Final Week, Final Blog

Week 22 (20/06/16 - 24/06/16)

It feels like it has been a while since I haven't had to set an alarm to get up. The student accommodation is slowly emptying with people filtering out and heading home to their home countries and universities. At the end of this week Lucy and I are making the journey to Italy to spend time in Venice and then Rome before returning home to Belfast. However this week is reserved for relaxing in Leeuwarden. With classes finishing last week and with assignments already handed in, with minimal stress, there is little left to do than relax, tidy, pack and spend the last few days enjoying the Netherlands.

On Monday Lucy and I made the train journey to Utrecht, somewhere which has been recommended for us to visit by a few different people. Unfortunately our good weather finally failed us and it rained consistently all day. This put a slight dampener on the day however we still enjoyed the city of Utrecht.

The Dom Tower of Utrecht

Relative of Louis van Nassau whose
statue is in Leeuwarden

Very colourful pedestrian crossing

Green rabbits instead of green men

Tuesday night we spent enjoying a game of Bingo in a local bar in the town centre, unfortunately neither of us won anything. This was followed by a drink in the Irish bar while enjoying the Euros.

The rest of the days spent in Leeuwarden revolved around errands and getting prepared to leave on Saturday for Italy. I finally made it to the Pancake Ship which I have been meaning to visit since arriving here in January and we made one last visit to my favourite restaurant in Leeuwarden Double B which does one the best burgers I think I've ever eaten.

 

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands and the entirety of my Erasmus experience.

Final look at NHL Hogeschool

Going to miss the canals and the boats

"All good things must come to an end." - Geoffrey Chaucer

Thanks for reading my blog. 

Final Week of Class

Week 21 (13/06/16 - 19/06/16)

Starting off this week I had my final return to the school in Groningen to re-teach my BREXIT lesson to another class. This time I was flying solo as Nadja was unwell which admittedly made it a bit more daunting however I have found in the past I prefer to teach by myself so I can do things my way. I was teaching in the 3VA class which is the same age as the previous class except the other set. I was informed before going into the lesson that this class was of a slightly higher standard than the first and a lot more opinionated so I had high expectations. In my opinion this lesson ran much better than the first. Before the lesson began I felt a lot more comfortable and prepared as I had taught it once before and I knew what responses to expect from the students. Teaching by myself I felt more confident and authoritative as I didn't feel the need to check or talk things through with Nadja, I was able to just do what I thought was best throughout the lesson. Again the students responded very positively to all the resources and activities and during the feedback at the end they were very positive towards me. Many thought I was well organised for the lesson and that they liked the manner and approach I took towards them. This was nice to hear as it was probably the main thing I was nervous about as the only experience I have teaching students of post primary age took place in the previous lesson.

Students using their phones to search for information

Students watching video clips about the Brexit

On the Thursday of this week I also had my final day in my regular placement school. Nadja had recovered from illness and so we both went for the final day. This was a relatively easy day as the students were just giving their informal presentations. This was interestingly done. As the 3 classes we taught in are all next to each other the teachers simply opened the interconnecting doors and 1 class would circulate while the other 2 gave their presentations to small groups. This made it very informal and the students appeared very comfortable doing their presentations. Nadja and I simply circulated with the other students and got round most of the presentations. They were all a lot better than we had expected as in the previous week very few were anywhere close to finishing but thankfully the class teachers had spent a little time on them during the week.

Students presenting their work

One of the Year 8 groups 

Upon completion of my placements I was required to reflect on my lessons, much like we do at home. Although I spent less time in the school in Groningen where I taught my BREXIT lesson I oddly feel I gained more from that experience than I did my regular placement school. In my regular school I felt very out of place and at times almost useless and I think this is due to the large language barrier I had with the majority of the students. I feel I can now partly empathise with a newcomer child now when they are placed in an environment where they struggle to communicate. However in the school in Groningen due to their high levels of English I feel I was able to achieve more and develop more professionally. I feel that over the course of this placement and the "Active Learning" module I was able to address many of the competences outlined by the GTCNI, for example competences 8, 14, 16, 18 and 20.



References:
GTCNI (2007) Teaching: the Reflective Profession. Incorporating the Northern Ireland Teacher Competences. [accessed at: www.gtcni.org.uk]
(I have permission from both the class teacher and the students to use their image)

BREXIT Lesson and One Last Amsterdam Trip

Week 20 (06/06/16 - 12/06/16)

Monday was finally the day for teaching our BREXIT lessons. Unfortunately this required an early start for us as we had to get the train to Groningen. We arrived later than planned as our train was cancelled and we had to get a later train, but our tutor met us at the station to give us a lift to the school. We made our way to the staff room to meet our contact in the school and we were informed about the classes we would be taking that day. Nadja and I were given the 3VB class where the students were 14/15 and have been having bilingual teaching for 3 years so their English is near fluent. The students were going into their 3rd hour and we weren't teaching until the 4th hour so we had some time and were given the opportunity to observe an English lesson for a slightly younger class. This was interesting to see as neither Nadja or I have ever taught in a post primary school so it was good to see how the students behaved before we taught our own lesson, as well as how the teacher treated them. This particular teacher seemed to have a good rapport with all of his students and Nadja and I both noticed how the students seem to hold him in quite high regards.

Plank is used when there is an odd
number for partner activities

After this it was time to begin our lesson. The lesson would last for the 4th and 5th hour, which are actually only 50 minutes long each, with a 20 minutes break in between for lunch. Our tutor and the class teacher sat at the back of the room for the lesson and it felt very much like a tutor visit during placement at home. In general the lesson ran smoothly and the students responded well to me and the content. I made some class management errors but I'm chalking those up to being out of practice. It was an interesting experience teaching older students, they also surprised us with the knowledge they already had about the BREXIT. Their English was excellent so there were no problems on that front and they seemed to enjoy the freedom we gave them within the lesson to do their own research but all remained on task. We used a quiz system online, called a Kahoot, for our plenary session which they connect to with their phones and then answer the questions which apparently is very common here. When starting up the quiz the students heard it before it appeared on the screen and knew exactly what was expected of them and immediately began preparing to take part. I will definitely use this in my future teaching as all students thoroughly enjoyed the activity and it gives a good sense of understanding throughout the whole class as well as being fun and interactive. It would be perfect for older classes in schools with access to iPads. Both the students and class teacher were positive about the lesson. So far I feel I have been able to address some of the professional competences such as;

"Teachers will have developed: a knowledge and understanding of how to use technology effectively, both to aid pupil learning and to support their professional role, and how this competence embeds across all of the competences." - GTCNI 2007 

and;

"Teachers will: employ strategies that motivate and meet the needs of all pupils, including those with special and additional educational needs and for those not learning in their first language." 

- GTCNI 2007

Over lunch I was having a discussion with one of the class teachers who was explaining that he was actually studying physics and biology at our university, NHL, while still teaching in the school in order to gain qualifications to teach them as a subject. I then actually bumped into him between classes on the Thursday in NHL and I found this interesting as I've never heard of this happening anywhere else.

Apart from this day classes ran as normal except for "Places of Memory" which was moved to the Thursday. This was our final meeting for this class in which we handed in our assignments and had a final discussion. Although not teaching related I very much enjoyed taking part in this module as it gave me the opportunity to see the province of Friesland and learn about the Frisian culture which I didn't know existed until my arrival here. It was also interesting to see the similarities that could be made between our two cultures.

On Friday I made my final trip to Amsterdam with Lucy simply to take advantage of the summer sales. We also decided to give the cinema another go as we thought in a major tourist city it may be more like home. It wasn't.

Perks of Amsterdam is the great food

Art market gathering outside our lunch spot

Can trust a cinema that sells dried
fruit as a snack

There appears to be a cow on my plate

"My favourite animal is steak." - Fran Lebowitz

References:
GTCNI (2007) Teaching: the Reflective Profession. Incorporating the Northern Ireland Teacher Competences. [accessed at: www.gtcni.org.uk]

Peat Bogs and Beach Trips

Week 19 (30/05/16 - 05/06/16)

This week feels like a repetition of last. With this term coming to an end it means assignments are starting to pile up and in order to avoid the situation I was in last term I am really trying hard to do a little every day. Class carried on as normal this week. In "Active Learning" we were doing our finishing touches for our BREXIT lessons as they will be taught in school next week, which is a slightly daunting task. However I am looking forward to the experience of teaching secondary aged students. We continued are attempt to master a little of the Dutch language in preparation for our only exam in 2 weeks time and we made our final excursion with "Places of Memory". For our final trip we visited a local open air museum dedicated to showing the plight of peat workers during the 19th century. This was interesting to see especially with Northern Ireland's on history with peat. We were also amazed by the living conditions the workers and their families had to endure. We finished off our trip with a visit to a local bar which was dedicated to the leader of the workers strike at this time. Here our tutors bought and enjoyed a drink with us in the sun which I think just shows the informality of classes here in the Netherlands.  

Family of 8 lived in this house

A look inside the home

Peat from Ireland

As a mid week activity just to get out of the flat Lucy and I decided to brave the Dutch cinema. At home we would generally go to the cinema once a week with it being one of my favourite pass times but I've avoided it here so far having not wanted to deal with the Dutch subtitles. However having missed some major releases in the past months we decided to give it a go. The cinema itself was grand and after 10 minutes of the film you don't even notice the subtitles anymore, however their snacks were not up to scratch. Much to Lucy's dismay they only offered salted popcorn and much to both our dismays their drink of choice was Pepsi, not Coca-Cola. They also seem to charge different ticket prices depending on the film and how long it has been in cinemas with our own tickets costing us a near extortionate price of 10 euro each. Overall it was a nice way to pass the time but I don't think we will be visiting the cinema in Leeuwarden again.

On Saturday Lucy and I decided to take advantage of the great weather and make a trip to the beach in Den Haag. This is somewhere in the Netherlands that I've been meaning to visit since almost my first week here. However rather than walk the city and see the sights we decided to just hit the beach and relax. We arrived about 12.30pm and fortunately there is a tram stop right outside the train station that takes you directly to the beach which is otherwise a 1 hour walk. Here we got slight worried because, although warm, there was a tremendous amount of fog coming in from the sea but this actually subsided after about 30 minutes and we spent the rest of the day sweltering in the sun. Unfortunately it turns out we're not great with sun cream and both ended up getting badly burnt but you live and you learn.

Looks like a holiday resort

First sand castle of the summer

Street Festivals and Windmills

Week 18 (23/05/16 - 29/05/16)

With deadlines quickly approaching over the next 2 weeks I decided to attempt to not get bogged down like last time. This meant taking some time this week and knuckling down. Fortunately for me my Tuesday and Wednesday freed up completely coincidentally due to how the classes were scheduled. However having more time to do work just means having more time to procrastinate and by the end of the 2 days I had a lot less done than I hoped but looking at it positively I did more than I would have done if I hadn't tried.

Lucy made her final trip back to Leeuwarden on the Wednesday after heading back to Hasselt the previous Thursday to pack up her room and do a final presentation. This means she'll be here until the 25th of June when we head off on a wee Italian adventure. However her trip back wasn't exactly smooth sailing. After me being amazing and organising all her trains and sending her numerous changeover schedules she managed to miss her bus, which meant she missed her first train, and after getting on a later train she managed to get herself left at a random station in a place called Weert. Thankfully there was one last train passing through Weert to get her where she needed to be which meant she was able to get the last train to Leeuwarden.

It was good she came when she did because there was a street festival over the weekend to celebrate liberation day.

Another standard day in Leeuwarden

Traffic cones hung up all round town

Frisian cow makes an appearance again

Some live music in the middle of time

I had my third day of placement on the Thursday. With the year 8 class out on a trip it meant we only had 2 classes to see. The task proved a bit daunting today for some of the pupils in the younger class which for one boy resulted in tears but he was easily calmed down and once Nadja helped him through a bit he got on much better. I've found that I am at the lowest of the understanding ladder as the teacher can speak both Dutch and English, Nadja is able to speak English and with her German she is able to understand Dutch, and then there is me only able to do English. There are 10 year old children in the class fluently speaking English and Dutch and switching between languages during conversation which makes me feel kind of guilty and also gives me the opinion that maybe we should start teaching a second language in primary school.

It was our penultimate "Places of Memory" trip on Friday and we finally made our way to a site our tutors had mentioned to us on more than one previous occasion. We made our way to a place called Dokkum in order to visit the place that St. Boniface was killed and to visit a chapel dedicated to his memory. Unfortunately the chapel was actually closed at the time we visited so we were not able to go inside but we were able to explore the grounds. The reason Boniface was killed was because his job for the church was to bring Christianity and the control of the church to different areas, however for the Frisian's their freedom is very important to them so they killed him in revolt. To this day they think very little of St. Boniface and the chapel isn't very respected in the community but it is a site of Catholic pilgrimage.

Statue on the site of St. Boniface's death,
covering his head with The Bible

We also finally got up close with an old school windmill.

"When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others build windmills." 

- Chinese Proverb

Placement and Planetarium

Week 17 (16/05/16 - 22/05/16)

This week was much like every other with the general routine of going to class and then surviving the rest of the day. Our Monday "Active Learning" class was cancelled however we came together as a class later in the week to continue to design our BREXIT lesson. On Tuesday our tutor showed us the typically Dutch informality and flexibility by taking us outside for our class as it was probably the best day, weather wise, there has been in a while. And on Wednesday we continued to examine how the Dutch school system accommodates for SEN pupils and once again attempt to master some basic Dutch language.

When Thursday came along I had another visit to my placement school. This week we actually began our project rather than just having a discussion. I was surprised how much the pupils remembered and the seemed a lot more engaged and ready to take part this week. Nadja and I handed out the booklets we made previously with information about the English speaking cities they were going to be researching and presenting and in all the lessons were a success. I have noticed some similar strategies being used in the classrooms for management such as clap patterns and the teacher raising her hand for silence and attention. However I am still of the opinion that in terms of behaviour the teachers are a lot more relaxed. The pupils will often get out of their seats and the classroom is rarely quiet. But once we gave them their task they all got stuck in and their was never anyone off task.

On Friday Niamh and I made the short journey by train to Franeker for our "Places of Memory" excursion of the week. This time we were visiting the Eisinga Planetarium which is the oldest working planetarium in the world. Neither of us was quite sure what to expect when we arrived however we were very pleasantly surprised. Luckily there was an English explanation of what we were looking at otherwise we would have had no idea. The accurately moving model was built by Eise Eisinga, a wool carder, on the ceiling of this living room between the years 1774 and 1881. Intelligent and self-educated he wrote a mathematics textbook at age 15 and his first astronomy book at age 17. He actually decided to create the model as before he did uneducated locals feared that the planets would eventually collide and be destroyed and he wanted to put them all at ease.

He made the entire model by hand with only the help of his father as he trusted no one else, this included the carving and placement of 10,000 identical nails to act as teeth in his mechanism. The mechanism is kept on time by a pendulum and the cogs are moved by weights that have to be reset every 4 days. The entire model is still completely accurate today, except for a few missing planets that were not discovered at the time of construction, it can even tell the distance of the earth from the moon.

The large gold sphere represents the sun

From the different dials you get different
 information such as zodiac sign

The room was so small it was impossible
 to get the whole model in one image

Part of the mechanism used to move the model

"Astronomy, as nothing else can do, teachers men humility." - Arthur C. Clarke

It is incredible to see what a self-educated wool carder can produce with a lot of determination and passion.

Frisian Freedom and Food Festivals

Week 16 (09/05/16 - 15/05/16)

After a great week in Paris it was time to get back into the routine of normal life in Leeuwarden. Classes started back as normal on Monday with "Active Learning" where we continued to prepare our lesson on the BREXIT, which we are eventually going to have to attempt to teach to a Dutch class in the coming weeks and we continued to blunder our way through our Dutch language class Wednesday afternoon.

The major event this week was it was my first day in my placement school carrying out our English project. This took place for a short period on Thursday but it was still a good, yet extremely difficult, experience. As I think I've mentioned before Nadja, a German girl in our class, and I have to run an English project in a local primary school where the children are advertising an English speaking city as if they were a travel agency. For our first day we decided to simply do a short introduction about ourselves and the project and allow the children to ask any questions they may have. It also gave us another opportunity to gauge their level of English, which was a bit more minimal than we first thought. We're carrying out the project in the final 3 years of the primary school which are year 6, 7 and 8 but we only spend half an hour in each class. The year 8's seem to have a lot of understanding but there are a few who struggle with speaking. Year 7 is a much smaller class but there is a much larger gap in understanding, there are about 5 children who can speak English near fluently and then there are some who speak as much English as we do Dutch. And finally in year 6 it was just a sea of blank faces. However with the help of the teachers, who are all very keen, and a few of the more conscientious students we got through the day and I am looking forward to our next visits in the coming weeks.

On Friday we made another excursion with our "Places of Memory" class, a time which I now look forward to during the week as it gives me an opportunity to see a little more of the Frisian country side and culture. This time we made our way to Stavoren which is to the south west of Leeuwarden beside the coast. Here we visited a monument which has great significance to Frisian nationalists as it commemorates the Battle of Warns 1345 in which an army of Frisian villagers and farmers repelled an invasion of Hollanders enabling them to keep their independence for a further 150 years. This was a great day out as it was beside ocean and it's the first time I've seen the sea since I have been here.

"Leaver dea as slaef" - Anonymous

(Translates from Frisian to English as "rather dead than slave")

First view of the ocean

It's hard to see but the ground on the right
of the bank is actually below sea level

Frisian countryside

Monument commemorating the Battle of
Warns inscribed with "Leaver dea as slaef"

First experience of an aqueduct,
having to drive under the canal 

With Lucy's course in Hasselt coming to an end in the next couple of weeks she is getting a lot of free time and so she was up again for another visit. She came at a good time as this weekend was the Leeuwarden Big Taste Festival. The area outside the Oldehove was over run with food trucks of all different varieties which made a good day out to finish off the week.

Coolest food truck ever

May Vacation - Maastricht, Brussels, Paris

Week 15 (02/05/16 - 08/05/16)

As I mentioned in my previous post this week's entry will be longer than normal as it is going to detail my travels over May Vacation. For this I apologise but much like Amsterdam it would be impossible to do it justice within the word limit.

My travels actually started on May 1st when I made my way to Maastricht to meet Lucy. Maastricht is a city in the Netherlands I've wanted to visit and it is very near the Belgian border so this was a good opportunity to do so. I started my journey early and Lucy met me at the train station before we headed into town, stopping on the way for a quick bite to eat. Maastricht is a very scenic city and we were fortunate to get a good day which we just spent wandering around and exploring the city. Lucy had been there before and so had some sense of direction but for the most part we had no final destination in mind.

Basilica of Our Lady

One of Maastricht's 3 large squares

Another of Maastricht's 3 large squares

Lucy posing with a strange statue we found

And they sell all the Harry Potter books in
Dutch (with really cool covers)

Bookstore Dominicanen, an old cathedral
renovated into a modern bookstore

After spending the Sunday evening and Monday in Hasselt, as Lucy still had classes she needed to go to, we headed to Brussels on the Tuesday to spend the night in preparation for our early bus to Paris on Wednesday morning. We spent the day in Brussels centre and had a great dinner in the main square consisting of the biggest mussel pot I think I've ever seen. Belgium is apparently famous for mussels as well as chocolate something which I did not know. We then spent the night in a rather seedy area of North Brussels, somewhere I wouldn't want to be walking too late at night, but the hotel was fine and the room was clean and once I climbed the 4 flights of near vertical stairs I was ready to pass out from exhaustion anyway.

We also finally saw the Manneken Pis (Pissing Boy) which we had tried to see the last time we were in Brussels but it was dressed in a scout like uniform for some unknown reason.

Much of our Wednesday was spent travelling to Paris. This only cost us 12 euro which is very good but it did mean we were at the whim of traffic, which was a nightmare getting into Paris and turned our 4 hour journey into a 6 hour journey. We got into Paris around 4:30pm and it was still sweltering hot, much to Lucy's delight and my disdain as I was on bag duty most of the time. We found our nearest metro and made our way to the hotel which was perfectly situated in the centre of Paris only a short metro ride from all the major attractions.

We decided to make the most of the evening as it was still very bright outside and made our way to the Sacré-Coeur Basilica. The location was still teeming with people and after being accosted by street vendors, of which there were many, we made our way to the top for a spectacular view of Paris.

We then decided that, rather than head back into central Paris for dinner, that we would check out the Latin quarter for something to eat. This is situated just behind the Sacré-Coeur and we ended up finding a wonderfully quaint Italian restaurant with a jazz pianist which much to Lucy's delight was versed in multiple Disney songs. We also had our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower.

The central square was filled with artists and
small vendours

After dinner we decided to get a closer look at the Eiffel Tower before calling it a night.

After a much needed night's rest we had an early start as it was our plan to squeeze in all the major sights in this one day. We started in the Louvre which turns out is free entrance to all EU members under the age of 26 (another reason not to BREXIT). So we were able to just walk in without queuing for tickets which was great. We battled the crowds inside the museum and finally saw all the major artwork.

Even the ceiling is covered in art

The Mona Lisa is much smaller than expected

Getting that perfect selfie angle

The Venus de Milo

Then, because of the fantastic weather, we decided to walk the Champs-Élysées on our way to the Arc de Triomphe. Lucy was in her element with the heat and the amount of the designer shops. (Fun Fact: the Arc de Triomphe sits in the centre of a roundabout where there are no traffic regulations, you drive where you want and hope not to crash.)

"A walk about Paris will provide lessons in history, beauty, and in the point of life." 

- Thomas Jefferson

Champs-Élysées with Arc de Triomphe at
the end

Closer look at the Arc de Triomphe

After visiting the Arc de Triomphe we made our way back to the Eiffel Tower to see it during the daylight and have a relax in the near by park in the now 25 degree heat before hopping on the metro again to get to Notre Dame, which we were both very much looking forward to.

Taking in the sun by the Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower

First sight of Notre Dame from across
the Seine

Queuing to get inside

We topped off the day with a canal cruise on the Seine before a late dinner and bed in preparation for Disney the next day.

Front row seats on the canal tour

Something I found very interesting that I learnt on the canal tour is how many sights in Paris were first built for the world fair. The Eiffel Tower being the most prominent (which was also originally criticised by French artists) but there were also bridges and buildings built as well.

I think both Lucy and I both reverted back into a childlike state on Friday morning. I don't think there was anyone more excited on the train to Disney than we were. We got there for opening at 10am and didn't leave until closing, after 10pm that night, and we were in our element all day.

"That's the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up." - Walt Disney

Entrance to Disney

Just hanging out in front of Sleeping
Beauty's Castle

My main man Mickey casting some magic

Chilling with Buzz 

We were both exhausted and broke by the end of the day but it was definitely worth it. My only regret is they hadn't finished building their Star Wars attractions yet and I missed the sign up for Jedi training but that just gives me an excuse to go back.

"If you can dream it, you can do it. Remember that this whole thing started with a dream 

and a mouse." - Walt Disney

Our final day in Paris was a pretty chill day. We were able to check out of our hotel but leave our baggage which meant we could roam the city unhindered until our bus back to Brussels that evening. We made our way back to Notre Dame to see if we could get up to the towers as it was already closed last time we were there however unfortunately it was a 3 hour wait time so we thought better of it. We spent the rest of the day, before heading back to Brussels, on the Champs-Élysées looking in the shops and having a drink in one of the many very expensive cafés.

The entrance to Abercrombie & Fitch
 looks like a royal palace

Thankfully the bus back to Brussels ran on time meaning we were able to get a reasonable night's sleep in preparation for our travels back to our separate Erasmus locations, a 1 hour journey for Lucy and a 6 hour journey for me (think I got the worse deal).

In all it was a fantastic week and great trip. We were so fortunate being blessed with such good weather the whole time which suppose made everything that little bit better. I would definitely recommend Paris and I definitely be returning in the future.

 "Paris is always a good idea." - Audrey Hepburn