News from Reykjavik

My favorite students

Hello everybody !

I hope everything is still going well for you and that you have enough time to explore new horizons abroad or in Flanders.

I'm still in a very positive dynamic here but time goes off too fast !!! I'm starting to realize that three months are not sufficient ...

My first month in Iceland went off very smoothly. The school context in which I am here is much more relaxed than what I experienced in my previous training schools in Brussels. The teachers take themselves far less seriously among themselves and when they are teaching.
The headmaster and the head teacher of Menntaskólinn i Reykjavik are very approachable. The hierarchical relationship is in other words clearly not as pronounced than in the belgian secondary schools I have frequented.

A few words about Menntaskólinn i Reykjavik:

This school is one of the oldest institutions of Iceland (built in 1846) and it offers a four-year course of study. The students are between 16 and 20 years old.
It's the secondary school which has the best reputation in Iceland. Almost every Prime Minister of Iceland has been educated at MR.
The students have a general education essentially focused on the classical subjects (Islandic literature, latin, ancient Greek and mathematics).

A few words about my training:

I encountered globally not much difficulties during my first month teaching.
I have just to pay more attention to speak slowly enough to be understood by the students.
It's something difficult in the beginning when you teach your mother language to foreigners.

I have the feeling to be completely integrate in the school and the education authority as well as my mentors have fully confidence in my pedagogical approaches.

I'm essentially asked to give communication activities (with dialogue preparations, songs, ...) related to the different lessons given by my mentors. I have also to give pronunciation exercises, listening comprehension and lessons about Belgian and French culture.


The way of teaching is almost the same than during my previous teaching trainings. I use practically every time the same methodology ... I often use internet or PowerPoint for my lessons. There is a computer, a overhead projector and speakers in all the classrooms.

A lesson lasts only forty minutes here and it's sometimes frustrating because it doesn't let me always the opportunity to give everything I have planned in my lesson preparations. But it's just a matter of adaptation.



Students are allowed to do certain things that are completely forbidden in Belgian secondary school. They can eat, drink, sew or knit during the lessons ! It was a little bit disturbing when I started to give lessons. But these freedoms do not impair the concentration or the participation of the pupils. When you ask them to do something, you don't have enough time to finish giving the instruction because they are already working ! They are very motivated and also hard workers ( it's in the Icelandic mentality to work a lot) .

The conditions in which I am are really comfortable and ideal to practice my teaching training!

These are the latest news from Iceland.

All the best !

Karim