Week 13

Personal Development

This was our last week of school and university classes, and so an end to the Erasmus experience for most of our friends. Looking back at previous blogs, it seems like no length of time has passed since the first weekend we spent as a group at Ishøj. I must be getting old, as I find myself saying, ‘time flies’ and ‘where has this week gone?’ a little too often!

Our last week in school has been my favourite! We got to know the pupils a lot better as they became more confident with practising their English and more familiar with us being in class. I even got invited onto the playground to skip (ten years since the last time I skipped, I was relieved I had not forgotten everything). For our last day, we had organised some food for the class which included cake and good old effortless Top Hats (definitely a lot more delicious and enticing outside of Northern Ireland - who knew 14 year olds could be so excited about eating Top Hats?!?) and the teacher gave them a little more time at break to say goodbye and chat to us. It was hard to say goodbye and I would have liked to spend more time in school as I really enjoyed the atmosphere and how welcoming the school felt.

Yesterday was our last day of classes at university. Even though we had a lot of evaluations to do, I really loved reminiscing about all the memories I have from the past 3 months. All 32 of us went out for dinner in the evening time to celebrate together and say our final goodbyes. Seeing the weather was so great yesterday (20°C!), we then went to Nyhavn after to sit beside the water for a while. The evening was the perfect way to spend time with the entire group for one last occassion. It didn’t hit me that I wasn’t going to see some people again until it was time to say goodbye. It was certainly sad, yet I am filled with a lot of relief that I have accomplished so much. It also has given me the motivation I need for the next stage of my trip here – individual assignments! Plus Facebook is a great invention.

Cultural Development

I have been reminded to appreciate living in such a beautiful place - something that I seem to have forgotten over the past few weeks due to daily life and routine. After our last day at school, Greg, Julia, Christina and I took a picnic to Frederiksberg Park. It was so nice to relax in the sun and stunning surroundings. I loved watching everybody else enjoy their afternoon in the park – lots of students were ‘studying’ together; people were walking their dogs; young families were playing on the lawns; and the ‘keep fit brigade’ were making me feel bad, making running look effortless. There are so many parks and lawns to enjoy in Copenhagen, also known as ‘Green Copenhagen,’ and it is obvious the Danes love making use of their well kept facilities to relax. This is something I admire and I really hope the good weather continues so that more time can be spent outside enjoying the city.

On Friday a few of our class went to Tivoli. Founded by Georg Carstensen in 1843, the park opens every summer as well as having special events at Halloween and Christmas. Being one of the world’s oldest amusement parks and the idea behind Walt Disney’s Disneyland, I could not wait to see what all the fuss was about once it opened for its summer season last weekend. So, after paying a ‘Copenhagenous’ (copious) amount of money to get in, we wandered around the park taking everything in. We spent around 4 hours going on the rides, shopping, having tea and coffee in one of the many cafés and restaurants, and of course taking lots of pictures. The design and detail put into the park is amazing and everything is so colourful – no wonder it attracts over 4 million people a year!

After dark, the park got even prettier, with all the lamps and lanterns. The hotel, Nimb which is attached to Tivoli looked like something out of a children’s story book. After dinner, we went to Fredagsrock (Friday Rock). Each week a band plays at the main stage in Tivoli, and this week it was the Danish rock band, The Blue Van. Even though it had started raining, the atmosphere was great and I hope to go back before we leave to come home.

Professional Development

During our last week in school, we participated in more lessons and got involved in more aspects of school life, since the project work had finished. It was great to be able to take part in classes, especially ones related to our subject. On Monday, I was in two different science lessons with grade 6. The class were lovely and made me feel very welcome. After a short introduction as to whom I was, we set about doing an experiment on fitness levels. The pupils loved the active class in which they jumped up and down a step for 5 minutes, and one they will definitely not forget! We also had more time in English lessons, and it was so good to see how greatly the pupils’ levels of English had improved over the past few weeks. I have learnt a lot about school life in Denmark and I will definitely be bringing this back to Northern Ireland; for example, due to the fact that a lot of classes weren’t in English, I have been able to observe the body language of both teachers and pupils, and how we, as teachers, can use our body language in a more positive and beneficial way. The experience has been really worthwhile and unforgettable.

On Monday, my placement group presented our comparisons between the education system in Denmark and our home countries. The presentation was a great way of summing up our findings from the Folkskole and we were able to categorise our own viewpoints in a more constructive way. Each group who presented got the opportunity to take and ask questions from the rest of the class, and I found this very helpful as it made the presentations more interactive and relevant.

We completed our lessons in university on Thursday through various methods of evaluation. As a teacher, I was able to think about all the activities, resources, literature and people that I have come into contact with and how advantageous they have been. We used post it notes with lots of things we had learned and stuck them onto the outlines of ourselves which we first prepared 12 weeks ago at the weekend away. I did not comprehend how much information I had actually learnt until we were told to write a letter to ourselves. The reason behind doing this was that our tutor is going to post our letter to us in one year’s time, to remind us of all the things that we have taken from our trip. There was a section on the letter about plans we would like to make in the future, and it was helpful to be able to think about what we have learnt in Denmark and how this will impact our teaching in the future. Making an action plan seems like the best way of making our new found experiences relevant and worthwhile.

Before and after...

Week 12

Personal Development

12 weeks down, less than 6 to go! I have no idea where the past 6 weeks have gone so I only assume the next 6 will fly by. I booked my flight home yesterday – so the countdown is on! Knowing that there is plenty to be doing over the next while is helping me not dwell on the thought of coming home too much…BUT…I just happened to end up in a shop the other day (surprise surprise), which was full of random second hand things. Even though I was thinking about the extortionate price for someone’s unwanted goods and wanting to save some money, I ended up purchasing a poster and a Copenhagen Diary. I justified my purchases by 1) bartering and getting discount; and 2) knowing that both will be a great way of remembering my time here in Copenhagen. It is strange to imagine that I now have to think about coming home!

Now, back to living in Copenhagen - this week has been great and eventful as usual. Between working for school and university, and seeing friends, I haven’t even got a chance to catch up on all the sleep deprivation from waking up so early for school. I will remind you again - I need to be up around 6 am.

At the weekend, I had a very important birthday to attend. Queen Margrethe of Denmark was 70 on Friday, so we took a trip to the palace to celebrate with what seemed like the rest of Denmark, but I will explain more in ‘Cultural Development.’ I went into town, hoping to meet up with a few girls from my class, but due to the massive amount of people, it was so hard to find them. I was worried I wouldn’t find them on time, but thankfully I did, and we had a great day! After the Queen left the palace, a few of us went down to Nyhavn, part of the canal area filled with the hustle and bustle of cafés and restaurants. The weather was great on Friday so we were able to sit beside the water, chat and eat ice-cream. It was such a great atmosphere, and I came to the decision that I much prefer Copenhagen in the sun than in the snow. On the topic of weather, I felt like I was back in Northern Ireland this week as the Spring has bought some very changeable weather! As well as sun, we have also seen a lot of rain the past few days. Belfast rain, as we like to describe it as that springs upon you suddenly when you are least prepared and then goes away as quickly as it arrives. We even had a ‘refreshing’ snow/hail storm that I embraced.

Greg and I did a little more shopping on Tuesday when we went to the shopping centre after school with Julia and Christina (the girls in the same placement group as us). We went for an amazing Italian buffet (very cheap) and ended up sitting in the restaurant for a couple of hours chatting over our meal. It was so nice to get to know the girls a bit better outside of the school setting. We had a great time talking about our countries and planning visits to Northern Ireland and Austria. One of the benefits of Erasmus trips are the contacts that you make - my summer holidays are sorted for a few years!

Cultural Development

Queen Margrethe’s birthday was a huge event here in Copenhagen. She celebrated her 70th birthday on the 16th April by greeting visitors at Amalienborg Palace and touring the city. She was driven round Copenhagen in a horse-drawn carriage and even travelled down Strøget (the city’s busiest and longest shopping street). I thought my best vantage point for seeing her would be at the Palace. I have never seen so many people on the streets, all waving Danish flags and enjoying the great atmosphere. As I approached the palace, I realised trying to see the Queen was not going to be easy. The whole road was filled with people, and there was no way I was going to be able to see her! After waving to the crowds, she went inside to get ready for her tour. The road started to clear a bit as people started to leave, so I waited around in the hope of finding my classmates! Thankfully I did find them, and if I am honest, was a little relieved that they had not seen the Queen either due to all the crowds! Our patience paid off, however, when half an hour later the Queen passed us and we were able to see her in clear view – success! I was so surprised at the lack of security around the city. Unlike Northern Ireland, there were very little army, Policemen and no Police riot vans. I also noticed how many foreigners there are in Copenhagen. Not only did we see Danish flags, but Australian, Spanish, Korean, French and many more. Denmark is very popular, for being such a small country!

I also had time to visit the Botanic Gardens at the weekend. Made in 1874, the 25 acres of landscaped garden attract many visitors to Copenhagen and is also a peaceful setting for students to get some reading in. It was a beautiful afternoon, so Greg and I decided to picnic beside the pond. I had a lot of fun people watching and taking in the beautiful surroundings. It is so hard to believe that the gardens are right at the heart of the city centre, yet once you are inside the traffic and commotion seems miles away.

Professional Development

In school this week, our seventh grade class were completing their project work. I observed how the pupils were able to work independently and with each other without the need to be told what to do. I was impressed with their attitude, and even though the teacher had to intervene a few times with one group, all groups were able to research, produce and present a project. The teacher, Vibeke, started every class by drawing up a plan for each group to come and chat to her about their progress. Before the groups were able to go to the library or computer room, the teacher went round every group and asked what their plan for the day was. That way, every group gained an insight into how hard the other groups were working and to see how far they had got to, or perhaps where they could go next. The group doing Conflict in Northern Ireland got most of our attention, as we described some of the important points in history, but we also got the chance to work with the other groups and chat to the teachers about the class. We were very interested to hear about the roles and responsibilities of the teacher and it gave us an opportunity to compare and reflect on our own teaching responsibilities.

This afternoon, we got to see the presentations. Even though they were in Danish, I really enjoyed watching the groups. I was really impressed with the maturity and respect everyone showed for the group that was presenting, asking questions afterwards and giving constructive feedback. I was also impressed by the creativity within the class. Not just a PowerPoint presentation, interactive activities included a walking debate, a quiz and discussion session. One group talked about ‘Ungdomshuset’ the free house used by many young people in Nørrebro, Copenhagen which was taken over and destroyed by the Copenhagen municipality in 2007. They made a huge gingerbread house which was of course appreciated by the class. This picture was taken before the house was brutally destroyed.

We attended one of the last lessons we will have with our Erasmus class on Wednesday. The subject was Comparative Education, and each practise group was describing their observations and comparisons of the Danish system. The assessment for this class is a group assignment. We have an essay to produce as well as a presentation on our findings. Each group chooses a theme they would like to discuss, and half of the class got to present their findings on Wednesday. Even though we are not presenting until next week, the class was very interactive and a lot of discussions were had on the themes, which consisted of how to avoid bullying; how to encourage multiculturalism in the class; and how to make integration possible.

Week 11

Personal Development

Week 11 has been full of things to do! Due to school starting at 8 am in the morning, I have to wake up just after 6 am to get there on time. Being up so early in the mornings is such a struggle for me (7.30 am is bad enough when on teaching placement at home). I always have the urge to have a nap when I come home from school, but as I always have something planned, I never get the chance. I am sure mum will be glad to hear that! I am enjoying my placement so much and it keeps me busy which means time is flying in!

Even though school is great, I really appreciate the time I have off to meet up with friends and relax. I really enjoy having things to do at the weekend and in the evenings; such adventures this week include a trip to IKEA (which I will not bore you with again - although it has been renovated since last time and now has a new café area – very nice); church on Sunday; shopping and meeting up with friends. On Monday night, Greg, Nicole and I went to see a Northern Irish band, Two Door Cinema Club, play in Copenhagen. We were really excited about going to see a band play in Denmark, never mind one from our country! Mostly everyone in the crowd was Danish so I felt very proud coming from Northern Ireland. The band was really good (especially when they spoke – so good to hear a familiar accent)!

We had our last and best Danish class on Tuesday evening. Instead of being bombarded with new vocabulary and sentences, we had to get into our practise groups and act out part of a Danish lesson we have observed. Rehearsing really bad Danish was hilarious, but it was also good to hear about people’s experiences in other schools to see how they compare to our experiences. Catching up with everyone was great seeing we only have a few more classes all together. Most of the Erasmus class leave at the end of April and so many were planning what they want to see over the next couple of weeks before they leave. It is hard to believe that most of our friends will be going home soon, and it makes me glad that I have an extra month here – I didn’t think I would ever be saying that!

Cultural Development

Last night I went to see a ballet performance at The Royal Danish Theatre, Det Kongelige Teater, with some of my class. We went to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream, choreographed by John Neumeier. I had never been to see a ballet performance, so I was very excited to do so. Due to my great skills in organising myself, I did not purchase tickets until I arrived at the theatre. The ‘helpful’ lady told Greg and I that the only two seats together were the slightly dearer ones, which was a bit annoying, but seeing we were getting student discount and ‘lovely seats’ we decided to cut our losses and buy them.

Det Kongelige Teater was designed by architects Dahlerup and Pedersen and opened in 1784. Walking through the grand entrance was really amazing – the building is huge, and I was delighted that our seats were right at the top of the theatre. Climbing four flights of stairs, taking pictures as we went, finally paid off when we got a glimpse of where we were sitting. It made me feel a little dizzy. I got a little snap-happy before the show began so enjoy the pictures below!

The performance was amazing – not only was the story and dancing amazing, but I was just so impressed with the strength and flexibility of the dancers – they looked so elegant, and their costumes were beautiful. My first experience of a ballet performance was very good, apart from the fact that 10 minutes into the evening, I noticed the rest of our friends (who had paid half of the price we did for their tickets) sitting in the aisle next to ours. Thank you for ripping us off ‘helpful’ lady.

Professional Development

This week and next week in school the classes are working on a project. The project is a compulsory part of the curriculum for all grades, and is a key part of the pupils’ assessment. The project will be done in various ways, depending on the ability of the children. The smaller grades will do a whole class project – perhaps a drama or song; and the older grades will carry out the project in smaller groups or even individually. They will then present their project to the teacher after the second week. We are working with grade 7 this week, so the individual projects are carried out in groups of two or three. Firstly, the class teacher, Vibeke, allowed the pupils to get into groups, and then each group used a list of topics to come up with one they would like to do. Vibeke, explained that the class will need to choose one main topic, for example ‘The World’ or ‘History.’ Once the main heading is chosen (our class chose Revolt and Freedom), the pupils will then get to choose a topic within it. As the work is individual, the teacher has very little input into the class project. Vibeke can give advice, but she has to let the pupils be responsible for their own learning, this includes the pupils making their own group contract about how they will work together. One of the groups decided to choose Conflict in Northern Ireland for their topic so Greg and I spent Tuesday explaining a brief history of Northern Ireland as the boys did not know anything about the situation! We are very fortunate to be able to get involved in the project work as it is so new to us. We do not have anything similar in Northern Ireland, and I was really interested to see how it operates. The skills that the pupils are gaining through doing this project are huge, and I will definitely bring some of the concepts back for teaching in Northern Ireland as it would fit in well with the revised curriculum.

We have had many opportunities getting to know the pupils better this week. On Tuesday, we helped out with the class when it was their turn to prepare and deliver lunches to the whole school. Denmark has a company called EAT which operates in schools to promote healthy eating. The initiative is very modern, with pupils or parents/guardians having to order and pay for the meals online whilst the pupils get involved in preparing the lunches. There is one representative from the company, who helps heat up the meals and delegate tasks; and then the pupils sort out the orders, pack the food into takeaway containers, prepare sandwiches and deliver them to the classrooms. This was a great way of getting to know the class better and getting to talk to them in a more social background.

On Wednesday, we went with the class to the nearby park. In Spring of each year, the school will help the council in the area by litter picking. The pupils are surprisingly keen to get involved and think it is a good idea, because they get some money for doing it! This money, we are told, will go towards the school trip. The class was split into smaller groups, and I was helping one of the boys’ groups. Even though litter picking was ‘very fun,’ I really enjoyed getting to talk to the boys about school. They also had lots of questions about Northern Ireland, so it was a great way of introducing them to the education system I was brought up in. Chatting to the pupils has really benefitted my relationship with them all. I feel respected as a teacher in the school, and not just a visitor. Even though I have always been conscious to build up a good relationship with my pupils, it is sometimes hard when you are teaching a class due to other distractions. The practise I have gained from Denmark, however, should make this easier for me in the future.

Week 10

Personal Development

Week 10 and I am officially more than half way through my time in Denmark. It is hard to believe that in two months I will be back in Northern Ireland! This week was the second half of our Easter break and the start of our teaching practise, so it has been a very busy week, full of fun!

On Thursday morning, I ventured across town to the airport to pick up my family! I left the house a little too early – it must have been the excitement of having visitors and spending five days at a hotel! Waiting in departures was terrible. Every time the huge automatic doors opened, I was on my tip toes trying to figure out if it was my clan, and every time it wasn’t I got more and more impatient. Finally, my mum, dad, brother and sister arrived! We had a great time catching up and sightseeing. It was so nice to show them around and let them see what I have been up to. I honestly do not think I have ever talked so much as the amount I did in the first few hours of picking my family up from the airport; the poor people were bombarded with everything, from what I have been eating to how to buy a train ticket. I think the best part of my trip was just getting away from our house in Ballerup to stay in a hotel for a few nights as I felt like I was on a proper holiday and I could really enjoy the time with my family over the Easter break. Of course, the time went very quickly and it was no time until I was unpacking in Ballerup. Strangely though, I did not mind coming back to the house too much, as I was excited about getting back into a routine and starting my placement the next day. I will talk more about my school in professional development, but it is really good to have another project to focus on. Greg and I also visited a couple’s house this week. Stefan and Marie-Louise go to church with us and invited us round for dinner. They were really nice and we had a great evening of chatting about university, travelling and life in Denmark. It was so nice to meet some Danish friends and relax with them. We had Danish meatballs, Frikadeller, and vegetables; and Greg and I prepared a Daim Bar Cheesecake for dessert. It was pretty amazing (thanks to mum’s instructions)!

Cultural Development

Due to my family being over, we spent a lot of time visiting landmarks in the city. Now the weather is better, we decided to take a Canal Tour boat which was great. It was good to see the city from another angle and learn some more about the history of Copenhagen. Seeing my family were over for 5 days, I also had the chance to visit some places outside of the city. We went to Lousiania, a museum of modern art, in a town called Humlebæk, Northern Zealand. The museum had some really impressive pieces of art, and included artists like Picasso, Giacometti, Dubuffet, Yves Klein, Andy Warhol, Rauschenberg, Henry Moore and many more. My favourite piece was called ‘Untitled, 1944’ by the American artist Jackson Pollock. The abstract piece reflects the post-war New York School theme and has a lot of depth, but to be honest, it was just the colours and paint strokes that caught my attention. The museum also has a beautiful garden and overlooks the Øresund (the alley of water between Denmark and Sweden). We had a lot of fun just taking in the landscape and enjoying the ‘fresh’ weather, although I think my mum and sister would prefer to describe the weather as ‘freezing.’

On Easter Monday we took a trip to Malmö in Sweden. The train ride only takes 40 minutes from Copenhagen and takes you across the Øresund bridge connecting Denmark and Sweden. With Malmö being Sweden’s third largest city, there were plenty of shops to keep us occupied. Even though Sweden has its own kroner, Danish kroner are accepted and it made purchasing a lot easier – whether that is a good thing or not, I am unsure! After exploring part of Lilla Torg (the town square with lots of cafés and restaurants) we then made our way to H&M – it was nice to visit the store in its home country. Before finishing off with more shopping, we had some coffee and cake in a lovely café which I will be going back to Malmö for – best cookie ever! It was nice to experience another Scandinavian country, and I am glad to say that I have now been.

By now you should have started to see a running theme throughout my blog. Food. I fear bikinis may be a problem this summer holiday. However, Thursday brought another opportunity to try some new cuisine and meet up with friends from our Erasmus class. Some of the class organised an International food event where all members of our class helped prepare special food from our home countries. The menu consisted of German Potato Dumplings, Swiss macaroni and cheese served with apple sauce, Roast Pork, Spanish Omelette, Belgian Chocolate Mousse and Crème Brulée. For Northern Ireland, we decided to make two things – Baileys Hot Chocolate with cream and Shortbread due to the fact that no one was very keen on trying or making Irish stew. It was really nice to taste some meals from other countries – I will definitely be trying out the recipes again. The meal was so good and I was so impressed with everyone’s cooking skills. Unfortunately mine were not so impressive. Our group managed to burn the shortbread (a lot) and, if it is possible to imagine, burn the milk for the hot chocolate. The situation is impossible to put into words, so I will describe the dilemma by saying it took Greg and I half an hour to scrape off 2 cm of black milk from the bottom of the saucepan.

Professional Development

We started our teaching placements in the ‘Folkskole’ on Wednesday. The Folkskole is the state education in Denmark for all children from 6 to 16 years. Children will go to the same Folkskole and stay in the same class for the whole 10 years before moving on to higher education or an apprenticeship. We have the opportunity of experiencing the Danish education system by visiting a school for the month of April and getting involved in the classes. We are split into groups of four people for the placement and I am with two Austrian girls (Julia and Christina) and Greg. When starting the placement this week, it was really good to have other students with me and I think this will benefit us as we move through the next month because we will be able to discuss the comparisons not only between Denmark and Northern Ireland, but also Austria.

We have been assigned to a Grade 7 and Grade 8 class, so the pupils are around 12-14 years old. We were able to get involved in a Maths class, which was very interesting for me. I really love the fact that even though the class is in Danish, Maths is internationally recognisable and all the symbols and signs are the same, so I was able to help some of the pupils who were stuck. The pupils’ English is very good, so it was nice getting to know them through general conversation. The schools are not too much of a culture shock from the schools in Northern Ireland, but one thing that has really stood out for me is the fact that the classes seem very much laid back compared to Northern Ireland. Rules appear to be a lot more relaxed, and teachers do not seem as strict. As far as classroom management is concerned, the teacher sometimes has trouble getting the children to pay attention, but the children are all respectful and I have not witnessed a child having to be disciplined yet. Everybody wants to know why there are four foreigners in school so we have been giving a number of presentations about Northern Ireland. It is so encouraging that the children are all so inquisitive and ask lots of questions, which is great!

Thursday was a great day – we were able to see a rehearsal for the school concert in the morning which was really good. The whole school takes part in the annual event, where some pupils from each will make up their own song and perform it for the community. On Thursday afternoon, we had the chance to get involved with a cookery class with Grade 7. We made Frikadeller (second day in a row – I am lucky I like them so much) and Pear tart. Even though the class had only been with us two times previous, they were very friendly and liked practicing their English with us. I was working with a pupil, Emile, who has been blind from birth. I have never worked with a blind child before, so I was a little apprehensive, especially since we were cooking, and my cooking skills are not the best. However, the class was very rewarding and I really enjoyed getting to chat with Emile. I was so impressed with his English and his polite, enthusiastic attitude. We then got to enjoy our meal round the table where I got to know the boys a little better. It was a great experience and a very insightful afternoon. I am very much excited about what next week will hold, and what I will be able to experience.