Practice Realskole 5th & 6th Grade

First I had practice at Realskole, in the 5th and 6th grade. So it was not really where I’m studying for. But it was a great experience and it was also very good, because than I knew where Lynn and Stefanie were talking about while we were writing our paper. And so I had something to compare as well ! The teacher was very nice.
I think that the way of teaching was quite similar to the Belgian one. But I’m not sure, because I didn’t study for teaching that age. But as far as I remember, it was quite the same when I had their age. We were also sitting in rows, we had a book and a map with some sheets we wrote or filled in by ourselves.
The lessons I joined, were English lessons. The teacher was speaking to them in English, at the age of 12 ! That’s not common in Belgium. We don’t speak to them in French at that age. Even later, when they start to learn English, we don’t talk in English to them immediately. It takes sometimes years before they do. And some of them, they simply don’t. Not even when they made some progresses. I think it’s really good to talk to them in that language and to help or translate sometimes, if necessary. That’s the best way of learning a language ! I also learned French in France, because I went there in holidays, and my French friends learned me a lot. I couldn’t help me in Dutch, because they didn’t understand a word. So I had to explain me in French. And I learned it very fast and good !
In Belgium, we spend a lot of time on learning some grammar stuff. But I don’t think it’s that necessary. Because we have to learn every rule and exception. But you don’t remember all of them. Just a few ! So I think it would be better if we do it more like in Denmark. Training more on speaking itself and learning a lot of vocabulary instead of that much of grammar. It’s better to learn to speak a language just by heart, than having to learn all the rules and exceptions. It’s better to use your language feeling, but it takes some time to develop that and you have to have a possibility tot learn of course.

Quite a big difference is also discipline. I didn’t saw it at all. In the 5th grade it was quite okay. Pupils were sitting down and were working quite well. But something I remind was, that if they don’t want do to an exercise, they not always have to. That’s not common in Belgium. If your teacher asks you to make an exercise, you just simply have to do that.
In the 6th grade, it was totally different ! The pupils had to work in little clans, so they had to work a lot in small groups on their own. I think it’s a good way, but she sent groups outside the classroom, and when she went to see the other groups, the groups which were without teacher, didn’t do anything ! They were just playing, they weren’t talking in English, they were just doing what they want.
Even though the teacher was there, they were walking around the classroom, laughing with each other and even with the teacher !! If you do that in Belgium, a teacher will react immediately. It’s something ‘not done’. We can’t accept that from a pupil. So there is a lot more discipline in Belgian schools I think. But it also depends from school to school and teacher to teacher of course. But mostly there is more discipline and structure.

For me it was a great experience to be in a primary school in Denmark for some lessons ! Because I was really wondering what it was like, and now I know ! :-)