Personal Development
I honestly can’t believe that it is time for another entry in the blog, the weeks here are going so fast, it is difficult to believe. The weather has definitely changed and Spring is fast approaching, for the first time in Denmark I left the house without being armed with hats, gloves, scarves and managed not to freeze. The snow was great while it was here, however it is great to feel the heat of the sun- it has been so amazing going out for walks while the sun is out and enjoying exploring a little more of Copenhagen each day. I really want to get a bike soon- everyone here travels by bike, so I am going to investigate renting a bike over the Easter break.
The weather must be affecting the transport system because on a number of occasions this week, I have experienced delays with the metro and trains. On Tuesday, I got stuck inside the metro at the one stop for about twenty minutes, there were so many people inside and it is not an experience I would like to happen again. It has been so surprising as normally the transport is so efficient here. It is funny how impatient you can become when transport is so efficient normally, sometimes I get generally annoyed if I miss the metro and have to wait three minutes for the next one, ridiculous really when you consider Northern Ireland, where you have to wait an hour for the next train!
It has also been great getting to know people in our class a lot better, and I can definitely say that we have all become rather friendly over the period of our stay. On Thursday afternoon I was invited, with Katie to our Austrian friends’ flat to work on our project presentation for Multi-cultural classroom, they prepared a lovely lunch for us and it was great to get to know them a little better – and get some work completed too! I also had a fantastic meal with Claire, Karim and Katie on Thursday evening, we had a great conversation exchanging French and Northern Irish music. It was also excellent for picking up some French cuisine recipes from Claire!
Cultural Development
On Wednesday, I was off class and I decided to investigate Malmö in Sweden. I took the bus along with some of the other Erasmus students from the town hall in Copenhagen and we arrived in Sweden in less than an hour. It was amazing passing over the bridge, which I had been told so much about. We spent the afternoon exploring the town as much as we could, as the last bus home returned at 6 o’clock. While we were in the town we were stopped by a photographer who asked us if we minded being in a couple of photos for a Swedish soap powder add. Random I know! We agreed, and spent about thirty minutes posing for endless photographs. The photographer has told us that the add campaign will include our photo and be on the bus stops over Sweden, six hours in Sweden and I was already famous! I really enjoyed my time in Malmö, we enjoyed a great lunch and some coffee, it was really relaxing to get out of the busyness of Copenhagen and experience a new country for the day. The town had so much character and there were so many shops and restaurants to explore- my favourite was Malmö’s Chocolate shop, which had a huge variety of quality chocolate! I am now however, left with a variation of Swedish and Danish Kroner in my wallet – I think it may take me the majority of the weekend to figure out which is which! I found the atmosphere and culture in Sweden to be very similar to that of Denmark and would love to explore a little more of Sweden during the Easter break.
The major cultural activity of the week included a classical and Cuban concert at Copenhagen’s new concert house- ‘K3NC2RT HUS4T’. The concert included the DR UngdomsEnsemblet (a string orchestra) and guest orchestra- Cubita (a lively Cuban orchestra). We went to the event with a number of our class and it was an excellent evening. It was very relaxing and the musicians were so talented. The building was so impressive and included a number of studios – the particular studio that our concert was in had a number of famous musicians drawn on the walls- one included a little of Northern Ireland, with a print of Van Morrison.
The building itself was so modern and the design was fascinating, definitely recommend a visit. I hope to attend another concert during April to add to my musical cultural experiences! It is obviously a very Danish evening event to attend these small concerts – as the people looked so relaxed and comfortable in this settling. It was surprising to me how the concert was laid out, there were tables in the concert hall all lit up with candles and food and drinks were available at the back of the studio- very different to the lay out in Belfast.
Professional Development.
This week at University there has been a lot of private study and group work activity. This had been in order to prepare for presentations for a number of modules during next week. We also found out about our practice schools for after Easter, so we will be contacting the schools at the beginning of the week to find out about our classes etc. I am really looking forward to getting into the classroom and getting to start teaching.
On Monday, we prepared for our Multi-Cultural Classroom assessment presentation. We have been asked to work on a tender for a multi-cultural school. We have had to make decisions on the policies and ethos of the school, as well as the core teaching principles. We have also included a design for a classroom and an advertisement for proposed staff. Our group made a number of references to the theory behind the multi-cultural classroom which we have discussed during the course such as the Banks Model. The idea behind this approach of assessment has been taken from the idea of Storyline Method. This is often used within classrooms to involve pupils in the learning process through visualization. There is a strong focus on key questioning through different scenarios.
The rest of the week, I spent time on the write up for the Wiki page from the information that we learnt at the Karen Blixen museum. We also had to spend some time recording the podcast for the Wiki page. We used the space on the podcast to create a dialogue between an interviewer and Karen Blixen. We arranged the podcast as if it were a class of pupils who had been asked to complete this task. Really hoping that both of these presentations go well- they are on Monday and Tuesday, so will let you know how they go!
On Tuesday, I went again to the course at University of Copenhagen for Comparative Education. This week we considered the American Education system. We looked specifically at the States’ Campaigns to reduce the amount of High school ‘drop outs’. It was interesting to note that the Danish people in the class found it difficult to comprehend the high cost of education – in comparison to the free higher education in Denmark and also the considerable monthly payment.
Finally, for this week we had another Comparative Education class at Blaagaard- we spent the time planning for our project assignment and had an available slot to discuss our ideas with our tutor. We then had time discussing what is expected of us during our School Based Work period.
Well I think that is about all for this week. It is raining today, luckily I am going to be inside to watch the Six Nations- Come on Ireland!
Speak soon!
Hope everyone is well. G.
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