The Berliner Zoo

At my school, one day in the course of each semester is dedicated to field trips. In this case, it was yesterday, and I went with the eighth class to the zoo. I hadn’t been to a zoo since I was quite small, and I’d heard that Berlin had kind of a neat zoo, so I was pretty excited myself.

I wasn’t really responsible for doing anything; the students had to go on a scavenger-hunt type activity, splitting up into groups and finding information about different animals. Since the hunt was written and had to be answered in English, they occasionally asked me what an animal was called in English, or how to spell something correctly. Other than that, I just got to walk around and see the animals. The zoo is one of the newer ones, so there aren’t a whole lot of fences. The humans are separated from the other animals by maybe ten feet and a moat, so you feel pretty close to them. There’s also a petting zoo, and you can buy 20 cents worth of food and have the animals eat out of your hand. I didn’t buy any food, but I had a lot of fun watching the kids shriek happily as the goats and sheep chowed down. The animals in that part of the zoo must be some of the fattest, most content creatures on earth.

Since the teachers were walking around by themselves, I also got a chance to see what the kids were like when not under direct supervision. Most of them were quite cute, actually; they’d see me coming, and then huddle for a few seconds before selecting a spokesperson to come ask me a question. The situation with languages is a little confusing. Obviously, I’m only supposed to use English with the students, and they should only be using English with me. The teachers whose classes I visit have told the younger students (the seventh, eighth, and ninth classes, who are between 12 and 14 or so) that I don’t speak any German at all. (When the older kids ask me the same question, I usually just say, “Not as far as you’re concerned.” With a smile, of course). However, the same teachers will then address me in German in front of the students. So I think the students aren’t really sure what to believe.

At any rate, I was talking to the members of one group in front of the aviary, when one girl asked another (in German) if I could understand German. When the other girl said that she didn’t know, the first girl turned to me and said, “Ob Sie mich verstehen, wenn ich auf Deutsch rede” (I wonder whether you understand me when I speak German). I shrugged my shoulders, smiled, and said (in English), “You should really speak to me in English, or you won’t get any practice.” She studied me for a few seconds, then turned to her friend and said that I hadn’t understood what she said. It was sort of a funny episode.