Sct. Severin Skole

Hej,

However, we don't have a great weather today, it is very windy, rainy, stormy, etc. we had a great day today in another way. We went to visit a school near to our home. This primary school has got 800 students, this is the biggest school in Haderslev! So we met with Lasse, the English teacher in the morning and got to see an English class in the 9th grade. Ioan, the teacher asked us to give a presentation about our country and we did. I talked about Hungary a bit and students had questions, like how do we celebrate Christmas? One of the students has been to Hungary, I think she was in Visegrád, as she described me the place she has been to. After, our presentation, they continued to work on their project, the theme is violence in school and they looked the film, Elephant, previously, and today, each group read different articles about violence in school. After, students got free lunch, because now in the school, the local government provides lunch to students for 8 weeks for free in order to advertise a place where they can order food at dinner time. Do you get what I'm saying? When I heard this, I thought, ohh jee, they get hot lunch, but actually it was only a sandwich with chicken meat inside with some dressing on top. Well, better than nothing...After, 40 minutes lunch break, we went to the 4th class, where we talked about our country again, and then the best programe of the day started. We went to another 4th class, where they had music lesson. Kids were very excited to meet with us. They asked us to sing something in our own language. I sang "Tavaszi szél vizet áraszt" and "Kiskarácsony, nagykarácsony". ...Suddenly, these two songs came to my mind. :)
I recorded songs what they sang in Danish, it was very nice to listen to those songs. A new song was introduced to the class, which is from the Beatles, "Merry Christmas". The teacher played the piano and the kids followed the rythm. Cool! After the music class, we visited the afternoon club, where kids hang out after school. It's like "napközi" in Hungary, but not exactly the same, because here kids just hang out in fact, they don't have homework or not a lot. On one of our classes at the college we talked about giving homework to kids, is it useful or not? Actually, the teacher said that there is no strong reason for giving homework to kids, they won't be better students if they have lots of homework, at least that's what the statistics says. Well, I don't know about this, but I'm sure that in Hungary, kids have got more lexical things to do than here. And I'm not sure if it's better. I think practice is more important than to know lots of books. But this is just my point of view.
After all these classes, we said good-bye. I really enjoyed being in the school. It was a nice day!

Here is a video, when kids were singing a song by a famous Danish composer, Kim Larsen. In Denmark, everybody knows his songs. "Jutlandia"

Farvell Practice....

with the 4th class girls


Hi Everyone,

I haven't posted any blog for a long time, but I was busy. Sorry...I don't know how many of you follow my blog daily, I hope you still like it though...

Okay, as you see from my title, my Practice job finished. Unfortunately!!
I miss going to Faurdalskolen and meet with the students.
I had practice on Thursday on 9th of October. I had to do some teachings in the 4th class, we learnt the TIME. It's not my favourite topic, because my English is not the best, and I don't know use words like quarter to, past, half past. Instead of these, I use 8.45, 8.30. At the same time, I realised, finally I could learn it, as well. Just before getting the diploma :) It's on time :)

This was the very first time I experienced that when I arrived to classroom, nobody stood up. It was strange, or I'd say: different.

After I taught the lesson, kids went to play with computer, they had fun.

We took some pictures during break time, and we said good-bye...


On Friday: It was a national exercise day. It means that right before the autumn holiday, every school does exercise. I got to see how it looks like.
It's similar to Hungarian "Egészséges nap"-hoz, where you jump, do some sports, and competitions.
Here, Danish students are not in competition, so they didn't get prize or extra points if they did good. The whole day programe was just for fun. :)

The weather was fine, a little bit cold, but it's all right.

I finished early, around 11.30 am, and got home and relax...



with the 0E class

Practice on Monday

I had a busy but beautiful day on Monday. I went to school by bike, it was a little bit chilly, but I like riding my bike, I think when I return home I'm gonna use it. :) Anyway, I started school at 8.10 with Special Needs Class, they were 12 years old and only 3 boys in the class. I like the way Tim always starts the class: First of all, he asks how was your weekend. Everybody tells briefly what they did, how they spent their weekend. It's a good way to warm up kids. :) Then, Tim introduced the task for that day, pupils had to make a photo. So, Tim asked them what's their favorite famous star, or what they're interested in general. Students have to learn how to use the Paintshop Pro program. So, we went to the computer room where they sat down and tried to look pictures on the net. Tim went to each student and helped them, explained them what to do, he showed it and then erased it so the kids should do it individually. They did a good job, I was amazed, because it's a special class, so again, a very practical thing to learn. Kids like computer in general anyway, and now, they're able to use this program and make decorations or have fun with this program. Finally, they printed the pictures and laminated. So, kids are able to use the laminator machine, (school has got one) and I have to tell you that I have never seen it in my life. Of course, I know about it, but personally I don't use it. So, I always give it to the shop assistant at home and let him do it. All right. So it was great experience again. There weren't a lot to do, like teaching, but for me it was really nice to watch this class.
After the break, kids could have the chance to make another one if they wanted to. Now, Tim didn't have to help a lot, so everybody did another one.

After this, I went to visit 9A class. There weren't a lot to do for me. They had tests in English (written part). I got a copy of the test, it's hard, they had to work hard on this.
It's still very strange for me, when the teacher arrives in the class, no one stands up. The lesson just starts. Tim said that it was the same for him, in England it's different.
I asked him about the grades in Denmark. Until the 8th class you don't get any grades.
Grade system in Denmark, in brackets you find the Hungarian version of it.
-3 it means you're completely don't know anything at all. (It doesn't exist in Hungary)
00 They use two zero because you can't replace it with any other number. You fail. (same in Hungary with 1)
02 It means you pass the exam. (Same with 2 in Hungary)
4 A little bit better than past. (same in Hungary with 3)
7 Better than pass (same in Hungary with 3)
10 Good (which is 4 in Hungary)
12 Excellent (5 in Hungary)

Different. We have grades for behaviour and hard working, they don't have it, they get comments on that.

It was interesting to visit and experience a lot in the 9A class.

Practice on Friday

Hi everybody,

I hope you're doing well. :)
I went to Practice school on Friday, but I had a short day. I helped a little bit in the 1st class. I had to cut out "I" and "i" letters for the kids. They're adorable. We understood each other. I like the way how they are taught in school. They are not in competition like in Hungary. And it makes different. They don't get grades until the 8th class. There are types of comments which teachers give it to pupils 2 times a year. Very interesting.
So I was off around 10 am and went to town. I could see the Haderslev market. It's not as big as in Eger, but still it was soo good to see fresh fruit and cars with full of cheese. I bought a quarter of camembert cheese, it was on sale. The only thing I missed the smells of grapes, ohh... it's beacuse in my town right now, everything is about grapes. I wish I could buy some fresh grapes...it's okay. :) I was on hurry, making sandwiches etc. I went to school around 11.30 pm. because I had to call Sterling. I could call them at the first trying. YES, Lord! So, they put me 4th of December's flight. Two days later...
Finally, I had Art class, we made "montage". I did some drawings during the week, and I showed it to the teacher, one of them actually, she liked. I was so happy because as you know I don't really practice drawings at home, not at all. So, it was good to hear a positive stroke. :)
Now, I'm thinking to try painting, I will let you know how it went later on....

Practical things??

Today, I had 2 classes with the 1st grade, and then one with the 4th grade. In school, everything is built or based on logic. Seriously, everything. While at home, we study or personally I struggle with studying linguistics in College, those 10 linguistics subjects, here I enjoy studying linguistics. I think, this is because the teacher makes it interesting and most importantly understandable for each student. Here, college students study the basic things about linguistics. (it's similar to Phrasal Syntax 1 and 2 at home)
Dear students fellowship and friends at home, especially those who already finished College: Have you ever taught clausal syntax in primary school? Do you use those stuffs, theories? I'm sure, that students at the age of 14, are not curious about Chomsky's theory, or the latest theory from sb.....So, my question, why do we study clausal syntax? We won't teach it, then for what is the aim to study it t? To have less confidence because you obviously fail the course, that's what the teacher promised and it became true. Personally, I failed the course...But I know, the rest of you guys failed, we can say it's normal to fail linguistics course. You can ask me back, why do you choose to study in Eger? All right, but just to let you know, I'm afraid of not be able to do that clausal syntax 2. course. It's okay.
How come students, if they study regularly here in Haderslev, don't fail any course? My experience is that even if I study hard, and spend time with memorizing books, and trying to understand what's going on in the books I fail the course. I just experience, things are different here. NO Stress! Enjoy what you're doing! It's your responsibility to do your job.
Practice today: I enjoyed the first 2 classes a lot. They studied the letter: I. Kids had to cut "i" letters from magazines. My job was to glue them on paper. They played games with letter "i". After, teacher brought a laptop and each kid had to sit in front of the computer and type the letter "i" and then color it in word document. Again, very practical. I'm so happy that I can visit classes like these special needs class. :))
4th class: they were singing songs, and praciced the English letters. One of the students needs help because she is almost blind. She has a special teacher, who stays with her all day. At the back of the classroom they have got a machine which helps students with special needs to study the same things as the other students do. I'm amazed....

First week in practice school

Hej everyone,



I had practice this week. I enjoyed it. I have got 2 teachers, Tim and Marianne, they are my mentors. Both of them teach English and Special Needs Education. Both of them are very nice. The school name is: Favrdalskole. It's a public school.

I visited 4 classes.
First one is the 9th class where there are approx. 20 students. They are 15 years old students. Here is the first difference. We have got primary school until 8th class, so until 14 years old kids and then we have high school between the age of 14-18. In this 9th class students look the same as in Hungary. Girls with make up on their face, boys are in baggy trousers or in "emo" style. That's just the fashion everywhere. They studied death penalty this week, they discussed the advantages and disadvantages of this topic. Some of the kids have strong feelings to choose death penalty for example if their family could have kidnapped. For homework they have to think about it more. I was surprised because they don't learn phonetics. At home I had to write the phonetic meaning of every new word for 12 years old pupils.They don't do it here. One of the reasons could be that in Denmark, films are subtitled, so when kids watch Tv they automatically get vocabulary and pronunciation. I think it's cool and very useful.

Second class: 9 E class. "E" means Special Needs Class, there are only 4 pupils and they're 15 years old, as well. They attend at public school but they learn everything separatly from the others. On one hand, I think it's great that they have the opportunity to learn everything in their own way in public school, however, on the other hand, they are separated from other pupils. I asked Tim if these 4 kids make friends from other "normal" classes and he said not really, it's not common to have friends from "normal classes". So these 4 kids, plus there is another speacial classes (they are at the same age) get on well. They hang out a lot, but they don't make friends from other classes in school. They do a lot together. You can find here pupils with social problems, or some kind of disabilities in reading or writing. (dyslexia, dysgraphia) They are normal and very-very nice kids. In Hungary, when you have kids with these kind of problems, they still do the same as the average do, however, they have extra lessons in the afternoon. Or they go to special school. I wonder how hard could it be for those pupils with special needs to do the same as the average kids do in public school in Hungary. And don't forget, we have grades. And if they don't do properly what they should do they get bad grades which is not fair, and they suffer from lack of confidence. All right, I think I stop complaining. I'm glad that my country is changing. Good point is that we have to know text and pieces of information when we have exams, we got used to do this since kindergarten, starting with short songs. Here, pupils don't need to know the text by heart. I think this has also advantages and disadvantages.
Relationship between 4 kids and the teacher: you can see that they're close to each other. Teacher asks students how their weekend was. What did they do? In Hungary, it's not common, only your head master ask you sometimes. So, I think here kids put more trust in their teacher than in Hungary. However, the question of authority comes up again.

Third class: Last week I got to visit the 4th class, as well. They're 10 years old students. Here, I found about 3- 4 muslims, but they speak Danish. I don't know that much about muslims and my aim in this blog is not to write about them. But I have to tell that 2muslim girls had to wear scarf on their head. I don't understand why, they're kids. But other students can accept other cultures if they see they have got something different.
Anyway, this class is a bit loud, very talkative, for example, when I had to introduce myself, kids were very curious and they interupted each other and asked me questions about Hungary. It was funny and very cute. The following questions they asked: Do you have huge mountains? Do you use chewing gum in Hungary? Do you like football? favourite football star? Do you know Sevcsenko? Do you like LIverpool? I have to say, all of the boys were in Liverpool T-shirt, there was no other choice to say, yes, I like Liverpool. :))
I talked a bit about my country and showed them postcards, they liked it.
They learnt some English songs during the lesson.

Fourth class: Special Needs class, 1st grade. They are 4 students as in the 9E class. They're cute. They asked me to teach them some Hungarian folk dance on Friday and I did. It was so much fun, and actually they liked it. We did it all together with the other special need class in that building, they're 3 grade. There were 10 cute pupils who danced together. :) Nice...

Later....
If you have questions, please feel free to ask. :)

First day in Practice School

Hello everyone,

I went to a primary school where I'm going to have practice for next 3 weeks. I'm excited to learn and experience a lot in my" teaching career".
I have a mentor there, his name is Tim, he is from Britain, but also he speaks Danish. (he has got Danish wife)
The school system is different here than in Hungary. And the way this primary school looks is also different. They have got different buildings according to which class you attend. So, today I went to visit 9th class, they had English lesson. I have to mention that it's different. Recently, the main topic in the class is the death penalty. They watched a movie about it last week, and today they started to work on a text and they worked in group where they had to answer some questions. I got to know the class a little bit, they were nice but also a little bit shy, I bet teenegars are the same everywhere. (they're 15-16 years old) Continue on Wednesday.

Then, I had another class, it is called Special Needs Education Class, where we had 4 kids who have some kind of problems learning or focusing during the lessons. I got to know their names and they're 15 years old, as well. They asked me questions, like why am I here in Denmark? what kind of music do I like? etc. They were nice, friendly. I'm happy that they dared to speak in English with me, it was a big thing for them to speak in English, and I think they did a good job. All right. So they asked me if I can teach them some Hungarian words. Actually, I taught them the numbers from 1 to 10 in Hungarian. They did good, they were smart to pronunce those hard sounds, like gy, ö, ő, etc. And then I said it in Danish. :)

After this, Henrik, one of the students, showed me the school, ohh it's beauiful. I'm going to put some pictures later on. Then I had a break, I bought a salad at the school canteen, you can only buy healthy food at the canteen, no chololates, no candies, etc. Just, fruit drinks, sandwiches made from brown bread, and salad. This is a kind of law from the local government.

After 30 minutes break, we had another class, where we watched movies about the school system in England. It was interesting.

Finally, I had a Special Needs class where I had to teach kids how to play card games with Hungarian cards. I brought my own cards to school, and when I showed them the card, some of them were shocked because it is different than French card. So we just tried to discover Hungarian card. We played 21. They liked it. They were nice, and I was happy to meet with them.

Impressions: school is very-well equipped with materials, OVP (overhead projectors), books. The rooms are without doors but it looks great.
It's very nice that the students can leave their stuff in school, they put their books to a big blue box (everybody has got one with their names on it) and they leave their stuff in the classroom. It's really a great idea, that they don't have to carry a lot to school every day. :)
Relationship between teachers and students are different here than in Hungary. Here, students call teachers on their first name, I think this breaks the ice between teachers and students.
We discussed it a little bit with Tim, it was strange for him as well, when he started to teach in Denmark. What do you think? I'm looking forward to your comments.