Netherlands Erasmus 2016: 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.