The Final Countdown..

The Final Countdown..

After 12 weeks, the last week finally started.. It's really very strange ! I feel like at home here. It became so 'normal' to be here. I really like my room, our house is quite okay (except of some things that doesn't work like the cooking plate, the washing machine, the internet which didn't work always,...)

I really enjoyed my Erasmus adventure here in Haderslev. I had a nice time, met a lot of great people from all over Europe and I really hope we won't lose contact, so we could stay in touch and maybe meet eachother next year in Amsterdam? :-)

Honestly, I'll be very happy to be back in Belgium as well. To find my friends back, my boyfriend, to see my horse again,... But I know that I'll also be sad to leave here.. Because I'm quite sure that we'll never be all together at the same time. Even though I hope one day we can make this come true and have a big meeting with everyone !!

Thanks to everyone to make this 'dream' come true !!

I want to thank:

- My parents (because they gave me the possibility to come here :-) )
- My sisters for visiting me, taking care of my horse while I was here and for the presents they send me and the 'friendsbook' they made with pictures of my horse and friends !
- My friends for their encouragements and help and peptalks while I was here.
- All my friends and family who wrote me some letters or postcards !
- Margot for taking care of my horse !!
- Margot, Weske, Tante Leona, Nonkel Jan, Marieken, Bavo, Eva, Arne, Birgen, Liesl, Astrid, mama, papa, Veerle and Bart for visiting me here in Haderslev !
- Jette, who helped me a lot and made everything come true !
- Brian and Sebastian, my buddies for helping me to find my way in Haderslev !
- All the teacher who learned us a lot about Denmark and their school system.
- The Kindergarten en Realskole from my Practice !
- All the Erasmus people, of cours, you were GREAT !! I'm gonna miss you all !!
- And thanks to everyone who made this adventure come true..

I'm gonna miss Haderslev and everybody who was here ! But I promise, I will come back here !!

Last day of practice..

The last day we asked to go and have a look at the smaller children. A group from 3 and 4 year old children. It was a nice experience. We also participated to the activity. It was very funny.
The children were free to do what they want. If they wanted to do the activity, they could. But they didn’t had to.

In fact it was quite the same as we do in Belgium. The biggest difference was the number of adults. They were also 3 for 21 children. Which is not common at all in Belgium !

I really had a great time at the Kindergarten ! The people were very nice and helpful. They answered all our questions, showed us the whole building and told us everything about their Kindergarten and about how they work. I learned a lot and had a nice time there.

School visit !

The second day, we also went out of the Kindergarten. We were going to visit a primary school in Haderslev. So we went out with the oldest children, those who will go to Grade 0 next year ! We went there by walking, because it wasn’t that far away.

When we arrived there, the children could play a little in the classroom. They could discover the classroom and the materials. When the teacher arrived, she gave them a little bit information about Grade 0 and what they do there. It was very nice for them. So then they know what they may expect next year ! And some of them will go to that school, so then they know the school, class and teacher already !

I also had a talk with the teacher. She learned me a lot about Grade O. In Belgium, we have to prepare the children for going to primary school already in Kindergarten or preschool. But in Denmark they don’t really have to. Because Grade 0, is a preparation year for Grade 1. So they don’t really learn to read or they don’t have mathematics. They just learn the letters and how they sound and the numbers. But they don’t really learn how to calculate and to read words.
It’s quite funny, because in Belgium they go to Grade 1, one year earlier and they have to learn the letters, numbers, to read and to calculate all in one year, at the age of 6 ! The difference is really very big for them.
In Denmark, they still have a lot of free time or time to play in Grade 0. In Belgium they also have a lot of free or playtime in Grade 1, but I don’t think they have that much !

Something I was really surprised about, was that in Kindergarten here, they also have to prepare their activities written on a sheet. They have to send it to the government every year so they can check if you ‘worked’ enough for reaching certain ‘goals’. So that’s the same in Belgium. The only difference is, that in Belgium we do more activities in 1 day and we aren’t that much outside of the classroom. Because we simply don’t have enough money to go out. Even though we would love to !
A very surprising thing was, that here in Denmark, there are about 3 adults for a group of 21 children ! In Belgium we only have one for about 25 children !! (In some cases even 30 or 35 !!) I was really surprised about that ! It’s such a big difference. And I think it’s quite good. Because then you have more time to spend on each child. That could be better for them.

Kindergarten !

The second week I had practice in a Kindergarten with a Christian approach. So it’s half private and half public. So the parents have to pay.
When we arrived there, they were so friendly !

We went out for a walk in the animal park in Haderslev. We went there by bus. It was so surprising to find out that they had their own little bus ?! We don’t have that in Belgium !! (Even though we really would like, because that’s the main reason why we’re not going out of school that much, because of the bus is too expensive ! )
When we arrived there, the children could play. We were waiting for the grandparents, because they would join us for a walk ! After that, we had a lunch break all together. I really liked that !

The group we joined, was the oldest group. The children were about 5 and 6 years old. Our group was called ‘forest group’. So that means that they went to the forest very often. Something I found out immediately, was that children in Denmark are very often playing outside. Even though the weather is very cold, rainy or even if it’s snowing !!
The playgrounds outside are huge !! All the children have a ski suit or a rain suit so they can play outside even though the weather is very bad or if it’s wet outside ! That’s so great ! Because when they come back inside, they just take it off, and their clothes are still clean and (most important for them) dry ! So I think it’s really such a great idea !! (We must do that in Belgium as well, because I think it’s important for them to play outside, have some fresh air, run everywhere,… )

They also go a lot to the forest ! They prefer to let them play outside and to let them discover their own body and possibilities just by playing and having fun in the nature. With natural materials. I found out it really works. Children were playing, crossing the small self-made bridges over the river, they were climbing in trees, trying to make their own pond and they were trying to find solutions. So I’m really convinced it works ! And an important thing is that they’re all learning it by themselves. They found solutions for their problems and they learn to walk over a bridge, just because of they want to, they’re not pushed in any kind of way.

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 ! :-)

International Week !

The International Week, I was really looking forward to it ! A student of the same education and school as I was in, in Belgium, also came to join us for one week. It was very nice. We learned a lot about the other nationalities and their lunchbox habits, their school system, stereotypes of their country and people.

So we learned that some of them are right, but much of them are just ‘thoughts’ of real ‘stereotypes’ of course.
We learned for example that:
Spanish people like their Spanish omelets, that the Portuguese likes football, the Austrian are very proud of their mountains,…

The workshops were also very nice. At the cooking workshop I learned a lot about the Danish and other countries in Europe their habits concerning their lunchboxes and lunch breaks. In Spain for example, they have a very long break, so they can sleep. In Denmark, they have only a very short one, and most of the people eat at school. In Belgium it’s also very common that children go home for having lunch. So there are a lot of differences between the European countries.

Than we learned about the Danish coffee table. With the different kind of biscuits in a certain order. We don’t have something similar like that in Belgium. So I was really surprised about this. I liked the explanation and the pictures which were presented at the same time. It made us get hungry !! ;-)

Our first real Danish lunch packet was fine ! It was so funny to see how the Danes are preparing their lunchbox. In Belgium, most of the children have just for example one sandwich with ham or cheese, but they also have one with choc pasta. And they don’t eat that much fruit or vegetables. In Belgium they mostly have white bread for their sandwiches and we don’t leave them ‘open’, like in Denmark. We always have two sides of bread, and we put some cheese or ham between. I also find out that the Danish people like to combine cheese or herring with eggs, cucumber, tomatoes, baked onion,…
It was also very funny to see that they get some milk at school. In Belgium they take their own drinks or they get some orange juice, water, chocolate milk,… at school. But just a few of them likes to drink milk. So it was quite surprising to see that here in Denmark, they don’t complain about eating and drinking more healthy.

Module 3: Citizenship and globalization

Some of these lessons were very interesting, but some were a little too difficult for us I think. The lessons about globalization were quite interesting, but we already had a lot of discussions and lessons about that subject, so it was more like a kind of ‘repetition’.
Some of the activities were maybe a little too difficult or maybe not really interesting for us. But it was sure that our teacher prepared our lessons very well ! They had a good structure and he also tried to have a lot of interaction with his students. Which is always more interesting and fun for us, the students of course.