Week 11- Professional Development

Week 11 - 6^th-12^th April 2012

The last two years of teaching practice have taught me that no two days will ever be the same, and to expect the unexpected! This has been no different during teaching practice so far here in Denmark!

The main classes I am to be in are Maths for second grade (aged 8/9) and English with 4^th and 5^th grade (10-12). Our first day began with a maths lesson with a class we have visited before and here I knew that although I was not going to be able to actually teach anything due to my limited vocabulary and their lack of English, I was going to be able to work as a type of classroom assistant for these two hours.  Using different techniques and the little Danish I know I was able to help the children with any problems they had with their work. Although this was challenging, I felt proud at the end that we had been able to cope and to help the children, and some of the girls even managed to learn the words “You are very good teachers, thank-you” in English to say to us at the end of the class!

On Wednesday, Kai, the teacher who we follow the majority of the time had told us he was taking his 4^th grade class on a trip to visit all their houses and their pets! This seemed a little strange to me, especially when he explained it was for a Science lesson, but I thought it would all become clear on the day.  Having witnessed a totally different attitude to learning inside the classrooms than what I am used to seeing at home, I was intrigued at how this walk would work, especially when it came to crossing roads and arriving at the children’s houses! It was a totally different experience to what I expected, the children ‘followed’ Kai as we walked, although they were often running ahead, lagging behind, climbing trees or walking on the other side of the road from every-one else. It was a complete contrast to what I expected, or what you would witness in Northern Ireland where consent forms would have to be signed, children would be paired up and counted continually during the walk, instead Kai just had faith that the children would follow him, or at times even lead him to where we were going. Although this was an interesting experience, I felt jumpy and nervous the whole time, constantly wondering if all the pupils were with us, or were walking safely. Education here is totally different and has a much more relaxed atmosphere which it is definitely taking some time to get used to! I kept thinking how a walk like this would go down at home, some parents didn’t even know the whole class was going to turn up at their house!

I have also had the opportunity to do small group work exercises with a 4^th grade English class, just basic conversation skills encouraging the children to try and work together to figure out words they didn’t know and to ask and answer questions. I really enjoyed this as I got to work with three different groups and it was nice to finally be able to communicate and get to know some of the pupils a bit better as this is something I am finding strange as we move around so many different classes each day.

Overall I am enjoying the beginning of these two weeks, and although it is pushing me out of my comfort zone in the classroom, it is a challenge I am keen to face. Teachers may not know where all the pupils are, they may not know what they are going to do each day, but somehow the whole system seems to work, and with a relaxed atmosphere meaning the pupils can enjoy themselves. Next week brings a whole new challenge as we embark on a project week, so I look forward to seeing what new challenges this brings!

Week 10- Cultural Development

Week 10- 30^th March- 5^th April

This past week has been a busy week of sightseeing and being like a proper tourist. I have had the opportunity not only to be a tourist in Copenhagen but also in Berlin where Alison and I went, along with two Italian girls and a Spanish girl from our class for our Easter break.  This week I have seen so many new things and had the chance to visit a variety of different places and developed my cultural awareness of both these countries.

The week began with a visit from my Dad and my younger sister! This was something I was so looking forward to, as I knew it would give me the opportunity to show them where I have been living for the last two months, but also to show them how well I have learnt to navigate myself through this totally different city and to finally go to many of the places I myself have not had the opportunity to visit. We went on a canal tour which not only showed us the various famous sights of Copenhagen, but also provided me with new information and understanding of these areas.  I really enjoyed getting to see Copenhagen in a totally different light, as over these past months I have become so used to the culture and way of life here it was interesting to see it again through the eyes of a tourist and to see how well I have adapted to this way of living.

After my busy weekend with my family, we took off for Berlin early Tuesday morning.  This was a trip I was really looking forward to as Germany is a country I have never visited. As we landed we discussed all the different things we wanted to see, and I quickly realised that our 3 day visit was not going to be anywhere near enough time to see everything! We however managed to squeeze so many different activities in, visiting Charlotteburg palace, the East side gallery, and the Olympic Stadium, as well as doing a 4 hour walking tour which showed us sites such as Hitler’s bunker, the Brandenburg gate and Checkpoint Charlie.  Germany has a well known history, but I discovered that I actually knew so little about the people living there and the conflicts that occurred within the city boundaries.  This trip was so informative and I have a whole new awareness and appreciation for the city.  I found we were all constantly asking each other various questions, eager to develop our knowledge and understanding of the culture in this city.

Sights like the Berlin wall, the east side gallery and the concentration camp we visited really hit home about how life was here, and how recently the conflicts ended.  We met a group of people who were on a trip from Northern Ireland to compare the conflict at home with the conflict between East and West Berlin.  This was something I had not previously considered but after talking with them I was able to recognise many similarities between the two places. 

Berlin was an amazing city, filled with things to see, and is a place I will want to visit again, as I feel we only scratched the surface of discovering the culture of this place.  Going away with girls from other countries was a great experience also, as we were all able to learn from each other about how things are in our own countries.  I loved asking them questions about their home lives and discovering more about these countries as well.  Our only issue was over meal times, as the Spanish and Italian prefer to eat so late at dinner, and Ali and I were always far to hungry to wait until 9pm!

This week has been a week of learning and developing my knowledge and understanding of a variety of different towns and cities, and I am now defiantly keen to get more sightseeing and discovery in during my remaining time here! 

Professional Development

Week 9- 22^nd-29^th March 2012

Half way there. As I think back over the last nine weeks I can’t believe how much I have learnt, How much I have done and how many people I have met along the way. Without a doubt this has been one of the best experiences of my life so far, and there is still so much more to come.

Day visits and observations are done, and after Easter I will be beginning a two week block of teaching practice in my school here. This is something that although I am looking forward to, I am worried about the challenges I will face. I will mainly be attending and teaching maths and English classes as I have discovered from my three observation days these are the classes I can participate in the most.  Due to wanting to work with children in the younger grades communication is an issue, as many of them do not speak much English, and I don’t speak much Danish (apart from the numbers, which is why the maths classes will work!)   However, I am looking forward to these challenges, and have already had the opportunity to work with the pupils in maths and have discovered that even though there is a language barrier, there are so many other ways to help explain what I mean.  This is something I really feel will benefit me in my teaching as I find I am constantly looking for different, simple methods to explain things to enable every child to understand. 

Although Denmark is renowned for having one of the best education systems in Europe, every time I am in the classroom my eyes are opened. Teachers and pupils here have a totally different way of working together and relating to each other.  Pupils are allowed more freedom in what they do, and are not constantly told to be quiet, or to listen to explanations! There are even times when the children don’t carry out the work required and nothing is said.  This is something I am having trouble coming to terms with, as I can’t get my head around how the pupils manage to actually learn anything! However, I was talking to the teacher of the English classes, and explained my thoughts, and was pleased to see he often had the same questions! Having attended school in America, he understood where I was coming from in my views, and explained that although it seemed so strange to me now, it was all the pupils had known, and that the learning does still take place, the atmosphere is just so much more relaxed.

I have no idea what all will happen over these two weeks, but I can be sure that no matter what I will come away with my eyes opened, and with some many new ideas and opinions that I can bring into my teaching when I return home.  It will be tough at times not to get stressed at the different way the children react in the classroom and the seeming lack of respect for the teacher, but if it was going to be easy I wouldn’t have the opportunity to learn and develop as a teacher, so I am looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead! Wish me luck!

Week 8- Personal Development

Week 8- 15^th-21^st March 2012

St. Patrick's Day parade in Copenhagen!

There have been ups and downs, but now at week 8, all our classes have began, school placement and visits are underway and I am finally finding it easier to deal with the language barrier, both in class and in Denmark in general.

Checking on our Shepherd's Pie!

This week has been busy, filled with St. Patrick's Day celebrations, school visits and an international dinner! As a class filled with students from at least six different countries we decided to host an international night, in which we would all cook a dish from our home country and let everyone try it! As I am not the best cook, I was nervous for what we could possibly make that everyone would enjoy, and that we wouldn’t burn, as Ali and I seem to do with all our food here! After a lot of discussion and confusion between everyone, we decided to join with the two girls from Dublin, and together the four of us made a massive shepherd’s pie! Our first choice was Irish stew, or Beef and Guinness pie, but after much discussion we decided the shepherd’s pie would be easier to make in a large quantity! We arrived at school, excited to find out about all the other different foods we would be trying, and found out there was going to be so much choice, Spanish omelette, Belgian chocolate mousse, German apple cake, American chocolate brownies, Italian pasta, Austrian pancakes and Slovenian breads! I have to say, it was probably the best meal I have had, and the most I have eaten since I arrived here 8 weeks ago! It was such a great opportunity to try different foods, that I would otherwise probably not have even thought about trying and have even taken some of the recipes to try to make the dishes again myself when I get home! Although, a lot of people did admit that the shepherd’s pie was their favourite, so it seems we aren’t such terrible cooks after all!

Trying a little bit of everything!

This week also marked the end of my Science module, a class I have definitely struggled with, often due to the language barrier as well as the fact it was something totally different to what I expected when I picked it! However, I do feel that although this was a challenge, it was a good opportunity to try something totally different, and to push myself outside my comfort zone even though it was difficult at times.

I can barely believe that I have already been here 8 weeks, nearly half way through my time here, and although I have had the opportunity to do so many things, I look at the list Ali and I made on our first day of things we wanted to see, and realise that instead of it getting shorter, we keep adding new things! I am loving having the opportunity to explore this amazing place, and to learn more and more about where I am living. There are obviously barriers and issues that I find difficult, but it seems my Danish is improving more than I thought, as this week when I returned to school, the pupils all remembered my name, age and where I came from, something which I tried to tell them in my basic, broken Danish last week! I am excited for what more there is to come over the next few weeks, the sun has come out and suddenly I realise just how beautiful a place this is, and am so grateful that I have the opportunity to call this country home for these few months!

St. Patrick's day, three legged race through the city!

Week 7- Professional Development

Week 7- 8^th-15^th March 2012

First Danish hotdog!

Week 7 and many things have happened for the first time since I arrived here in Copenhagen; the sun has come out, I have finally tried the famous Danish hotdogs and most importantly I have had my first visit to my school for teaching practice!

Ali and I at the top of the Round Tower, Copenhagen.

Before our two week block of placement we have the chance to visit the school for observation on three separate occasions to let us get to know the teacher, the pupils and how the school works.  On the train on the way to my school for the first time I was so nervous, my mind was going through all the different possibilities of what all could go wrong, my main worry being the language barrier as children here don’t begin to learn English until they are 8 or 9.  However, upon arriving at school, we were all pleasantly surprised as all the staff seemed very friendly and immediately made us all feel very welcome.  I am doing my placement with three other students from other countries and for the most part we will all be in the same classroom. At first this seemed strange to me as I am used to being on my own, but I feel that I will actually be able to learn a lot from each of them and their different teaching methods.

Schools here are totally different to at home which was something I quickly noticed after entering the classroom.  Not only do the pupils begin school aged 6 and remain in this school until they are 16, but they atmosphere and teaching styles are totally different than in Northern Ireland.  Although each class has its own classroom like at home, they do not stay with the same teacher throughout the day, but they have a new teacher who comes to their classroom for each different lesson.  Lessons last for 45 minutes, and seem to have a totally different structure than I am used too.  The teacher I am with mainly teaches maths, science and music in the 1^st, 2^nd and 4^th classes, so this meant I got the opportunity to not only see a variety of classes but a variety of subjects.  Although with the younger two classes the language barrier was an issue, I noticed that in the maths classes we were still able to aid the pupils with their work as we could demonstrate and point at the different questions.  The music class with 1^st class was a totally different experience in which the teacher played the guitar and the pupils all sang and danced along! It had such a relaxed feel, with the pupils moving all around the classroom whatever way they wanted! This was totally new to me, and I was shocked at how relaxed the pupils were in every lesson I saw, as they were moving about, talking, shouting and often seemed to be doing whatever they wanted.  The teacher explained to me later, that the pupils call the teachers by their first names and there is this relaxed atmosphere because they want the pupils to enjoy their learning, and want to be at school instead of resenting it.

Rosenborg castle, Copenhagen.

I found this whole day a really interesting and enlightening experience as it was something totally different not only to what I am used to, but what I expected. I am looking forward to getting out again next week, and hopefully visit a few more classes before our block placement begins. Although I am unsure how much I will get to teach the class myself due to the language issue, I feel the amount I will learn from this practice will be invaluable to me in my own teaching career as I discover new ideas, teaching methods and ways of communicating with children even if I cannot talk to them in English!

In Aarhus, another city in Denmark which we visited this week.

Cultural development- Week 6

Week 6- 2nd-8th March

Six weeks have now passed since I first arrived in Copenhagen, and over these weeks my views and thoughts about the culture in Denmark have been changed and the more places I visit and people I meet the more I am learning.

A few weeks ago Ali and I visited Christiana, a freetown in the centre of Copenhagen, where the people don’t follow the same rules as Denmark, and have a totally different culture and outlook on life.  Since this first visit, I have been dying to go back, to ask questions and to learn.  This weekend we were lucky enough to find out about a free concert in one of the bars in this town, and went along eager to see if we could find out anything more.  Going in at night I was nervous of what to expect, or what it would be like, as it is a very secretive place, no cameras are allowed, and due to the lack of restrictions on the people living there I had no idea what it was going to be like at night! However, I was totally surprised, and actually realised that although their culture is totally different to our own in Northern Ireland, it was a very relaxed place, and nothing to be scared or nervous about.  The atmosphere was totally different to what I had expected and the people were all friendly. This more relaxed feel is something I have noticed a lot here, classes are more relaxed, and in general things here feel more laid-back than the hustle and bustle of Northern Ireland, especially Belfast!

The National Museum, Copenhagen

We have also been making an effort this week to get out and about and explore more of Copenhagen now that the weather has warmed up slightly! This week we returned to the National Museum, where we visited on a class trip on our first week.  We knew there was so much more to see and it would be a great starting point to find out more about Copenhagen’s history. (It was also a free day out, and due to the expense of Copenhagen, anything free is very welcome!) We ended up spending the whole afternoon at the museum, until we were told we had to leave because it was closing, and it turned out to be a lot more interesting than we had imagined! It gave me a further insight to the founding of Denmark, and an understanding of why their culture is the way it is. I surprised myself how much I enjoyed my visit to the museum, and we have even talked about returning to finish the other exhibitions! There are so many similarities between Denmark and home at the first glance, but as I learn more and meet more people I am beginning to notice so many cultural differences, and although these are hard to get used to, I feel as my knowledge of the history deepens, it becomes easier to understand and accept.  This has been a topic in our Globalisation class also, about dealing with different cultures and how we react to them not only in our classes here, but when we are teachers.  It has been something that has really challenged me and made me think over the past few weeks.

Viking Runes.

There are so many other things I have still to learn about Denmark and its culture, but after beginning to discover more this past week, and develop my own understanding of the country I am looking forward to visiting the many castles and towers there are in the city.  These past weeks have taught me so much, and as I think back over my time here, already I can see how much not only I have changed but how my views and opinions of other people, other places and this country has changed! I expected Denmark to be all about Danish pastries and fish, but I am quickly discovering that there is so much more to this amazing country!

Elin, our tutor had us round for dinner!A welcome change from cooking ourselves!

Personal Development- Week 5

Week 5- 23rd February- 1st March 2012

This week has been nonstop classes and work! It has been busy and tiring yet interesting as all our classes have now finally started.  Alison and I chose to do Natural Science as our optional subject, as we felt it would be something different from what we get the chance to do in Stranmillis, however we quickly realised that the classes they do here are totally different to home! Not only are our classes 3 hours long, we also have one that starts at 8.45am (that means leaving the house before 8 to make sure we get the train on time!) Classes here are also taught at a degree level, not at the knowledge for teaching primary aged children as we do in Stranmillis, so this was quite a shock when we went off to a power/recycling plant for our first class! I felt totally overwhelmed and scared at the prospect of this class, as I am not overly strong in science, but it turns out a lot of what we will be doing is a group work project, and our group seem really helpful- and luckily have really good English, and are happy to talk in English instead of Danish.  We have had some language issues this week, where other students talk in Danish and forget we can’t understand, and we get a bit lost, but they are always willing to switch back and make sure we aren’t totally confused!

I feel I have now got used to living here, I know when the trains run, how long it takes to get places and am even beginning to understand the confusing zones for travelling!  It was stressful for the first few weeks as we constantly worried we were getting on the wrong trains or travelling too far which can result in a fine of 750dkk (around £90!) 

Ali's birthday, "Where's Wally?"

I know that over the last few weeks my own views and opinions have been challenged, as I have more of an opportunity to talk to both other Danish students as well as the other international students, both about their ways of living, eating, and education systems!  In one of our classes called Globalisation we were paired up with a student from another country to interview them about their own learning, not only through school but where they grew up and how their childhood activities and interests has impacted them. At first I was nervous having to interview some-one I didn’t know, (especially as he shouted, “I want to be with the Irish person!” so I felt I had a lot to live up to! )but actually found it really interesting to have the opportunity to ask all the different questions that had been building up in my mind over the last few weeks, and to gain some clarity on these from a Dane who it turned out had just as many questions about Northern Ireland!

The last five weeks have taught me so much, I can cook, I can do the food shopping, budget my spending and successfully do my own washing! Not only have I developed many useful practical skills, I feel that I have become a more confident and outgoing person, more willing to take risks and to get involved in situations that I would have tended to shy away from at home. I can’t wait to see how I continue to develop both personally and professionally over the next three months!

Christiania- a freetown in the centre of Copenhagen! Such an interesting place to have visited!