This week I had my first visit to the school I will be completing my placement module in. Nadja, a German girl in our class, and I will be doing our placement together in a local school only 10 minutes cycle from our accommodation. For our module we will have to run an English project once a week for 5 weeks. So on Tuesday afternoon we made our way to the school for our first meeting with our contact to plan our project and discuss the dates we would be coming in. Having only visited an international school while I have been here I wasn't sure what to expect however I was pleasantly surprised. The school had a very familiar atmosphere and was decorated very much as I would expect a primary school at home to be decorated. The children were not actually in during our visit so I had no interaction with them but we met the teacher who will be supervising us along with her classroom assistant and a masters student who will also be helping us run the project. We had a short meeting planning the outline of our project and discussing the other dates for our visit. The project we decided to do is a research project where the children have to research an English speaking city and create a display on this city. The teacher was very keen on this idea and we hope it will be successful. We also decided to arrange another short visit for the Thursday in order for us to witness the children during an English lesson so we know what kind of level to expect.
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| Classrooms look very similar to home |
On the Thursday afternoon we made our way back to the school. After a minor issue with Nadja having a flat tire, a serious issue when your bicycle is your only mode of transport, we got there just in time for the lesson. Just like at home the children were very excited at the prospect of visitors and were very keen to talk and converse however it took them a while to realise we did not understand the majority of what they were saying. We were in a Year 8 class which is the final year of primary school and we arrived in the middle of silent reading. The main difference I was able to notice was that the class was a lot more relaxed. The pupils were in casual clothes as their is no uniform here but at the same time they had a lot of freedom to communicate with each other and to move around the room. They were learning time in English which we actually covered in our Dutch lessons last period. It was evident the children had good English and I was able to pick up the odd word of Dutch. The lesson only lasted half and hour and they were then off to P.E so it was a very short visit but I am looking forward to the rest of my time in school.
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| Looks just like an N.I primary school |
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| Everybody rides their bike to school |
The rest of the week was spent starting and finishing assignments for my period one classes. Unfortunately a bad habit which I appear to have brought with me from home is leaving everything until the last minute. However after a little stress and speed typing they were all completed and submitted in good time.
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