me.
Normally you have two 10-15 minute breaks in the morning, where the pupils can eat and drink.
Every school i know has a cafeteria, where the kids ca buy drinks and breakfast things like Croissants, buns, fruits, drinks etc. for breakfast.
At lunch (mostly within the "OGS") they can choose between three different meals to eat at school (normal, vegetarian and muslim-style).
Kids, whose parents don't have enough money to pay for the meals get a coupon. This system is called "Bildungs und Teilhabepaket".
This includes meals at school, assumption of costs for school trips, school supplies etc.
6.)You need to alert the school, because the "chain of maintenance" has to be obtained. Just imagine one of your kids has an accident on their way to school. In the worst case nobody will notice that, but if the school is missing him or her (he or she ist not there and you haven't told the school that he or she is sick today), they will instantly initiate the necessary steps.
Sorry for my poor english and the long text
I appreciate your wonderful and inspiring Videos.
Greetings
Rob
to 2) handwriting also is really good for brain developement. I have a toddler now and I'd rather have less digital lessons than more for him. There are enough studies that digital learning is not as good as analogous learning simply because more senses are being used.
5) I've never seen an elementary school with a cafeteria, only "Weiterführende" had one.
Ellas first day of school will be another culture shock, i think. The most important thing for her will be her Schultüte. It is a kind of big cone made from paper or something, filled with sweets and little gifts. Often there will be a date in the kindergarten to make one, together with the Kids. But this depends on the Kindergarten.
Schultüte is such a cute tradition!
Sometimes parents independently make or organize extra "Geschwister-Schultüten" for the siblings for this day.
They are usually quite a lot smaller than the real Schultüten for the real first day of school and are only there so that younger siblings do not have to be jealous.
But since Ella's older siblings never had a German Schultüte, they might be happy too, who knows ... 😉
As a teacher myself I appreciate how relaxed you are as parents. If something goes wrong in the communication between you and the school or if there are cultural misunderstandings, you just say "Well, happens", move on and see it as an experience to learn from. There are lots of parents who, in your situation, would have called the school every other day just to complain. I think it's much easier and nicer to work together as teachers and parents if both sides don't overreact when little things go wrong. It's also a great attitude to teach the kids!
As a mom of two boys in Gymnasium in Munich I can tell that this statement illustrates perfectly what bothers me most about our school. They explicitly want the "well happens"(your words)-parents when they forget to inform (parents or pupils) on important things, don't hold their promises, blame pupils for things they are not responsible for. But the school would never dismiss kids and parents with that "well happens" if they mess up things unintentionally, even if the school did not care to clarify the regulations and proceedings properly. But I assume your school is different, is it?
The game with 9 pins is "Kegeln". It is similar to bowling, but the ball don't have holes for fingers in them.
18:16 well... There is "Kegeln" which is played with 9 pins and smaller balls where you don't have to put your fingers in and is therefore also nicer for kids to play :D
In the Netherlands school system is kindergarten (peuterspeelzaal) from 2 - 4 years and it’s from 8:30 to 11:45/12:00 o’clock 2 days in the week
The basisschool (elementary school) is from 4,5 to 12 years old. On Monday, Tuesday, Thursday are from 8:30 - 12:00 than the children are going to home to eat or children stay at school to eat there by a TSO tussen schoolse opvang (between school care) and the school start than again at 13:15 - 15:15 o’clock and Wednesday and Friday are from 8:30 - 12:00 o’clock
Interesting, do they get a lot of homework?
@@LaurieMag the books are at School so there get assignments in every class. when the assignments are not finished at the end of the class then they have to take them home to finish home.
I’m so glad you shared how it’s done Netherlands - so interesting to learn!
when I went to elementary school in our small village in BW religion class was split up between protestants and catholics. however as in our region basically everyone is catholic the class for the protestants was made up of all protestant kids grades 2-4 which came down to a total of 7 students (me included). we also had to stay an hour longer on that day to attend religion class as our priest didn't have time when the other catholic class took place and during that time everyone who wasn't catholic gathered together in another classroom where we either did our homework, could ask questions or played games.
Opposite for me and my sister in Oldenburg, northern Germany in the mid 60s. We both were the only left footers in the whole Volkschule.
We had a spare period every week where we didn't have to do anything. 😁
No religious study for nearly 3 years. Although we still went to a local church every week.
I don't believe that was the reason I stopped going to confession in my teens.
When I was in elementary school, I was able to put my school stuff in my „desk“ in school
Cursive handwriting also differs within Germany. There are at least 3 different handwritings depending on the state.
I learned the Lateinische Ausgangsschrift and Blockschrift in primary school, but today, the Vereinfachte Ausgangsschrift is most common. But there is also the Schulausgangsschrift of the GDR.
In Bavaria the vereinfachte Ausgangsschrift is only used since ca 15 Years.
Bowling needs 10 Pins - German "Kegeln" has 9 Pin´s - Kegeln is more free in which way you want to play - like a set of cards you can play different games - and in a group it makes fun... should find someone who can introduce you... :-)
Ah so cool!
Kegeln (similar to bowling, but different) has nine pins.
There are only few areas where you have schools, where kids really have few food.
In this areas there are often social associations like the Tafeln (Food Banks), sometimes the booster clob (?) Förderverein of the school, the social worker or even the teachers who care for this.
Sometimes there are even wealthier families who know this, and give their kids an additional brekfast to share.
In our Grundschule there is no need for this, but if a child forgot their breakfast, all other kids are very willing to share something from their breakfast.
Does your school have some sort of daycare or Hort for after school hours? Your kids could stay there if there are terminated classes and you don't want them to leave school so early or unexpextedly, which I totally get. Me and my sister stayed there when we were still young in school. Communication with your kids is key otherwise. If they have "orders" ;) to come straight home from school all is fine, but if they can't tell you that school ended early (do they have phones?) and they decide to explore or get some ice cream or something on the way it makes the whole thing very unpredictable. I did that mistake as a very young child and it was a huge learning experience for me. I went home with a friend, (first time I ever did) forgot the time, never thought about informing my parents, went home, saw my mother arrive home an hour later, crying because she had been searching for me, thinking I was lying in a ditch somewhere or had been kidnapped. Thinking back, I never had the big "Don't go with strangers, don't go anywhere without informing us" talk, so it wasn't completely my fault, but we certainly had that talk then. It certainly was a big scare for everyone, me included to see my mother crying like that. I'm totally fine with kids leaving school an hour or two early (it is the same school walk after all) but for the fact that you, as the mother, have no idea, which I totally get. You never knew to expect them early. If, and only if, something bad had happened on the way, that's not the thing you wanna beat yourself up for not knowing. I don't have kids but that is defenitely something I would do: that they always tell me when school ended early, just so I know they are not there anymore. I am forever a burnt child with that childhood trauma I guess. ;D
Loved reading your story! I can imagine your mom was so scared! Yes our school does have Hort afterwards. We’ve thought about putting Griffin in it so he can play with friends and eat lunch.
What's the law in Germany about letting kids leave school early? In Austria, the parents have to be informed if school finishes earlier or later than usual, especially with young kids. Same reason as telling the school your kid is sick. Something could happen on the way and nobody would know about it...
@@maracuja1009
Actually the school is not allowed to send the kids home early, at least in elementary school. Even when the teacher is sick and the school can’t provide a substitute they cannot simply send the kids home - for all the reasons mentioned. I wonder whether there was a note that wasn‘t delivered or got lost in translation 🤔. That was the case with our children when they were home earlier than they should have been. That‘s why in elementary school every such note has to be signed by a parent, to make sure the parents know of it. But then again mistakes happen and once in a while they slip through 🤷♀️.
From my understanding, spots for after care are limited and reserved for families where both parents work full time
In my old elementary school we were able to leave our stuff under the table, in my current school (5-13 grade) we have lockers. But we still have to carry lots of stuff because of homework
This video honestly made me realise how hard it must be for other people who didn't live in germany their whole life to get used to it
Hide a key in the garden somewhere in case you are not at home and your kids come home early without notice.
I don't know any German elementary school with a cafeteria or sth similar. You have to take care that the kids bring enough food with them. A lot of elementary schools are much too small that it doesn't make any sense, having a cafeteria. Sometimes there is a "Elterninitiative" to organize the selling of "belegte Brötchen" or "Brezeln" during the break. But then you have to find enough parents who are willing to help voluntarily.
Ah okay, so good to know!
In Grundschule there‘s usually no lunchbreak because school ends at 12 and kids go home to eat.
German 9-pin-bowling indeed has nine pins. It's called Kegeln and is quite fun. But I can totally empathize with the unintelligible problem setting in school. Grundschule is usually only in the morning. So kids are not expected to have a full meal at school. Kids whose parents cannot afford the field trip usually can apply for support with the school.
13:49 We had lockers, usually the books stayed at school (they were anyway belonging to the school in order to reduce costs for the parents to buy books). Mostly our teachers did summary handouts and the homework was as well on the handouts. Therefore one only had to carry some sheets of paper home.
Fun story:
My home was 1,5 KM from the school, when I had a broken ankle I was supposed to walk to school (on the way back I was picked up by a friend of my mum on most of the days) - Every week the plaster had to be reinforced twice as it broke under the strain ;) - After 3 weeks the plaster was getting so heavy that they had to replace it altogether ;)
I am sorry for your son to have had this experience in sports classes. There definately would have been a kid-friendlier and softer way to handle the situation than the one that teacher chose. As you say it depends on the individual though and I (also being a teacher in Ger.) personally would have considered a way to not exclude your son from classes.
Especially new in the class that must have been quite sad for him being branded "outsider".
I think there are some insurance reasons (because of the pockets), but then the teacher may have simply excluded the rougher exercises.
Normally the school sends the parents a letter at the start of the year that would tell you about the sport shoes and that the soles have to be in a light color. But maybe they only did it for children in the first year and assumed parents knew for the following years.
I think as a child it was really good to learn that I have to be prepared and on time. And it is my responsibility to find out what to bring/wear/know. Of course you cannot know everything. Sometimes one makes mistakes.
But being sent outside is a quite regular thing. It doesn't hurt. Worst case you get bored. You should not take it to serious. Some kids actually missbehave to be thrown out of class, so they don't have to participate in a subject they don't like. ;)
18:00 there's another type of "bowling" in Germany, called "Kegeln". Basically it's the same as bowling, but with 9 pins only.
In Bavaria where I went to school. Grundschule was never longer than 6 classes. 2 classes, 15 min break, 2 clsses, 15min break, 2 classes, home. You are expected to have you breakfast before you go to school and have lunch at home.
Once you get to 5th grade school days tend to have more than 6 lessons a day. The break after the 6th lesson is 30min and that is the "lunch break". Kids are allowed to go off the school grounds to a nearby grocery store/bakery/kiosk or use the cafeteria in school, or ofc eat their food brought from home.
I have not seen a secondary school that has no cafeteria or food cart for the 30min break, but I didn't change schools a lot. So my experience is limited.
I had to laugh so much while watching your video. We moved from russia to germany when i was 4 years old. I came home so often with tears in the eyes. My parents had exact the same problems. It was horrible for me sitting there while the others plays soccer during the gym hours. Or having no costume while the Karnevalsparty :-D. Now i'm 33 and fortunately my children don't have these problems :-)
Awe I’m sorry you had these issues when you moved here, too! Being a foreigner is definitely very difficult.
Anita is right. Depending on the principal, pupils aren't allowed to go home early without notification until 10th grade 7 9th, let alone in Grundschule. They'd make themselves strafbar if sending a kid home without letting the parents know AND beeing allowed to do so. In Bavaria, which is the region you actually live in, teachers aren't even allowed to send children out of the classroom and leave them unattended. Really, that is a big thing over here. If there was no paper, signed by you, you should escalate that pretty quickly.
Okay good to know! There must be something going on we don’t understand due to the language barrier.
Insurance concerns play a role there I think
That’s strange, I was definitely sent home back when I was in Grundschule several times a year… not sure if it‘s changed though.
@@bellathemusicaddict it’s not allowed but teachers still do it when they trust the students. I’ve never heard of anything happening due to a kid being released earlier.
I had a brilliant education in math at my gymnasium. It was hard but very rewarding. After school I studied economics (which is very math based) and I already knew everything math related from school.
That cozy-family-feel you had at your old school will surely increase a lot post-covid. Schools everywhere had to scramble and be "down to business". Of course, we Germans have that mindset anyway, but during these times even we had to kick it up a notch. I'm not saying it will be just like your old school, but I'm sure it will get much more like it, don't worry!
In schools that are known for having a big number of poor kids, breakfast ist often provided. If there is no lunch at school ( if the school is a Ganztagsschule lunch is even common in primary school) poor kids often visit private institutions like “die arche”. Kids not only get lunch there but even help with homework and can play afterwards.
Normally the separation of class groups makes it easier to have that cozy family feeling, especially in Grundschule and a small town of yours. You only communicate with your kids teachers and other parents of this group.. maybe due to COVID restrictions things are still different, but I‘m sure you‘ll get to that point.
Concerning the books and utensils you‘re kids have to carry.. maybe you should look into a „Schulranzen“. They are specifically designed for young and small kids who have to carry all kind of school supplies. They are for sure not cheap, but will help your kids a lot, at least in Grundschule.
When I was in school, I participated in an exchange programme and actually went for a few weeks to the states, where I also went to school and had to participate in the school day like all the other kids. What I actually like about the German school system compared to the us: kids stay in their class/group environment. They do everything with their group of kids. If they have another teacher for a specific topic (maths, religion etc), the teacher will come to their classroom and they stay together.
That‘s why school are split in different levels, and not the kids within the same grade
In Belgium the classes/forms are numbered too, e.g. 3A, 3B, ... in promary school as well as in secundary school. In Kindergarten it is often with animal names. But in my grandchildrens' primary school, which is a Freinetschool, classes are named after animals too: de blue beavers, the brown beavers, the woolfs, ... love your videosbecause I spent lots of weekends and holidays in my parents' second house in the SchneeEifel.
Activities: When I was in Grundschule, we often went to the forest, when the weather was appropriate and our teacher showed us the different plants, animals and so on. And in the end every child (or two together, if they wanted) was allowed to build a little house out of sticks and moss.
"Pfüat Euch" is the bavarian abberviation of "Behüte Euch Gott", which you wish each other when parting. If you only talk to one person it is "Pfüat Di" ("Behüte Dich Gott").
German bowling is called KEGELN and is popular since the early middle ages
I'm from Canada, and my classes were also separated by letters. My elementary school cohort was too big to be in 1 class, so we were split into 2 or 3 groups each year. I think it's more common to refer to a class by the teacher's last name in schools where they have Homeroom teachers, but we didn't do that at my school
and I was also separated into animal groups in kindergarten, probably because it's easier for younger kids to remember that they're a tiger or a fish or whatever, rather than a letter-number combo
It is funny hearing you talking about the "what letter are you in" at school. It is pretty straight forward though. A class in Germany usually cannot have more than e.g. 30 students as otherwise the teacher could not focus on each one of them. So, if at 5th grade you have 54 students at a specific school, you have 5 A and 5 B to separate the 54 students at 5th grade into classes A and B, making each class with 27 students. Hope that clears it up;-)
In the Gymnasium or Realschule the class teacher can change. So it's easier to name the classes by letters.
I grew up in germany and that part with sit out in gym clas was practical because when you dont want to do sport you can just „forget“ your gym bag 😂
🤣🤣 good strategy
in the schools I went to, you had to call before the start, because the teachers get informed before class and know about it when doing the attendance call. the written one you have to do is probably because they cant know if its actually the parents if its just a interactive thing on a website
When I heard the story about the gym class, I was very surprised (if not to say "shocked"). I guess some teachers forget that these are still young children...
Whenever my son forgot his gym shoes, he had to come to the gym hall on socks and watch (which is bad enough for a child that loves sports). At least his gym teachers usually let the kids without proper gym clothes help with getting balls, ropes etc from the storage. There were teachers in Gesamtschule later on though, who judged "forgetting your clothes" as "having no interest in sports and trying to skip" and wrote down a "6" (F) for the sports class this day for anyone without gym clothes. This was horrible for my son because he loved sports - he did not forget his gym clothes ever. Only his math homework ;o)
Thank you, yeah, the teacher was too strict. :(
The naming of the classes 5A 5B 5C and so on is simply to distinguish the individual classes. This has nothing to do with the level of the students.
In some schools the classes are also separated with numbers after the grade, so for example 10.1 10.2 10.3
Students usually stay together throughout their time in each school, while teachers may change sometimes.
Ah yes, very good points!
I remember being in Volksschule (its the austrian Grundschule) and having to carry my heavy school bag, my sports bag and an extra bag for „textiles Werken“ (idk if you have this subject in Germany) every Monday. A great workout to start the week right as an 8 year old, luckily my school was just 10 minutes away from home by foot 😂
BTW, not German! I don’t even have kids. Just a person who is interested in different cultures. Enjoy your content ♥️
Oh cool! Very glad to have you here!
I went to a "Gesamtschule" after the "Grundschule" it's a type of school day that is more like the American school system with a breakfast break in the morning and a one-hour lunch break in the afternoon. It's a full day school and it usually ends at about 3 or 4 o clock in the afternoon. I always liked it very much and was never hungry at school so maybe consider such a school after the "Grundschule" for your kids. Many people will tell you it's not as "worthy" as a German "Gymnasium" but that was a long time ago. I made my A-level exams there and after that, I studied. It really depends on how the school is like in general. No matter where you send your kids after Grundschule, definitely go there and look at it before you send your children there.
On the Gesamtschule and also on basically every other school I know that comes after the Grundschule, they absolutely have a cafeteria where kids can sit down and eat. A Grundschule usually has no cafeteria the kids can go to. That's pretty common.
In fact, in many areas, we have the problem that kids are not well supported by their parents when it comes to lunch. Often, especially in the Grundschule, we have no lunch programs for kids that don't get food with them to school. It's more common in the school type that follows after the Grundschule. Most of the time the schools organize a system like that alone, not the school system which I find very sad. There is no common program that we have in the entire country.
As for the heavy bookbags: Some schools offer the possibility to leave the books that aren't needed for homework in the classroom. In my elementary school for example every kid had a shoe box where we could store our primers because reading was mostly only done in class. Maybe inquire with other parents or the class teacher if that is an option at your school :)
Great tip, thank you!
What you might have already learned in Germany is that being organized is a very big part of German culture - and if you are organized things run pretty smoothly here. To name a German phrase "Ordnung ist die halbe Miete". It is not just about having the room clean or organized - but in your case with school it means to have the school schedules in mind and to plan your week around them especially when your kids start to write important tests in Gymnasium - or to pack the school bags. In Gymnasium it even makes learning a lot easier - especially when it is about languages especially Latin.