Week 16 – Cultural

This week I mainly focused on trying to complete my assignment for our Dutch culture and society module.  For this assignment we have to find 15 pictures of things that we ourselves would consider typically Dutch after living here for 4 months.  Once we have our pictures we then have to provide an explanation of 200-300 words on why we have chosen this picture and our own personal story as to why we think it is typically Dutch.  It the beginning it was hard to think of things that I would consider typically Dutch without becoming too stereotypical.  In reality when I first sat down to complete the work I immediately thought of windmills and clogs.  However after thinking about my first experiences in Nijmegen and comparing them to my daily routine now I was able to come up with a mixture of individual pictures to write about.  This assignment really got me thinking about how stereotypes can make you think you know a country but in actual fact you don’t know a country until you have lived in it or visited it.   It also got me thinking of the stereotypes that people may have of me and my country and if I have lived up to any of these stereotypes during my time on Erasmus. 

One of the items that I choose to write about when I was completing my work was rose beer.  I choose this as one of my pictures as I had never seen rose beer before until coming to Nijmegen. To me beer was always this disgusting drink that I never liked which caused quite a problem when I came over here as everyone drank beer and I mean everyone.  The problem arose when we would be out for drinks with our Erasmus group and everyone would be buying each other beer and because I didn’t want to be rude and say I didn’t like it I would just have to sit there and slowly sip away at my horrible drink.  This all changed when one of my friends here introduced me to rose beer.  Ever since that day if I go out I will order a glass of rose beer and have a drink that I enjoy.  Rose beer will now always remind me of the amazing times with my friends in Nijmegen and that is why I consider it typically Dutch. 

The different flags at the European Parliament

After spending all week working on my assignment I had a day off when we went to visit the European Parliament in Brussels.  This was a brilliant experience and one that I thought I never would have had the opportunity to do.  From role play games to visiting a museum I learnt a lot about the European parliament and even got to test out my skills as a politician during a role pay exercise. 

As I worked hard all week I was ready for the weekend and for celebrating my flatmate Fabio’s birthday party.  He had decided on a beach theme so we all dressed up in our summer clothes and threw him a party that he would never forget.  It was a great end to a week full of work and a night definitely to remember. 

At Fabio's birthday party

Week 15 – Professional

After having two weeks off I knew that getting up at 6.00am on Monday morning to go to placement was going to be tough but I was glad to be getting back into a routine and being able to see my class again.  When I arrived into my school I was greeted with numerous “goedemorgens” (good morning) and “welkom terugs” (welcome back).  When I entered my classroom all the kids were excited to tell me what they had got up to during their two week vacation and to find out if I had done any travelling.  With the help of Google translate and my mentor I was able to find out what all the children had got up to over the holidays and they were able to ask me questions about what I did during mine. 

When I went into school on Tuesday I was presented with a situation that got me very excited.  The P.E teacher was sick and the principal was giving me the opportunity to deliver the P.E lesson to my class.  This was very exciting for me as P.E is the subject that I have been doing extra work with during my time in Stranmillis.  Although I did not have anything planned for the lesson I was able to come up with a lesson that lasted for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  During the lesson I got to teach the children more about the skills involved in Gaelic football and even got them to take part in a mini game that got them practising all their new found skills. 

After my surprise lesson I then had to get ready for teaching my English lesson.  In the lesson I was going to be using a system called Groove.me to teach my children English.  

Groove.me is a method of teaching English in primary schools using music.  A song is chosen and the theme of the song is used to teach the children the different language associated with the theme.  There are 15 songs available for each year group and 30 lessons associated with the variety of different songs.  The song that I had chosen was “Drive by” by Train.  Firstly the children listen to the song and if they wish they can sing along to it, this means that even those children that have very little English can take part in the lesson by just singing.  It then goes onto asking the children what they think the song is about and it breaks the chorus down into sentences that the children can listen to and discuss the different words that they can see and understand.  The children are then provided with English words that they have to translate into Dutch and Dutch words that they have to

Part of the lesson

translate into English.  After this the children are then shown actions that they have to complete when they hear specific words.  This gets the children listening to the words of the song and helps them with their word recognition.  The benefit of this method of teaching is that it is all completed using the interactive whiteboard which is important as the GTCNI (2008) competence number 11 states that “Teachers will have developed a knowledge and understanding of how to use technology effectively both to aid pupil learning and support their professional role”.   Once the interactive session is completed there are worksheets available that the children have to complete. When evaluating my lesson I thought that using well known songs to help the children learn English was a great idea however I know that some of the children in my class found it difficult when they had to keep switching between Dutch and English on some of the activities.  I also found it difficult when some of the instructions on the worksheet were in Dutch but with the help of Google translates and effective planning I was able to translate the instructions and know what the children had to do. 

Part of the worksheet

I believe that this was a great experience for me as I got to see a different method for teaching English.  I also got to see how effective music can be when promoting learning and I will be using music in more of my future lessons. 

References

GTCNI Competences (2008). Professional Competences. Available at : http://www.gtcni.org.uk//index.cfm/area/information/page/ProfStandard (accessed 18/05/13) 

Week 14- Personal

Canal in Bruges

During the weekend Sarah and I had decided to do some traveling before getting back in to the normal routine of university and placement.   We decided to spend the weekend in Bruges, Belgium.  On Saturday we set of on our journey to the train station and after a few hours traveling and three train changes we eventually ended up in Bruges.   My first impression of Bruges was that it was the most beautiful place I had ever seen in my entire life.  With the sun splitting the trees Sarah and I walked around Bruges in complete awe of its beauty.  According to Ucityguides (2013) Bruges is considered to be in the top 10 most beautiful cities in the world and it was easy to see this as we walked around it. From sparkling canals to medieval architecture it was an unforgettable experience and I would advise everyone if they had the change to visit Bruges to not pass by the opportunity.   

Bruges by night

After an amazing weekend spent exploring Bruges with Sarah it was time to prepare ourselves for our first ‘good-bye’ of Erasmus.  The week that we all had been dreading had finally crept up on us.  Jodie or ‘Dojo’ as she now was called would be leaving us on Tuesday and travelling back to Bordeaux.  We wanted Dojo to have the best last day ever so on Monday Darren, Sarah and I went into Nijmegen to get her the best leaving present ever.  We arrived back with a variety of different presents that described Dojo down to a tee and although it was very emotional to give her the presents we had some laugh when she revealed what each present was.  Then after a buffet dinner we sat up talking all night postponing goodbyes until at 4.30 am until we eventually had to let her get some sleep as  she was getting up at 7.00am to go the airport.  It wasn’t until late on Tuesday evening that it finally sunk in that she was gone and the whole flat was filled with a strange feeling.  However plans have been made to travel to Bordeaux in June so we are counting down the days until we are all reunited. 

The boy's favourite song

Spice up your life 

On Wednesday I travelled with Darren to Amsterdam to pick up his mum and dad.  It was great to here an accent from home and we filled them in on all the gossip that had been happening on Erasmus. When we arrived back to Nijmegen, Darren and his parents went out for dinner while I returned back to Vossenveld for a crazy night of Karaoke with our friends on the 8^th floor.  With artist like Steps, The Spice Girls and Tom Jones being requested it was a great night full of laughs.  Darren even returned back early and along with Mikael and Olli (boys from Finland) provided us with endless laughs with their rendition of Barbie Girl. 

Our friend Ciara also returned to The Netherlands this week and it was great to have part of the family back.  As we were starting back to placement on Monday we decided to have a party on Saturday night to bring an end to our two week holiday.  On Saturday night we went to the 8^th floor and partied together long into the night. It was a great end to our two week holiday.

References

Ucityguides (2013) Top 10 most beautiful cities in the world available at: http://www.ucityguides.com/cities/top-10-most-beautiful-cities.html (last accessed 13/05/13) 

Week 13 – Cultural

This week was the start of our two week holiday for May break.  This meant no placement, no classes and two weeks off to relax and enjoy the spring sunshine. 

Celebrating with some of the girls

Even though we were excited to have a few days off to relax the real excitement was brewing for a special occasion that was happening in The Netherlands.  This special occasion was Queen’s Day (Koninginnedag).  Queen’s day is a national holiday in The Netherlands that commemorates the birthday of the Queen.  The Dutch people have been celebrating Queen’s day on 30^th April since 1949 when Queen Juliana was on the throne.  However the current Queen is Queen Beatrix who succeeded Juliana in 1980 but decided to keep Queen’s Day on April 30^th (even though her own birthday is on 31^st January).  One of the main reasons behind keeping the celebrations on April 30^th was that there would be good weather for everyone to be able to enjoy the day outside in the sun.

Ever since we arrived in The Netherlands people had been talking about Queen’s Day and informing us about what happens on this day.  Based on what we had heard and pictures we had seen we thought that everybody dresses in Orange and everything turns into a big party to help the Queen celebrate her birthday (and yes we were right).  To add to the celebrations this was also going to be the last Queen’s Day for good few years as Queen Beatrix was stepping down from the throne allowing her son Willem- Alexander to become King. 

Some of our group all dressed up 

When the 30^th of April arrived we all got up early and started the process of turning ourselves orange.  From orange clothes, to orange face paint to orange hair we all looked the part and were ready for a day full of celebrations (getting ready for the day ended up in a bundle of laughs when one of the boys painted himself all orange and then found out that the paint he had used may have been waterproof).   As this was a big day of celebrations in The Netherlands we decided not to go to Amsterdam because on a normal day Amsterdam is very busy never mind on one of the biggest celebrated day in Dutch culture.  Instead our Erasmus group decided to go to Eindhoven to celebrate the day.  When we arrived in Eindhoven we were amazed to see all the different activities that were taking place.  Everything and everyone was dressed in orange and there was music blasting from everywhere in the street.  It was amazing to see how everyone came together to celebrate such a special day.  It made me think about how people might feel when they come to Ireland and witness St. Patrick’s Day. 

The street in Eindhoven

We celebrated Queen’s day long into the night with the celebrations ending at the Canal beside Vossenveld.  It really was one of those experiences that I will never forget and as it was celebrated with an amazing group of people it will always remain one of my most cherished memories.  Dave Brenner states that “ Friends are the most important part of your life. Treasure the tears, treasure the laughter, but most importantly, treasure the memories”.

It was such a good day that we have even thought about coming back to the Netherlands to celebrate King’s Day in the future. 

References

Brenner, D. Available at: http://www.desktop-quotes.com/friendship-and-memories-quotes.html (last accessed 04/05/13)

Week 12 Personal

This week was a very special week for me as it was the week of my 21^st birthday.  My birthday was on the 23^rd of April (Tuesday) but as I wasn’t going to be at home to celebrate it our Erasmus group decided to start the celebrations early on Saturday.   Normally people say end your night with a bang but in our case our night started with a bang, a big bang which left Darren and I with some cuts to our hands and left my bike in the bike ziekenhuis (bike hospital) to get a new wheel put on.  None the less we continued on out and had an amazing pre-21^st party.

Party Decorations

On the day of my birthday I went into my placement school.  We had our normal gym lesson in the morning and after it the children sang Happy Birthday to me in English and in Dutch.  Some of the children in my class had made posters for my birthday while other children had brought in some cupcakes for me.  After school I returned back to my flat where I screamed with excitement when I saw that our kitchen had been completely decorated with 21st birthday banners and balloons. 

From the PowerPoint

All during the week I had been receiving presents and cards from home which I had promised not to open until my birthday so you can imagine my excitement when the day finally arrived to open them.   As if my day couldn’t get any better I was then surprised again when I went into our kitchen to find our Erasmus group sitting around a table full of presents for me and a chocolate and strawberry cake.  Now I’m not one to get emotional but the fact that all these people who didn't even know me three months ago (apart from Darren and Sarah) went to so much effort for my birthday brought some tears to my eye, and to make matters worse one of my flatmates had prepared a PowerPoint especially for my birthday which just made the happy tears flow. One of  the items that really did pull at my heartstrings was a signed photo frame, this is something that will always remain special to me and will always make me think of Erasmus Nijmegen 2013. At the time I couldn't thank them all enough for making the day so special for me (Darren and Sarah really outdid themselves) however the next morning I wasn't so keen on thanking them for the after effects of the party.

All my amazing gifts 

Family dinner 

Although the start of this week was amazing the end of the week had a different sort of feel to it.  On Friday we had our last Erasmus family dinner together as our French friend Jodie is now coming to the end of her 3 month Erasmus. Although Jodie isn’t leaving for another few days some of our friends are going back home for May break so our dinner was the last time that we would all be together for a while.  Although we had an amazing dinner it was strange thinking that we would be missing a member of our family for our last two months of our Erasmus.  The days have been creeping in on us and it seems like just yesterday that we had shared a taxi with Jodie the very first day we landed here.  Even in just three months we have created memories that will last forever and as Harriet Morgan (2013) states “A memory lasts forever, never will it die.  True friends stay together and never say goodbye”.   So when it comes to the day that Jodie has to leave, we know that it won’t be a goodbye but a great big “see you later”.

References

Harriet Morgan (2013) Harriet Morgan Quotes available at: http://www.searchquotes.com/quotation/Memories_last_forever_%26_never_do_they_die,_true_friends_stay_together_%26_never_say_goodbye./390248/ (accessed 27/04/13) 

Week 11 Professional

During this week we had no scheduled classes but we were given the opportunity to attend extra workshops that would add ECTS to our overall mark for Erasmus.  The workshops were taught by international lecturers from St. Patricks College (Dublin), Dokuz Eylul University in Turkey and Georgia State University in Atlanta.  We had to choose two out of the tree workshops to attend which looked at the topics of Bullying, Educational Disadvantage and Drama. The workshops that we choose to attend were Educational Disadvantage and Bullying which were presented by the lecturers from Ireland and the USA.

On Tuesday we went to the first of three lectures based on Educational Disadvantage.  We were then told that this workshop would look at how The Arts can be used as a technique to help tackle educational disadvantage in primary schools.  The breakdown of the course enabled us to explore the status of The Arts in the different countries and it allowed us to begin to talk about why The Arts may have such a high status in some countries and not in others.  We then talked about how harnessing multiple intelligence profiles can aid in tackling the fear of failure in children.  We were told that by preparing lessons that suits a child’s intelligence profile allows them to succeed in every way.  CCEA (2007, p. 27) states that in Foundation Stage ‘Children’s creative, expressive and physical development is closely linked with all aspects of their learning’ we got to see this when we were showed how children can become creative agents in their own learning as they take full control of their learning in The Arts.  CCEA (2007, p.69) also states that at Key Stage 1 and 2 ‘Art and Design, Drama and Music provide rich opportunities for developing creativity, allowing children to express their ideas, feelings and interpretations of the world in diverse ways”. This was backed up when the lecture gave us information on a recent study that she had completed. Children in her study were presented with the task of designing their dream school and all children were able to come up with an individual idea and present it to the rest of the class. 

The bullying workshop got us to look at the problems of bullying in schools in America and to think about if we have seen any bullying happening during all our different placements.  NVPEP (2009) states that ‘more than 160,000 US students stay home from school each day from fear of being bullied’. We were given a survey to fill in that asked questions about if schools in our home countries had bullying policies and it was very interesting to find that most other countries do not have a bullying policy. The NIABF (2013) states that ‘43% of primary school children perceive that they have been bullied at least once’. After we discussed what bullying means our lectures then gave us a case study on bullying in which we had to work in groups to come up with different solutions to combat the  issue of bullying using Direct and Indirect Punitive responses and Direct and Indirect constructive responses.  The lecture’s finished off by showing us a 7 week scheme of work that address the issue of bulling which enables the teacher to find out places that the children think are safe and unsafe in the school grounds.  This was very interesting to see as the lectures said that by using this map of the school both students and teachers were able to work together to make the school a safer environment for all students.    

This week was very interesting and made me think about my professional career and the different topics and issues that I will have to combat once I become a qualified teacher.

References

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

NevadaPEP (NVPEP) (2009) Bullying Statistics Did you know? Available at: http://www.nvpep.org/bullying/bullyingstatistics.html (accessed 22/04/13)

Northern Ireland Anti-Bullying Forum (NIABF) (2013) About Bullying available at:  http://niabf.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=5&Itemid=29 (accessed 22/04/13) 

Week 10 Cultural

This week we took part in the ‘Tour to the West’ which is a compulsory component of our Dutch Culture and Society Module.  The ‘Tour to the West’ is a weekend trip that enables us to visit other cities in the West of the Netherlands.  During the trip we would be visiting the cities of Delft, The Hague and the up rooted village of The Zaanse Schans.

The famous Delft Porcelain

On Friday morning we left for the city of Delft, it was here that we would be taking part in a photography challenge that would help us to get to know the city better.  The first piece of information that we found out about Delft is that it is famous for its blue and white pottery.  The blue and white porcelain has been made in the city since the 1600s. There were many souvenir shops selling Delft pottery and around the city there were monuments and bricks made out of this blue and white porcelain.  The day continued with trips to both the Oude Kerk (Old Church) and the Nieuwe Kerk (New church) which included a 356 step climb up a 108.75 metre tower on the New church that gave us an amazing view of the city of Delft. 

Michelle and I on top of the Nieuwe Kerk

On Saturday we travelled to The Hague where we would be taking part in a treasure hunt to help us explore the city.  In The Hague we got to go and visit the ‘working palace’ of the of the Dutch Royal family.  This palace is called Noordeinde Palace and it is the Queen’s workplace and office for all political and affairs.

Noordeinde Palace

Sunday we left our hostel and travelled towards the Dutch heritage museum called Zaanse Schans.  The Zaanse Schans is a replicate village that shows how a typical Zaanse village would have looked like in the 17^th and the 18^th century; however it is still a functioning hamlet in which people live in. Our tour guide referred to the village as “the perfect way to view the historical heritage of The Netherlands”. 

Zaanse Schans

Trying on Green clogs

During our visit to the Zaans Schans village we were given a demonstration on how to make cheese and how to make wooden clogs.  I was really interested to see how clogs were made as they are something that I would consider ‘typically Dutch’.  The website Iamsterdam (2013) states that “clogs have even been certified by the European Union as safety shoes as they can withstand sharp and heavy objects and concentrated acids”. At the beginning I found this quite hard to believe but after the demonstration I was able to witness the strength of a clog.  During the demonstration it was fascinating to see all the different clogs that would have been used for different circumstances e.g. farming, family functions and even clogs for kids.  I also learnt that brides carved their own wedding clogs to make them individual and that they would wear them for the first time on their wedding day. During the demonstration we were told that it would take two hours to carve a pair of clogs by hand but now with the help of modern technology a pair of clogs can be created in under five minutes.

First Albert Heijn Grocery Store

After this we also got to see the first  ever ‘Albert Heijn’ grocery store , this was very fascinating to see as Albert Heijn at the moment the biggest supermarket chain in the Netherlands and it was very interesting to see where it all had originated.

Overall I had a great weekend at the ‘Tour to the West’, both night and day was filled with fun and adventure and it was a fantastic way to get to learn more about the culture and history of The Netherlands. 

References

Iamsterdam (2013) Clogs – Traditional Hand Crafted wooden shoes available at: http://www.iamsterdam.com/en-GB/experience/about-amsterdam/history-and-society/clogs accessed (15/04/13)