Week Seven Personal

This week was an exciting week for me.  My parents along with my auntie and uncle were coming to visit me on Saturday and I could not wait for this week to come to an end so I could get to see them.  Although I was excited for Saturday, my week was full of fun.   This week in placement I got to teach the children how to say hello and goodbye in Irish.  The children were really excited to learn something completely different and for the rest of the day I just heard them saying Dia Dhuit (Hello) and Slán (Goodbye).  I also got the opportunity during gym time to show the children how to play ‘Stuck in Mud’.  It amazes me to see how interested the children are in every aspect of my culture and they want me to show them more games that the children in Ireland would play.

Hello in Irish

The one game I did well in 

 So after two long hard days at placement our Erasmus group decided to treat ourselves to a bowling night out.   The bowling alley was amazing and I was shocked to see so many people in it on a Tuesday night.  I later realised that the main part of the bowling alley was for professional bowlers and that we would be in another area to play our game.  Our area had a bar, disco lights, a smoke machine and a big screen playing music and this just made the night even better.  Some people got very competitive during the games (I won’t name and shame) but it was a great way to relax after placement. 

Bowling group

Tour to the West booklet

This week we still had our Dutch Culture and Society classes and our tutoring lessons.  In our Dutch culture class we were informed about the “Tour to the West” that we would be taking part in.  In a few weeks’ time we will be travelling to the west of the Netherlands with our Erasmus group to visit different cities.  It lasts for three days and it will be a great way of getting to see a part of the Netherlands that we may have not been able to visit. Although we have a plan of what we are supposed to do on this trip MatadorNetwork (2006) refers to Martin Buber's statement that that “all journeys have secret destination of which the traveller is unaware” and this makes the trip even more exciting.   In tutoring this week we got to learn about the different educational systems all over the world.  This was very interesting to learn about and see the different pathways that children can take from primary school to university level.   I found out that in places such as Finland, Spain and Turkey that children start school at the age of 6 and that in some schools in Austria that children can finish school at the age of 14.  It was also a great experience to compare the Northern Ireland educational system with the Irish educational system and compare our views about what we thought was both good and bad about the systems. 

So the day I had been patiently waiting for had finally arrived.  I woke early Saturday morning and heading to Nijmegen Central station to pick up my parents and my uncle and aunt.  They had been staying in Amsterdam since Thursday and were spending their last day in The Netherlands with me in Nijmegen.  It was great to be able to show them around Nijmegen and take them to see all the sights but the best part of the day was taking them back to Vossenveld to meet all of my Erasmus group.  Everyone made such an effort to introduce themselves to my parents and even though some of the group didn't understand them half of the time (due to the fact that my ones talk so fast even though I reminded them to speak slowly) they made my family feel so welcomed and it showed me how much we have grown from a random group of people in to an Erasmus family. We ended the day with an incredible meal at an Italian restaurant.  It was a great end to the week and although it was sad to say good bye to my family on Saturday night I was glad to have been able to have the opportunity to see them and show them my second home of Nijmegen. 

Presents from home 

 References 

MatadorNetwork (2006) The 50 most inspiring travel quotes of all time, available at http://matadornetwork.com/bnt/50-most-inspiring-travel-quotes-of-all-time/ (accessed 24/03/13) 

Week Six Cultural

Chicago River on St. Patrick's day 

This week I had my first experience of teaching in the Netherlands.  My mentor gave me the opportunity to choose what I would like to teach the children and as St. Patrick’s Day was coming up I decided  to inform the children about this feast day.  My class were very interested to find out about St. Patrick’s Day and were amazed at the pictures I showed them of different landmarks all over the world changing to green to celebrate this special day.  Although English is not their mother tongue the children have been amazing to teach and they have really surprised me with the amount of effort they have been putting into my lessons. CCEA (2007) states that "When children value difference and are comfortable with their own and others' individuality they are less likely to be prejudiced." I got to witness my children being accepting of my culture when I returned to my class on Tuesday and seen that all the children had decided to wear green clothes to help me celebrate St. Patrick’s day and make me feel more like home in the class.   

Niagara Falls 

This week we also got to learn about the different political systems within the various countries in our Dutch Culture and Society class.  It was amazing to see the variety of interest in Politics that all the students had when it came to discussing their PowerPoint’s, with some students only having prepared one slide while others had 9 slides.  This class has not only introduced us to Dutch culture and society but because our class is so diverse we have been learning about countries all over the world.  So far we have learned about the most important time periods and the politics of these countries and next week we will be learning about celebrations and products that are produced there.  

We also got to travel to another city this weekend.  The city that we travelled to was called ‘Eindhoven’ which is towards the south of the Netherlands.  The reason behind this adventure was that Sarah’s friend was flying into Eindhoven so we took this as an opportunity to explore a new city.  Eindhoven is the fifth largest city in the Netherlands and we found out that it is a “trend-setting centre of innovation and technology” ( Eindhoven.Eu, 2006). This was easy to see straight away as Eindhoven was a much more modern city compared to Nijmegen and had a range of unusual building shapes and styles. 

The city of Eindhoven

Saint Catherine's Church

Sacred Heart Church

The making of this trip was when we stumbled upon the Sacred Heart Church (Heilig Hartkerk) and Saint Catherine’s Church (Catharinakerk).  The Sacred Heart Church was not open to the public but the outside of the Church was just beautiful.  The first thing we noticed about it was that on a 60 metre tall tower there was a statue of Jesus that stood 4 metres high.  We did however have the opportunity to venture inside Saint Catherine’s Church and we were amazed by the beauty of it and the humbling feeling it gave us when we walked inside.  We later found out that in 1972 it was declared a national monument of the Netherlands. 

Of course our week would not be complete without celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day.  Although Saint Patrick’s Day was just on Sunday our celebrations lasted the whole weekend with all our Erasmus family taking part and dressing up in green.  From green hair to green shoes I think we had achieved every shade of green possible (and to top it off there were some green faces the next day haha). We celebrated the day in the local Irish bar called ‘The Shamrock’.  All and all it was a great weekend and I think this was proven when one boy from Belgium was introducing himself as Séan Óg from Limerick all weekend as he was enjoying himself that much.

Saint Patrick's Day

References

CCEA (2007) Learning more about others, at: http://www.nicurriculum.org.uk/docs/key_stages_1_and_2/areas_of_learning/pdmu/livinglearningtogether/year5/yr5_unit6.pdf

(Accessed 15/03/13) 

Eindhoven EU (2006) Facts and Figures, available at http://www.eindhoven.eu/en/Introduction/Introducing_Eindhoven/Facts_&_Figures (accessed 16/03/13) 

Week Five Professional

This week was the beginning of our school placements here in Nijmegen.  Alarms were set for 6:00am on Monday morning and although the thoughts of getting up that early were horrible deep down I was very excited to meet my new class for the first time.

Mikado school and playground

After a 30 minute cycle and a trip on bus number 33 Olli and I eventually arrived in Bemmel.  As we turned the corner to walk to our school all we could see were children cycling in groups and swarming into the playground.  This was quite different from being back home as the kids would be getting of buses instead of bicycles.  Immediately the first thing that I noticed about the school was that the children did not have to wear a uniform, although I already knew this before I went to the school it was still a shock to see the kids dressed up in the latest fashion.   From “snapback” hats to the latest converse trainers I could easily see the different personalities of the kids by the way that they dressed.  It was also quite hard to determine how old the children were when they were dressed in their normal clothes.  

After meeting the rest of the staff in the “team room” (staff room) we were then shown into our classroom.  As we entered the class we were greeted by a number of Irish and Finnish flags hanging from the roof.  The children had printed them out and wrote in English on the back of them.

The Irish and Finnish flags

 The teacher had asked us not to speak when we went into the classroom because she wanted to see if the children could decide who was from Ireland and who was from Finland.  However my cover was blown when one child said that he had heard me talking outside the classroom and he said I was defiantly Irish.  Another thing I noticed about the school was that the teachers do not get called “Miss or Mr” but that the children call them by their first names.  As I was used to introducing myself to children in primary schools before as “Miss Donnelly” it was quite nice to introduce myself by my first name and explain to the children what it meant. 

 

The quiet room where the children can play games

As I looked around the classroom the next thing I noticed was the layout.  I was in a Primary 7 class last year were the desks were set out in groups of five children but this classroom was set out in groups of two children sitting at a desk.  I proceeded to ask my teacher why she had planned the classroom like that and she informed me that the children had decided themselves that they wanted to sit in twos as they believed that sitting in bigger groups would distract them from their work.  This was a shock for me as it showed me how mature the children were and that they were very interested in their studies.   

On Tuesdays my class are scheduled to have physical education.  However instead of being taken to a hall inside the school my teacher told me that you have to have a special qualification to teach P.E in the Netherlands.  She explained that the children would be taken out of school by another teacher who was qualified to teach P.E.  This was a new experience for me as in Northern Ireland teachers teach every subject. The Northern Ireland Curriculum (2007, p.99) states that “Physical Education provides rich opportunities for children to think in different ways, to be creative and imaginative, allowing them to express their feelings and interpretations through a variety of movement contexts”.  Although schools in the Netherlands don’t have a specific curriculum to follow I was able to see that from the extra training the P.E teacher had she was able to ensure that the children were getting the most out of her lesson and that they were learning may different skills in each game that they played. 

Although I thought that the language barrier may have caused problems at school, I was amazed to see how the children used different methods to communicate with me.  Some of the children have extremely good  English and to my amazement sit beside me in class and translate everything from Dutch to English,  while other children get great joy out of using Google translate. One child out of the younger year groups who doesn't speak English actually sat for 15 minutes and had a conversation with me by using Google translate.   Other children have drawn pictures for me and have also acted out different activities that they would like me to do with them. 

A question I was asked using Google Translate

So after two days of placement I can honestly say that I am glad to be back in the classroom and I am eager to teach my first proper lesson. 

References

CCEA (2007) Northern Ireland Curriculum, Belfast, CCEA.

Week 4 Personal

I cannot believe that I am now writing my fourth blog entry.  The statement “time flies when you are having fun” has never been as true.  The majority of this week has been spent socialising with the other Erasmus students both in and outside of class.  This week we had our normal routine of classes and a few game nights organised in our flat in Vossenveld. (These  game nights have led to the card game ‘Snap’ being banned as it has been described by other students as a very  ‘vicious and dangerous game.’)

Some of our Erasmus group that attended the game night  

The first activity that I took part in this week was a workshop called “M’Eat the Dutch”.  This workshop was organised by two Dutch students who study nutrition and wanted to teach us how to cook typical Dutch meals and eat healthy while we are staying in Nijmegen.  I was placed in a group with the four Portuguese people that I live with. We were given the task to cook curly kale, potatoes and a sausage which is a typical Dutch meal.  However, as the Portuguese are also nutritionists I was well and truly warned that this was a DUTCH meal we were cooking and not my own style of mashed potatoes with loads of butter and salt, but in the end they were begging for my expertise in mashing potatoes.   We ended up with a variety of meals to taste from cheese balls to egg salad sandwiches and I can honestly say that our meal ended up being the tastiest.

Our Dutch meal 

My placement partner Olli

This week I also found out where my school placement would be and who I would be partnered up with.  I found out that my placement partner is a boy from Finland called Olli and that my school is in a village called Bemmel which is North of Nijmegen.  Olli and I also found out that we will be working with group 7/8 which is 11-12 year olds.  At the beginning this was a bit daunting as I had spent the previous semester in Stranmillis specialising in Key Stage One but I have been told that I will be given the opportunity to visit the different age groups within the school and that all I have to do is just ask.  As we did not know how to get to our school Olli and I started out on an adventure to find where we would be teaching for the next four months.  After a lot of translating from Dutch to English on Google maps we eventually found directions we could understand and now know that we have to cycle to the bus station and then get a bus to get to our school.  My thoughts of placement are both full of excitement and anticipation.  I cannot wait to meet my class and my teacher but at the same time I am a bit worried about the children being able to understand my accent but I’m sure they will find “being taught by a leprechaun” quite funny (some of our Erasmus friends have compared us to leprechauns).   The GTCNI competence number 10 states that teachers should have “a knowledge and understanding of strategies for communicating effectively with pupils and parents” and this past week I have been learning basic Dutch that will allow me to have and even start conversations with both the children and other adults in my placement school.  I believe that this will be a great help and will show my mentor that I am trying to learn the language and that I might be able to use it in my future lessons.  

References 

GTCNI Competences (2008). Professional Competences. Available at : http://www.gtcni.org.uk//index.cfm/area/information/page/ProfStandard (accessed 27/02/13

Week Three Professional

After a relaxing break we were all well rested and ready to start back into classes this week.  The only thing that we were not looking forward to was getting back into the routine of cycling to class. (After not cycling for one week, the first day back on the bike was a killer).  We do not start our school placements until the 4^th March.  This means that the only professional side of The Netherlands that we have seen is the way our university classes have been run and what we have been hearing from other students who have already been out on placement.   So far the reports about schools and teachers have been brilliant so this has made us feel very excited for meeting our new pupils.  

Example of the worksheet that we were doing
in class

Our first class this week was a Dutch language class.  I now understand how other Erasmus students feel when they have to sit and listen to a full lesson in a language that is not their mother tongue.  The idea of having the complete lesson in Dutch was to ensure that everybody was starting off at the same level.  (The teacher thought that if the lesson was all in English it would be unfair for those who could only speak a small amount of English).  At the start I thought that this approach would end in disaster but at the end of the lesson I was able to see the benefits of it.  One benefit was that it made sure that I paid attention throughout the lesson because even a two-second day dream would have meant falling behind.  From this experience I got to see how gestures, facial expressions and body language are vital when trying to explain things in class.  It has made me think of how I should work on these different aspects before I go to my placement school where I will be working with children who may have little or no English at all. 

Our second class this week was Dutch Culture and Society and it was in this class that we got to present our first piece of homework.  Each student had to pick a picture that showed some aspect of their country and present it to the class.  I thought this was a good idea as it made me thing about where I come from and what type of picture I would like to choose to represent my country to my fellow students.  In this class I got to see a range of pictures from places all over the world including Finland, Austria, Belgium, France, Curacao, Switzerland and America.  It was from this experience that I got to see the benefits of learning about different places and cultures.  The Northern Ireland Curriculum (2007, pg. 83) states that “Children should have an awareness of themselves and their place in the world, as well as other places, cultures and the environment”.   Even from the little bit of information that I have learned so far I can see how learning about other cultures can prepare children for many things in life including family holidays, new classmates and even heading on Erasmus.

My picture for Dutch Culture and Society 

Our final class this week was a tutoring class were we received our teaching practice guide that explains what will be expected of us when we go on school placement.  We were given a slight introduction into what our lesson plans would be like.  They include aspects of a “learning goal” which is like our “Learning intentions” and also a lesson structure of a beginning, a core and a closure.  One area that I was interested in on the lesson plan was the ‘Personal goal’ section which allows us to write down what teaching skills we are trying to improve in our lesson. 

Part of the lesson plan

This week of class has got me even more excited for heading out on teaching practice.  With two years of teaching practice and the help of two different styles of lessons plans I am counting down the days until I meet my new class.  

References 

CCEA (2007) Northern Ireland Curriculum, Belfast, CCEA.

Week Two Cultural

Week two already and what a week it was!  This week was Carnival, so for us students it meant NO CLASS (whoohooo) and a week to go and do whatever we want. 

Many of the students took this opportunity to head back to their home countries which left very few of us in The Netherlands.  At first Sarah and I thought this might have caused a few problems but boy were we wrong.  Our Erasmus buddy Joyce from the first semester in Stranmillis wrote to us on Facebook inviting us to spend carnival with her family in their home town of Venray.  So on Monday morning we set off for Venray filled with excitement to experience the mystery of Carnival. 

On the 11th day of the 11th month at 11 minutes past 11, the Carnival season officially begins.  As you can see the number 11 is very important during carnival as the Dutch people believe that it is located between the perfect number 10 and the sacred number 12.  It is also considered the fools’ number which has a close link to the Carnival traditions. 

Heading to the Parade with Joyce

In Venray Joyce took us to see a parade and we quickly realised that the phrase “Ik spreek geen Nederlands” (I can’t speak Dutch) would be our phrase for the day.  The parade reminded me of the Saint Patricks day parades that we would have in Ireland but with a slight twist, everybody gets involved and I mean everybody.  From tiny tots to grannies and grandas everyone celebrates carnival and they all get dressed up in the most outrageous and unbelievable costumes.

We also got to experience the amazing hospitality of Joyce and her family.  They spoilt us all day from driving us to the train station to Joyce’s mum cooking us a mouth-watering 4 course meal full of traditional Dutch foods. (A big thank you to Joyce and her family).

Night time Paint for Carnival

On Tuesday we got yet another surprise when Fieke (another Razzie that went to Stran) invited us to spend the day with her in Nijmegen. She filled us full of facts and even walked with us over the famous Nijmegen Bridge called Waalburg that is built over the River Waal. (Thanks again for a great time Fieke)

Reunited with Fieke 

Amsterdam

Wednesday saw our arrival in Amsterdam and apart from a few “technical difficulties” with the trains we got there (three and a half hours later).   My first thoughts of Amsterdam were that it was a beautiful city and was even more beautiful at night time.  During our stay we got to visit the Anne Frank house which was an incredible experience. Emotions ran high when we walked through the rooms that she lived in and the videos of Otto Frank talking about his daughter really pulled at my heart strings.  This experience showed devastating effects of discrimination and made me think of the world we live in and the discrimination that occurs every day. 

This has been an amazing week for me full of culture and adventure.  Two quotes have helped me through this week, one from Dr Seuss (1990) that states “If you have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose” and another more personal one by my own mum that says “If you have a tongue in your head you can never get lost”.  With the guidance of these two quotes I can assure that my adventures will continue to get bigger and better. 

References

Seuss, D. (1990) Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, London, Random House Children's Books,

Week One Personal

Goeiedag en welkom in mijn Nederlandse ervaring!

On the 31st of January Darren, Sarah and I left the comfort of our homes to begin the experience of a lifetime…ERASMUS.   In the lobby of the airport final goodbyes were said and some tears were shed but as we walked through the airport my anxiety changed to excitement.  My mind raced with questions like what if the people I live with can’t speak English and of course do the Dutch people like to party? The answer to all these questions was just a flight and a train journey away in our new home of Nijmegen. 

After one hour we arrived in Schipol Airport in Amsterdam and this is where the real fun began.  After Sarah having a small “incident” with an escalator and two suitcases we realised that we had arrived safely.   Two Dutch students picked us up from the housing agency and left us at the student accommodation called Vossenveld.  Like three lost lambs we stood outside wandering where to go until curiosity got the better of us and we rushed to the entrance of our new flat.   From lambs to lions we burst through the doors to discover that we were the first people there.   Soon after unpacking I was startled by an unhappy moan coming from Darren’s room where he had quickly discovered that Vossenveld has no WiFi.   

After about an hour we had the pleasure of meeting our new flat mates, two amazing people from Belgium.  I can honestly say that even after just one week I know that I have made friends for life as we have been inseparable.  On Friday we met the rest of the Erasmus students which included two girls from Longford.  The weekend was filled with a treasure hunt around Nijmegen and the arrival of four new flatmates from Portugal. 

Flatmates

"The Green Machine"

On Monday we had our first class about the Dutch education system.   This allowed us to have an insight into the different types of education available in the Netherlands.  We learnt about what “typically Dutch” schools are and that Dutch children take part in a National test for three days that determines what secondary school they go to.  This was very interesting for us as we could compare this to tests like the 11+.  Tuesday began the search for bicycles.  You would think that in a country that has more bicycles than inhabitants that finding a bike would be easy but no this was quite a challenge due to both Sarah and I being “vertically challenged”.  As the Dutch have the tallest people in the world finding a bike for two small Irish girls was quite difficult but after a few hours I was the proud owner of  "The Green Machine."                                                                           

The past week has been amazing and I know it is the start of something truly special.  From nights out with the Erasmus group to sitting in classes sharing professional views on teaching this experience is going to help me grow more and more each day.   GoodReads (2013) refers to Tim Cahill's statement that “A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles” and from the past week I can safely say that my journey will be a never ending one. 

Some of our new friends 

GoodReads (2013) Tim Cahill Quotes available at http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/189690-a-journey-is-best-measured-in-friends-not-in-miles (accessed 05/02/13)