Week 13 in Copenhagen

Week 13 in Copenhagen


Personal Development

This week has been a week of savouring every moment as for many of the Erasmus students this was the last week we would all spend together. It was also my last week in school, which I honestly can’t believe how quickly the time passed. Last weekend, was very busy trying to prepare the last bits for our group presentation for Comparative Education. I also had a lot of lessons to prepare for school, so this weekend was pretty much occupied by work!

This week we were really keen to try and get together one evening, even though many of us still had school early the next morning. Claire (from France) very kindly invited us around to her flat and had cooked honestly the best crepes I have ever tasted in my life, everyone had brought both savoury and sweet treats and it was a great night, although in some ways very sad as we only had a few days left altogether. The night was spent laughing and reflecting on our time here. In many ways the three or four months is not enough time, as we have found that you only get to know each other by the start of the third month and then people are starting to think about heading home, it is very difficult to imagine Copenhagen over the next month without many of these people here. I am however, very excited about the possibility about meeting up with some of the friends I have made here in their home destinations and many of them have even said that they would like to come and visit Northern Ireland, so I very much look forward to that- Erasmus truly is the most unbelievable experience.

On Thursday, we spent the whole day together in the university as it was a day to conclude this part of the Erasmus experience, we spent the morning reflecting on all the things that we had learnt personally, academically and culturally. It was amazing to think back on all the lessons and workshops we had together and how much we have actually gained from this experience. The lecturers were also really interested in hearing about the positives and negatives of this experience and to gain our feedback for future years.

Once the conclusion of the course had finished we had a presentation of certificates and a goodbye reception for the others who were not staying, it was kind of a surreal experience as it felt like the end, however I still have another chapter of this journey to complete during the next month, and to be honest although it will be strange that the others will not be here and am not fully ready to leave this place just yet.

That night we all met at a Turkish restaurant in the centre of town, it was a great night of laughing and chatting and I can honestly say I have made really great friends here, I just want to take the opportunity to say thank you to them all for making this experience really special, I hope that you all have a safe journey home and that we all make the effort to keep in touch- I could not have thought of a better group of people to share this experience with! For those who are staying I hope to see you all next week!

Cultural Development

This week in the conclusion to our course we started to talk about the issue of culture in terms of accommodation and assimilation. I found it really interesting to note how much it has been the case that I have had to accommodate my way of thinking to some of the culture within Denmark. Simple things, which have changed my way of thinking have included recycling, public transport and even the type of food that one eats here.

In relation to cultural development I have also been reflecting on the fact that while on Erasmus I have not only experienced Danish culture but also the wide range of cultures that have been represented within my class.

Professional Development

In terms of school this week, I was really busy preparing a number of English as a second language lessons, specifically focused on tenses. It gave me a great insight and made me reflect on the challenges and rewards of teaching a second language. I really enjoyed preparing these lessons and was so impressed at how the pupils got involved in many of the active learning strategies that I tried to put into the lessons. On particular activity that I thought worked well was with a Grade 6 class, I asked them to form a circle and I placed a number of verbs in the infinitive form in the centre of the circle. Each pupil was then required to change the tense and then tell a story or sentence in relation to their chosen verb. They also had to state whether the verb was regular or irregular in the past tense. The level of imagination and correct use of verb tenses was again extremely high.

This week I also had the opportunity to take part in Christianity lessons, as they had been cancelled the last weeks for the project exams. It was really interesting to note how these lessons were very much discussion based classes, and the level of input from the class was extremely encouraging. One of the classes I was with, was considering the issue of Human Rights and Freedom, I tried to encourage the pupils to expand their answers and develop their viewpoints on the issues while in their smaller groups. After they had a chance to discuss in groups they were asked to feedback their findings to the rest of the class. It reflected the idea that each group became an expert in a certain example of Human Rights and Freedom.

I was extremely sad that this week was the end of my Danish teaching experience, I really enjoyed the chance to get a first hand look at how these schools are set up and want to thank the staff and pupils for making it such a memorable experience.

Also in regard to Professional Development we had our group presentations for Comparative Education, our group considered the issue of ‘How to teach more than words’ with an emphasis on social education. I felt that our group worked really well together and our piece of assignment work was also handed in with a more detailed analysis of our findings.


Hope everyone is well. G.