The ninth week: the beginning of our practice...

On Monday Iva, Sylvie and me met at 9.10 am in front of the church. We are doing our practice at the Kristne Friskole, a private christian school. There we were welcomed warmly by the English teacher, Else. She showed us around the school and we observed two English lessons with her. One lesson was in the 3rd grade and the other lesson in the 7th grade. In the third grade the pupils had to create their own house in paper and cardboard. Else asked us to assist and participate in the lesson so I helped some pupils with their houses. It was strange to communicate with them because they only speak a few words of English (it is their first year) and I don't speak Danish so we had some difficulties in understanding each other.. But I liked this lesson a lot. In the 7th grade the pupils started a reading project today. They have to read 6 small books in English and write reports about them. They also have to make a drawing for each book..

I am very happy to do my practice at this school because the school is wonderful, the teachers are warm and friendly and the way the pupils are teached and approached by the teachers is great. Every pupil is approached individualy. This is something the teachers in Belgium don't do..

In the afternoon Iva and I worked on our weblogs at school and at 6 pm we met at Kate's place again to finish our English presentation. I returned back home at 10 pm and went to bed at 10.30.

On Tuesday Kate, Daniel, Sylvie, Iva and me met in front of the church at 8 am. Today was our presentation of our snap shots of "Extremely loud and incredibly close". We made 7 posters (three for Oskar, four for the grand parents). Jette, our teacher, loved the posters. Each of us presented one. The other students thought our presentation was great...

Afterwards, at 10 am, Iva, Sylvie and me went to the Kristne Friskole for our practice. Today we observed a music lesson where the pupils of the 3rd grade sang religious songs, they prepared their act for a musical and they danced the "Sacha", the "Polonnaise" and a line dance. We participated and had a lot of fun. We also observed a Danish lesson. This was a little bit more complicated.. Our Danish isn't that good.. But the children spook about their hobbies and their spare time. Some of the hobbies they mentionned were: dancing, playing the drums, going to the scouts, collecting stamps, playing basketball, e.g. . The teacher's name is Ann-Mari. I could see that she loves her job. She is very enthousiastic and motivated and she has a very good relationship with all her pupils.

In the afternoon I went to school to work on the internet and at 2 pm manu and I started working on our thesis. We finished at 5 pm and then I went for a small walk in Haderslev. The weather is really getting better now...

In the evening I stayed at home and read in my book. I went to bed at 11 pm.

On Wednesday Iva, Sylvie and me met each other already at 7.40 at the church! The lessons at Kristne Friskole start at 8 am in the morning.. Very early :-) Our first two lessons of the day were Danish in the 3rd grade. In the beginning of the first hour the students presented themselves to us in English. Afterwards they read a story in small groups. The teacher, Ann-Mari, used a bell to start and finish this activity. When they were finished they could write in their workbook and practise the Danish alphabet. At 8.50, 3 other classes joinde us to do the morning prayers. We sang songs and prayed. At 9.05 the second hour started and each pupil went to get a portable in the computer room! This surprised me a lot.. At their age using portable computers.. And every pupil had one.. The school owns 25 portable computers the teachers and pupils can use. It also owns 25 big computers in a computer room. And... They also have a wireless internet connection! This is something you wouldn't see in the primary schools in Belgium. They had to type a small texte about their hobby.

Afterwards we observed another English lesson. Here the pupils started the lesson with a small test about the irregular verbs and then they continued their reading project. Some of them had already finished a book report.

After our practice I went to school to work on the internet. At 4 pm Manu joined me at school and we worked on our thesis. At around 5.30 pm I went home and at 7 pm Kate, Iva, Sylvie and me went to Thora's place to discuss with our buddies the end of our stay in Haderslev...

When I came home I read in my book and I went to bed at 11 pm.

On Thursday we met at 7.45 in front of the church and the first lesson we observed was an English lessons in the 7th grade. Here they continued their reading project. All pupils read books in silence and wrote book reports. At 10.10 we observed another English lesson in the 4th grade. Here they also continued their reading project and read in books (not really in silence :-) ). The last hour was also an English lesson in the 3rd grade. Here we continued building houses in paper and cardboard. I made trees and flags, I had a lot of time. I felt like a little kid again...

In the afternoon I went to school and I worked on the internet. At 4 pm I went home and read in my book. I just love this book... It is 'The Traveller' by Diana Gabaldon.

In the evening I watched a movie and I went to bed at 11pm.

On Friday I could sleep a bit longer. The first lesson started at 10.10 pm. We oberved two Danish lessons today. During the first lesson the children went to the library to change their books and take new ones. They do this every Friday. Afterwards we returned to the classroom and they read out loud to each other. During the second hour they went to get their portale computers again.. They had to finish the small text about their hobbies.

In the afternoon I went to school to work on my weblog and in the evening we went to the 'Friday Café'. Tonight there was a party called 'Ugly party'. We had a great time. I went to bed at 1 am.

On Saturday I got up at 8 am and manu came over at 10 am to work on our thesis. Our thesis is almost finished... Finally... Manu stayed until 3.30 pm and afterwards I went to school to work on the internet. In the evening I went for a drink at Tribunen and I also watched a movie. I went to bed at 1 am.

On Sunday I got up a bit later, at 9 am and I went to school to call my family on skype. I stayed there until 1 pm. In the afternoon I worked, together with Iva and Sylvie, on our three lessons about London. The last week of our practice we will teach this to the 7th grade. In the evening I stayed at home and I went to bed at 10 pm.

The eight week...

On Wednesday we had our last music lesson with Else-Marie. We started at 8.15 am and our first activity of the day was our dwarf performance. This was a lot of fun. I played a girl dwarf and Daniel played a troll. We were together in a huge forest and suddenly a ghost appeared between the trees. I hid myself behind a tree and Daniel fought with the ghost and killed it. At the end the ghost appeared again... The second activity was a game with names. We learned how to create several rhytms with our names. The third activity was creating a composition. This was more difficult but I liked it a lot. Else-Marie told us a story about a man dying in an old gravel pit. We had to choose instruments and create the atmosphere through music. The fourth activity was creating a composition by using a picture of animals. Else-Marie gave us a picture of a fox hiding in a forest and we had to invent a story of three episodes through music about this picture. Daniel and I worked together and we used several instruments like drums, the guitar, the flute, the piano, etc to create this. The fifth and last activity was a radio play. We had to work in small groups again and choose a story for children. I picked: 'Toothache'. This story is about a boy who loses his tooth after being pushed by a black stallion. We had to tell the story to the other groups and use instruments to illustrate it. (Like Peter and the wolf). Our lesson finished at 2 pm. I really loved this lesson. It was very interesting. I would like to do these activities later with my pupils.

In the afternoon I worked at school on the internet. I went back home at 5.30 pm and got ready to go to Thora. She invited us for dinner. We had a very nice evening all together. I went to bed at 11 pm.

On Thursday I got up at 7am and I met Manu at school at 9am. We worked on our thesis until 12 and afterwards I had another English lesson with Jette. We talked about how to remember new words and we also looked into several books and compared the vocabulary exercises. This was very interesting. The second part of the lesson was about "Extremely loud and incredibly close" by New York writer Jonathan Safran Foer. His novel deals with the terrorist attacks of September 11. The book is an example of contemporary post-modernisism. Foer brings a sensibility to this book. He uses type settings, spaces and even blank pages to give the book a visual dimension beyond the prose narrative. The book is written like a personal diary. The book's narrator is a nine-year-old boy named Oskar Schell. Two years before the story begins, Oskar loses his father on 9/11. In the story, Oskar discovers a key in a vase that belonged to his father. He is focused on the key and wants to discover what it opens. As if he would open a door and find his father behind it...

In the evening I stayed at home and I read in my book. I went to bed at 10 pm.

On Friday morning we met Torbjon to talk about our practise. He told us to think about Popper's idea and to pay attention to the framework of the school, the content of the lessons, our methodology, our aims and goals and the ability for learning. Finaly we talked about the evaluation of our practise. We should measure what the pupils can and can't do. We should look at the sings and effects of the pupils.

At 11 am we all left for an excursion to Sonderborg! Tim's brother, Stijn, and Lasse accompanied us. We firts visited the Sonderborg's Slot, a beautiful castle next to the sea. Lasse was our private guide, he showed us around. I loved the dancing hall.. It was a huge hall with candles on the walls.

Afterwards we took the car and went to Danfoss Universe, a scientific parc. Here we all felt like little children again! It was a great experience.. Through the activities we could learn more about the forces of nature, the world of science and the technologies that make our lives easier today.

We arrived back at Haderslev at 6 pm. I went home to eat something and at 9 pm we met again at the Friday café. We had a couple of drinks there and at around 11pm we went to Tribunen, another café in the centre of Haderslev. We had a very nice evening. I returned home at 00.30 am.

On Saturday I got up at 8 am and went to school to work on my weblog. At 11 am Stijn and Tim picked me up here and we went, together with the other erasmus students, to Kolding where we had lunch at Hannah Ulrik Neergaard's place, our literature teacher. We only had one lesson with her during the first week but we loved it. She invited us to have lunch, it was more than delicious, and to have a walk in Kolding. She showed us the centre with the shops and the new library. We had a wonderfull afternoon. At 3.30 pm Iva, Kate, Tim, Stijn and me went to the shopping centre outside Kolding. This is the biggest shopping centre in Denmark. But when we arrived there it was closed.. So we decided to return to Haderslev and to have dinner together. We all met at Kate's place and spent the evening there. I went to bed at 11 pm (actually it was already 12 pm with the changing of the hours... )

On Sunday I got up at 8 am and I went to school at 10 am to go on the internet. In the afternoon Iva, Kate and me met at 2.15 pm in front of the church to go to the football match. Tim, Daniel and Manu were playing. We stayed for 45 minutes.. Manu scored a goal and Tim hurt his knee.. Afterwards Iva and I went home and we read in our books. In the evening Daniel, Iva and me went to Kate's place to work on our presentation about "Extremely loud and incredibly close". We made snap shots.. I think our posters look great. I returned back home at 10 pm and went immediately to bed.. I was very tired.

The seventh week: Alkmaar!

On Monday I took the bus (Eurolines) at 5 pm at Kolding. I travalled all night and I arrived at 7 am in the morning in Amsterdam Amstel. I was exhausted.. I didn't sleep a lot on the bus, there were too many people on it. I took a train from Amsterdam Amstel to Alkmaar were Gerard was waiting for me. I was really happy to see him again.

During the week we visited Alkmaar, Bergen and Camperduin. We didn't have a nice weather but nevertheless we had a great week. In the evenings we often went for drinks at several pubs. We also went dancing at the 'Chacha' club. This was really nice. On Friday we had dinner at a beautiful restaurant in the centre of Alkmaar where we ate duck.. I had never eaten this beafore but I loved it. On Sunday my mom, sister, brother and dog Deedee visited us. We went to the seaside together. The weather was nice that day (we were lucky). I was very happy to see them again.. I returned back to Haderslev on Monday evening. I took the train in Alkmaar and I arrived in Kolding on Tuesday at 8 am where I took a bus home. On Tuesday I didn't do a lot, I was tired from the journey. In the afternoon I came to school and wrote some e-mails. In the evening I went to bed at 10 pm.

I loved this week and I wish it didn't pass so quickly..

The sixth week: the international week!

On Monday the international week started... Eight foreign students came to join us here in Haderslev for the whole week. Three of them are from Germany, two are from Portugal and Austria and one from Holland. What is an international week? Students from around Europe join here to look at languages and language learning as an essential element in building our future students' and children's intercultural competence. It is important to get to know new cultures from around Europe. This will give you the opportunity to broaden your horizon.

We started the day by presenting ourselves to each other. I worked together with Melanie Nagel from Germany. She wants to become a primary teacher and her subjects are mathematics, biology and English. Afterwards we had a lesson with Jette about body language. She showed us that every person has his own body language. People use their hands while speaking, they sit down in a certain way, they move their feet and arms, etc..

We worked in small groups and picked cards with images on it. We had to guess what that person showed through his body language.

Afterwards we learned them our Irish and country line-dance. We had a lot of fun. I explained our dance to the international students, you can see that on the following picture:

After lunch the international students had their first Danish lesson. They learned how to present themselves and how to ask each other "How are you?": Hej! Hvordan gar det? Det gar godt, tak.

In the afternoon I went home and I read in my book. I don't have an internet connection at my appartment anymore so I went to school before dinner to send some e-mails. From 6 pm until 9 pm there was a "Get-together-evening" with the international students and their hosts. We ate pasta, meat balls, salad, bread, turcky and lots of other delicious things. We spent a great evening and we had a lot of fun. We also sang two songs together. (This is a Danish tradition.. They always sing together when they have a meeting.)

I went home at 9 pm and I went to bed at around 11pm.

On Tuesday we met each other in the new cantine and we had a lesson about intercultural competence and stereotypes. Our teacher for today was Mister Daniel.. We worked in groups with Danish students and with the international students. Our first task was to make a mind map about Danmark. How do we see Denmark? Is the culture different than in our home countries? What about the educational system? Not to mention the weather... :-) The second task was also a mind map and a drawing about another country than our home country. My group had to present Portugal. On our drawing you can see a Portugese boy standing on the beach. The sun is shining and he is holding a guitar in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. He also has a football near his feet.. Portugal is known for its famous players. For my group Portugal is a country of music, sport, good weather, parties, culture, food and wine.

Afterwards we had a lesson about rhymes and songs, learning and teaching potential. Our teacher Karen Aro asked us to bring typical rhymes and songs from our home country. We had to teach our song or rhyme to the other students and then sing it together. Manu and I taught them: "Ne regarde pas le renard qui passe, regardez seulement quand il est passé". This is a game you play in a circle. Another person, the "fox", is walking around the circle with a cloth in his hand. The others are singing the small song. When the fox drops the cloth behind someone, that person has to run after the fox and touch him. We had a lot of fun. You can have a look at the pictures:

After our linch break we went on an excursion to Ribe. We visited the Viking museum and the old town. Even though the weather was horrible, we had a nice afternoon.

We returned to Haderslev at 6 pm and then went home. I worked a bit on my computer, read in my book and I went to bed at 10 pm. I was very tired..

On Wednesday Kate, Daniel and me visited the VUC school in Haderslev. This is a centre for adults. They get a second chance here to learn subjects they didn't have in secondary school or subjects they are interested in like cooking, computer lessons, etc. The building was very modern and in every class there was a 'smartboard'. This suprised me a lot. I had never seen one before and here I could try them out! I was so impressed..

In the afternoon we made mind maps about the school visits. It was interested to see that every group wrote down the same elements : curriculum, opportunity, freedom, materials, family and ability. Unfortunately the Hip Hop lesson was canceled because the teacher was ill. I went back home at 4 pm and read in my book. I made pasta in the evening and went to bed at around 10.30 pm.

On Thursday we attended a lecture from 9 am until 11 am about 'soundscapes' (: stories with every day sounds like cars, people talking, bells ringing, etc). We listened to "soundscapes from Vienna". The guest teacher here was Mag. Jutta Kleedorfer from Austria. She told us two beautiful stories too: 'Zack Bumm' and 'The Dunkeys'. I liked these stories a lot..

In the afternoon there was "The International day" where the erasmus students had their own stand. We showed the visitors something special from our home countries but also the things we learned and created here in Haderslev during our Erasmus stay such as our amazing weblogs! We also offered the visitors some biscuits, cake, candy and beer from Belgium, Germany and the Czech Republic. There were also many other stands about other foreign countries. Through this International day we could meet different cultures and also taste them. I learned a lot and I espacially liked the Nepal stand where we could admire pictures Danish students made during their practise there.

In the evening there was the "European Song Contest"! This was really a lot of fun.. This amazing evening was organised by Thora, she was a great host, and one of the members of the jury was Jette. I sang together with Tim and Mireille "Ik leef niet meer voor jou" by Marco Borsato. A great song. But, unfortunately we didn't win the contest.. The race was between Portugal with Joao and José, the Czech Republic with Kate, Iva and Sylvie and Germany with Daniel, Sabrina, Sarah and Melanie. Finally the Czech Republic won with a song about a beautiful princess.

We also ate delicious pizzas..

Afterwards we all went to the Crazy Daisy to dance.. We had a great evening! I went to bed at around 3 am.

On Friday we met at school at 9 am and we worked in small groups on our portfolios about the International Week. Afterwards one member of each group presented his or her portfolio to the other groups. In the afternoon we had a late lunch together. We ate hot dogs, salami, Portugese bread, cake, etc. It was delicious.. I ate a lot! After dinner the International students returned back home. We had a great week all together.

In the evening I went to bed very early (9 pm) and I stayed long in bed on Saturday morning. I only got up at 10.30 am. In the afternoon I came to school to work on the internet and in the evening I went to Kafka's with Kate, Iva and Iva's sister Petra. I went to bed at 11.30 pm.

On Sunday I came to school in the morning to go on the internet and in the afternoon I prepared my bags to go and see Gerard in Alkmaar. I washed and ironed my clothes. In the evening I went to bed early to be fit on Monday.

The end of the fifth week...

On Tuesday we started the day with another English lesson. The first activity was: "How to remeber vocabulary?". Here we had to remeber 15 words and write them down. This was difficult but once you find a system in how to remeber it, it gets easier. I made up a little story in my head with these 15 words and then I could remeber all of them. Afterwards Jette explained to us in a more theoretical way how important the vocabulary is, how we should learn and use words and of course how to remeber them.

The second part of the lesson was about the USA. Jette devided us in small groups and each group had to analyse a picture by being a 'picture detective'. On our picture we could see immigrants arriving in the USA, how they feel, what they leave behind, how they will live here and how they are welcomed. Jette asked us to discribe the atmosphere of the picture, the colous, what story the picture tells us and whether it is positive or negative, etc. Each group also had to make a vocabulary task about the picture. Our task was linking words with objects (a bridge, a boat, a shoe, a case,...) and a second task could be to make a puzzle of the picture.

This course was (again) very interesting. I liked talking about the vocabulary tasks, in this way we all get new ideas and we can use this tasks in our practise.

In the afternoon we had our last Danish lesson with Sheila and Leifs. We played a little role play and afterwards we translated food and drinks. At the end of the lessons they offered us tea and biscuits. This was delicious!

In the evening we went at the girls' place and we watched "Pride and Prejudice". We had decided with the girls to watch a romantic film. I liked this film a lot... Iva and I went home at 11 pm.

On Wednesday we had a dance course together with the other Danish PE students. Our teacher for today was Lone. This was a lot of fun! We learned how to dance an American rock and the tango. The tango was a bit more difficult.. On the picture you can see Iva and me dancing the tango:

In the afternoon Lone taught us how to create a line-dance. We all went to the gymhall and danced together. The second part of the lesson we had to create an own line-dance in small groups. I worked together with Manu and Iva. You can have a look at the result.. The first little film is our dance (a more country dance) and the second little film is Daniel, Kate and Tim's dance.

In the evening I watched the beginning of "The Departed" with Jack Nicolson, Matt Damon and Leonardo Dicaprio.. They are great actors! I went to bed at 11 pm.

On Thursday Iva and I met Daniel at the theatre. We were going to visit a German school called "Deursche Schule Hadersleben" here in Haderslev. We arrived there at 8.30 am and met the headmaster. He told us some more about the organisation of the school. There are 180 pupils. They both speak Danish and German. They also learn English at school. Ten years ago only German speaking children went to this school but today many Danish children attend this school too. We observed a math lesson and an English lesson. It was very interesting to see the differences between the danish school traditions and the German school traditions. For example, a teacher in Germany can't touch her pupils. In Denmark teachers touch their pupils very often. They have a very good relationship with their pupils. What surprised me too is that the teacher leaves the pupils alone in the classroom during the breaks. In Belgium all children have to go outside and the classrooms are locked. In the English lesson the subject was "The parts of the human body". They sang songs together: "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" and "Keep on moving". I thought the classrooms were very small. The children didn't have enough place to move.

In the afternoon, at 12.30 pm, we went to a small concert at school. The concert was called: "A concert across borders". The musicians played on several instruments and the music was composed by children. It was quiet amazing.. I liked it a lot.

Afterwards we had another English lesson. For today we had to prepare a vocabulary execise from a famous song our poem. My group picked 'Born in th USA' by Bruce Springsteen to do this task. We all presented our exercises to the other groups. It is very interesting to share ideas with each other. In this way we can all learn a lot and maybe use one of these exercises in our practise.

In the evening I worked on my weblog and I went together with Tim, Daniel, Kate and Iva to play a quiz at Tribunen. It was in Danish so we didn't understand a lot but we had a lot of fun. There were four subjects: music, transport, drinks and Scandinavia. We returned back home at 10.30 pm.

On Friday we started the day with citizenship. Torbjorn continued his lesson about the famous Karl Popper. He explained once again the meaning of his scheme: P1 --> TT --> EE --> P2. He also linked the idea of Popper with citizenship. The fact that we work on something that we invented ourselves and that we share our ideas with each other makes us citizens. Afterwards Torbjorn asked us to search for an example of Popper's scheme. I worked together with Tim and Manu. We showed that an electrical circuit is a very good example of Popper's scheme. A pupil has to work alone, he has to invent a formule to turn on the light and write it down and then test it. If the light stays off, his formule is wrong and he has to invent a new formule.

In the afetrnoon we made some posters for the international week next week. Eight other students from foreign countries will join us from Monday until Friday.

In the evening we went to the karaoké evening at the Friday Café. Iva, Daniel and me sang "Every Breath You Take" together! We had a lot of fun.. We even participated in the contest! Iva, Kate and me sang "Skaterboy" from Avril Lavigne.. But we weren't picked for the final.. Daniel was and he won!

On Saturday I stayed at home. Manu came over to work on our thesis and in the afternoon I watched a movie: "The interpreter" with Nicole Kidman. In the evening we went to 'Ras', the pub downstairs. There was a concert and a friend of us, Lasse, sang and played the guitar. I went to bed at 1 am.

On Sunday I stayed at home too. I worked on my weblog and in the afternoon Manu and I worked on our thesis. In the evening I read in my new book: "Extremely loud and incredibly close" by Jonathan Safran Foer. It is a book about the terrorist attacks on 9/11. We have to read this book for our English course.