"Fonske zijn stad!"

My dear classmates,

I’m pleased to learn more about your experiences. I also enjoy the pictures of the new landscapes you can discover everyday. I’m also pleased that we have to write on this blog because it’s difficult for me to take the time to go on the internet to have a chat with some of you.

Let me tell you how it goes for me.

I’m going to Leuven with our Romain and Sarah. You’ve already had the occasion to know how our first day was but let me speak about the way I felt.

First of all, the day before going to Leuven, I wasn’t nervous or worried because we received the timetable of the week for the project; we had to meet our group and tutor at 11.00 a.m. I thought that we had to meet them in the building of Group T, called “Comenius” (where we went last year when we met the Flemish students, remember?) but Group T has more than one building, you have Comenius and Vesalius and they sometimes go to other buildings for meetings but we didn’t know that...

As I said, we had to be in Leuven at 11.00 a.m. So Romain, Sarah and I took the train earlier to be on time. Unfortunately, even if we arrived thirty minutes earlier, we got late. How is it possible?

Well, when we received the e-mail with the schedule, we thought we were expected at “GROEP T” Tienseveststraat , Comenius, which is nearby the station. When we came in the building, there weren’t a lot of people… I thought it wasn’t normal but we were early so, no worry. We decided to meet the person in charge of us, but this person wasn’t available. We didn’t find him. So we went to the professors’ room and asked someone to tell us where we had to go… and at this moment the adventure began.

In fact, the meeting point wasn’t Comenius at all! All students of Group T knew it except us. J

When a lovely professor, whom I don’t know the name, told us that we had to go to the “STUK”, a place we couldn’t have found if she hadn’t explained the way to us. Moreover she wanted to find a solution to avoid our delay; she wanted to find someone to pick us up. But one of her colleagues told her that it was just fifteen minutes to walk. So to be sure we wouldn’t be late she explained us the way more than three times… J It was lovely of her but more she explained the way more we lost time…

In conclusion, we left on time (even earlier) and we were too late.

Thanks to the lovely professor we were on the right track and arrived to this unknown building called “STUK”. We didn’t dare to enter because we could hear a professor speaking and we didn’t want to interrupt her. We were waiting when one student of Group T came and entered the room. We followed him. Everyone was looking at us and people were talking. They weren’t talking about us but it was in a huge auditorium and they couldn’t say they didn’t notice us.

We received the explanations about the project and after that we had lunch.

After lunch, we had to meet our tutor in Comenius and this time it was right! J We finally could be on time … because we stayed there during lunch! J

In the hall of the school, it’s colder than in our school… J three weeks later I got sick… J I’m fine now, no worry! J

So, it was time to meet the team we were going to work with during the project. We entered the class; the boys were looking at us like people are looking at something they had never seen before… J

Strangers?

Never mind.

We had to go to another room because the tutors wanted to work together and explain the tasks once to two different groups.

A nice girl wanted to know with whom she was so she came and asked us what our group was… that was the difficult part: she showed us the lists with all the groups of the project and we weren’t on the lists. We knew our group was ATV6 but she wasn’t in the same group. So when she found her group she left us. After that our tutor didn’t ask for us and we didn’t ask for him because we didn’t know what to do. We were looking at people to show that we were also there, breathing like every human being and finally someone saw us. J Long live Teachers! It was another tutor, our English teacher from Group T. He told us that he was going to check in which group we had to go…

Finally, I don’t really understand why, how, when, where … what happened; but we weren’t in ATV6 anymore but in ATV3. People from ATV6 left the room, normally we also had to leave but then our English professor told us we became ATV3. We could stay in the room with him and the other students. That’s when the beautiful days began.

We met our first “classmates”. The four people we were going to work with during two weeks and with whom I was going to speak DUTCH! J Great moment!

There were Frauke (really nice girl), Jan (so sweet and nice J), Pieter (also nice) and Daan (shy ^^ J and nice). We did the project with them and it was a good team!

I’m disappointed because we won’t take part in the last week with them. They normally have three weeks projects but we only participate in the two first weeks because the third week will take place in May.

That's it for today.

Greetings from Enghien, Brussels, Leuven!!

Take care,

Love,

Céline

Maastricht

Hello everybody,

I trust you are all well.

It has been a month of two halves for me. The person I originally contacted about my stay in Maastricht subsequently resigned from their post at the school which meant I wasn’t able to make arrangements before time. I therefore spent the first couple of weeks commuting every few days whilst staying in a hostel or a bed & breakfast (I stayed in a boat once, I could barely stand in the room).

I spent any time I had to myself looking for a room, but with a population of over 22,000 students in the city, I had some competition (some of which I became acquainted with in the hostels). After averaging 120km a week on foot, I finally got a break through a website I was consulting regularly. I had been turned down several times because of my gender and the short duration of my stay; this time, the landlord was willing to take me on since the person whose room it had been was in breach of contract and his policy was to try to strike a balance in the ratio of boys to girls in the 10 room house I am currently writing from. He is a no nonsense contractor and I think it helped that we immediately saw eye-to-eye. I asked him if he could help me furnish the room and he provided almost everything in it, even a pink bed.

All my roommates are Dutch with the exception of one German. I don’t see them all that much since I am relatively busy.

The school reminds me of the other Dutch schools I have visited over the course of my secondary education through various exchange programmes. The atmosphere is far more laid back and unpretentious than in most Belgian schools I know. The pupils typically don’t take things personally and there is no detectable animosity towards the establishment or the teacher even when they are being rowdy.

My tasks as a language assistant, of which there are many in the school, are to help all the ‘bovenbouw’ (cycle supérieur) students to prepare for their examinations. My first assignment was to the 4^th year HAVO. They will have a written test about a literature project I helped them with on the first of March. I am now working with a 6^th-year-VWO class and several 5^th-year-HAVO classes to prepare their oral examinations.

So far, I have got on very well with the students. I must acknowledge that I am teaching in near ideal conditions. Nevertheless, their vastly superior level of English undoubtedly facilitates the exchange. The two teachers which I have been assisting up to this point are very kind to me too. One of their colleagues has even suggested I try to get the school to provide a grant for a master’s thesis because they are in dire need of Anglophones for their immersion programme (TTO); it appears to be on a much grander scale than ours. Suffice to say I am being taken care of.

On that note, I will sign off by wishing you all the best in what should be the last time you will be experiencing the drudgery of writing papers abroad.

Sauce,

Alex

Cold country but warm people

Godmorgen alle,

Here are some news from Grenaa (pronounce it "grénô")

-First impression in general: Cold country but warm people.
The danish are kind, polite and helpful.
-First impression @ school: Gosh, there are computers everywhere!

I'm in a student house with three flatmates of my age, my schools are five minutes away from my flat and I have to walk 15minutes to reach the station.

I work in two different upper secondary schools:

The first one is specialised in sciences and technologies. I am working in classes where the pupils learn science through video games. For example: they will study the gravity and then observe how gravity is in several video games. At first, I was a bit disappointed because I'm not really interested in games, but after a while I realise how interesting it could be:

1)30-40% of the pupils have special profiles, there are autistic pupils, pupils with HDAD, or with Asperberg syndrom... Those pupils are in general more visual and kinaesthetic. The teachers have to adapt their methodology to all those profiles.
In Denmark, there is no talk about discipline because teachers should do everything to make there topic interesting and motivating. It is a real challenge to find a way to stop them playing and surfing on the internet.
2)I learn a lot about how to use technology during the lessons.


The second school is a business school. The pupils receive civics, economy and of course language lessons. They unfortunately don't have any French lesson. But they are of course really interested in foreign countries. There is an interactive whiteboard in every classroom, all the students have a laptop, they download the worksheets from the internet.

I've observed a lot of different lessons and teachers want me to present some aspects of Belgium so I think I will mostly give lessons about Belgium as well as assisting during the English lessons. I may even give some dance lessons, in English of course.


Two weeks ago, I had a meeting in Copenhagen organised by AEF.
We've had a workshop about the Danish culture and we shared our experiences. Most of the time the assistant were amazed by how free the students are and how relaxed the teachers are. They tend not to plan their lessons as carefully as we do.

Thanks to this meeting I met nine other Comenius assistants and in the weekend I travel around Denmark to visit them and their city.

here are pictures of a "typical" classroom, the staffroom and some Danish landscapes.


I'm looking forward to reading your "march news"

With love,

Aline

Something went wrong and the pictures are missing... sorry guys!

GOES

Dear all of you,

I hope you are all enjoying your internship.

Romain: it looks really interesting and the three of you seem lucky to be in such a great school.

Steph: I hope it will get better.

Karim: your pictures are beautiful! I definitely want to come in April! I want to see the whales!!! :- )

On the Friday before my departure, I was a bit “dépassé” by everything because I had not packed yet and I did not know what to take with me. I was really excited and definitely not scared because my sister was driving me there and I would have her with me for the weekend to get used to my new home and village.

What about my arrival there:

Once upon a time (three weeks ago to be more specific), on a Saturday, a young girl (22 is definitely still young!) arrived in a small village with her sister. The name of that village was Goes.

I must stop here and give you a few informations about that village otherwise you will not be able to visualise the story.
Goes is a village of 36 800 inhabitants (but they are definitely cheating on the numbers! There is no way that 36 800 persones are leaving is this village (unless you put thirty of them in each house!) There are no big buildings. Most of the constructions are small houses. There is a small harbour which is really cute when it is sunny. (As you can see on this picture)

Goes can also be creepy when it is foggy. (a few days ago I was just walking around the streets, it was rainy and foggy and I swear I felt like acting in a cheap horror movie where you wonder why the girl is stupid enough to walk alone at night in an empty dark foggy street because she is definitely going to be torture and killed by some creepy maniac).
And as we are in the Netherlands and they eat supper around 17h30, there is no living soul left on the streets after 18h. (I swear I am not exaggerating! The first words of my sister when we arrived around 18h on Saturday were “C’est super mignon mais ça fout les boules comme endroit... c’est samedi soir! Ils sont où les gens!”)


Back to my wonderfull story: (for those who did not understand: the young girl is me!)

My sister and I first put all my stuff (table, chairs, suitcases ...) in my new house
and then we went out for dinner and then to sleep.

The next morning we went for a walk in the village hoping we would meet living persons but we returned back home disapointed. On Sunday, people stay at home and everything is closed (except the Subway!) so we took the car and went for a walk on the beach and she then left for Brussels. On Sunday night (meaning around 17h30) I went to eat at the house of the teacher who “takes care” of all the language assistants, Mrs Dieleman. It was really pleasant.

On Monday, I had to be at school at twelve to meet my mentors. I thought I was going to have four or five mentors but I then learned that I was only going to have one. I was first introduced to her and then to the all staff members. That was a bit awkward because I had to stand and Mrs Dieleman asked everybody’s attention and introduce me. I did not have to say a word. When she was finished I just sat and started talking to my new mentor. Her name is Mrs van Koevering. She is super nice. When I first met her, she was wearing a pair of used jeans and a lether jacket with “diamonds” on it and silver boots. It was quite a weird but definitely funny outfit for a teacher.
She told me that during the next week the pupils would have oral exams and asks me to take students during the lessons and to talk with them so they could practice their English. I was surpised to see how good their level was.

On Tuesday, my housemate came back from Germany. She goes back there every weekend as she is married and wants to spend some times with her husband. I am really lucky because she is super nice and funny. Her only default is that she always talks while we are watching a movie. She shows me pictures of her wedding, holidays and family. And it is definitely hard to look at the pictures, to listen to her, to watch the movie and to try to follow all this at the same time.

I spent the rest of the week speaking English with the pupils in order to prepare them for the exams.

Nothing really happened during the next week. The pupils had to pass their exams and for those who had English, it mostly went well.

As you understood, there is not much to do here. At the beginning, I was a bit scared I would get bored. However, I like it here. I read, work, watch TV,go on internet (when it is working) and walk a lot.

My schedule is great. I must be at school on Monday afternoon and Tuesday all day. I am off on Wednesday and must be there again on Thursday and Friday afternoon. All in one, it is 15 houres which is perfect not to have too much pressure but not to get bored either.
I have four classes. The pupils are around 15 years old. I have three “vmbo” classes and one “havo”. They are adorable and respectful (except some girls in one of the vmbo classes).

The school is quite different than those where I have been during my other internships:

- There are no gates around the school. Anyone can go in and out of the school.
- Pupils are allowed to smoke on the “playground”.
- I-pods and GSM are allowed in the school but are not suppose to be used during the lessons. However some teachers let the pupils listen to music while they are working on their own.
- Pupils can come into the teacher’s room whenever they want to ask questions to teachers.
- Pupils and teachers can wear whatever they want.
- There are only two breaks during the day. Both of them last 30 minutes. There is one in the morning around 10 o’ clock and another one around 12.
- Teachers stay in the classrooms. It is the pupils who move after an hour.
- Pupils can move the table in the classroom. The structure of the room changes every hour.
It is a “free” way of working. For the “vmbo” pupils, it is the last year so they are supposed to know what they are going to study next year and what job they want to do later even if they are just 15. So the aim here is to give a sense of responsibility.

During this last week I have only observed the lessons. My mentor has a strange relation with her pupils. On one side they respect her and listen to her and on the other side they are really closed and have a friendly relationship (she always calls them “My dear friends”). She hugs them and kisses them on the cheeks or the forehead all the time! It took me some days to get use to that!
I hope I will be able to have the same kind of “connection” with htem (without the hugging and kissing)
Anyway, I have definitely the best mentor ever! She is so adorable and super funny!

That is all for now. Except that I am going to India for a month this summer!!! (I know this has nothing to do with the internship but I am so happy about it I wanted to tell you.)

May the Spirits be with you all!

Victor

News news news

Hey everybody!

First of all, I want to say that this blog is awesome. It's nice to read about your adventures guys. I miss you all a lot!

I'm in a new school now in Leuven with Céline and Romain. I'm so happy to be with people I know because I would've been lost without them, both literally and figuratively.

The day before going to my new school, I felt both excited and scared. I felt exactly like I did before coming to the ISPG. I was excited because we had already seen Leuven and I thought it was beautiful and fun. But I was also scared because I knew we were coming into a new school, into a new group of students that already knew each other and I wasn't happy about having new teachers. I don't like change so I knew it was going to be difficult for me. Like I said, I felt a little bit more comfortable because I knew I wasn't going to be alone.

When we first arrived, we were quite excited but also nervous. We arrived on time but a teacher told us we had to be in the other building. It was far away from where we were and we knew we were going to be late for our very first class! So we had to walk to the other building without knowing what it looked like. Needless to say, the three of us felt lost.

When we finally arrived, we still didn't know what to do, who to greet, where to sit,... . Nobody was there to tell us where we had to be. All the students were already in a group and everybody knew what they had to do. So we just sat in a corner waiting for something to happen, for someone to notice us. Finally, an English teacher, Mister De Roy, came and asked us in which group we were. He saw that we were lost and told us not to “panic” and put us in a group.

The group we were in was composed of one girl and three boys. They were very welcoming and friendly, especially the girl. She was very talkative and it helped. I'm grateful to have had Céline with us that day because she's one of the most social person I know.

The students, both in our group and in GroepT, are very nice. Most of them are very funny and extrovert. I'm sure we'll make a lot of new friends and I'm happy to have been in the group we were in. I definitely consider them as our very first “friends” there in GroepT.

That's it for now! Sorry for the very long text but I'm just missing you all and I'm used to telling you guys my stories in details :p.

Sarah

New fact about me : I love train travel!

Hello everybody!

Sorry for the delay. I had a little problem with the connection to the blog. Anyway...
I hope you are all fine and that you enjoy your internship abroad or in Flanders.

First I felt apprehensive about my travel (I hate to travel by plane) and also about the change of environment which I would be confronted.

I finally received a very warm welcome of one of my tutors at the bus station of Reykjavik. She invited me in her home for a meal. Then we went for a walk in Reykjavik by night. It was completely surreal to be there!

I met a few days later Cominius assistants who are also teaching in secondary schools in the outskirts of the city. They are from France, Sweden, Lithuania and Germany. We'll probably go on a trip together organized by AEF...

I'm very lucky for my flat. Normally I should share it with a housemaid but I'm alone for the moment...

The first days where a bit strange for me because the sun rose at 10.15 and the daylight was not very strong, but you quickly become used to it and the days are getting longer now...

My first meeting with the teachers and the students of Menntaskólinn í Reykjavik was very cordial! They were very courious and asked me a lot of questions about Belgium, my origins, etc.
I give french lessons to a bit more than 200 students and it's really a nightmare to remember all the names because the way of pronouncing is very complicated! The students laugh a lot when I take the attendances and I have also a good laugh. :)

It's really amazing and so exciting to teach in a foreign country! I love it!!!

These are the first news of my Icelandic experience.

I'm looking forward to reading you all!

See you,

Karim