"Nearly" the end of this unique experience ...

As a conclusion to this unique and marvellous experience, Sophie and I can say that first, this Erasmus stay in Denmark was really amazing : we really learnt a lot.
We are really glad to spend one more month here with Vikki, Cedric, Isabel, Mery, Carla, Seyhan, Zeliha and Sinem :)
And more, creating this blog was really a good idea: thanks to it, our parents/family/friends/etc can share this experience with us even if they are so far...
They can see all our pictures, comments, opinions, etc and also be aware of another culture.
It was also a way to share our experience between Erasmus students by reading the others' blog: we could see how they felt, etc.

This blog will stay online as a souvenir of this unique experience for the rest of our life...

Thank you - Tak :):)

Teaching practice in Realskole

From Monday 11th to Friday 23th Sophie and I went to "Realskole" and observed some English lessons. We heard it was a private school where parents have to pay.The amount of students can't be more than 20.

We got the chance to observe 4 differents classes : 7b, 7c, 8a, 8c. They were between 13 and 15 years old.

Immediatly we felt at ease there and also with the teachers. They were all nice with us and didn't hesitate to answer our questions. They tried to make us involved in the lessons.

The first days, they offered us to make a presentation about Belgium.

We were really surprised by the students' level of English. It was really great to make some activities with them : they have a lot of ideas and they feel at ease. They know that they are able to speak and dare to take part in lots of conversations.

We also observed some similarities and differences between Denmark and Belgium. For example, the lessons here last 45 minutes and 50 in Belgium. The students here don't have to complete a diary but we have to do it in our country. Finally, nobody repeats a year here. In Belgium, if a student fails his examinations, he has a second chance in August and if he fails again, he repeats his school year, even for one subject.

We noticed that there were many differences as far as the school system and teaching English are concerned.

Being aware of that made us realize that there are many ways to be a good teacher :)

Some differences between Denmark and Belgium...

- The parking disc is not the blue plastic you have to put under the windshield but it's in the windshield .... so useful :) The parking is free and you can stay there for one or two hours.

- The lock of the door is above the doorhandle.

On Tuesday 6th and Friday 9th, we had a drama lesson in Aanbenraa.

What I found interesting:

- At the beginning of the lesson, we didn't feel really at ease because we are not used to theater and we were afraid to be ridiculous, etc. But we made some exercises to be more relaxed and it worked :) These exercises were great because, in my future classrooms with my own students, they will need to feel at ease to dare and speak an other langague.

- The teacher needed to know our names and we made some activities to remember them. It's also good and intersting for my future job: it's beter to know our students' names to have a good atmosphere in the classroom. Actually each teenager has a name and a personality (and not only a "you" in the group) , we have to be aware of it!

- An other great activity was to give some feelings to a sound/picture, etc. In the language lesson , it's good to use feelings and movement to learn and improve a language: we can associate words with feelings for example and so, it will be easier for the students to remember.

After the lesson, I visited Aanberaa. It's a really beutiful city where you can see the sea and some shops.

Kolding

After Easter break, I went to Kolding with my boyfriend. It's a very nice town where you can shop and see some places surounded by water.
We were very lucky because the weather was dry and sunny. It was also quite hot.
I am happy to have visited this city, I am used to Haderslev now and it's good to see somewhere else.

I love DK!

Danish and Belgian people are sometimes really different as far as the culture, daily life, tradition, etc are concerned. Some facts I have observed:

Ecological!
- Denmark is a "green" country: it has the most amout of windmills but they don't sort the waste out or use different bins for plastic, glasses, paper, etc. But in the shop we can find a place where you can put your old plastic bottles (you get 3 DKK for each!) and there are some big bins in the town where you can just throw your glasses. Compared with Belgium, Denmark is not so polluted. I have the impression that Danish people don't leave their bins in the nature, etc as some Belgian people do!
- They also cycle a lot to be eco friendly and ...
- use small bread for their hotdogs: they don't care about bread, the most intersting is the sausages ... but instead of using a napin and throw it, they use a bread they can eat!

Not macho!
- Some girls attend "men" lessons such as carpentry and there are more feminine bus drivers here.
- Men and women are equal and have the same rights: it's really great BUT we girls have to pay our food at the restaurant...

Caring for each other!
- Spring comes slowly and slowly but don't worry: if you want to drink something while sitting at a terras, you can just use the car rug standing at your chair!

Traditional!
- Danish people use DKK and not Euro
- They put the Danish flag in the middle of the table while celebrating someone's birthday
- They are really proud of their Queen Margareth
- Teenagers are not allowed to drink alcohol until the age of 18
- Don't say "sorry" or "thank you" in the streets, look at strangers in a very strange way

Safe!
- Mothers just leave their babies outside when they are in a shop/café/restaurant/etc and these ones have also to sleep oustide the kindergarten. And nobody steals them...

Nudist :)
- At the swimming pool, there are no single rooms but a big one where we can see everybody! Hopefully, men and women are separated but we have to take a shower and go to the sauna naked! I don't feel really at ease...

Close to their family!
- "Hygge" is a Danish expression that illustrates the fact that people love to be together and enjoy their life.
- For special occasion such as a birthday, Christmas, Easther, etc, they also love to be with their family and friends to have a good time and eat together.

It's nearly Easther !!

Like in Belgium, Danish people have a longer weekend for this event and they spend some time with their family, especially with children who have a week off. Parents just hide some chocolate eggs in the garden and children have to find them :)

It was surprising to me that some shops are open and some people such as bricklayer, etc work this day.

Fun in the kitchen

How can put on weight in one hour? Welcome in the cooking lesson: everybody laughs, prepares some traditional food together, tastes new flavour, discovers new dishes, (and Danish ones as far as I am concerned :)) etc.
In one word: AMAZING! It was so interesting to eat different courses and compare our culture/food habit.

I am proud to have tasted the herring because now I can say it: I really hate it ;)

10.00 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> 11.30

But the other dishes were just perfect and eco-friendly!

Thanks everyone for this morning ... (and my arm is ok;))