Publishing Information

Erasmus+ Journal.

Issue 3. 2014/2015 (CC BY 3.0) by Heiko Vogl

http://www.erasmus-journal.eu/e-books/

Contact Address:

Heiko Vogl, MA BEd (http://about.me/heikovogl)

Pädagogische Hochschule Steiermark/University College of Teacher Education Styria

Centre 2 - International Relations

Hasnerplatz 12, 8010 Graz, Austria

Tel.: +43 316 8067 2202

Fax: +43 316 8067 2299

mailto:heiko.vogl@phst.at

http://www.phst.at/

Graz, 2015

ISSN 2310-5992 Erasmus+ Journal (eBook)

ISSN 2310-9548 Erasmus+ Journal (Print)

Publisher

Heiko Vogl

Harrie Poulssen

Assistent

Katharina Kamitz

Flora Bodrogi

Authors

(see each article)

Cover Layout

Eleonore Samhaber

Preface By Heiko Vogl

The European Erasmus programme is the most successful mobility programme for students worldwide. Since 1987, more than 3 million young Europeans have joined this programme and studied abroad. The key to success is the general acceptance among European students. The students' feedback about one semester abroad is almost exclusively positive. The impact to their life is sustainable:

“Young people who study or train abroad not only gain knowledge in specific disciplines, but also strengthen key transversal skills which are highly valued by employers.” (Erasmus Impact Study 2014)

Studying abroad also has an amazingly positve impact for future teachers and their careers. Therefore the Centre for International Relations in Education of the University College of Teacher Education Styria (PHSt) published the first Erasmus+ Journal. This book contains the best Erasmus student reports from the academic year 2013/14. It is available as a book (5 EUR excl. Shipping on Lulu.com) and as a free e-book on http://www.erasmus-journal.eu/e-books/. The first edition of the Erasmus + journal contains 12 articles from 14 Erasmus students. These articles should encourage the next generation of Erasmus students.

The second issue was the next step in the evolution of the Erasmus+ Journal.

More than 90 authors were involved. Reports and articles are published in seven languages (English, German, Dutch, Hungarian, Czech, Turkish, Spanish). This was made possible through a cooperation with the Katholieke Pabo Zwolle (PABO) in the Netherlands and the Univerity College of Education Styria (PHSt) between Harrie Poulssen of PABO and Heiko Vogl of PHSt.

The third issue strengethened the cooperation between the Katholieke Pabo Zwolle (PABO) in the Netherlands and the Univerity College of Education Styria

This edition of the Erasmus+ Journal contains 34 reports of Erasmus outgoings and Erasmus incoming students at the PHSt. The PABO contributed 51 articles on school placements abroad and about the Dutch international Minor as well as the preface of the international coordinator Harrie Poulssen.

This book was created in a collaborative manner. All authors were able to write online at the same time, anywhere in this book.

Since there was no funding available, this publication is not proofread. Most of the reports were not written in the authors' mother tongues. Therefore, please apologise any errors in sentence structure, spelling errors, typos, etc.

Heiko Vogl

November 2015

Preface By Harrie Poulssen

AN EXCEPTIONAL INSTITUTE

Welcome to Catholic Pabo Zwolle or KPZ as we like to call ourselves. KPZ is an university of applied science, teacher training college, that focuses on:

- students becoming excellent primary school teachers;

- practice-based study;

- providing valuable educational development

KPZ is exceptional because of its willingness to think outside of the box which sometimes means we  deviate from mainstream ideas, its unique educational concept which aims to develop the professional teacher’s with outstanding outcomes.

- personal development and cooperation

- an open inquisitive attitude  and its striving after quality

KPZ provides a fertile learning environment, creates a strong community spirit and offers sincere personal attention, personal development and cooperation, an open and inquisitive attitude and its striving after quality.

KPZ IS PERSONAL, EXCEPTIONAL, DEVELOPING AND CONNECTING.

IN IT’S OWN MANNER

Educational institutions constantly struggle with the question which targets and issues to prioritize. Should emphasis be put on cognition or talent, on theory or practice, on result or development?

KPZ does not want to make over-simplified choices but deal with apparent opposites in a nuanced considered manner. For example between focusing on the development of the child on the one hand and realizing the necessary social output on the other. Hereby KPZ takes a permanent interaction between opposing forces into consideration. It tries to find a balance between doing the right thing and doing things right, between tradition and reform, internal and external factors and between process and result. This balance, the connection between seemingly opposing values can be observed everywhere in KPZ’s culture, in its educational supply and its activities.This symbol of continuity and movement (represented by the diagram of the glasses) stands for the range of ideas embodied by KPZ. It clearly shows how opposing forces connect and influence each other.

AN EXTRAORDINARY COMMUNITY.

Thanks to its small scale the strength of KPZ lies in its focus on people. The personal contact between students and lecturers is deemed very important by KPZ. An open attitude where people dare to be critical and are not afraid to make mistakes is according to us a precondition for learning from each other and this can only thrive in an environment where people collaborate on the basis of trust. Thinking in terms of connection and balance is strongly expressed in the warm and at the same time challenging environment offered to the students. An environment in which security, trust and challenge co-exist.

KPZ is a strong and close learning community in which respect, cooperation, honesty, meeting each other and the catholic values are central. From its social responsibility and an open catholic identity KPZ stimulates students from whatever background to undertake their own development. KPZ gives students every opportunity for personal development; a human being and as a teacher with backbone, guts and a strong professional identity; with experience of life filled with educational skills, socio-cultural awareness and a proper moral compass.

A CONNECTING ATMOSPHERE

An ambiance that stimulates and invites you to develop yourself, is partly defined by the physical environment but mainly created by human being. Staff members have an important role in this. From them enthusiasm, attention and dedication is expected to support the students in their development. For KPZ co-operating and connecting with the field is invaluable. Co-operation after all leads to new knowledge and insight, to inspiration and initiatives which can lead to educational improvements and not in the least to excellent possibilities for young ambitious students to let their professional identity reach full maturity.

KPZ invests in connections and relationships, a good example is the PABOYS project. An initiative to engage more male students in primary education and to offer them a platform on which to make themselves heard and to meet each other within KPZ. Another example is the Theole foundation which was established by KPZ out of a sense of social responsibility. KPZ lecturers train teachers in Nepal, who then at their own school are able to support  fellow teachers. With these initiatives KPZ directly contributes to the improvement of educational quality, school development and their own change capacity.

A UNIQUE EDUCATIONAL CONCEPT

In the teacher training college’s various courses and training the development of the professional identity is central. Crucial thereby are the domains ‘having an eye for a child’, ‘research, design and development’ and professional skills’ which are offered in seven learning lines/trajectories. Learning trajectories are among other things based on ‘reflection and research’ and ‘GEE’ (giving meaning, ethics and aesthetics), but also on  the generic basic knowledge and the primary school subjects.

KPZ also makes clear choices within the study programme and looks for connection and balance. This finds among other things expression in the course programme, which consists of a founding and a profiling phase in which students choose between the profiles of Arts, Civics, Concepts or Science. Students are encouraged to develop themselves through research and experience into exceptional teachers. Therefore KPZ offers students several options; from practical training abroad and courses at renowned institutes to complementary programmes for example in the field of innovative educational concepts, science and technology, art and culture and movement education. Talented students capable of handling more extra-curricular subject matter beside their bachelor programme are offered the possibility to follow a pre-master course in educational sciences. Graduate KPZ students have a thorough professional knowledge, a heart for education and towards children an inquisitive attitude and the ability to shape tomorrow’s education.

REFLECTION MAKES YOU LEARN

To have an eye for children

To develop professional identity

To develop professional knowledge

To do research, planning and developing

WE WANT TO CONTRIBUTE TO TOMORROW’S  EDUCATION

It is impossible to imagine higher education without practice oriented research. Through this, developments in subjects and occupational practice are stimulated. The KPZ research centre with its team of professors and knowledge circles plays an important role in acquiring, incorporating and distributing knowledge to a wide group of interested people, such as students, teachers, researchers and partner schools in our own country and abroad. Through the careful choice of research themes KPZ contributes to meaningful knowledge development. Through the ambition of KPZ to constantly improve education and to exchange knowledge and opinions, KPZ maintains intensive contacts with the authorities, schools, universities and centers of knowledge at home and abroad.

TEACHERS WITH A PASSION FOR EDUCATION

LIFELONG LEARNING

We at KPZ think in terms of lifelong learning.

After getting their bachelor degree students are qualified to start their journey as a teacher. Within the Centre for Development they are offered the possibility to develop further and to specialize at a masters level. However, not only students but also graduates who apply via the International Office are allowed one (extra) year of practical training abroad subsidized by the Erasmus+ programme.

The international minor study program

Teacher Training Colleges must prepare teachers for their role in a globalised society. The impact of globalization on education is enormous. The teacher plays an important role in spreading knowledge concerning culture, languages, cultural heritage and European citizenship. In this perspective KPZ offers an international programme of 30 ECTS for students from our partner institutes within the EU (spring semester). All courses are in English (level B2)  and focusses on reform pedagogics, Dutch culture and society, teaching practice and action research.  All student-teachers in the second half of their studies are welcome. See  http://www.kpz.nl/index.php?page=briefintroduction

In summary:

- KPZ has a personal approach where everyone is welcomed and challenged to succeed;

- KPZ is an exceptional teacher training college;

- KPZ has great ambition and is constantly developing:

- KPZ is committed to connecting with other likeminded professionals.

CATHOLIC  PABO  ZWOLLE (university of applied science, teacher training college)

PERSONAL, EXCEPTIONAL, DEVELOPING , CONNECTING

Alba Serra Ginestà, University Of Barcelona, Spain, Mobility For Study, Phst - Incoming

Contact of the university

Pädagogische Hochschule Steiermark

Hasnerplatz 12

8010 Graz

Austria

Tel.: +43 316 8067 0

http://www.phst.at/

Contact the Erasmus office

Marlene Grabner

Tutor of Internation Students

International Office A0110 (Old bulding)

Marlene.Grabner@phst.at

Description of the university

Pädagogische Hochschule Steiermark is a small university together with one school practice. There are two different buildings, one is new and the other one is the old building. Both are really good, modern and they have a lot of resources and materials. There are different places for the students: dining room, restaurant, computers room, etc. Also, the education is more personalized because, normally, there are 15 - 25 students in the lessons. In Austria, Primary Education lasts 3 years but now it's changing to 4 years. Moreover, all the courses have 1 or 2 ECTS, so you can try and see more different things.

Description of chosen courses

I attended 19 courses (29 credits)

1. Englisch - 2,00 ECTS

2. Grundlagen der Bewegungshand lungen - 1,50 ECTS (Sports)

3. Sigen und Musizieren - 1,00 ECTS

4. Arbeiten im farbigen Bereich - 1,50 ECTS

5. Grammar 1 - 1,00 ECTS

6. Päd. Soziologie: Spezielle Aspekte - 1,50 ECTS

7. Tutorium: Päd. Soziologie: Spezielle Aspekte - 0,50 ECTS

8. Grammar 2 - 2,00 ECTS

9. Die europäische Dimension in Kultur, Gesellschaft und Bildung - 1,50 ECTS

10. Methoden der Interaktion - 1,50 ECTS

12. Unterrichtsmodelle im europäischen Vergleich  1,50 ECTS

12. Unterrichtsbesuche - 1,00 ECTS (Practices)

13. Unterrichtsanalyse  - 3,00 ECTS (Practices)

14. Deutsch Sprachkurs 1 (A1, A2) für Erasmus incomings - 2,00 ECTS

15. Englisch Sprachkurs für Erasmus incomings - 2,00 ECTS

16. Rhythmik - 1,00 ECTS

17. Englisch (2) - 1,00 ECTS

18. Digitale Communication - 1,50 ECTS

19. Radio als Lernform - 2,00 ECTS

Detailed description of the registration process at the host organisation

First of all, I filled my application form to give some information about me. After this, I had to prepare the Learning Agreement, it was difficult for me to find the courses online but Catherina helped me a lot. When I arrived in Austria, I couldn't take these courses. But, Marlene, my tutor, helped me to find new courses and I had to change my first Learning Agreement stamped it in Graz and sent it to Barcelona. Moreover, the international office showed us the moodle where we could see our timetable and the courses, etc.

Review of your stay abroad in academic terms

I have learned a new pedagogic knowledge and a different educational system.  Also, the Erasmus has been a new source of experience which it has brought me new points of view in education. I have improved my English a lot and also I have learned a bit German. Moreover, I have done some courses that they were something new for me like rhythmic, radio course, practices... These courses have given me a lot of new ideas.

Therefore, this experience has enriched me as a person, a future teacher, to open my mind... It was a challenge for me!

Review of the stay abroad in cultural terms

In general, the culture is similar because it is an European culture. In Austria, you can find a lot of important monuments (castles, cathedrals, square, sculptures, buildings...). Also, there are a lot of museums about different topics. One of the most important things in Austria is the passion for the music, you can find a lot of operas and things about Mozart and other important musicians. One different thing is the time because they start the day before and they finish before too (the shops close much earlier than in Spain).

Review of the stay abroad in social terms

I have met new and really nice people, together we have shared a lot of moments, opinions, new ideas which have helped me to grow as a person.

The international office and the buddies have prepared a lot of activities like, welcome day, cinema, international dinner, trips... These activities were really good to spend a very nice time and to meet the other Erasmus students. We have become very good friends.

Welcome day (Image Marlene Grabner)

Moreover, I live in a residence (OEAD - Steyrergasse) with other 3 girls. In our case, we have had our own room and we have shared the kitchen and the bathroom like a flat. It's a really nice place, maybe a little bit far away from my university but near to the centre of the city. My flatmates have been really nice and we have spent a lot of time together.

Residence (Image Alba Serra Ginestà)

Also, I have travelled a lot alone, with my flatmates or with my friends and I visited really nice places like, Wien, Hallsttat, Budapest, Ljubljana, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Munich... If you like the mountain and nature it's one of the best places because there are a lot of them. And the cities are amazing with lots of awesome monuments and buildings. If you search, you can travel in a cheap way.

Innsbruck (Image Alba Serra Ginestà)

Alexandra Kresser, University Of Karlstad, Sweden, Mobility For Study, Phst

Erasmus Sverige, 2015

Contact of the university:

Karlstad University

Universitetsgatan 2

SE-651 88 Karlstad, SWEDEN

Phone: +46-(0)54-700 10 00

Fax: +46-(0)54-700 14 60

E-mail: information@kau.se

Contact of the Erasmus office

Josefin Rönnqvist or Alicia Berg

Universitetsgatan 2

SE-651 88 Karlstad SWEDEN

E-mail: exchange@kau.se

The university:

Karlstad  University is one of the youngest universities in Sweden and really modern. All the buildings are at one campus and the library is just amazing. Everyone is pleased to help you if you need anything.

Karlstad University offers approximately 40 Bachelor’s degree programmes, 30 Master’s level degree programmes and 900 courses in the humanities and fine arts, social and economic sciences, natural sciences, engineering and technology, health care and teacher training. At present, several master programmes and more than 100 courses are offered in English.

The sun is the symbol of the University and the city because Karlstad is one of the Swedens cities with the most hours of sunshine.

The whole area around the university is really beautiful. Now that there is spring you can see the big meadow with a lot of cherry trees in front of the main entrance. The cherry trees just look awesome at the moment because they bloom. There is also water and some fontains next to the entrance. You can really enjoy your time at the university laying in the grass or watching the cherry trees.

Website for detailed information: www.kau.se

My chosen courses

Intercultural Communication, 15 ECTS (https://www3.kau.se/kursplaner/en/IKGA11_20072_en.pdf)

Time: week 04 - week 13

Goals: The student should be able to:

- give an account of some theories on how values and norms are formed in different cultures.

- apply the fundamental concepts and theories of intercultural studies to different cultures.

- analyse the relationship between culture, communication, identity and values.

Content: The main keypoints of this course are:

- approaches to intercultural studies.

- the basic terminology, concepts, and theories in the field of intercultural studies.

- survey of the development of the field and its relevance to contemporary society.

- the implications of the relation between culture, verbal and non-verbal communication, identity, and values - the students' cultures .

Teaching: Instruction is in the form of lectures and group work in which students are expected to participate actively.

Assessment: Examination is in the form of oral and written assignments. The grade is: passed with distinction (VG), passed (g) or failed (U)

The course varied a lot and it was never boring in the class - the opposite, it was a lot of fun to join the classes. Beside the course we had to do a lot of homework and work with the course literature (two books and one compendium). We had to write three individual assignements, based on the course literature.

Other exercises were the group assignments. Therefor they splitted us in groups of 4 to 5 people - they took care that the members of the groups have different nationalities. The frist group assignment was a discussion or presentation about the different academic cultures we life in. The second group asagnment was a critical film analysis. Every group received a movie and we had to answer the questions about the movie together as a group and present them.

A country presentation was also part of our seminar. I worked together with Sabrina and we presented some of the Austrians customs and how we celebrate our holidays.

At the end of the course we had a written exam about the course literature and the topics we discussed in the lessons.

Most of the time Annika and Andreas combined a lecture first and a seminar afterwards. At the lecture we discussed the topics of the course literature and we got deeper into this literature. Questions have always been requierd.

The seminars were more fun because we got more active. We had to solve some situations as a group and that gave us the chance to understand the others better. Andreas and Annika are experts in their field and their knowledge about international communication is hudge. I really had a lot of fun at that course and I learned a lot about other cultures and international communication. All the stereotypes are unimportant because every person is unique and it is always hard to life or work in a foreign country.

Intercultural Communication I, Media, Arts and Literature, 7,5 ECTS (https://www3.kau.se/kursplaner/en/IKGAM1_20112_en.pdf)

Time: week 14 - week 23

Goals: The students should be able to:

- give an account of current intercultural theories of literary, artisitc and audiovisual forms of expression.

- apply intercultural models of interpretation to different types of aesthetic works.

- clarify the meaning and significance of an artwork, a literary text or a film by applying intercultural theory.

- give examples of how a fictional narrative can be described as constituting a distinct source of knowledge for illuminating different perspectives on intercultural communication.

Content: The course is an introduction to intercultural studies of the media, art and literature with a focus on different intercultural perspectives on aesthetic and fictive forms of expression. The course includes examples of film, television, literature and art from Asian, African, Arabic, Latin-American and European cultures.

Teaching: Instruction is in the form of lectures, seminars and group discussions.

Assessment: Examination is based on individual analysis assignment, seminar contributions and a written independent project. The grade is: passed with distinction (VG), passed (G) or failed (U)

In the course we had to do written assignments and the final paper was a take home assignment based on the course literature.

Swedish as a foreign language I, 7,5 ECTS (https://www3.kau.se/kursplaner/en/SFBX01_20142_en.pdf)

Time: week 04 - week 13

Goals: The students should be able to:

- understand common words and simple phrases if the interlocutor is speaking slowly and clearly.

- understand and find specific information in very simple texts with common words occuring frequently.

- converse in a simple manner provided that the interlocutor is prepared to speak slowly and repeat what has been said.

- ask and answer simple questions on familiar topics.

- write short, simple texts and fill in personal details in a form.

- give an account of basic parts of Swedish syntax and the Swedish sound system.

Content: The course includes instruction and practical exercises in Swedish language proficiency, communicative skills, basic grammar and the Swedish sound system. The student is expected to acquire basic vocabulary and simple phrases.

Teaching: The course includes exercises in reading comprehension, written communication and listening comprehension.

Assessment: Examination is based on one listening comprehension test, one oral exam and a written exam. The grade is: passed with distinction (VG), passed (g) or failed (U)

First I had troubles to come along with the teching methods of our teacher Roland because he is used to digress a little bit. He tried to make the language easier for us and splitted the words up. For me that was not really helpful but the longer I have been in his class the more I was able to understand his thinking. He is Swedish and symbolizes for me the typical Swede. His knowledge is amazing and he is also able to speak German - he could connect German similiarities with the Swedish langugae really good. We never did grammar work in the class - it was our responisbility to learn the grammar on our own. This was hard work but we could always ask Roland if we had any questions. He was really pleased to help us. When I learned all the grammar for our written exam in the end I really got into the language and it was fun for me because I was successful in understanding and learning the Swedish language.

It was a big advantage for me that I already had the Swedish course in Austria - especially at the beginning.

Host organisation

As an exchange student you get some hosts, who take care of you and help you. They also offer to pick up your keys for your room if you arrive on the weekend or at night. One host has about 10 exchange students. The hosts also study in Karlstad and they show you everything you need. Our hosts also organized a commun dinner with all people of our group. We cooked together and spent a lovely evening on talking and having fun.

Especially in the first weeks they organize a lot of parties and events. This makes it a lot easier to get to know all the other exchange students und you feel integrated very soon.

Intrudoction Week and University

One week before the official start of the university we had our introduction week. This was really good organized and we received a lot of information there. A lot of different people talked to us and explained us everything: What is important at the university; how to sign up for exams, the opening hours of the library; a short interview with the student union;.... It was always possible to ask something or to talk to them later on.

On Friday they organized a city tour and we could learn a little bit more about the history of this city. We were splitted up in our host groups so that there are only little people in a group. The guides were citizens from Karlstad and they really tried to give us an overview of the city and showed us some really lovely places.

On Sunday they organized a trip to Bodaborg - this is a Activityhouse where you have to make different exercices as a group. It was a really good experience and another good option to get to know the others.

Studying

The teachers in general are really friendly and you can call all of them by their first name. They always try to help you, if you have any problem. You don't have that much lessons at the university but they expect you to work on your own at home. Therefore every course has a lot of course literatur you have to read. During the lectures you talk about these topics and articles. The seminars are mandatory but the lectures are not. The first courses take place from week 3 to week 13 and the second courses take place from week 14 to week 23. There can be a written exam or a take home assignment at the end of the courses.

The courses are very diverse. In Intercultural Communication for example, I have to write individual assignments, group assignments, make presentations and write a final exam in week 13. In Swedish as a foreign language there is an oral exam, a listening and a written exam. In Intercultural Communication I, I have to write three individual assignments, one group discussion and a final paper.

The classes are really small, aproximatly 25 people per class and also the classrooms are small. It feels like you are back at midle school or high school. I really like this, because the atmosphere is more relaxed and personal.

Since the university is very modern you have to sign up for your courses and exmas online. You create an account on "MyPage" on the official website of the university (https://cas.kau.se/login?service=https%3A%2F%2Fwww3.kau.se%2Fminsida%2F). MyPage is really simple and you can find everything easily. The website is in Swedish or English availible, so that exchange students have no problems to find what they are looking for.

On MyPage you have to register for your courses. There is a detailed syllabus and a list for the course literature for every course. As soonas you are accepted for the course, you receive an email.

If you have to sign up for exmas you have to check that you don't sign up too late. Usually they open the registration one month befor the exam and they close it about one or two weeks before the exam. You have to register also via MyPage. If you have missed the registration time you can still try to go to the exam - if they still have free seats in the room, they let you write it. It can take three weeks until you know the result of your exam. They upload the exam on MyPage so you can look at it. The grades can be passed with distinction (VG), passed (g) or failed (U). If you have passed your course you can imideatly see the course and the credits on MyPage.

Most of the teachers also work with "its learning" in their seminars (https://kau.itslearning.com/DashboardMenu.aspx?LocationType=Hierarchy). It works like our "moodle"-courses. The students can see changes of rooms and information for the seminars there and we have to upload our assignments on itslearning.

Fieldwork at primaryschool

Internationella Engelska Skolan Karlstad

Gruvgången 4

653 43 Karlstad

Senior School: +46(0)54 771 91 10

Junior School: +46(0)54 771 91 14

www.engelska.se

info.karlstad@engelska.se

Contact Person: Christoffer Hook - Head of Department

christoffer.hook.karlstad@engelska.se

The school where I had to do my fieldwork is located in the citycentre of Karlstad. The focus of this school is in English and half of the subjects are thaught in English too. This school focuses really on a good teacher - student relation. The have so calles "Mentor-Classes". Every teacher is a mentor in this school and has his own "Mentor-Class" with about 10 to 15 children. In this classes are only boys or only girls. The boys most of the time have a male mentor and the girls have a female mentor. The mentors use this lessons to talk about problems, troubles, manners or behaviour. It should be a possibility for the children to talk about the things they bother them. Everyone should feel comfortable in the classroom and the school. I think this is really a good way to get a relationship to the students. It is important that the children know that they can trust their teacher and that problems are solved together.

The school is really hudge and offers a lot of opportunities for the children. There is a really big playground and the children play outside every day, no matter how bad the weather conditions are.

There is also a cantine where all the children can eat. The school is free and the parents also havent got to pay for the meal at the cantine. The small children have also got class teachers (like we have got it in Austria) and their own classroom. The older kids have an own locker and the teachers have classrooms. That means that the children have to change rooms.

Visitors have to register at the secretary office.

At they school are also some rooms especially for the children where they can hang out and play tablesoccer or pool. A teacher has to supervise the room otherwise it is closed.

The classrooms are really comfortable and in every classroom is a sink and a big cupboard. The walls are decorated and they have a lot of windows in the rooms. They also have "lap-top-classes" and it is common to work with ipads. Mobilephones are strictly forbidden. The children have to put them into a box in the morning and they get them back after the last lesson. Every box has the name of the student on it and is locked into a cupboard in the classroom during the day.

Every child has its own table and the books are in this table. It is possible to change the hight of the tables easily.

I had to make 16 hours of fieldwork in the primary school. I spent five ours in sports and eleven hours in other lessons (English, Maths, Swedish and Physics). Before we went into the classroom, we met the children outside and let them make a cue. We entered the school together and the kids had to put their valuables into their box.

At the first two days I accompanied Ms Reed and I saw some English classes. Ms. Reed is from Canada but she is in Sweden since 5 years. This is one reason why the kids know, that they have to talk in English to her. It was really a lot of fun and it was easy for me to follow the lesson. The children work really independent and I was surprised about their good English knowledge. The level is really high and they have 3 to 4 English lessons per week. Every class has 30 to 32 children but although the classes are hudge it works really well. There are seperate teachers for the children with special needs in the classroom.

The teacher wrote a "to-do list" for the children on the board. At the beginning of the lesson the children had to write a journal in their journalbook. The question was: "What is the best part of working in a group and what is the worst part of working in a group? Why?" Every child had to answer these questions and some children had to hand in their journalbooks afterwards.

First priority of this lesson was to finish the letter from the last lesson if it was not ready yet - the names of the children were written on the board. The others could start immediatly and rewrite their scripts of their dramas. They are working in groups of 3 or 4 people. If the script was already finished they could start to practise it or to make requisites for the play. Everyone should have at least three lines in the drama. Ms. Reed copies the scripts today so that the children can learn their texts in the sports week.

In another lesson, we startet with a dictation. The children had to write three English sentences (25 words) and the teacher read really slowly. The sentences were repeated eight times. Then the teacher wrote the sentences on the board and the children had to correct themselves. It was important that they corrected their sentences with a colour and that they crossed the wrong words out (and not erased them).

Ms. Reed is working a lot with positive pushing and compliments and she is motivating the kids a lot. I also really liked her way how she made the children listen to her. She stood in the middle of the class and starts clapping her hands. "Clap once if you can hear me. Clap twice if you can hear me. Clap three times, if you can hear me.... until everyone is listening and focusing her.

She also uses the method of counting down (also shows her fingers in the air) to make everyone silent.

At the end of the lesson Ms. Reed made a game with the kids. Everyone should close their eyes and they should guess when 1 minute is over and open their eyes then. After one minute Ms. Reed started to speak again and sayed good bye to the kids.

Another end of the lesson was a pantomime game. The person in the middle starts with an pantomime action. A child from the class is asking: " What are you doing?" The child in the middle is answering with a new action. Now the child who has asking is in the middle, doing the given action. The children can choose theirselves if they want to answer the question and go in the middle of the class or not. It is not mandatory to play.

The childre have to go out of the classroom in the breaks and the classrooms are locked meanwhile.

At the second day I also saw some Science classes. One lesson was about recyling. It was homework for the children to prepair the different materials and their receycling process of glass, paper, metal, plastic, electronics and textiles. Every child had one material and they could choose on their own what material they take. They had to answer the following questions:

How is this material produced?

How will you recycle this material? (process)

Where can you recycle it?

The teacher mixed the people with the different materials - in every group should be one person (expert) of each material. They had to inform each other about the prepared recycling material and the other children in the group toke notes.

After this group actvity, they watched a film about recycling and they were suposed to take notes to complete their records.

In another science lesson we have been in a labor because the children made an experiment. In the previous lesson the kids had to make a work plan for boiling water. On this plan was the amount of water, and a register for:

the temperature of the water at the beginning

While heating:

the temperature after one minute on the burner

the temperature after two minutes on the burner

the temperature after three minutes on the burner

the temperature after four minutes on the burner

the temperature after five minutes on the burner

While cooling down:

the temperature after one minute

the temperature after two minutes

the temperature after three minutes

the temperature after four minutes

the temperature after five minutes

The children had to work together in groups of 3 or 4 people. Before they could start to work, every child received an apron and safety goggles. Every group had one burner, one burette, one thermometer, one stop watch and a pair of tongs for holding the glass.

The teacher remembered the children about the behaviour in a labor and that they should take care of the instruments they use. Before they started to work, they discussed the experiment and the teacher gave some hints for the handling of the instruments. I helped the kids with their exercise and gave them the instruments.

The children behaved really well, it was absolutely silent in the labor and the children worked hard to get everything done.

In another lesson I was able to hear the headmaster talking to the students about the correct behaviour in the school. How important respect and interpersonal dealings are. It was a stunning conversation and I was amazed about the atmosphere in the class. The headmaster treated the children like equals and talked to them in a really friendly way. The children haven´t been afraid to ask questions and give coments. Really an awesome wxperience for me.

One day we had a "Sports - day" and Sabrina and I had to teach sports lessons. The main topic of the lesson was dance and therefor we created a choreography. Each Sport-lesson lasts 90 minutes, so we had enough time to make a good warm-up and a stretching in the end. We could finish the whole choreography with each class and this was a good feedback for us. The teacher Mr. Thelning always filmed some parts of the lesson and you could clearly see the improvement of the steps. It was a lot of fun for us to prepare the lesson and to watch the children.

Housing

http://www.kbab.se/student/foreign-students/exchangestudent

After finishing the application procedure at the University of Karlstad, I received a mail from KBAB for the housing at the campus. They offer three different types of accomodations (16 m2, 23 m2, or 26 m2). You can choose one of them as your preference - but it is not sure if you receive this size of the room.

When you arrive at Campus, you receive your keys and you have to sign the contract for the housing. The contract is limited for one semester. You can pay the rent with electronic banking in Euro - but you have to make sure, that it is enough! In June and July you can life for free in the room - you pay rent from January to May.

Each floor has about 10 rooms and one shared kitchen with three (or more) big fridges (including freezer), two ovens, a big table with some chairs and two couches. From the kitchen you have access to a balcony or a terrace, depends on the floor you are living in. The students have to organize a cleaning plan for the kitchen (vacuum and mop the floor and take out the garbage).

In the ground floor is also a room where you can make your laundry. In this room are two washing mashines and one laundry dryer. You can use it for free but you have to reservate a washing time.

Every room has its own bathroom. The rooms are equipped with two cupboards, one small bed, one shelf, one desk and one chair. Their are no pillows or blankets - bring your own or buy some at IKEA.

The appartments of the Campus are about two kilometers away from the university. It takes you 15 minutes to walk there or 5 minutes when you take the bus. The bus system in Karlstad is really good, so you should not have any problems to go to the citycenter.

There is a big soccer field next to the Campus and a 2.5 kilometer walking path in the close forest. The lake "Alstern" is also in walking distance (about 20 minutes).

Bettina Jaindl, Saxion University Of Applied Sciences, Netherlands, Mobility For Study, Phst

Contact of University in Hengelo:

Hengelo:

074 - 851 61 00

M.A. de Ruyterstraat 3

7556 CW Hengelo

Contact of the Eramsus Incomings Coordinator:

Kamphuis, Sander

s.a.a.kamphuis@saxion.nl

Exchange Programme: Teacher Training for European Competences (TEC):

Here the programme is described, in the pdf-folder all the classes are described as well:

http://www.saxion.edu/site/programmes/exchange/details/teacher-training-european-competences/teacher-training-european-competences/

My Courses:

Description of the University:

About Saxion:

Saxion University of Applied Sciences is one of the largest institutions of higher education in the Netherlands, with over 24,000 students (and still growing!). Saxion University has a rich history – its roots can be traced back to the 1875. A merger of two educational institutions, the Hogeschool Enschede and Hogeschool Ijselland, in 1998 paved the way for Saxion University in its present form. This merger enabled Saxion to build further on its strong position in Dutch higher education and since then Saxion University has come to be recognised as an important centre of expertise at regional, national and international level.

Location:

Saxion University of Applied Sciences has four campuses in the East of the Netherlands - one campus in each of the four Dutch cities of Deventer, Enschede, Apeldoorn and Hengelo. Thanks to the important contribution of agriculture to the local economy, this region is renowned for its beautiful countryside and fairly relaxed pace of life. However, all four Saxion locations have good public transport facilities, meaning that the hustle and bustle of the major cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague is no more than 1½ hours away.

Why choose us?

Quality of education: Saxion offers a broad range of courses at various levels, including many international programmes. The quality of education at Saxion is monitored by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, as well as being accredited by several international bodies, assuring you that the programmes on offer are of a high standard.

International approach: We are very proud of our diverse student body. Our international student population tops 2,500 students with a total of 55 different nationalities. Many of Saxion's full-time educational courses are already conducted in English, with more being added each year. Our ‘international classrooms’ are made up of a mix of students from all over the world. In this way we provide you with a truly multi-cultural experience in which you can compare experiences with and learn from fellow students of different backgrounds and nationalities.

Support to students: Education at Saxion is very student-focused and we offer you support not only from an academic point of view but also in terms of your personal development. While studying at Saxion University you will have the opportunity to gain both the knowledge and the skills you require to continue on your chosen career path.

Coming to the Netherlands from abroad can of course be a big step for many international students. If you are arriving from outside of the Netherlands, we aim to make the transition for you as smooth as possible, and we have therefore established a network of host families (Friends of Saxion International Students) who are on hand to help you settle into life in the Netherlands. We also have a ‘Buddy’ programme, whereby current students can help guide you through your initial period of studying at Saxion.

Description of the application process:

The application for all kinds of studies must be submitted online.

The course is open to 3rd and 4th year Bachelor students in a Teacher Training programme.

The students’ home institution must have an Inter Institutional Agreement (IIA) with Saxion Teacher Training College (APO Hengelo). To apply as an exchange student for this course, please contact the International Office at your home institution. Once your home institution has nominated you for this course, they will contact our International Office (internationaloffice.slh@saxion.nl). If our International Office agrees with your nomination, you may fill out the application form.

Application deadline is December 1st 2014 for the Spring 2015 course

Arrival & Housing

We took the plane from Graz to Duesseldorf and stayed there for one night. The next morning we travelled to Hengelo by train.

Sander picked us up at the trainstation together with Irina, another Erasmus student from Spain. We drove to our house, which Julia Gamperl, Michaela Schwarz and I share. The house is wonderful! Except for some problems with the leaking wasching machine (which will be solved the next days) we really feel comfortable in our own house :)

The other Erasmus students from Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom live in the same building. There are two flats for 2 students upstairs and two flats, each for 4 students downstairs. Each flat has at least 2 floors. Kitchen and living room on one level, rooms on the other, the toilet is sometimes on a seperate level as well (in the bigger flats there are two levels only for rooms, bathroom and toilet).

Hengelo & Public Transport

Hengelo is a really nice city. When we first came here we wondered what to do here all day. But it is actually bigger than we thought! There are some shops reachable by 5 minutes walking and to the city centre you walk about 20-25 minutes. University can be reached within 10-15 minutes walking (depending on your speed :) ).

In the centre there are a lot of shops, clubs and pubs to go to. It has very nice buildings (typical Dutch brick-houses), a cinema and a theatre.

The trainstation is in the centre as well. The next big city is called "Enschede" and trains are going there pretty much every 10 minutes (late in the evening maybe 15-20 minutes). The Netherlands have a good system for public transport.

There are a lot of trains going from Hengelo to a lot of places in the Netherlands, Germany and partly Belgium (might have to change trains for Belgium though). It takes you about 2 hours to Amsterdam by train. Trains are less expensive than in Austria! Still, there are some offers by different shops for very cheap train tickets you can use for 1 full day in the entire country. If you go to Amsterdam and back or to Groningen, Den Haag, Rotterdam it is really worth it! But these offers run out at some point, so they are only available for a couple of weeks. But no need to worry! There are several offers of different tickets (all between 14 and 20 Euros) which are valid for week days or the weekend and when the offer runs out in one shop, another shop starts offering tickets.

Excursions

The university took us on several excursions to different schools like a Dalton plan school, a community school and a special nees primary school with it's own farm. In our introduction week we made an excursion to Enschede where we got a city tour and went to the museum 'Twentse Welle' where we learnt more about the region 'Twente' we lived in. In April we went to Den Haag together where we had a city tour and went to the museum of Mesdag. Afterwards, we went to the beach of Scheveningen.

Beach of Scheveningen - International & Dutch students - 10th of April 2015

Brussels - 31st of May until 5th of June 2015:

As a part of one of our courses and as a addition to our studies ("Teacher Training for European Competences") we spent a week in Brussels. We had a great programme which contained a visit of the European Parliament, the European Commission, an In Field Museum and a British War Cementry as well as a trench in Ieper, a Botanical Garden in Meisse, a Flemish primary school in Brussels and a guided city tour through the capital city of Belgium and of course the Atomium. The week was awesome and we really got to know each other better and ahd lots of fun together. We had the greates time of our life with karaoke singing, dancing and sitting in the sun and enjoying the beautiful weather :)

International Class 2015 at the European Parliament

School practical in the Netherlands - Openbare Basisonderwijs Stedeke

Kuimgaarden 15

7478 Diepenheim

Niederlande

The Obs Stedeke is located in the center of Diepenheim, a nice little town surrounded by a lot of woods and green areas. In front of the school there is nice and colorful parking lot and a little green park which is created like a forest. This little green space was designed by the students and financed by “Jantje Beton” and some other sponsors. The children also created parts of the interior like the very colorful mosaic wall in the arts class.

The school can focus differentiation because they work with ‘the method’ not with the curriculum like England and Austria does. The method is a system which was developed by the government and which tells you how to reach your learning goals. ‘The method’ provides just a few different course books and the school’s principal has to decide which course books to use for every subject. The teachers have to stick to the course books and let the children work with them from one unit to the next. This is how they should reach their learning goals. Of course the units are differentiated into three ability levels, but the children can improve and do some activities from the higher ability level when they are able to. As a result it gives the teacher the opportunity to focus on supporting the weaker students but it doesn’t offer you a wide range of choosing your own way of teaching. Whereas in Austria the teachers are free to choose their own way of teaching as long as they reach the learning goals which are fixed in the national curriculum. This is also true for Britain, where teachers are free to teach however they choose, as long as they teach the subjects within the national curriculum.

The obs Stedeke also takes part in various international projets like the VoiceS programme for example. Some groups are even in contact with the schools from the University of Teacher Education in Graz, Hasnerplatz

Thursday, 16th of April 2015:

Luckily we have the chance to go to school with Maaike, a teacher from the “obs Stedeke”. She teaches the 8th group here and is also in charge of the testing department and gives advice to parents with children with special needs. “Obs Stedeke” means “Openbare Basisschool Stedeke” and means that it is a public primary school.

When we arrived at school we met the headmaster Jasper. At first we had coffee and tea and talked about the project we’re going to do. Afterwards, we got a tour through the school. The school environment is very nice and creates a great learning atmosphere. Every classroom has a smartboard, two to three white boards, a projector and a computer. The children sit in little groups of approximately four children.

The big hall offers a large number of computers, where every group has their own user account which the teachers create. Moreover, there are a lot of (language) course books and many other learning materials.

The school works with a supportive system and focuses on the interests of the children. If necessary, every child gets their own task sheet which fits his/her needs. Furthermore, they get an individual task sheet which is designed to catch their current interests.

After lunch we had a look around in the school and visited all classes. We also went to the library to see if the children are using the English section while working on individual tasks. The school offers a big variety of children’s books and games in English which they brought from an excursion to England.

Moreover, we tried to figure out which lessons we can observe and when we can take part in activities and do some English lessons with the children.

After the students went home we got the possibility to take part in an English class for the teachers of the Stedeke. The lesson was given by Machteld, who also teaches us in English language skills and Young Language Learners. She was teaching them about young language learner activities, but she introduced them in Dutch. I’ve learned some really nice activities to use in classroom.

Friday, 17th of April 2015:

Today we sat together to plan the exercises for next week. We made picture cards and word cards for our English lesson in group 5 next Thursday.

After that we checked on some literature online which we want to use in our paper.

Monday, 20th of April 2015:

In the morning we finished our activity about body parts for Thursday. Afterwards, we tried to observe the children working, whether on their own or in groups or see how the lessons are being hold. We were able to observe how the children work on their language skills, whether it is English, German, French or Spanish. Our school is currently trying out a new language programme where they children can learn independently on a computer. The school offers a large language equipment where the children have free access to. There are workbooks on different levels, dictionaries (whether word-to-word-translation or phrases), listenings, computer programmes, books or comics and also a “happy family” game.

Before lunch break we had to watch the children from group 1 because the regular teacher had to go to the doctor. We had a great time and I am very proud of my conversations with the children in Dutch. One girl was very nice and tried to explain everything to me and talked slowly so I could understand what she was saying.

In the afternoon we observed a Geography lesson in group 6. They were talking about the importance of the port of Rotterdam and the airport in Amsterdam Schiphol. During the lesson I took the chance to look through one of the Geography course books. There are some topics in the book which deal with the topics of Multiculturalism and Integration.

Tuesday, 21st of April 2015:

On Tuesday morning we transcribed the interviews we held the day before and I had to translate one interview I had with Laura, the teacher of group 7, because we talked in German. Afterwards, we observed some lessons and talked to children.

After lunch break we taught group 6 about the book “Giraffes can’t dance” which is part of a project they are currently doing in exchange with Turkey and Spain. Therefore, Paris read the book to the children and they were looking at the animated story on the smartboard in the meantime. In order to make the children understand the words we acted the story out while Paris was reading the story for the second time. All the students had to stand up and perform the moves which Lisa Broekman and I showed to them. Thereafter, we asked the children if they understood the story and if they got the message of the story. They understood almost everything because we “acted out” the words of the story. They also did a great job in describing the story, but they were allowed to do it in Dutch when they were not able to do it in English. We repeated the meaning of the story and asked them if they also feel like Gerald the giraffe sometimes. At first they said yes but they couldn’t explain it in English so I gave an example of my own life to make it easier for them. Afterwards, we handed out a worksheet where they had to name three things they’re good at and three things they are not good at but will be soon. Then we asked a few students to read out their examples. The last step was a worksheet which said “I am not good at ______________ but I will be soon!” and had to draw a picture to it. All those worksheets were hanged up at the board in the back of the class. It was a wonderful lesson and I could see that the children had a lot of fun and were proud of themselves for understanding that much English. Whenever they had a question they liked to consult us (the foreign students) and work together with us.

Wednesday, 22nd of April 2015:

In the morning we negotiated about how to start our project and figured out a project which we want to do with group 8. We are planning to teach them how to read recipes and let them bake some scones.

At quarter past ten we were invited to observe an English lesson in group 3. The children greeted us with the “Take it Easy” opening song. Then the teacher asked us to introduce ourselves to the children. Afterwards, the children introduced themselves and told us their name and their age. After that, the teacher taught the children new words about gardening with some items she brought with her. They did some games with it after the children got familiar with the words. The teacher also integrated us in the games. As the next step the teacher showed some more words to them via the “Take it Easy” programme. Afterwards, they played some games on the programme so that the children could practice the words. In the end the children sang the Goodbye-song from “Take it Easy” for us.

After the lesson we talked to the teacher about how she likes the English programme “Take it Easy”. She said that she thinks it is quite useful especially the vocabulary learning parts and that the children like the games a lot. But the stories the programme offers are far too difficult for young language learners. She said that they really like to listen to the story and like watching the pictures on the screen but it is really hard to understand it.

Thursday, 23rd of April 2015:

Today we started working on our project. While Lisa Partington and Paris were doing some research, Lisa Broekman and I were translating the school vision and literature out of Dutch didactic books into English.

At eleven o’clock we taught the children from group 5 about body parts. Therefore, we created a puzzle out of a human body. Because of the reason that we didn’t have a blackboard we spread the puzzle pieces over the floor in the main hall. We arranged a circle of benches and chairs around it. Then we asked the children one after the other to set the puzzle together in the right order. Afterwards, they had to pick one word card each, read the word out loud and put it at the correct spot. If one of them didn’t know where the word belongs we asked the other learners to help him or her. When they were finished I pointed at one of the words and let them repeat it. To make it more interesting for the children they had to repeat the words in different voices (loud, silent, whispering, high tone, low tone, etc.). Furthermore, I let the children make suggestions about how to say the next word. As a next step, we sang “head-shoulders-knees-and-toes” with them. Before we started singing we practised the song. In the end, the children taught us the Dutch version of this song.

Friday, 24th of April 2015:

Today the school took part in the “Koningsspelen”. Therefore, we helped the teachers decorate and prepare the classroom for the breakfast. Then the teacher of group 4 and 5 invited me to stay with them for breakfast. I helped the teacher giving out drinks and had some conversations with the children.

Afterwards, we cycled to Goor for the “Scouting” activity. The children were so excited that we were joining them and they always asked if I can cycle next to them. They had a great time with the scouts trying to make some fire, baking bread and building huts. They were always looking for help and were happy when they could work together with us. In the afternoon we played “Honkball” with group 8. I had a great day and enjoyed being together with the children. Altogether, I had a lovely week and I would like to teach in this school if I would be a teacher in the Netherlands.

Obs Stedeke in Diepenheim decorated for the Kings Games

Scouting

Thursday, 28th of May 2015:

Today we went to Diepenheim to prepare the children from group 8 for our cooking session on the 11th of June. Lisa Partington and Paris started the lesson with some English jokes about cooking which can be understood in two ways.

Afterwards they explained why scones are so popular in their country and how they should be eaten. Then we talked about which ingredients to use and how much. The children were really excited about going to bake scones with us (and of course with English people!) that they wanted to start straight away. Unfortunately we had to tell them that we can only do this on the 11th of June. I’m really looking forward to our baking session. The children from group 8 are lovely.

Thursday, 11th of June 2015:

Today we went back to Diepenheim to finish our cooking project. We already prepared the children for the cooking session and talked about the ingredients. So today we prepared the kitchen and brought all the necessary ingredients. The children were really excited about the cooking and did a really great job. Everybody had the chance to create his own scone with cranberries or raisins if liked. Some of them were so into it that they also created scones for us and for their teachers. We ate it together with clotted cream and strawberry jam.

Every single student asked about the recipe because they all want to make scones at home. It was a very successful and funny day. I’d love to see the children again and might come for their musical which they are going to do at the end of the school year. They were really disappointed that the time with us was over and so were we.

Bianca Dobner, University Of Huelva, Mobility For Study, Phst

Birgit Ehrenhöfer, University of Iceland, Iceland, Mobility for Study, PHST

Contact Information:

International Office

International Coordinator: Ms. Aníta Hannesdottír

Saemundargötu 6

101 Reykjavik

Tel.: 525 4000

Fax: 552 1331

email: ask@hi.is

School of Education

Service center

Stakkahlid

Tel: +354 5255950

Email:

menntavisindasvid@hi.is

Description:

The University of Iceland educates teachers for preschools, primary schools and upper secondary schools, sports and health scientists, social educators and leisure professionals. The former Iceland University of Education, which has merged with the University of Iceland, forms the core of the new School of Education.

At the School of Education diverse research is carried out in the fields of education, pedagogy and training, for the purpose of creating new knowledge for the benefit of Icelandic society.

List of courses:

GSS460G

Teaching English to young learners

Main areas covered

characteristics of young learners

- appropriate approaches and techniques

National Curriculum objectives

listening and speaking

- songs, games, drama and creative activities

- topic-based work

- reading and writing

- teaching materials

- the European Language Portfolio

- assessment methods

ECTS: 10

Course work consists of reading, oral and written assignments, discussions, presentations, and project work. The course includes 2 ECTS teaching practice consisting of classroom observation and a written report.

GSS550G

EFL learning and second language aquisition

Current research in the teaching of English as a foreign language, especially research on learning styles; learner strategies; learning problems; learner autonomy; language assessment and action research. The course includes reading, speaking and writing components, a classroom research project and student-led seminars.

ECTS: 10

MEX022G

Teaching Practice

Aims and content: Exchange students are offered teaching practice in Icelandic primary and lower secondary schools where they have the opportunity to get familiar with Icelandic schools and the school system. Students will introduce their home country  and participate in the school work and different subject teaching as applicable every time, such as language teaching or art and craft. These are decided according to students field of interests and organisation of the school work.

After the teaching practice period the students are required to send a two page report, approx. 900 words, to the international coordinator at the School of Education,

gsoley@hi.is

.

ECTS: 4

MEX202G

Icelandic Nature and Cultural Legacy

Nature of Iceland: Students learn about the weather and climate, geology, vegetation and animal life. They attend lectures about the geology of Iceland and go on fieldtrips to see volcanoes, hotsprings and lava and study the geography of the country. They go birdwatching, to the seashore and to "Icelandic woods".  They also learn about soil erosion and environmental problems in Iceland.  Field trips (1-6 hours) are an important ingredient of this part of the course.

Cultural Legacy: An Icelandic Family Saga wil be read. Also some Edda-poems about gods and heroes, together with chapters from Snorri's Edda (Ódin, Thor, Frigg, etc.). Some Icelandic folk tales and familiar motifs from oral tradition will be looked into, and Icelandic fairy tales will be compared to those of neighbouring countries. Introduction to Halldór Laxnes and his works. An afternoon-trip to a historical place will be made, and one visit to a historical  museum in Reykjavík.

Teaching methods: Lectures, seminar and group work, outdoor teaching

ECTS: 10

Description of the Registration Process

Applications

All applications for admission must be submitted online, using a specific form available during application periods.

Application deadlines:

Fall semester or a full academic year: 1 March (EU/EEA citizens: 1 May)

- Spring semester: 1 August (EU/EEA citizens: 1 October)

International students have to fill in a special online application form. Subsequently, you get an Application ID and a web key number, which you need to create a personal account. With this account you can continue working on your application, for example you have to fill in the courses you have chosen. What´s more, through this account you can follow the progress of your application.

To complete your application, you have to hand in a photo of the front page of you passport as well as the transcript of records via email.

Once you are accepted at the University of Iceland, you receive a ´letter of acceptance´.

Teaching Practice

Hágaskóli

Fornhagi 1

107 Reykjavik

+354 535 6500

www.hagaskoli. is

hagaskoli@reykjavik.is

The teaching practice, which I had together with my Finish fellow student Essi Rutanen, was one of my favourite parts of this semester abroad.

We didn´t have a fixed schedule, but our mentor, Finnur Jens Númason, asked us what subjects or lessons we would like to attend and according to our wishes, he arranged our visits in the different classes. Due to that, we were able to observe various very interesting lessons on different subjects:

English

Drama

Needlework and Woodwork

Natural Sciences (Biology)

Cooking Classes

Music

Arts

We were supposed to be at school for ten days, mostly on Wednesdays, but our mentor was flexible, so we could also see other days.

Most of the time we were just observing the lessons, but once we were allowed to introduce our home countries, Finland and Austria. Therefore we planned two things: we prepared a quiz about funny facts of the two countries and we also baked and cooked Austrian and Finish specialities like Kaiserschmarrn. Especially the second part of our project was very much fun and the students enjoyed it a lot.

Another time, when we were just observing an English lesson, the teacher asked us if we would like to continue and do some activities with the students. We hadn´t prepared anything, because we didn´t expect to be teaching, so we just played some games. It was a new experience for me to teach without being prepared, but it was great fun.

Analysis of the teaching practice

The first thing I noticed was, that in Iceland everything seemed to be more easy-going than in Austria. The relationships between teachers and students were more on a friendship-like level and students were  allowed to call their teachers by their first name. I think this is a general difference between these two countries, because in Iceland everybody uses the first name to address each other. What´s more, students were allowed to use their mobile phones or listen to music during the lessons, which I found really disturbing.

Furthermore, it stroke me that boys and girls were seperated in many subjects, like for example Music, Drama, Wood Work, or Cooking. I assume that it would be better for the class community if they were mixed up or together more often, but I guess there are reasons for dividing them.

During my days at Hágaskoli, I got the feeling that it is not just going to school, but more something like a certain kind of culture there. There were so many things like an Anniversary Party, a sports competition or a Musical that made it more than just a school where students spend their days studying. I had the impression that the students were proud of attending this school and they were eager in participating in all kinds of events.

Academic & Social Life

However, not only having the teaching practice in another country was interesting, but also going to a different University was a memorable experience.

From my point of view, the main difference was that I had far less courses here in Iceland than I had had in Austria during my previous semesters of studying. Here in Iceland I had three courses, ten credits for each. As a consequence of having only three courses, they were much more intensive and, of course, the work load was much bigger. However, it was nice to have it this way and see the contrast to the courses I had had at home.

Both, the ´Teaching English to Young Learners` and the `Icelandic Nature and Cultural Legacy´ courses contained a lot of practical parts. In the first course, we had to introduce activities suitable for young learners to each other and we also had to create lesson plans on different topics. In the `Icelandic Nature and Cultural Legacy´ course we did a lot of excursions and trips, where we sometimes went to beautiful places that nobody would have found otherwise.

During those activities and trips, it was easy to get to know my fellow students better, and it didn´t take long to make new friends. In the ´Icelandic Nature and Cultural Legacy´ course, there were almost only Erasmus and Nordplus students from almost all parts of Europe. I made friends with people from lots of different countries, but I had hardly any contact with Icelandic people, which is a pitty. However, me and my colleagues we spent a lot of time together and did amazing trips to explore the beautiful and unique nature of Iceland.

When we went on trips in our free time, we always rented a car. This is one of the cheapest ways to get around, especially in the winter time, before the beginning of May. Avis Budget is among the cheapest car rentals, at least when it comes to cars without four wheel drive.

Before going on a trip, it is a must-do to check the weather forecast as well as the road conditions, because snow storms or sand storms are nothing unusual. Almost all of use made the experience of getting stuck somewhere, not being able to return to Reykjavik due to snow storms that caused the roads to be impassable.

Here are two very helpful websites to check on the conditions:

http://en.vedur.is/weather/forecasts/areas/

http://www.vegagerdin.is/english/road-conditions-and-weather/

Here are some places I would absolutely recommend to visit in Iceland:

Dyrhólaey, South Iceland

Dettifoss, North Iceland

Reynisfjara, Black Beach, South Iceland

Snaefellsnes peninsula, West Iceland

Skógafoss, South Iceland

Strokkur, Golden Circle, West Iceland

I would absolutely recommend spending a semester in Iceland. Apart from the amazing landscape Iceland has to offer, it was a great experience to meet so many people from different cultural backgrounds and make friends with them.

Chiara Cicchese Università Degli Studi Del Molise, Italy, Mobility For Study, Phst - Incoming

University contacts:

Pädagogische Hochschule Steiermark

Hasnerplatz, 12      8010 Graz, Austria

Tel.: +43 316 80670, Fax: +43 316 80673199

E-mail: office@phst.at

http://www.phst.at/

Erasmus office

Marlene Grabner

Tutor of International Students

International Office A0110

Marlene.Grabner@phst.at

Description of the University

The University of Teacher Education Styria (PHSt) offers a wide variety of study programmes in the field of training, continuing education and further education for all types of schools and grades. It situated near the centre and the tram stop is called “Hasnerplatz - Pädagogische Hochschule”. There are over 500 people employed in the fields of teaching and research. In order to find out the latest information regarding activities and projects. The academic year is made up of 2 semesters.

The winter semester begins on October 1st and ends in the middle of February. The summer semester begins the last week in February and ends on June 30th.

Usually in the classroom there are 15-25 students; all the courses have 1 to 3 ECTS.

Description of chosen courses

•    English – 2,00 ECTS

•    Digitale Kommunikation – 2,00 ECTS

•    Die europäische Dimension in Kultur, Gesellschaft und Bildung – 1,00 ECTS

•    Methoden der Interaktion – 2,00 ECTS

•    Unterrichtsmodelle im europäischen Vergleich – 1,00 ECTS

•    Unterrichtsbesuche – 1,00 ECTS

•    Unterrichtsanalyse – 3,00 ECTS

•    English (2) – 1,00 ECTS

•    Singen und Musizieren – 1,00 ECTS

•    Arbeiten im farbigen Bereich – 1,50 ECTS

•    Rhythmik – 1,00 ECTS

•    Päd. Soziologie: Spezielle Aspekte – 1,50 ECTS

•    Tutorium: Päd. Soziologie - Spezielle Aspekte - 0,50 ECTS

•    Deutsch Sprachkurs 1 (A1, A2) für Erasmus Incomings – 2,00 ECTS

Erasmus Students/Tutor with the mayor of the city of Graz (Chiara Cicchese)

Detailed description of the registration process at the host organization

I filled my application form to give some information about me, after this I did the Learning Agreement, and it was a little bit difficult choose the course online. When I arrived in Graz, the first day I went to the international office and I started to visit the university and signed the documents. When it came time to create the calendar of the lessons unfortunately I cannot do some courses, but my tutor, helped me to find new courses and change the Learning Agreement.

Review of your stay abroad in academic terms

I have learned new pedagogic knowledge to teach in the primary school, especially make into practice the theoretical notions. This experience has opened my mind and my points of view, to give me a lot of new ideas to teach in the future! I improved my English, but I have many problems with German (Life is too short to learn German!), because I never study before this period!

Welcome Day in Graz (Marlene Grabner)

Review of the stay abroad in cultural terms

During my Erasmus period, I meet a lot of new people that came from all over the word, and I shared with them many feelings (happiness, fear, etc.). The university and especially our buddies helped has every time and prepared a lot of activities like cinema, welcome day, bake cookies for Christmas, international dinner and excursions.

In the city there are a lot of Erasmus students, and this is the ideal to compare many things, share parties and dinner, to become friends forever! Also I travel a lot like in Vienna, Munich, Budapest, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Linz, and also many city.

Last but not least, the Austrian people are very friendly and polite, anytime they are ready to help you.

Boat Party/Tour in Budapest (Chiara Cicchese)

Daniel Illmeier, Universidad De Las Palmas De Gran Canaria, Spain, Mobility For Study, Phst

Author: Daniel Illmeier

Overview – History

The Canary Islands are an archipelago that arises 200km off the coast of Morocco. It consists out of the seven islands Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera und El Hierro. The first three mentioned islands belong to the province Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the following four islands to the province Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Las Palmas is the Capital of the Canary Islands and the largest city (380.000 inhabitants) in the region. Santa Cruz de Tenerife follows with 205.000 inhabitants.

It is believed that Gran Canaria was already populated in around 500 B.C., although there are several theories regarding the origins of its early inhabitants. One widely accepted theory is that Gran Canaria’s natives, widely known as Guanches, originally came from North Africa and that they were descendants of the Berber people.  This theory is believed to be tho most likely as in 1870’s a couple of cave paintings and storage caves for grain (the same method was used by the Berber people to store food) were found on Gran Canaria (e.g. cueva pintada in Galdar). After the fall of the Roman Empire, Europe forgot about the Canary Islands for almost 1,000 years and until the rediscovery of the Canaries by Mediterranean as the Italians, Portuguese and Catalans. At the beginning of the 15th century, the rapid process of the conquest of the islands began. In Gran Canaria, the Guanches fiercely resisted the Spanish invasion by Juan Rejón, but by 1483 Pedro de Vera, who led the Spanish forces, had completed the conquest. Many Guanches were killed or committed suicide. Those who survived were forced into slavery and to convert to Christianity, and soon started to die out. Contacts with the New World (because of the high emigration to Latin America due to collapses of local industries), where Cuba had won freedom from Spain in 1898, led to calls for Canarian independence. Most people simply wanted the division of the archipelago into two separate provinces (Las Palmas and Tenerife), which eventually came about in 1927. In 1912 the Island Council’s Law was brought into force, which led to a number of infrastructure projects such as the airport, reservoirs and the principal motorway network of the island, laying the  foundation stone for the development of the tourism industry. Another key date in the history of the Canary Islands is 1982, when the Autonomous Government Statutes were passed.

Nowadays tourism is the most important economic branch on the islands. Beside tourism there is a more or less big agriculture branch (especially bananas - or platanos as they are called on the Canary Islands). This branch could not exist without subsidies by continental Spain and European Union. As the region is geographically disadvantaged there are lower taxes on products that are produced on the islands (every imported good has to be added a tax called IGIC that raises the price by 5%). Some goods have lower taxes, especially when tourism benefits of that (e.g. cigarettes, gasoline and alcohol).

The road system is well built: Highways are present in every region that is important for visitors; Mountain-roads are very scenic and winding and can also turn into narrow paths. The island has lots of beautiful spots, although tourism has destroyed a big part of the islands nature yet. The south is (due to the mostly sunny weather there) crowded with people, hotels and shopping malls and the shore is concreted except some artificial beaches. The north is more humid and cloudy. That is also why it is cooler and easier to work there during the day. That is why I guess Las Palmas as capital arose in the north. The western part of the island is charming, quiet and nice and it consists mainly out of sharp cliffs and mountains that bear some hidden beaches. Public transport can take you around the island – not very cheap but sometimes affordable. I you believe it or not: The cheapest way to come around is to hire a car with some friends or do hitch-hiking.

Las Palmas - View from Isleta to City Beach

The island is perfect for every kind of sports: Hiking, Biking (mountain and road), diving, surfing, wind-surfing, kite-surfing, sailing, paragliding and so on. Within short distances all these kinds of sports can be practiced, which is wonderful. I also tried out lots of the mentioned things.

Comparison of education systems

In Austria the educative system starts with the elementary school (Volksschule – 4 grades), which is obligatory for children who completed their 6th year of life (to avoid misunderstandings the German expressions are written in bracelets). After elementary school children enter the secondary school (Sekundarstufe I – 4 grades) ether in a Gymnasium (Allgemeine höhere Schule) or in secondary modern school (Hauptschule). In case children want to continue with a professional education, they have to attend one more year at school to complete compulsory school education first. If children want to continue with school education (Sekundarstufe II), there are different possibilities (Gymnasium or a set of vocational educative schools). These schools end with a graduation called Matura (similar to british A-Levels). With this graduation it is possible to continue with Studies at University. The school-marks reach from 1 to 5, whereas one is the best and five is the worst mark.

The Spanisch educative System begins for children from 6 years on in elementary school (Educación Primaria) which is divided in 6 grades). Subsequent follows secondary school (Educación Secundaria Obligatoria – ESO), which consist of four grades. After completing the compulsory school education is finished. From here on it can be decided to choose two more years of education in “Bachillerato” grades (which lead to graduation and permission for universitary studies - Educación Superior) or to go on with the “Ciclo Formativo”, which is a continuative professional education. School-marks reach from 1 to 10, whereas 10 is the best and 1 the worst.

Courses

I chose a set of courses in advance to my ERASMUS semester. Due to some timetable clashes I had to change my learning agreement and exchange some courses. In the following section I am going to describe my elected courses:

1.)    Español Lengua Extranjera A1-A2 (Spanish as foreign language level A1-A2) - 6 ECTS

Aims:

•    Improve the linguistic skills form almost no skills or A1 level to the level A2.

•    Work and practice in small groups to be able to have conversations.

•    Grammar, verbs and times

•    Get to know some aspects of Spanish culture, Canary Culture and the way of life in Spanish speaking countries.

•    Learn about the local habits, singularities of Canary Islands and details of the daily life.

Experience:

This course was totally necessary for me. I arrived with almost no Spanish skills and had to deal in my daily life with common situations (shopping, bureaucracy stuff at the University, simple conversations, etc.). Therefore I needed this lessons a lot.  I had the chance to strengthen my skills that I gained in the Spanish course at my home University.  To detect the individual level of all Erasmus students there was held a language test in the beginning. According to the result the students were spread up in groups of the levels A1/A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2. It is a pity that there is not a single A2 course available (I knew most of the content of A1 already – but in that case it was a good consolidation of the knowledge.

In the course we used the book „Gente 1" which costs 30 €. The related workbook costs 20 €. We did not use it in the lessons. It is only to prepare and practice alone (especially for the final examination).

Additionally we had to practice with the online-Application (available under duolingo.com for PC or smartphone). The progress in the software was also part of the final mark. With the application you can practice vocabulary and grammar very effectively on your own. It reminds you to redo lessons and is built up like a game (you can earn and lose points and buy stuff with those).

2.)    Educación musical (music education) – 6 ECTS

Aims:

•    Acquire management skills for classes.

•    Develop concerns about the process of learning and its effects on pupil’s future.

•    Learn to apply processes of interaction and communication in class.

•    Learn the basics of music theory (note values, nomenclature, kinds of rhythms)

•    Read and write scores and learn to repeat rhythms of written scores.

•    Learn the basics of the flute.

•    Learn and discuss about music history and important composers.

•    Make a presentation of a composer (present in the 1. person).

Experience:

This course is held in the second semester. It is a basic course that deals with music theory, music history and leads to better understanding of evolvement of music. The content is held in a way, that teaching methods are practiced simultaneously (discussions, presentations, practical parts where playing instruments together is an essential element). Additionally we practiced singing, humming or clapping different rhythms that should help to attract the attention of children in class (also in other subjects, for example mathematics – for example: Fractions can be exemplified with note values which can lead to a better understanding for pupils). To pass the final examination it is necessary to be able to read and repeat patterns of different rhythms and also to play songs on the flute.

3.)    Vela y Tablas Deslizadoras a Vela (Sailing and Windsurfing) – 6 ECTS

Aims:

•    Learn about the history of sailing and windsurfing.

•    Get to know the related terminology and also Spanish language while the course.

•    Study the technical and physical basics of sailboats.

•    Reaching the theoretical and practical basics in windsurfing and sailing.

•    Practical training of maneuvers. Training for a regatta.

•    Strengthening of the capacity for teamwork.

•    Strengthening of the capability of making decisions.

•    Building up reciprocal confidence.

•    Training the role as leader.

•    Getting to know a different method of learning (trial and error) in this course.

Experience:

The duration of the course was three weeks and the course is blocked. The course included a theoretical and a practical part. The first lesson treated of theoretical basics. The second lesson was already held in the water (after instructions how to build up the boats) which is quite early. Thus we had to experience sailing without an extensive knowledge about sailing – it was more or less an experience of trial and error. This method makes it possible to raise one’s interest in the following theoretical lessons because lots of questions appear while the practical part and it is easier to understand problems and questions which are treated in these lessons. The course is perfect to train social competences such as the capacity of teamwork, the capacity of making decisions in a group and thereby the training of the role as a leader and the reciprocal building of confidence in the team. All these competences are very important for teaching students. The training of the mentioned skills is important for everybody. Therefore I think the course is appropriate for everybody who wants to development his personality. In the training for a regatta the team spirit shapes the team to an operating society. The observation of this evolvement is really interesting. The course leads to a better physical and psychical understanding and I think it strengthens indirectly the ability of problem solving and conflict resolution. Additionally the course is very funny although is very time-consuming. The lessons last all the afternoon for three weeks and additionally you have to visit the other courses.

Windsurfing in Alcaranaveras Beach of Las Palmas

4.)    Practicum I – 6 ECTS

Aims:

•    Acquire

•    Gain safety in the roll as teacher

•    widen the horizon of didactical possibility

•    Gain an insight into the daily school operations

Experience:

The school where I did my internship was the Colegio Heidelberg (www.heidelbergschule.com) which is a private school where the children can start in the Kindergarden and stay untill they finished school when they are approximately 18 years old. Thus it is a private school the parents have to pay a lot of money for the school. Parents send their kids to this school because in many cases they are not satisfied with the condition of public schools. In addition German as foreign language is important in tourism and it is advantageous to speak it. For more informations see also section "Comparison od education systems".

Entrance of Colegio Heidelberg in Las Palmas

During the time in Colegio Heidelberg I had to execute the elaborated schedule, which was prepared by my tutor at school, Mónica Betancor Bohn (monica@colegioheidelberg.com). My coordinator from Univerity for this practical was Mª Del Carmen Bosch Caballero (mdelcarmen.bosch@ulpgc.es). This schedule was many-sided and included a set of different subjects, which I attended to. Additionally I helped out at different Projects. The table below shows which tasks I had to deal with in my practical and subsequently I describe some of the tasks more detailed.

Table 1: A List of my different tasks in Colegio Heidelberg during my practical

My tasks in Colegio Heidelberg

Support, holding and attending classes in the different grades and types of school according to the schedule as well as attending and supporting school projects.

Primary school - Educación primaria

German

Nature Study (Naturkunde) – Garden project

Secondary school - Educación secundaria Obligatoria

Biology and Geology

Mathematics

German

Social Education (Sozialkunde)

Civics (Gemeinschaftskunde)

Graduation Classes - Bachillerato

Preparation for oral exams with students

Administrative tasks together with teachers for the final examinations.

Other tasks – Otra tareas

Presentation of Austria in classes

PowerPoint, Introduction, Famous people, Geography, Language (Comparison Germany – Austria, Dialects, Professions)

Administrative tasks

Week project in 6th grades of secondary school

Presentation of the results of the semester projects in 4th grades of secondary school

To carry out the tasks at Colegio Heidelberg was really interesting. I liked the mix of the different school-types and I enjoyed working with children of different ages with different origins. The lessons were held in Spanish and some of them in German.

In German I could help a lot. When the pupils learned grammar and had to fill in worksheets, I could support them. Sometimes I could help writing dialogues or just talk to them to practice. I could also learn a lot of Spanish expressions while talking with the pupils. With the graduation classes I practiced presenting in German and listened to their presentations to discuss afterwards how to improve and to tell them, which things they really did well and which mistakes they did. One of my tasks was also to present Austria. This task was very funny and I liked it a lot. Therefore I held a presentation in different classes which always came up to a full lesson. In this process I also discussed current topics of their German lessons (e.g. professions in German). The children liked it a lot and also my tutor was always very pleased. For more Information follow the section “Documentos del centro” where I put the slides of the presentation.

Biology and Geology was one of my favourite subjects. Here we talked for example about the anatomy of plants, collected plants from outside of the school and discussed these later on in class. The geologic lessons focused on the evolvement of volcanoes and plate tectonics, which was very interesting for the children, because they live on a former volcano island.

In Nature Study we did a garden project where I and the teacher showed the class how to plant the seedlings (lettuce, tomato, carrot and potato) into the bed. Because there is less water on the island summer the plants have to be watered by an irrigation-system.

Small vegetable garden of Colegio Heidelberg - Pupils planting carrots

In Mathematics I mostly attended to lessons which treated calculations of areas of two dimensional plane figures. These lessons were interesting, because the spoken language was Spanish and so I learned some Spanish expressions in Mathematics.

Social Education and Civics was working on the History of Anne Frank. The lesson was held in German and the script they worked with was also written in German. As there were many exercises that focused on the translation from German to Spanish, I could also profit from it. Finally the pupils had to work in groups to create posters.

The week project in the 6th grades of secondary school was very interesting. The aim for groups of six pupils was to invent a type of fun-sport. The project had a focus on German language and therefore all the paperwork (description of the game, script of rules, presentation on the computer, video and poster for promotion and homepage) had to be done in German. During this week I helped to lead and organize the classes through the project. Although it was not easy, because it was the first project they ever did at school and therefore they were quite unprepared and aimless in the beginning. After all the aims were executed they had to explain the game to pupils of primary school, which had to play the game after it. This was the difficulty for the 6th grades, because they had to create a game, which will be understood by younger children. This week was really funny and it was nice to see how to organize a project and which problems appear in organization during such an event.

Week project in the 6th grades

The presentation of the results of the semester projects in 4th grades of secondary school was also a very nice event. Pupils were very creative in the selection of their topics, as well in the realization. I was there to speak and listen to the children’s presentation and to have a dialogue with them and thereby practice their German skills. Among the topics you could find almost everything that is imaginable. From a created cooling-suit for the dessert over Henna-Tattoo drawing to a Guidebook from Gran Canaria everything was there. The pupils also seemed to enjoy talking to me.

All in all I really liked to participate to all the described things. It was a good experience and helped me to develop my Spanish skills as well. Most of the teachers were really nice and we also met sometimes in my spare time to do something together.

Accreditation process

The process of application begins already at home, when you have to contact your coordinator. In my case this was Elisa Ramón (elisa.ramon@ulpgc.es). She works with incoming students which study teaching. I also had to ask lots of stuff at the Oficina de Movilidad de Humanidades (rrii_humanidades@ulpgc.es), which helps in bureaucratic cases such as your learning agreement, the arrival certificate, the letter of confirmation and the transcript of records. This office is located in the “Edificio de Humanidades” at the “Obelisco” which is the University for social sciences.  When I arrived in Las Palmas I had to take part in an info meeting. It takes place in the first week of university and you get told all the important things and dates. Due to the fact that it is hold in Spanish, it is not so easy to understand what they are telling you. Together with other Erasmus students you can figure it out. The welcome week starts soon after that. You can join it (it is not obligatory) and you will be shown some nice things on the island. The matriculation is a piece of paper that contains your chosen courses of the learning agreement and your user name for the online portal. You will get it after you handed in the final version of your learning agreement (after all changes). Most of the students change some courses. I also did, because there appeared some timetable crashes. Without a signed matriculation you are not allowed to take the exams and you can’t log in the online portal (where also all the relevant documents for your lectures are uploaded).

Tough there is no need to stress because during the first month students are allowed to change their original courses if they want to. In that case speak with your coordinator. Remember: Almost every change is possible, they will help you, but it will take lots of effort and cost a lot of patience. Everything lasts longer than in Austria and the canary attitude is usually very “tranquillo”, which means relaxed. So never give up and try to take it easy because everything works, not today but tomorrow.

Contact Information

Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC)

Calle Juan de Quesada, nº 30 - Las Palmas de Gran Canaria - 35001 - España

Homepage: http://www.ulpgc.es

Name of the Erasmus Corordinator for teaching: Elisa Ramón (elisa.ramon@ulpgc.es)

You can reach the University (Obelisco campus) with the following bus lines (they are called Guagua’s there): 2, 11, 25, 81 and L3.

Accommodation

I lived in a shared flat with other Erasmus students. To find it was not that easy. You can prebook it from your home country. Then you won’t have stress in the beginning there but you do not know how it looks like in reality or what the neighborhood is like. You also won’t know the people before. Therefore I decided to look for accommodation after I arrived. There are some homepages with insertions (www.milanuncios.es or www.pisocompartido.es). It is useful to speak a little Spanish but we managed to do it without as well. The Oficina de Movilidad will also send you a link for a Facebook group. There you can also find flats. Our flat was really nice and our combination of flat mates was grandiose. Unfortunately our neighbor was a terrible woman, which always tyrannized us. It happened to some other people also that the neighbors did not like them. Erasmus students don’t have a good reputation in Las Palmas. They are known to be loud and tiring. In general you can calculate with 200 to 250€ for a good flat. You can also find rooms starting from 150 € per month. Electricity and water are mostly not included.

One of the cooking evenings in my shared flat with my flatmates

Lots of students stay in a hostel for the first weeks to search for a flat there. This is a good idea and you get in touch with lots of other people.

La vida en Las Palmas

The life in Las Palmas is a little cheaper that in Austria. Some products are more expensive, others (especially alcohol, cigarettes and fuel) are cheaper. Vegetable is incredibly expensive in some supermarkets. The best way is to buy local vegetable from a market (there are three in town). It is much cheaper and seems to be fresher as well. But remind that they close at 1 pm already.

The city consists out of three parts: The old town “Vegueta”, the modern region “Las Canteras” and the “Barrios”, neighborhoods surrounding the two mentioned parts. The old town is nice in terms of architecture and culture. Every Thursday it is awaiting with a culinary highlight: Tapa night. Every Saturday the bars on placa de la musica are open and sometimes there are live concerts or small music events.

Concert on placa de la musica - the place is sourrounded by nice bars

During the Carneval all parts of the city are (especially on the weekends) in always in party mode. Carneval lasts for one month (and continues afterwards in other cities of the island - and then also on other islands). It is very funny and theparades are great. After some weeks it gets tough, because it seems like a never ending story. Enjoy and don't forget to dress up.

Dressed up for the Carneval in Las Palmas

My flat was located in Las Canteras. This part is very modern and busy. Lots of cars and people, the architecture is a mix of 80’s and 90’s laced with modern buildings. Lots of buildings are empty, because the unemployment is high and a high number of people cannot afford to live in the city. On the other side there is the nice city beach and the center of nightlife with bars and clubs. The beach is perfect for surfing and snorkeling. I would recommend to try snorkeling out the area in front of the beach. A former reef builds a natural barrier and it is great to snorkel there while low tide. Surfing is great there in the left corner of the beach. There are various surf schools located. I would advise California Surf school because for students you can rent the board and wetsuit for 30€ a month. There is no teacher included. You can figure it out alone (asking people, youtube). If you like scuba diving I would go to 7mares dive shop (www.7mares.es). I did two dives and it was great. Unfortunately it time passes fast and in the end you try to do everything you did not do earlier. So use your time there and don’t waste your time.

I would recommend making daytrips with rental cars. They are really cheap (around 25€ per day) and when you book online for some more days they get even cheaper. The bus network on the island is also not so bad. But the center and the western parts of the island are not that easy reachable by public transport. I liked these regions best. That’s why we rented a car quite often. To reach other islands use the service of Armas ferries (www.navieraarmas.com). You can also make use of planes between the islands, but I like to travel on boats. And they are cheaper.  The island bears lots of treasures. Las Palmas is a great city to live. So enjoy your stay there. It is a great experience to live in another culture with a different language. The culture is not that difficult (still a western culture), but actually it is a mix of European and South American culture. Right now I already miss Las Palmas, the people, the sea. I am sure to travel back to the islands some time.

Daniel Rössler, University Of Las Palmas De Gran Canaria, Mobility For Study, Phst

Author: Daniel Rössler

Contacts University

University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. ULPGC

Email: universidad@ulpgc.es

C/Juan de Quesada, nº 30

- Las Palmas de Gran Canaria - 35001 - Spain

Tlf.: (+34) 928 451 000/023- Fax: (+34) 928 451 022

Faculty of teacher education:

Edificio Formación del Profesorado

Santa Juana de Arco, 1

35004 - Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Teléfono: 928451775

Fax: 928452880

http://www.ffp.ulpgc.es/

For erasmus students the most important contact is the mobility office:

Gabriel Godino Morales

rrii_humanidades@ulpgc.es

or the international coordinator of the faculty of teacher education:

Elisa Ramón

elisa.ramon@ulpgc.es

The University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria was founded in 1989 and there are about 25 000 students.

It consists of six campuses

-Obelisco, Tafira, San Cristóbal, Montana Cardones that are located in Gran Canaria and also two on the canary islands Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.

There is a big library which offers students a quiet area to study and the use of computers.

Registration process and welcome week activities

Before the semester starts there are different activities offered by the university. During the welcome week that usually

takes place during the last week before the semester starts you do different activities like surfing. It is a good chance

to get known to your new mates.

More information: http://www.movilidad.ulpgc.es/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=339%3Asemana-de-bienvenida&catid=147%3Asb&Itemid=301

The registration at the university is quite simple. Before your stay you have to register in the online application of the university.

You get an infomail from the university with detailed instructions.

At the university there is a mobility office ("oficina movilidad") where you get your Learning Agreement and your matriculation

for the courses you have chosen. This is very important because without the matriculation you can not take part in the exams.

You have to be very patient in managing these things because everything takes a lot of time in Spain.

Courses

I have chosen the following courses:

-PRACTICUM I 12,5 ECTS

The practicum was the most important experience for me.

At the University of Las Palmas you have to do three practicums during your study. In the first year you do a practicum that lasts five weeks. The goal is to get used to teaching in general and learn how school is working. You always have a mentor with you who is a teacher in the school and most of the time you watch him.

The school where i did my practicum was Colégio Claret, which is a semi-private catholic school. My teacher who was responsible for me was called Manolo and he was fortunately an English teacher. My Spanish still was not really good when I started with the practicum.

As one can see in my timetable one lesson lasts 60 min. Between 10:30 and 11:00 the students have break. Between 13:00 and 15:00 the students do different activities such as swimming, football, dancing, ...

(My timetable)

In the first three weeks I alway went with Manolo and I did not have to teach on my own. I did several sequences in all of the lessons. Sometimes Manolo was not here I taught on my own. I was surprised at the good behaviour of the students even when only I was in the classroom.

During my stay in this school I my Spanish improved a lot and I was already able to give instructions to the students in Spanish.

In the last two weeks the German teacher got ill and the headmaster asked me to do these lessons and of course I agreed immediately. It was a great challenge for me to teach German in a Spanish school. Altough I was not prepared for this everything went very well and the students had at least as much fun as I had. They were very disciplined and motivated as they wanted to use the chance to have a native German teacher

On the last day of my practicum in Claret the students had prepared a big surprise for me. They brought cake, sweets and lots of other things. They even prepared a PowerPoint presentation and made a big poster saying "Good bye Daniel". It was an incredible feeling for me to see that the students liked my clases and were really sad that I leave.

Unfortunately I was not allowed to take fotos because you would have needed a special permission from the headmaster.

-EDUCACIÓN FÍSICA 7,5 ECTS

In this course we learned how to teach physical education at school. The students were devided into groups of four and every group had to plan one session. Most of the time it was quite funny to see the difference of physical education in Austria and in Spain. In Spain there is a lot of dancing and playing and just having fun together. This way of teaching physical education would not be possible in Austria.

We also made an adventurous trip where we did rock-climbing, flying fox and also some old traditional canarian sports (Lucha Canaria and Salto del Pastor).

The exam was a multiple choice exam and was quite difficult for me because there were lots of words I was not able to translate.

-COMUNICACIÓN ORAL Y ESCRITA EN LENGUA EXTRANJERA (INGLÉS) PARA UN ENTORNO EDUCATIVO B1+ 4,5 ECTS

This was just a normal English-course. All students of the University Las Palmas who want to become a teacher have to achieve level B2.

The level of the students is quite low and so the course was a little bit boring for me.

-ESPAÑOL LENGUA EXTRANJERA B1 6 ECTS

This is a Spanish course for foreign students. Before the course starts you do a replacement test. Depending on your results

you choose the group with your level. In my case it was B1. There are courses from A1 to B2.

Unfortunately a lot of students chose this course (in my group were around 70 participants) and because of that

it is difficult to make a good use of it.

In the course we used the book "Gente 2" that costs around 20€. In addition to that we worked with Duolingo which is a very useful freeware where you can learn languages.

-ACTIVIDADES EN EL MEDIO NATURAL 6 ECTS

In this course we did several activities in the nature and made some excursions.

- Surfing

- Excursion Tamadaba (national park)

- Excursion Teide in Tenerife (highest moutain of Spain)

- Climbing, abseiling

- Diving in the sea

- Hiking

Between these activities we also had parts of lectures where we learned the theory (for example surf).

For the exam we had to learn a script with around 80 pages which a litte surprising for all of us. Some erasmus students and me asked to to it oral and so it was not too difficult.

Nationalpark Tamadaba (Gran Canaria)

Accomodation

During my stay in Las Palmas I lived in a shared flat with people coming from all over the world.

Finding an accomodation in Las Palmas is quite simple because there are a lot of flats offered to be rented, especially for students.

There are also some studentsorganisations that help students to find an accomodation.

The easiest way to get in contact with them is Facebook. There a couple of groups you can join or just write them a private message.

The prices for a room reach from ~120€ up to ~350€ depending on the location of the flat.

The flats in Las Palmas do not have any heating so it can get quite cold during January.

The life in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

In general the daily life in Las Palmas is cheaper than in Austria. Basic groceries, for example bread and meat, are

a lot cheaper than in Austria. There are several supermarkets where you can do your daily purchase and there are also two big shopping malls with lots of stores.

The historic district of Vegueta offers a great range of cultural highlights, for example the Cathedral. Furthermore there are lots of bars and restaurants where you can go out and enjoy the nightlife. Every Thursday an event called "La noche de tapas", where you can eat typical Spanish food, takes place. The streets are crowded and that gives you the feeling like nobody is at home at this time in Las Palmas.

The part around the city beach Las Canteras is also very busy. There are big hotels, lots of restaurants and tourists. You also can find several surf schools and shops. I lived in this area during my stay in Las Palmas and I really enjoyed living close to the beach. Due to the good transport system of Las Palmas it is not necessary to live close to the University because you can get there by bus easily.

If you want to see more of the island and make a trip there are lots of car rentals where you can rent a car easily.

Transport system

The transport system in Las Palmas is very good and also quite cheap. There are two kinds of buses (in Gran Canaria buses are called "Guaguas") : the blue ones "Global" around the whole island and the yellow ones in Las Palmas only.

Buses usually leave every ten minutes but in real they come and leave whenever they want (it's really Spanish ;-).

The island

The island is mountainous offers a wide range of different vegetations. In the western part of the island there is a national park called Tamadaba where you can find conifer forest and even some broadleaf. The landscapes are quite green and full of vegetation. You can do different activities like climbing and hiking.

The southern part of the island is more or less like a dessert with big rocks and nearly no vegetation. The famous holiday destinations "Maspalomas, Playa del Inglés, Puerto Rico, ..." with big hotels are situated in the south and because of that it is dominated by the tourism. When I went to Maspalomas I felt a little bit like home because everybody spoke German and you did not hear any Spanish words anymore. This is due to the fact that the canary islands are one of the favourite holiday destinations for German people.

In the centre of the island you can find some nice little villages. The highest mountain is called Pico de las nieves (1949m).

Dunes of Maspalomas

Elias Groß, Universidad De Las Palmas De Gran Canaria, Spain, Mobility For Study, Phst

Contact of the University:

Rectorado:

Calle Juan de Quesada, 30

35001 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Las Palmas

Facultad de Formación del Profesorado / Campus Obelisco:

Santa Juana de Arco, 1

35004 - Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Las Palmas

Johanna Rácz, University Of West Hungary, Hungary, Mobility For Study, Phst - Incoming

Mein Erasmus Semester in Graz - Ein unvergessliches Erlebnis

Die Idee, dass ich mich um dieses Erasmussemester bewerbe, ist mir schon vor dem Abitur eingefallen. Ich wollte unbedingt im Ausland studieren, und damit neue Erfahrungen sammeln. Gott sei Dank ist mein Traum Wirklichkeit geworden und in diesem Semester konnte ich in Graz studieren und es lohnte sich – das kann ich behaupten.

Ich habe viele neue Freundschaften geschlossen und viele neue Kulturen kennengelernt. Wir hatten zwei brave Buddies, mit denen wir so viele unterhaltsame Programme gemacht haben. Wir waren in der Zotter Schokofabrik. Wir hatten ein Buschenschank besucht, da konnten wir verschiedene Salamis und Käsesorten probieren. Wir hatten ein „international dinner“ – dabei konnten wir verschiedene Speisen aus verschiedenen Länder probieren.

Zum Glück hatte ich ein sehr gutes Zimmer im Zentrum gefunden. Es war für mich daher alles ganz leicht erreichbar. Es hat mir sehr gefallen, dass der öffentliche Verkehr in Graz so gut organisiert ist. Ich könnte schnell von einem Punkt zu dem Anderen fahren. In Graz kommt man sehr schnell zurecht.

An der Universität hatten wir viele interessante Lehrveranstaltungen. Ich habe neue Methoden kennengelernt. Mein Praktikum war echt erlebnisvoll – da konnte ich viele neue Erfahrungen sammeln.

Ich kann es wirklich behaupten, dass ich noch gerne länger bleiben würde. Ein Semester ist so kurz.

Julia Gamperl, Saxion University Of Applied Sciences, Nl/Hengelo

Contact of my University:

Hengelo:

074 - 851 61 00

M.A. de Ruyterstraat 3

7556 CW Hengelo

Postbus 70.000

7500 KB Enschede

The contact of the Erasmus office:

Kamphuis Sander

e-mail: s.a.a.kamphius@saxion.nl

Erica Staverman

Secretary International Office

Saxion University of Applied Sciences Hengelo|Room S. 0.13

M.A. de Ruyterstraat 3 | 7556 CW Hengelo | The Netherlands

P.O. Box 70.000, 7500 KB Enschede | The Netherlands

Teacher training for European Competences

a description of chosen courses

Link: http://www.saxion.edu/site/programmes/exchange/details/teacher-training-european-competences/teacher-training-european-competences

Description of the university

Saxion University of Applied Sciences is one of the largest institutions of higher education in the Netherlands, with over 24,000 students (and still growing!). Saxion University has a rich history – its roots can be traced back to the 1875. A merger of two educational institutions, the Hogeschool Enschede and Hogeschool Ijselland, in 1998 paved the way for Saxion University in its present form. This merger enabled Saxion to build further on its strong position in Dutch higher education and since then Saxion University has come to be recognised as an important centre of expertise at regional, national and international level.

Location

Saxion University of Applied Sciences has four campuses in the East of the Netherlands - one campus in each of the four Dutch cities of Deventer, Enschede, Apeldoorn and Hengelo. Thanks to the important contribution of agriculture to the local economy, this region is renowned for its beautiful countryside and fairly relaxed pace of life. However, all four Saxion locations have good public transport facilities, meaning that the hustle and bustle of the major cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague is no more than 1½ hours away.

Why Choose Us?

Quality of education: Saxion offers a broad range of courses at various levels, including many international programmes. The quality of education at Saxion is monitored by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, as well as being accredited by several international bodies, assuring you that the programmes on offer are of a high standard.

International approach: We are very proud of our diverse student body. Our international student population tops 2,500 students with a total of 55 different nationalities. Many of Saxion's full-time educational courses are already conducted in English, with more being added each year. Our ‘international classrooms’ are made up of a mix of students from all over the world. In this way we provide you with a truly multi-cultural experience in which you can compare experiences with and learn from fellow students of different backgrounds and nationalities.

Support to students: Education at Saxion is very student-focused and we offer you support not only from an academic point of view but also in terms of your personal development. While studying at Saxion University you will have the opportunity to gain both the knowledge and the skills you require to continue on your chosen career path.

Coming to the Netherlands from abroad can of course be a big step for many international students. If you are arriving from outside of the Netherlands, we aim to make the transition for you as smooth as possible, and we have therefore established a network of host families (Friends of Saxion International Students) who are on hand to help you settle into life in the Netherlands. We also have a ‘Buddy’ programme, whereby current students can help guide you through your initial period of studying at Saxion.

Detailed description of the registration process at the host organisation

The course is open to 3rd and 4th year Bachelor students in a Teacher Training programme.

The students’ home institution must have an Inter Institutional Agreement (IIA) with Saxion Teacher Training College (APO Hengelo). To apply as an exchange student for this course, please contact the International Office at your home institution. Once your home institution has nominated you for this course, they will contact our International Office (internationaloffice.slh@saxion.nl). If our International Office agrees with your nomination, you may fill out the application form.

Application deadline is December 1st 2014 for the Spring 2015 course.

Exchange Programme: Teacher Training for European Competences (TEC):

Here the programme is described, in the pdf-folder all the classes are described as well:

http://www.saxion.edu/site/programmes/exchange/details/teacher-training-european-competences/teacher-training-european-competences/

My Courses:

Description of the University:

About Saxion:

Saxion University of Applied Sciences is one of the largest institutions of higher education in the Netherlands, with over 24,000 students (and still growing!). Saxion University has a rich history – its roots can be traced back to the 1875. A merger of two educational institutions, the Hogeschool Enschede and Hogeschool Ijselland, in 1998 paved the way for Saxion University in its present form. This merger enabled Saxion to build further on its strong position in Dutch higher education and since then Saxion University has come to be recognised as an important centre of expertise at regional, national and international level.

Location:

Saxion University of Applied Sciences has four campuses in the East of the Netherlands - one campus in each of the four Dutch cities of Deventer, Enschede, Apeldoorn and Hengelo. Thanks to the important contribution of agriculture to the local economy, this region is renowned for its beautiful countryside and fairly relaxed pace of life. However, all four Saxion locations have good public transport facilities, meaning that the hustle and bustle of the major cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague is no more than 1½ hours away.

Why choose us?

Quality of education: Saxion offers a broad range of courses at various levels, including many international programmes. The quality of education at Saxion is monitored by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, as well as being accredited by several international bodies, assuring you that the programmes on offer are of a high standard.

International approach: We are very proud of our diverse student body. Our international student population tops 2,500 students with a total of 55 different nationalities. Many of Saxion's full-time educational courses are already conducted in English, with more being added each year. Our ‘international classrooms’ are made up of a mix of students from all over the world. In this way we provide you with a truly multi-cultural experience in which you can compare experiences with and learn from fellow students of different backgrounds and nationalities.

Support to students: Education at Saxion is very student-focused and we offer you support not only from an academic point of view but also in terms of your personal development. While studying at Saxion University you will have the opportunity to gain both the knowledge and the skills you require to continue on your chosen career path.

Coming to the Netherlands from abroad can of course be a big step for many international students. If you are arriving from outside of the Netherlands, we aim to make the transition for you as smooth as possible, and we have therefore established a network of host families (Friends of Saxion International Students) who are on hand to help you settle into life in the Netherlands. We also have a ‘Buddy’ programme, whereby current students can help guide you through your initial period of studying at Saxion.

Description of the application process:

Applications

All applications for admission must be submitted online, using a specific form available during application periods.

The course is open to 3rd and 4th year Bachelor students in a Teacher Training programme.

The students’ home institution must have an Inter Institutional Agreement (IIA) with Saxion Teacher Training College (APO Hengelo). To apply as an exchange student for this course, please contact the International Office at your home institution. Once your home institution has nominated you for this course, they will contact our International Office (internationaloffice.slh@saxion.nl). If our International Office agrees with your nomination, you may fill out the application form.

Application deadlines:

Application deadline was December 1st 2014 for the Spring 2015 course

Once you are accepted at the Saxion University of Applied Sciences you receive a ´letter of acceptance´.

Arrival & Housing in Hengelo

We went from Graz to Duesseldorf by plane and stayed there for a night. The next morning we travelled on to Hengelo by train, which took us about 3 hours, changing trains twice.

Sander picked us up at the trainstation together with Irina, another Erasmus student from Spain. He drove us to our house. Apart from some problems with the leaking washing machine (which was solved after like a week) we really feel comfortable in our own house.

The other Erasmus students from Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom live in the same building. There are two flats for 2 students upstairs and two flats, each for 4 students downstairs. Each flat has at least 2 floors. Kitchen and living room on one level, rooms on the other, the toilet is sometimes on a seperate level as well (in the bigger flats there are two levels only for rooms, bathroom and toilet).

Hengelo & Public Transport

Hengelo is a really nice city. When we first came here we wondered what to do here all day. But it is actually bigger than we thought! There are some shops reachable by 5 minutes walking and to the city centre you walk about 20-25 minutes. University can be reached within 10-15 minutes walking (depending on your speed :) ).

In the centre there are a lot of shops, clubs and pubs to go to. It has very nice buildings (typical Dutch brick-houses), a cinema and a theatre.

The trainstation is in the centre as well. The next big city is called "Enschede" and trains are going there pretty much every 10 minutes (late in the evening maybe 15-20 minutes). The Netherlands have a good system for public transport.

There are a lot of trains going from Hengelo to a lot of places in the Netherlands, Germany and partly Belgium (might have to change trains for Belgium though). It takes you about 2 hours to Amsterdam by train. Trains are less expensive than in Austria! Still, there are some offers by different shops for very cheap train tickets you can use for 1 full day in the entire country. If you go to Amsterdam and back or to Groningen, Den Haag, Rotterdam it is really worth it! But these offers run out at some point, so they are only available for a couple of weeks.

Internship and teaching

I am doing a semester abroad not only to improve my level of English but also to gather as many different teaching and life experiences as possible and there are a few things which I would like to mention. I am in an international class in the Netherlands for five months, to become a European Teacher. Our education includes an internship in a primary school. The children in a primary school are aged four to twelve, which is quite different compared to Austria. However, I was really thrilled to be able to observe and teach in another country. English lessons here in the Netherlands are really different compared to Austria. Every class works with the same online English programme called `take it easy´. Take it easy is a programme, which is responsible for the English activities and explanation of the language. On the one hand, children here start using English at the very young age of four, which is really good but on the other hand, a programme like “take it easy” is not the best way to learn a foreign language. I really don’t know if this programme is appropriate for every group. It seems to me that this programme teaches the children. In Austria all the teachers have to prepare every lesson for every class depending on what level the children are. “Take it easy” is a programme where every topic is given.

The online method is offering videos, songs and games for each lesson and topic. I observed more or less five English lessons with this method and this programme is the main English teacher for the students. Although, the teachers really interact during the whole process, it still is totally different compared to Austria. Using different teaching methods, tasks and activities is compulsory for every English teacher in Austria. I really think that this teaching method is too monotonous for the students. A method like this can lead to boring English lessons where the students lose the motivation to learn a foreign language. Additionally, the teachers here in the Netherlands speak mainly Dutch in every English lesson. Again, a real difference compared to Austria. The goal of our English lessons in Austria is to speak as much English as possible. Moreover, we really try to only speak German if there is no other way your students would understand the word or content. Furthermore, in the Dutch classrooms there was no real introduction to each topic. There was however a video where someone explained the tasks. Unfortunately, in most of the English lessons I observed there were hardly any speaking activities for the students. There were no tasks where the students were working on their pronunciation. Again, totally different compared to Austria.

Thus, the learners were really interested in all the activities and different methods I used during my English lessons. I used picture and word cards, prompt cards, sentence starters, group and partner dialogues, I prepared a centre work besides just using English for introduction and communication. There was no necessity to translate to Dutch. I never worked with their online programme `take it easy´ but I introduced them to different Austrian methods and activities. Not just the Dutch learners were impressed but also the Dutch teachers said that they really liked all the different teaching possibilities.

I really appreciate every lesson I can observe or can actively take part in here in the Netherlands. I am grateful for all the international teaching experiences I have gained. Furthermore, I think that I can profit from every lesson I observe and teach. I think that experience is a key to be a successful teacher. Hence, I am excited to gain new and different learning experience in our fifth semester.

Julia Lisa Grill, Örebro Univeristy, Sweden, Mobility For Study, Phst

Author: Julia Lisa Grill

Contect of the university

Örebro University,

International Office

SE - 70182 Örebro

Responsible person in the receiving institution

Lena Nordström (Coordinator)

exchange@oru.se

+4619303000

Description of the university

At the university are 17, 000 students. It's one of the fast growings universitys in Sweden. They have a lot of courses for the exchange students, included in Master and Bachelor studies. The courses are in English.

The university is not in the center from the city, but you have three buslines which go from the university/campus to the city. In the summer you can also walk it takes 30 to 40 minutes. You have 3 supermarkets within a near radius (walk 10 minutes). You also have a haidresser, restaurants, club, library, fitness center and a solarium at the campus.

Description and reflection of courses

In Sweden you haven't all courses the whole semester like in Austria. You have one course, 5 weeks long. After this course you have the next one for the next 5 weeks. I liked this system, because you can completely concentrate at this one course. In Sweden every education course includes 5 days school practice. You have to visit your school placement 5 days, it's equal if you do it 5 times a week or every week one time.

My courses

- Intensive course in Swedish (7.5 ETCS)

The Intensive course in Swedish was only for exchange students and there were only space for 15 people. You got a mail from the university which said that you should send a mail back when you are interested in joining the course. This mail should include a transcript of records, because only 15 people which had the most ETCS had the possibility to join the course.

I liked this course a lot, because the teachers was committed and always motivated and in a good mood. She had a lot of material which made it easy to practice Swedish by your own.

In Sweden everyone speaks English and you don't use a lot of Swedish, but for the school practice it's useful to know some Swedish. So you can follow the lessons and it's more interesting when you understand what the pupils and the teacher are talking about.

- Education Teaching and Learning (7.5 ECTS)

The general aims of this course are the ability of students to make independent and critical assessments, the ability of students to identify, formulate and solve problems autonomously, the prepareedness of students to deal with changes in working life. The students should also interpret information at a scholarly level and communicate their knowledge to others including those who lack speciallist knowledge in the field. Generally focuses the course on teaching and learning as complex phenomena. The course works with questions like "What does it mean to learn?", "How can teaching promote learning?" etc.

- Special Needs Education (7.5 ECTS)

The general aims of this course are the same like in Teaching and Learning. But this course diacusses different theoretical perspectives on problems related to special needs education, and the consequences of the differing perspectives on the way in which different problems are interpreted and handled in school and pre - school.

- Perspective on the relation school/parents (7.5 ECTS)

The general aims are the same like in the first and second course. This course discusses the relation between parents and schools from a historical and international perspective and concepts like influence, partcipation and cooperation. The focus is on questions related to cooperation with parents from a professional perspective.

- Diversity in classromm (7.5 ECTS)

The general aims of this course are the same like in the other ones. This course focuses on interculturalism and diversity from societal and pedagogic perspectives. The classroom is the starting point for critical reflection on intercultural possibilities and challenges.

General reflection about education courses

The courses were completely different to the courses in Austria. We read in every course a lot of books and academic articels. We had a lot of discussions and got execises to reflect articels and books in a critical way. I think the courses were interesting, but they aren't a good preperation for teching. The last course was a little bit boring, because some topics repeated every course and so the discussions repeated as well.

Reflection about school practice

In contrast to Austria was the school practice a little bit boring, because i wasn't allowed to teach, only watching. But there were also things I liked a lot. I think it was nice that we changed our school placement every course, so I saw five different schools with studetns at different ages. Every supervisor was really nice. They were open for questions and told a lot about the school system, teaching methods, experiences, problems etc. I learned a lot and got a lot of ideas which I want to try at my school practice in Austria. The school system and also the interacting between teacher and students is completely different than in Austria. So it was intersting to see how much technique the swedish schools use.

Orientation week

We had a orientation programme which included 2 weeks with parties, activities and a lot of fun. We were in different "Fadder - Groups". Every group included students from different countries and four students from Sweden called "Fadders". The "Fadders" planed great parties for us where we got to know each other. We also had dinners togheter or did other activties. I think it was really easy to find friends during this two weeks. We had a lot of fun and got important informations from our "Fadders", they were open for every question.

But not only the "fun part" was good organised. Also the speechs at the university about organisation, law, recreational activity, courses etc. was pretty helpful.

Housing

The housing is really nice. All students live at the campus or near at the university (10 minutes walk). You live in corridors with 8 people at most. Every student has his own bath, so you only chare the kitchen and living room with your flatmates. It is obvious that the house isn't the newest one, but the room is surprising big.

You have to deal with a lot of noises, because the walls are thin and there are a lot of parties, also during the week. But I think it's not a big problem and it's only for a short part of your life. Most of the time the parties stop at 11 oder 12 o'clock when the people go to the clubs.

About the city

The university is not in the central. But you can go by three different buses (2,3,9). The buses need between 10 and 20 minutes, you can also walk I think in spring and summer is this the best possibility, because the bus is pretty expensive and you only need around 15/20 minutes.

I think the city is cute, especially with the slott you have a nice meetingpoint when you have good weather. There are a lot of possibilties for shopping, coffee end food. The citiy is not so big, so for sightseeing you only need one or two days.

Katrin Auer, University Of Zagreb, Croatia, Mobility For Study, Phst

Contact of my university:

Uciteljski Fakultet

Adress of university:

Savska cesta 77

HR- 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

Phone: +38516327301

Fax: +38516327399

E-mail: dekanat@ufzg.hr

International relations office:

Zeljka Pitner

Location: Zvonimirova 8

Address: Trg marsala Tita 14

HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia

Phone: 00385 1 46 98 105

Fax: 00385 1 46 98 132

Description of the university:

The faculty of Teacher Education is the leading institution for educating primary school and preschool teachers in Croatia. The Faculty operates in three locations, with the main branch in Zagreb (total numer of students around 3000).

The first teachers's school in Zagreb was the Higher Pedagogical School which offered a two - year programm from 1919. In the Indipendent State of Croatia the program was extended for four years, but was shortened to three after the Second World War. It became the Pedagogical Academy in 1960, and upon Croatian independence the academy gradually evolved into the modern faculty.

The faculty's grounds in Zagreb were the site of a mass grave of approximately 300 prisoners killed by the Yugoslav Partisans in 1945, after the end of the Second World War.

List of chosen courses:

- Creative Teaching Activities in English 1 (Kreativne nastavne aktivnosti na engleskom jeziku 1)

ECTS: 2

The main objective of this course is to equip students with a substantial corpus of traditional and popular English nursery rhymes, songs, chants, and language games. In addition, students are provided with a wide variety of the most common ways to teach nursery rhymes, songs, chants and language games to young learners. There are many assignments throughout the course, as well as an exam in the end.

- English Teaching Practice 1 (Praksa u nastavi engleskog jezika 1)

ECTS: 1

This teaching practice took place during the “Semester Ferien”, that’s why I had to attend classes instead of the activities during the welcome week (It is done like that every year, so be prepared for that if you want to take this class).

The teaching practice is described precisely below.

- English Teaching Practice 3

ECTS: 1

This course requires 3 hours of initial preparation, individual consultation with your supervisor and the final discussion; 9 hours for the teaching diary you have to keep and the final report; 3 hours for continuing portfolio tasks and 15 hours of working with the children in class. The main aim of the course is to follow up to the children in their third year of learning English at school, to help them gain confidence and to develop motivation for EFL. There are two student teachers in a team and each team is responsible for two or three children.

- English Teaching Practice 5

ECTS: 1

This teaching practice takes place at the SUVAG Foreign Language School in Zagreb. The pupils, who attend those classes in the evening, do this in their free time and pay for it. Therefore their motivation and command of English is quite high for their age group (in my case a grade 8).

In order to pass this class you need to spend 4 hours on reading and preparation for the course, 10 hours of classroom observation, 6 hours of micro-teaching, 6 hours of preparing handouts, keeping a teaching diary and writing a report and 2 hours of group feedback.

- ELT Methodology Classroom Practice

ECTS: none (“normal, Croatian student teachers” get 2 ECTS, as an Erasmus student I got a confirmation letter that says, that I attended all classes and the critical analysis afterwards).

This class you can compare to the teaching practice at the PH-Graz. You either observe or teach 1-3 lessons and afterwards you need to stay for 1 to 2 hours in which you critically analyze the lessons that were taught before. If you teach a lesson, you need to write a lesson plan, if you observe you have to fill in an observation sheet. There are up to 10 student teachers and 2 supervisors watching, while one student teacher is teaching.

- Acquisition and Learning of the Croatian Language (Usvajanje i ucenje hrvatskoga jezika)

ECTS: 4

This course deals with all aspects of language acquisition, such as first and second language acquisition, bilingualism, the critical period for language acquisition, universal grammar etc. The professor for this class taught a polish Erasmus student and me separately and it was very interesting and useful for teaching. We had to copy a book for this class and had to write a theoretical or research paper, which we needed to read a lot of books and papers for.

- Positive Psychology (Pozitivna psihologija)

ECTS: 4

I highly recommend this course, as it deals with all positive aspects of positive psychology. We covered topics, such as happiness, gratitude, understanding emotions, subjective wellbeing, optimism, positive ageing etc. The professor included many activities in her lectures and we had to do an assignment each week, as well as a presentation in groups of four at the end of the semester.

- Sculptural and Ceramic Design (Kiparsko i keramičko oblikovanje)

ECTS: 4

This course is great for art and crafts teachers, as you learn a lot of different projects you can do with your pupils at school. You need to write a detailed portfolio which lists the steps (with pictures), of how to carry out the different projects. E.g. you learn to make a plate out of clay, you smoothen it with sandpaper, burn it in the kiln, smoothen it again, you color it, glaze it, burn it again and then your students can take their own dish home. The projects are easy to do with your pupils, but quite time consuming.

- Phantastische deutsch sprachige Kinder- und Jugendliteratur (Fantastična književnost njemačkog govornog područja za djecu i mlade)

ECTS: 2

For this class you need to read a lot of books, such as “Die kleine Hexe”, “Die feuerrote Fredericke”, “Die grauen und die grünen Felder” and  “Der tätowierte Hund”. You learn about different authors and types of children’s books and there are usually assignments that need to be handed in until the next class. The content of the lessons and the books are part of an exam in the end. In my opinion this was a very interesting class and if you are going to become a German teacher or you have to substitute teach German, you can definitely use many of the things you learn in this class.

- Graphics 2 (Grafika 2)

ECTS: 3

This class is comparable to the art classes of Ms. Uhlir at the PH-Graz. You learn different techniques and methods such as monotype and linoleum printing. The professor is an artist that has exhibitions in Croatia, as well as in Austria. He demands a lot of effort from the students as well as material, which adds up to quite a sum of money (linoleum block and cutter, blue carbon paper, tempera color, different kind of paper etc. need to be bought by the students).

- Drawing 2 (Crtanje 2)

ECTS: 2

In this course the teacher didn’t speak much English, but it wasn’t a problem for him to get a cross what he wanted me to do. He gave me examples of drawings previous students had made or he gave me examples from books about big artists. Then I tried to draw my version of it, inspired by the sample drawings he gave to me. I learned a lot in his class, as he is also a well- known artist.

- Painting 2 (Slikanje 2)

ECTS: 4

The instructor of this class was the same one as for the drawing class. As this course was worth more credits, I also got a lot of homework. For example I had to make an aquarelle drawing in class, inspired by Cezanne, and three more at home until the next week. Also in this class I learned a lot of different painting styles and discovered more about my strengths and weaknesses as a future Art teacher. I definitely recommend this class, to anyone that is willing to work hard to develop their painting skills.

- Guitar 1 (Gitara 1)

ECTS: 2

This class is for beginners that want to learn to play the guitar and how to use it in the classroom (e.g. to accompany the singing pupils with the guitar). You learn how to sit and hold the guitar properly, how to position your left and right hand, strumming patterns etc. (the basics). You might even learn how to play notes, however this is also part of the intermediate level course (Guitar 2).

- Guitar 2

- (Gitara 2)

ECTS: 1

For this course you get a song book with songs you can sing and play with the pupils. You learn how to play them (notes), how to accompany other instruments and singers (with chords) and different strumming patterns. The group usually consists of around 6 students and the guitars are provided by the teacher.

The teacher didn’t speak English very well, however for this class you don’t really need to communicate a lot with words, so it wasn’t a problem. He even borrowed me an older guitar, so I could practice at home and I learned a lot in his classes. I recommend both guitar classes to anyone who wants to learn this instrument (Guitar 1) and for those who know how to play a little bit and want to improve their playing (Guitar 1 and 2).

Description of the registration/ application process at the UFZG:

The application deadlines are as follows:

10 May for the winter semester / academic year

10 November for the summer semester

Application for an international mobility at the University of Zagreb is only possible by use of the online application form available on this website:

http://unizg.moveonnet.eu/moveonline/incoming/welcome.php

Complete application form

To apply online you must first create a personal account in which you can make your application, save it and continue to work on it at a later stage if you wish so.

Finalise the application

After the application data has been submitted online, the application will be created as a PDF-Document which must be printed out.  The printed application form must be signed by the applicant and the coordinator from the home institution and then sent to the UFZG.

If the application is accepted a letter of acceptance will be sent to the applicant.

Enclose required documents

The following documents must be enclosed to the online application form:

- Curriculum Vitae (Croatian or English),

- the Learning Agreement containing the planned course units at the University of Zagreb.

- Official Grade Transcript and Certificate of Enrolment,

- Copy of the ID card or passport (first page with the photo and personal dana).

- Proof of English level - B2 level on the Common European Reference of Languages is required (all kinds of language certificates are accepted)

E-mail for sending the applications

Exchange students need to send their application documents (full application file in .zip or .rar format) only to the following e-mail incoming@unizg.hr.

Teaching practice at the American International School of Zagreb

Address

Voćarska 106

10000 Zagreb

Croatia

Website and Telephone

www.aisz.hr

+385 (1) 7999-300

Director: Ms. Ellen D. Stern

Upper School Principal:   Joyce Halsey

Lower School Principal: Sandra House

Schedule

I taught, observed and assisted in a 5th grade (11 year old students). For them school starts at 8 am and ends at 3 pm (plus extracurricular activities). They start in their homeroom and after lunch break (12:00 – 12:40) they usually go to different classrooms for special subjects like Music, Art, PE, Tech, Native Croatian, Croatian Culture, German/ French or to go and listen to stories being read at the library.

There is just one bell which rings in the morning to make the students aware that their classes are going to start in a few minutes.  From eight until lunch break you can’t really tell which subject is being taught, because they are all being connected by the homeroom teacher. The homeroom teacher teaches many subjects like Science, Math, English, and History etc. and tries to connect the subjects with each other.

There is a lot of time for independent work and the students can choose when to do or finish certain exercises, although everything has to be finished by the end of the day.

During the lunch break all students have a meal in the cafeteria, which is included in their yearly school fees.

Comparison of my Austrian and Croatian teaching practice

As the AISZ is a private and the most expensive school in Croatia (a fifth grade student has to pay 14,790 Euros per year to attend the school), it is very well equipped. Every student has a personal netbook and a pair of headphones, there are I-Pads available in the classroom, there is a Laptop, a projector and a device that looks kind of like an overhead projector for the teacher, but it works like a camera (you can e.g. draw a chart and fill in the missing words and the students see a live video of what the teacher is doing on the board). The students have access codes to learning webpages like Scholastic, BrainPop, Linguascope, Rosetta Stone, London Library, Shmoop and Vokker.

There are usually just about 10 students in the classroom and for their foreign languages like German or French they are again being split up into two groups with five students each.

The students are very well behaved and even read silently in their books or play strategic games during recess. Once a student needed help from me in Math and I wasn’t entirely sure how to do it, meanwhile another students noticed that and came over and offered to explain the exercise to the student instead of me. I was very surprised; because this is what we in Austria would like the students to do in heterogeneous classrooms, but I just have never seen students help each other like that without being asked for it by a teacher.

Furthermore the homeroom teacher had a gymnastic ball instead of a chair and all the materials she needed, in her classroom (because it was her room and she never had to move into another one). There was flipchart paper and pin boards all over, so she could write important things down on them and they were always visible for the students. She even used window markers to write the vocabulary of the month on the window, so the students could always see the words.

Without exception, the students and teachers talked in English to each other. There was a limit of 30% Croatian students and 40% Croatian teachers. The reason behind it was, that then they wouldn’t start speaking Croatian to each other and the children would be exposed to authentic English speakers (60% of the teachers have to be from overseas).

The students in my class were from India, Croatia, South Africa, UK, Canada, USA, Rumenia and Bulgaria. I had to be present at all times (7:40am until 3pm). I assisted the students and the teachers, observed and did many different activities with them and even had the opportunity to take over, when the homeroom teacher was in a meeting.

Compared to Austrian teachers, the teachers at AISZ have to be present at school much longer. The teachers have to be there from 7:30am until 4:00pm, five days a week and on Tuesdays they need to attend staff meetings. Additionally there are a lot of assignments, tests etc. to correct and activities to prepare in their free time.

Reflection

As I accompanied the students for three whole days (23 hours of helping, teaching and assisting), I really got a grasp of what it’s like to teach at an American International School. It is a lot of work and you always need to be up to date (concerning teaching methods, technology etc.), however you also get it back from the students, because they are at an incredibly high level, very well-mannered and it is a pleasure to work with them.

It was really hard to make out which children were English native speakers and which weren’t and they used such a sophistic language. Basically they got the best support and all the help and opportunities a school can give them.

For example we learned about the author Penny Ur at the PH, which recommends using background music in the classroom. Whenever the students at AISZ had to work silently and independently, the teacher turned on quiet background music (without vocals and relaxing).

Then we heard about the Kahn Academy from Ms. Engel at the PH. At the AISZ the students were working with it in Math. It gave them the opportunity to learn at their own pace and to track their success.  It was very fascinating to see all those ideas and methods we learned about at the PH, being actually used in the classroom.

Review of my stay abroad in academic terms

Uciteljski Fakultet is not well organized at all. At the beginning of the semester I didn’t get a schedule, instead I had to email every single professor for the time and place of their course. The unfortunate thing was, that some professors never replied (and there was no other way to get a hold of them) and that many courses overlapped. Even after two months there were courses on my list that I had never taken, because the professors didn’t answer my Emails and didn’t show up when they told me to come to their classes. The ECTS coordinator wasn’t very helpful either. If you want to take courses, she doesn’t think that are good for you (in my case those were the guitar classes), you will have a very hard time changing your learning agreement, getting a hold of her or getting any help from her. The professors themselves are very skilled and you can definitely profit a lot from their classes, but first you need to get the permission from the coordinator to join their classes, which is not an easy task.

Furthermore, there is neither Easter vacation, nor spring break or “Semesterferien" and other Christian holidays like “Christi Himmelfahrt” (as well as "Fenstertage").

Review of the stay abroad in cultural terms

Croatia has a lot to offer. There are many sights, beautiful coastal cities, good cuisine and even though it isn’t far away from Austria, the mentality of the people does differ from us Austrians. There are many ancient towns such as Dubrovnik, national parks (e.g. Plitvice-Lakes), old farmers’ markets, festivals and so on. There is always something going on in Zagreb, e.g. the festival of sweets, the beer festival and the festival of tolerance. As it is a part of the Croatian mentality to drink coffee for about two hours in a coffee shop every day, there are dozens of different coffee shops to discover.

There are a lot of different dialects spoken in Croatia, and about 20 acknowledged minority languages. There are many influences from Italy, Serbia, Bosnia and Turkey (concerning food and the language).

Every Sunday there is a big market called “Hrelic”, about 10 km away from the city center of Zagreb, which is a must see concerning Croatian culture. You can buy anything and everything there, from cars to car parts, motorcycles, new things, used things (there is also a flea market section) and typical Croatian cuisine. There can be thousands of people and it looks like a huge bazar that goes on forever.

Review of the stay abroad in social terms

The Erasmus community in Zagreb organizes a lot of trips and events every week. However, they are sometimes not in the participants’ best interests and therefore a lot of events started to get cancelled starting at around April, because the Erasmus students were just not interested in it anymore. Let me explain why. For example there was a trip to the Plitvice lakes, on which we spent around 4 hours on the bus, just two hours in the national park (and we were not allowed to move around on our own at all) and half an hour in the souvenir shop. Or there was a “cooking workshop” where they just unthawed frozen pastry and baked it with cheese (which didn’t involve cooking and therefore the Erasmus students stopped going there).

Other than that there are dozens of clubs and bars, places to visit and things to do with your mates from university or other Erasmus friends. You can post in the Erasmus group when you are planning to grab a coffee and you can be sure, that within minutes there will be a few other’s that will happily join you.

Useful tips

If you want to find accommodation in Zagreb, it is best to join the Erasmus group of Zagreb on Facebook. A room in a shared flat in the city center with a washing machine and Wi-Fi, will cost you around 250-450 Euros a month including bills. You can also stay in a dorm, which is a lot cheaper, but further out of town (around 100-200 Euros). In a dorm you have to share a room with one more person. The tram ticket costs around 20 Euros per month and the food is a little bit more expensive than in Austria, as well as clothing.  The food at the “mensa” is very cheap, but not very healthy.

However, if you want to take the bus to Graz now and then, there is a bus every day at least twice from the bus terminal in Zagreb to Graz and back (35 Euros there and back). This is also a good way to come to Zagreb. However, you should avoid taking the train in Croatia, as it is much slower than the bus.

Kathrin Hoffelner, Miriam Krammer, Windesheim University, The Netherlands, Mobility For Study, Phst

Authors: Kathrin Hoffelner, Miriam Krammer

Windesheim University (Building C)

Contact of university in Zwolle:

Windesheim Zwolle

Campus 2-6

8017 CA Zwolle

Contact of the Erasmus office:

Coordinator: Christel Vels

International Office Windesheim

P.O.Box 10090

8000 GB Zwolle

The Netherlands

Description of the university:

With 20.300 students, thousands of other study participants and more than 1.800 members of staff at sites in Zwolle and Almere, Windesheim is one of the biggest universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands.

It's a community organisation, within which people acquire, share and utilise expertise together. At Windesheim you get challenged and empowered to develop into a responsible, principled a confident professional.

Chosen courses:

Pedagogy and Didactics in Dutch Schools:

This course covers a wide range of topics concerning pedagogy and methodology. Theory is put into practice during the lesson.

Goal: learn how to approach pupils with learning problems or disabilities

Career Coach Counselling:

In this module you will reflect your own personal qualities as a teacher.

goal: personal development in your chosen subject

Dutch School system:

Here we get to know how the Dutch school system works. We will also learn about many more specific aspects of the Dutch educational system.

Goal: get to know the Dutch School System

Internship Intermediate A:

-observing the teacher/ class

- communicating with students

- interviewing the teacher

- getting to know differences in learning abilities and learning styles between students and learning how to take these differences into account during the work as a teacher

- preparing and performing educational activities

- cooperating with teachers and fellow students

- participating in school activities

- reflections

Internship Intermediate B:

-observing the teacher/ class

- communicating with students

- interviewing the teacher

- getting to know differences in learning abilities and learning styles between students and learning how to take these differences into account during the work as a teacher

- preparing and performing educational activities

- cooperating with teachers and fellow students

- participating in school activities

- reflections

Windesheim and the Netherlands, introduction module of several Dutch aspects analysed in an international perspective

Dutch language 1: Introduction

This module will teach Dutch up to a basic level. Therefore, it focuses on communication and not on grammar. Everyone will be encouraged to use Dutch and will be helped to feel more at ease with the Dutch language. Through training sessions that focus on communication in everyday life the language can be learned.

Dutch language 2: Intermediate

This module covers a range of topics in which Dutch language skills will be learned and practised in everyday situations, e.g. going to the cinema, shopping, asking for directions, sending a postcard, rules in public buildings/ areas and what to say at a police station. Moreover, various aspects of Dutch grammar will be discussed, including tenses, word order, compound sentences and the use of comparatives and superlatives.

Dutch Society 1

In this module you can gain an understanding of the historical development and social changes that have influenced Dutch society. Other topics covered are the spatial contrast in the Dutch landscape, economic development, distribution of the population, and the international position of the Netherlands, particularly in relation to its position within the European Union.

Dutch Society 2

The module Dutch Society 2 teaches knowledge of the Dutch legal system, multicultural society, the Dutch through foreign eyes, tolerance and water. Moreover a field trip to Zwolle and its surroundings will be organized.

Intercultural Awareness

This course will acquire the knowledge of cultural theories and develop an appropriate attitude to deal with cultural differences and other cultural aspects independently.

Drama & Improvisation

Besides having fun and exploring the field of drama and plays, there are opportunities to work on several competencies f. e. being able to reflect, being able to express yourself freely, the use of body language and much more.

Introduction module

This course is compulsory for all international students and consists of all kind of activities which are organized by Windeheim's International Office. During these activities you get to know the campus, Zwolle, learn about the culture, history, food and typical Dutch pastimes.

Arrival And Some Useful Information About Zwolle

Arrival

There are many different possibilities to get to Zwolle. You can go by train, car, bus or airplane. We decided to go by plane. We took the plane from Salzburg and went to Amsterdam Schiphol (that was at that time the cheapest possibility). It is very practical, because the airport in Amsterdam also includes a train station. So we could take the train to Zwolle directly from the airport. Especially with a lot of luggage it is very comfortable to do it that like. At the train station in Zwolle some of our SUN mentors (students from Windesheim University, which help you during your stay) took us to the university, where we got all important information. Afterwards they took us to our chosen accommodation.

During our first week we had to go to the municipality in Zwolle to register, but all important information therefor was given to us by the international office at Windesheim.

In the first weeks we already had a lot of activities with our SUN mentors to get to know each other and get to know Zwolle. We also had an opening ceremony for the Erasmus students at Windesheim. During our stay we had some more activities with the other Erasmus students: a trip to another city, we went ice skating, we had different country presentations and a multi culti food night.

multi culti food night

Transport

The most common transport facility in Zwolle is the bicycle. The bicycles are used at each condition: rain, snow or sun. If you get the chance to buy a bicycle from a former Erasmus student, use it, because that is probably the cheapest opportunity (if you are lucky, around 30-40€)! Otherwise there are some bike shops in the city center, where you can buy a bike for approximately 70€. But do not expect a luxury bike, expect a one-speed bike with back-pedal brakes.

Miriam's bicycle

Zwolle has also a public transport system which consists out of buses in all directions. It is best to travel with the OV-Chipcard in the bus as well as in the train.

The OV-Chipcard costs 7, 50€ (once) and is a card, where you can upload some money for travelling. If you go by bus or train, you have to check-in when you enter the transport facility and check-out if you leave. It is also possible to buy single tickets, but with those tickets you have to pay an extra fee.

At the following website you can get more information about the trains in the Netherlands and also check the timetable.

Website: http://www.ns.nl/

trainstation in Zwolle

Zwolle

Zwolle is located in the province Overijssel, which is nearly in the middle of the Netherlands.

It has a population around 125,000 people. Its city centre is very unique and surrounded by a water canal.

It is possible to do different leisure activities in Zwolle f.e. going to the cinema in the city center, swimming or doing sports at Windesheim university or going to one of the museums in Zwolle and furthermore.

People are very friendly in Zwolle and always offer you help, if you have any problems.

canal around the city centre

Teaching Experience

School:

Van der Capellen scholengemeenschap

Lassuslaan 230

8031 XM Zwolle

T 038 - 426 28 50

E: lassuslaan@capellen.nl

We both got a spot in the secondary school called 'Van der Capellen' in Zwolle. Unfortunately they could not offer us a place in a school for special needs kids. Because of that we taught German in different classes of the school together. At first we had some sessions of observation to get to know the difference between the Austrian and Dutch school system. But just after a view lessons, they allowed us to present our home country via a power point presentation to the kids. Afterwards we focused mainly on talking with the students in German about different topics. Thereby we focused on individual talks. That was a very pleasant opportunity for us and the students could take a big profit out of that. At the end of the term we had to hand in a portfolio with all activities and assignments we did.

Application Process

For applying at Windesheim university you have to fill out an application form, which is online available at the website of Windesheim university. There you can also see the nomination deadlines for the following spring and autumn semester.

Besides the application form you need to send a learning agreement (which is also available on the website), a recommendation letter from one of your teachers at PHst, a résumé aswell as a motivational letter, where you describe your motive for spending a specifc time abroad.  If you need any help with those things, the international office at PHst always offers you help. Especially for the learning agreement it is very important to talk to your coordinator, that he accepts it.

It is also mandatory to participate the meetings for all Erasmus+ students at PHst, because there you get informed about organisational things.

If you are accepted at the guest university, you will get an email, which informs you about your acceptance and will send you from now on a lot of information for your stay abroad.

Just shortly before you leave for your stay abroad, there will be a final meeting, where the last information can be declared.

Furthermore, it is mandatory to join a Dutch language course before leaving, which is organised by PHst, and to make a language test (online). The language test should give a proof of your progress in the foreign language. Because of that we have to do it twice: before leaving and shortly before returning.

website: http://www.windesheiminternational.nl/

Accomodation

Windesheim University has its own student accomodation facilities and housing service. The SSH student housing offers furnished rooms to exchange students. Therefor you have to announce at a specific website (also available at homepage of Windesheim University). At this website there will be different offers: single room or double room in different accomodations.

We have choosen the same accomodation. Our student house is located at Talentenplein. The advantage of this one is, that it is very close to the city center and also very new. It just opened last year. So the furnishings are very new.

We both have to share our room with someone else, but each room has its own bathroom and kitchen. There are only Erasmus students living in our corridor. Because of that there are always people you know and who you can talk to around you. For this accomodation we have to pay about 360 € including everything. Comparatively to the other student housing it is more expensive, but the other one is not that close to the city center and the furnishings are second-hand and pretty worn. The advantage of the other student housing is, that there live a lot of Erasmus students, whereas there are just about 50 Erasmus students living in Talentenplein. Another opportunity the SSH offers, is a single room facility which is far away from the city center.

Comparision: Phst And Windesheim University

First of all we want to mention that both universities are completly different. On the one hand that depends of course on the size of the university. Windesheim is a very large one, whereas the PHSt is a smaller one. There are much more facilities at Windesheim: They have a fitness center, a swimming pool, a pub and many more things to offer. Especially the Pub inside the university building, where you can order alcohol aswell as soft drinks, was completly new to us. I think that it depends on the open attitude which is very common in the Netherlands. There are a lot of places at university, where you can relaxe and work together with your classmates on your homework, prepare for an exam.

Compared to Austria we had less courses in the Netherlands, because the courses have more ECTS-credits in the Netherlands than in Austria. We finished most of them with a exam at the end of the period (one semester has two periods: first from the end of january till eastern and the second one from eastern till the end of may/ beginning of june). So we had half of our courses til the eastern and then our exams and afterwards the same with the rest of our courses. I really liked this timetable, because we had each week the same lessons, so it was easier to remember the last content, than with a one week break in-between.

Final Evaluation

Miriam Krammer:

Before starting a new chapter in my life and leaving to another country, I talked to many people about their experiences abroad. They told me about unique moments, deep friendships, a lot of fun and teamspirit... Of course that sounded attractive to me, but to get to know how great it is, you have experience it by yourself.

Now after experiencing it by myself, I just can give others the advice to go abroad as well. Not only for getting to know new people, but also for broading your mind and getting more familiar with other cultures, attitudes, lifestyles and improve in your later profession.

Therefor the Netherlands are perfect. For me the Netherlands turned out to be a beautiful and open country, which made me feel welcome and home.

Kevin Winter, University Of Barcelona, Spain, Mobility For Study, Phst

University of Barcelona

Gran Via de Les Corts Catalanes, 585

08007 Barcelona - Spain

Tel.: +34 934 021 100

http://www.ub.edu/web/ub/ca/

Faculty of Teacher Education:

Facultat de Formació del Professorat

Passeig de la Vall d'Hebron, 171

08035 - Barcelona

Tel.: +34 93 403 51 18

http://www.ub.edu/fprofessorat/

Orientation and welcome week

About one week before I arrived my new home for the next four months I received a message on facebook from a foreign person. She, Carla explained that she was my mentor for my stay at the University of Barcelona and would be there to help me with all my questions and doubts. After a little exchange of a few messages we made up a date to meet at the university. The university was actually quite easy to find but when you see the campus and stand right in front of the huge buildings and the long stairs guiding the way up you at first feel actually a little bit lost. Carla luckily met me at the bottom of the stairs and guided me upstairs to do a little show around. Since there are more faculties on the campus it was quite impressive for me as there were so many buildings and all of them where really huge ones. She and a few frends of her took me to all the places to be including the school´s library, the bar or restaurant, the copy office, the teacher´s building and the buiding where all my courses were about to take place. After she whowed ma around and explained how the buildings and rooms are organized I actually felt confident as it was not that hard to find the buildings and rooms. Just at the beginning when you arrive at the campus everything seems just so big and unclear. After about an hour of walking around and talking we said good bye. It wasn´t a good bye forever since we exchanged numbers and kept in contact my whole stay. Evertime I had a question I just had to send her text message and she was always really exerted to help me. Furthermore it was a little practice for my Spanish skills as we kept on communicating in Spanish the whole time.

On the first day of the welcoming week I had an appointment with the international tutor Dr. Natalia Fullana. We were told what we had to do during our stay, how to get access to the Campus virtual and actually how everything worked in general. It was a little bit complicated to get access to the virtual world of the university since it was a quite long procedure to create an account. The user name and the password for the account and also for the mail account was complicated and I really had to note them somewhere and always had to double check with my note when entering the different pages. Nevertheless Dr. Fullana was a really kind person who helped us really a lot during our whole stay. We could always contact her and ask for help and she was always really patient and helpful.

The first week continued with the welcoming week where all the students from our faculity got together and different courses were held (Look at the ext paragraph for further explanations). We were also welcomed with a typical Catalan snack containing of "pan amb tomaquet" (white bread with garlic, olive oil and tomatoes) , "Chorizo" (a typical salami), some cheese and red wine. It was a really nice and various week and most of all it was a great opportunity to meet all the other international students.

View over Barcelona from Parc Güell (Xaver Lindlbauer)

My courses at the UB

Before I got to Barcelona I was always in touch with the secretary Marta Kieling. She also was a really helpful and important person as she answered questions, gave different tips and guided me through the whole procedure of being an international student. Marta send me a list of recommended courses where I found my courses and could them add to my Learning Agreement. When I arrived at the university I fastly recognized that it was impossible to take the language classes and the practice I chose dua to time collision. I unfortunately had to skip my language classes and had choose two different courses. Following is a list of the courses I took with short explanations of those.

Catalunya: History, Language and Culture, 2 ECTS:

During the welcoming week differnet courses were held. The courses aimed to gave us a short overview of important Catalan facts regarding sports, history, culture, language and music. Each courses were really interesting and was actually also helpful to understand and get to kow the whole country and culture I was about to spend the next four months in. I then had to do a feedback worksheet of each session where I explained what the session was about, what I had learned and mentioned storng and weak points. For me it wasn´t only for getting the credits but also was a great opportunity to think again about what I just had learned.

Condicío física i salut, 9 ECTS:

This sport class was divided into two parts with two different teachers. As the monday classes were held in Catalan it was really hard to follow and I sometimes actually didn´t understand at all what we did. We mostly stayed in a class room and did some theory regarding strength and muscles. The last few lessons were held in the gim where different groups presented a few games to play in primary education. The group of the international students, where I also was a part of, also presented a few games in the last lesson. Furthermore we had to hand in a project paper where we explained the sport handball and also added warming up, main and cooling down games. The other part of the course where held by a different teacher in the gym. He luckily spoke in Spanish so I could actually follow his lessons more easily as I already had a quite good knowledge of Spanish. The teacher also talked about different forms of power and different muscles and what they do when we make a certain move. After the long theory parts there was mostly a short practical part following where we did various moves to better understand what our bodies are doing referring to the theoretical part. At the end of the course we did a short lesson of first aid and also were graded after our presentation of giving first aid to a doll.

Llengua anglesa per a l´ensenyament, 6 ECTS:

This English class was about all the basics in the English language. The level of English was really low since all the Catalan students couldn´t show a great command of the language and some even seemed not to know any English at all. I was actually shocked how low the level was and I thought it was really unbelievable that students can speak that weak English as they all had learned English in school as well. Nevertheless the different parts that formed the grade weren´t really as easy as I expected. They of course weren´t that hard for me as I was used to a way higher level of English. Still I totally understood why a lot of my Catalan colleagues struggled to pass this course. During the course we had two in class compositions, one reading comprehension, two pesentations and two grammar tests. Additionally we had to hand in a portfolio which inlcuded the two corrected compositions and the summary of an interview we had to do with a native speaker dealing with his school career and school expierences in general.

Lingüística aplicada a l´ensenyament i aprenentatge de a llengua estrangera, 6 ECTS:

I had never had any kind of linguistic classes before so I was really curious how the linguistic class of the English language was going to be. In this class we learned the very basics of how to analyze a language by seperating the sentences and words in different parts and analyze them under specific points of view. For me it was really interesting and I now can show more awareness of how languages work and what they consist of. The teacher of this course was a really awesome one, she gave us a lot of information and the lessons were a lot about theory but she managed to keep them interesting and various. After the exam in april we formed groups of four to work on a common project work. The project was about analyzing two interviews, one form an adult and one of a child talking about holidays. We had to do a transcription of the interviews and then analyzed them under different linguistic points of view.

Pronunciació de la llengua anglesa, 3 ECTS:

After the first lessons of the pronunciation course I was actually a little bit scared of the exam at the end. I had never really dealt with the pronunciation of English. The course wasn´t only about hw to pronounce differnet words properly but also about where exactly the different sounds were produced in our body, the phonetic transcription, stress, intonation and rhythm in the English language. This was the only course I really had to study for the exam and was nervous before the exam. At the end the exam wasn´t that hard and actually doable. I´m actually glad I took that course since the things I learned were really useful and helped to improve my own pronunciation and since I´m kind of aware of the phonetic transcription I won´t have any further problems pronouncing words.

Práctiques 3, 6 ECTS

For my school placement I got the opportunity to go to a Catalan school to accompany teachers to their classes and see how they were working. I was placed for eight weeks in a private school called Garbí Pere Verges situated in Badalona, which is in the east of Barcelona. I had four class tutors and got the opportunity to go to nearly every level, since I had lessons in seven different classes or groups.  I got a really great overview of the whole school system and could indeed gather new experiences and also ways of teaching, especially teaching using new technologies. Mainly I supported the teacher, helped the children fulfilling their tasks, disciplinated and answered questions. Sometimes I worked with smller groups outside the class room on different tasks or just spoke with the children so they could practice with me. The children were exposed a great amount of English every day since they also had subjects were they worked on projects about history, geography and other subjects in English. I was asked only to pseak in English all the time. The children tried to speak only in English since my main task was to be there for them to practice English with them. Nevertheless I mostly could avoid a great language barrier because of my level of Spanish. I could really help the children even though they sometimes asked me questions in Catalan and Spanish.

However in the first few weeks I was actually shocked by the less amount of things the children are working in one lesson and especially by the noise. Most of the class the teacher has to discipline to create a calm and decent class climate. I firstly thought it was really incredible and I had the impression that the children weren´t working at all. I began to understand why this was the case and why I had the impression that they are not working in the way I think children should in school. It was because the children actually had no break except of two longer ones where they could go to the garden and for lunch. No wonder that the main part of the lessons were disciplining and not effective working.

To process my experiences and impressions I did a great amount of different tasks including micro teaching activities and a diary. In the micro teaching sheets I explained what I did with the children and explained the acticity step by step. The diary dealt with a special incident that happend on that day and I thought to be interesting or things I was interested in referring the school in general.

In conclusion I can say that I had an awesome time during my school practice and my only really considerable weak points are referred the school system itself. I talked a lot with my class tutors, teachers at university and students and all assured me that the Spanish are totally aware of the difficulties their school system entails and said that there is coming a huge change.

Escola Garbí Pere Vergés

Avinguda de les Palmeres 5

Urbanització Mas Ram

08916 Badalona

Homepage: http://www.pereverges.cat

Paper chase in the garden of the school (Kevin Winter)

General overview of my impressions and experiences

Finding accomodation in Barcelona is actually not that hard. There are lot of groups on facebook which makes it easy to find something. I would suggest never to book something online where the deposit is to be transfered in adavance. So the best and safest way is to chose the ones you like, make an appointment to visit the flat and then decide which one to chose. There are also a few webpages where you can find a lot of rooms and flats:

www.airbnb.es

www.loquo.com

www.idealista.com

I stayed at a very nice hostel for my first week while I was visiting several flats. There are lots of hostels in the city and since I always got a lot of visitors I can say that they were all really cheap, clean and well situated.

I found my flat through an organisation called "Llogo". It was situated in a really nice area called "Eixample" where a lots of bars, restaurants, supermarcets and clubs. There are mainly locals living in that area so therefore it´s not so crowded during the day and therefore uncountable decent priced restaurants can be found nearby. It´s also close to other areas of the city and living near the metro station "Diagonal" enables you to reach everything quite fastly.

I have to say that every area of the city has it´s own charme. The "Barrí Gótico" and "El Born" are really beautiful with all the old buildings of the old city. There are also a few of my most favourite bars and resaturants. I have to mention that in general you need to know some insider tips to go to all the good and cheap bars and restaurants. There are a lot of expensive ones. The are is also perfect for exploring the city on one´s own just by walking through the narrowing alleys. "Gracia" is a realy nice area with a lot of restaurants, bars and boutiques. Following there are few of my favourite bars and restaurants that I´m definitely going to the next time I come to Barcelona.

Bars: Nevermind, Ovella Negra, Sugar, Limehouse, Chatelet

Restaurants: La Macchina, Bo de B, Makamaka, Bun bo, La Rosa de Raval, 100 Montaditos, König

In general I have to say that the best way to explore and enjoy the city is just to walk through the different areas, be open, try new things and just let the city enwrap one in it´s great diversity.

I´m really glad that I got the opportunity to spend a part of my life in that awesome city. It is really a city where it´s impossible to get bored. There is always something going on and with the big amount of international young people studying and working there you make a huge amount of new friends. I totally fell in love with this city and I can only recommend to everyone to go there. I know that the good bye isn´t a good bye forever, I´m definitely coming back and will never stop loving and enjoying the city.

Author: Mara Forstenlechner

Reviewer: Iris Forstenlechner

Contact of the university

Örebro University,

International Office

SE - 70182 Örebro

Responsible person in the receiving institution

Lena Nordström (Coordinator)

exchange@oru.se

+4619303000

Description of the university

The campus is quite big and it is made up of many different, modern buildings. The facilities are modern and in every building there are a lot of sofas, etc. for students to work or just to chill between classes. Especially the library and the music building are very beautiful. Örebro university attaches great importance to making students feel comfortable and at home, that’s why there are nice opportunities to chill on campus – inside and outside, if the weather is nice. In some buildings there also some nice cafeterias, where they sell delicious Swedish Morotskaka, Kladdkaka, Kanellbullar and many other things, that you can have for Fika (one of the most important swedish words).

About 17 000 students are studying at the university and a part of them lives in Studentgatan which is right on Campus, but more on that later. All the courses that are offered for exchange students are in English.

There is also one Pizzeria, that is actually quite cheap (the cheapest Pizza is only 50SEK) on Campus as well as a Pasta-restaurant where they sell cheap and delicious pasta (also gluten-free).

Important to know is also that there is a shop called Pressbyran right next to Studentgatan where you can buy some food and other important stuff, when you have no time to go grocery shopping. (That was a very important shop for me in the first week, as we had so many things scheduled in our Orientation programme that I literally had no time to go to the grocery store).

The university is located a bit out of town, but by bus it is only about 15 minutes to the city center which really isn’t that much. Also the huge and beautiful lake Hjälmaren/the nature reserve is not too far from the university and definitely worth a few visits.

A doctor, pharmacy and also a few supermarkets (I liked especially Maxi Ica because it was new and had basically everything) are within walking distance, at the most 10 minutes.

Description and reflection of the courses

The Swedish course system is quite different from the Austrian one, as you only have one course at a time. I had all the education courses and had classes approx. 3 times a week, plus school placement. Each course lasts 5 weeks and within those 5 weeks you have to go to your school placement 5 times – how you arrange this is up to you. You get the contact of your school in advance and then you have to write your supervisor at school an email and arrange the days you’re at your school placement.

My courses

- Education Teaching and Learning – a comparative perspective (7.5 ECTS)

The general aims of this course, as well as in all the other courses I took are to gain critical thinking by reading relevant course literature and reflecting on that in the cases as well as the individual critical assessments. We had to read novels as well as theoretical literature.

The main focus of this course was to see “teaching and learning” as a complex phenomenon. We learned about the Swedish educational system as well as what it means to learn something and what it means to teach and how one can promote the other.

- Special Needs Education (7.5 ECTS)

The general aims of this course are the same like in “Teaching and Learning – a comparative perspective”. Again the most important thing for our professor was to gain critical thinking and many different professional opinions on Special needs education. By using novels (such as “The curious incident of the dog in the night time) as well as articles to broaden our horizon, we had a strong base of information to which we could connect our own thoughts in our assessments.

- Perspective on the relation school/parents (7.5 ECTS)

The general aims of this course are again basically the same like in the first and second course.

However the main topic here was the relationship between school and parents. We discussed this from a historical/international perspective and learned about concepts like influence, partcipation and cooperation. The main focus was on the (often difficult) relationship and cooperation between teachers and parents.

- Diversity in classromm (7.5 ECTS)

The general aims of this course are the same like in the other ones. This course was my favorite one because the professor tried to focus on feminism/interculturalism as well as all the other diverse aspects that occur in the classroom. We focused on diversity from societal, pedagogic and personal perspectives. The classroom is the starting point for critical reflection on intercultural possibilities and challenges.

General reflection about education courses

The Swedish course system was completely different from the Austrian one. The main difference was probably that we only had one course at a time which was actually really good, because so we could focus on one topic. We had to read a lot of relevant and interesting course literature for every course. It was a mix of fictional literature, articles and theoretical books. In our classes we had to do a lot of group work and we discussed and reflected on what we had read together.

We got our grades in every course by writing several individual assignments throughout the 5 weeks the course lasted, by one oral presentation and one final assignment in the end of each course.

Reflection about school practice

The school practice was part of the education courses. We got a new school placement for every course and within every course we had to go to our school five times. We had a supervisor at every school and all of whom were very nice and answered all the questions we had. All in all I think the school practice was a little boring, because we couldn’t really do anything but observe. And it sure was very interesting the first few times because it’s exciting to see how a typical lesson in Sweden looks like, but as I didn’t understand much Swedish it was hard to follow the lessons, especially when we had to be at a school for 5 or more hours. I got to see different types of school, like primary school, gymnasium and high school. It was easier for me to sit in classes with older pupils, because I had the possibility to observe English or German classes and because all of the older students can speak English perfectly well.

What I found most interesting was that the relationship between pupils and teachers is very different than in Austria. First of all, pupils usually say their teacher’s first name. And all in all the teacher acts more like a friend or supervisor than an authority.

Orientation week

When we first arrived we took part in a 2-weeks orientation program. We got the schedule for those two weeks before we arrived in Sweden and it was the best start for an awesome semester anyone could imagine. ESN organized parties and activities almost every day, as well as a trip to IKEA. We hardly had any time to ourselves and on our first weekend in Örebro we made an overnight trip. This was really the best thing to get to know everyone and to find friends. We were divided into “Fadder-groups”. There were about 15-20 people in each Faddergroup – a mix of ESN-students and Swedish students – our Fadders. The fadders organized pre-parties for us as well as activities and dinners and answered all our questions and we stayed in rather close contact not only for the first two weeks but also throughout the whole semester.

Housing

The housing is really nice. All students either live directly on campus (Studentgatan) or near at the university (Tybble - 10 minutes walk). Every student has their own bathroom and some even have their own kitchen in their room. You live in corridors with 8 people at most with a shared kitchen and common area (if you don’t have a kitchen in your room).

The rooms are really big and nice and there is a normal chair, a comfortable chair, a bed, a desk, a shelf and a wardrobe in every room. In my room it was very quiet all the time, even though my roommates liked partying in our common area. But as long as I had my door closed, I could never hear anything.

Right behind Studentgatan is a forest where you can go for nice walks.

About the city

Örebro is a rather small city, so if you decide to study there, don’t expect a huge town. However it is a really cute little city in the heart of Sweden with a lot of little cafes and a very nice scenery. The prettiest places in the city, where I hung out a lot are the castle (Slottet) and the way from the castle  through the park (Stadsparken) to Wadköping (the historical city centre and open air museum). A few kilometers out of town is the beautiful lake Hjälmaren.

Michaela Schwarz, Saxion University Of Applied Sciences, Nl/Hengelo

Contact of University in Hengelo:

Hengelo:

074 - 851 61 00

M.A. de Ruyterstraat 3

7556 CW Hengelo

Netherlands

Contact of the Eramsus Incomings Coordinator:

Kamphuis, Sander

s.a.a.kamphuis@saxion.nl

Exchange Programme: Teacher Training for European Competences (TEC):

Here the programme is described, in the pdf-folder all the classes are described as well:

http://www.saxion.edu/site/programmes/exchange/details/teacher-training-european-competences/teacher-training-european-competences/

My Courses:

Description of the University:

About Saxion:

Saxion University of Applied Sciences is one of the largest institutions of higher education in the Netherlands, with over 24,000 students (and still growing!). Saxion University has a rich history – its roots can be traced back to the 1875. A merger of two educational institutions, the Hogeschool Enschede and Hogeschool Ijselland, in 1998 paved the way for Saxion University in its present form. This merger enabled Saxion to build further on its strong position in Dutch higher education and since then Saxion University has come to be recognised as an important centre of expertise at regional, national and international level.

Location:

Saxion University of Applied Sciences has four campuses in the East of the Netherlands - one campus in each of the four Dutch cities of Deventer, Enschede, Apeldoorn and Hengelo. Thanks to the important contribution of agriculture to the local economy, this region is renowned for its beautiful countryside and fairly relaxed pace of life. However, all four Saxion locations have good public transport facilities, meaning that the hustle and bustle of the major cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague is no more than 1½ hours away.

So far, also this semester the Saxion's PABO has been situated in Hengelo. From the following semester onwards it will be in Enschede as well.

Hengelo is a lovely small town, very nice to live in for families but also students. It is not a proper student city, as Enschede, as it is quite small, but you can also go to a Pub and clubs  or go for some shopping :)

Description of the application process:

Applications

All applications for admission must be submitted online, using a specific form available during application periods.

The course is open to 3rd and 4th year Bachelor students in a Teacher Training programme.

The students’ home institution must have an Inter Institutional Agreement (IIA) with Saxion Teacher Training College (APO Hengelo). To apply as an exchange student for this course, please contact the International Office at your home institution. Once your home institution has nominated you for this course, they will contact our International Office (internationaloffice.slh@saxion.nl). If our International Office agrees with your nomination, you may fill out the application form.

Application deadlines:

Application deadline was December 1st 2014 for the Spring 2015 course

Once you are accepted at the Saxion University of Applied Sciences you receive a ´letter of acceptance´.

Arrival & Housing in Hengelo

We went from Graz to Duesseldorf by plane and stayed there for a night. The next morning we travelled on to Hengelo by train, which took us about 3 hours, changing trains twice.

Sander picked us up at the trainstation together with Irina, another Erasmus student from Spain. He drove us to our house, which Julia Gamperl, Bettina Jaindl and I share. Apart from some problems with the leaking washing machine (which was solved after like a week) we really feel comfortable in our own house.

The other Erasmus students from Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom live in the same building. There are two flats for 2 students upstairs and two flats, each for 4 students downstairs. Each flat has at least 2 floors. Kitchen and living room on one level, rooms on the other, the toilet is sometimes on a seperate level as well (in the bigger flats there are two levels only for rooms, bathroom and toilet).

Hengelo & Public Transport

Hengelo is a really nice city. When we first came here we wondered what to do here all day. But it is actually bigger than we thought! There are some shops reachable by 5 minutes walking and to the city centre you walk about 20-25 minutes. University can be reached within 10-15 minutes walking (depending on your speed :) ).

In the centre there are a lot of shops, clubs and pubs to go to. It has very nice buildings (typical Dutch brick-houses), a cinema and a theatre.

The trainstation is in the centre as well. The next big city is called "Enschede" and trains are going there pretty much every 10 minutes (late in the evening maybe 15-20 minutes). The Netherlands have a good system for public transport, the only thing is, that busses at least come 2-3 minutes earlier than it says on the plan. If ou know that, you'll be fine :)

There are a lot of trains going from Hengelo to a lot of places in the Netherlands, Germany and partly Belgium (might have to change trains for Belgium though). It takes you about 2 hours to Amsterdam by train. Trains are less expensive than in Austria! Still, there are some offers by different shops for very cheap train tickets you can use for 1 full day in the entire country. There are shops like 'Kruitvat and Albert Hijn' which we have experienced so far, where you get tickets for 13-17 Euros (day-tickets!). If you go to Amsterdam and back or to Groningen, Den Haag, Rotterdam it is really worth it! But these offers run out at some point, so they are only available for a couple of weeks.

Saxion University Hengelo:

The first two weeks were Introduction Weeks. After that we had 1 week off for spring break. We were introduced in all the different classes, which started after the holidays. Some small assignments were recommended and, of course, we had to present our hometask, which was basically about your own school system in your country. We still had some time to finish our work here, as we were divided into international groups to compare different systems.

The teachers here are very nice and outgoing. Everybody is happy to help you anytime. Especially Sander, our Erasmus-coordinator here in Hengelo is looking after us very well. As soon as we had any problems in our flats, he'd be there to fix it in the next 1-2 days. Also the Dutch students of our international class helped us a lot to find our way to important places in Hengelo, they helped us to figure out our Dutch cellphones and tried to find a cheap internet-provider for our houses.

Excursions:

We've already been on a couple of excursions to schools, Enschede (the next bigger city nearby Hengelo) and soon Den Haag with University. Also, we have been 'Klootschieten', which is a Dutch sport with some of the teachers. Afterwards we were invited to one of the teacher's house and had food and drinks. This was also the day of Carnival, which is very big in the Netherlands and has been a great experience and a lot of fun!

Carnival Oldenzaal with the International Class 2015

On our first excursion we went to Enschede, where we basically looked around the city and its sights, Roombeek and to a musem of Enschede's history. Afterwards we had free time and went to some shops, had look around the city centre and found a nice place to have coffee.

On our next trip we went to the Dalton Plan School St. Plechelmusschool in Hengelo. We were showed around the building, had a look into the classrooms and were explained about their system.

4th of March, 2015:

We have been to two Community Schools in Almelo. The first one is called “De Oosteres”. It is a primary school for children with special needs. The aim of this school is to reintroduce the pupils to the regular primary school system. Whether they can attend this school or not depends on their IQ-level. The pupils are graded by the common primary school curriculum. The school includes a number of 117 pupils, aged 6 to 13. 70% of the students are male, the other 30% are female. The school follows pedagogical principles by Decrolit and Pestalozzi, which, within others, include the system of “Rock and Water”. This system aims to teach the children responsibility in every situation they are going through. The school even has its own little farm, including goats, a cow named Sophie, sheep and chicken, and a garden with several vegetables where the children can learn from real life situations.

The second school was called Roets, also located in the city of Almelo. There are 4 different schools working together in one building: one Christian, catholic, open and one pre-school. In one building teachers are trained how to do sports with children and receive a certificate if they pass the final test. The school was built in a neighbourhood, where a lot of non-Dutch people are living. There is also a community centre for children, which provide different activities for their leisure time. Furthermore, there is a centre for teenage-mothers, where they can meet and receive advice before giving birth to the child.

It has been a great experience to see schools like this, since I didn't really know anything like that from Austria before. A big different to the Austrian school system is, that there are no different curriculums for children with seeing-, hearing- or behaviouristic disabilities, it depends on your IQ-level whether you get into a school like "Des Oosteres" or not.

10th of March, 2015:

We went to a school called "De Ontdekkingsreis" in Doorn. The school is situated next to a big forest, where the children are allowed to play in during breaks. We had a short introduction about the school, given by the headmistress, who created the school in 2004. It officially opened in 2008. About 90 children attend this school. Their main goal is, to let children free, teach them responsibility and let them develop themselves in their own ways.

The building: After the introduction two pupils showed us around the building. It contains only a few actual classrooms. There were about 20 computers in the hallway, next to the place where children hang their coats, where children work on their exercises. There was a big playground outside with a forest to play in and even a trampoline, the teachers’ room and one big room including a kitchen, sofas, a small stage, tables and chairs. This room is divided into two rooms, only by a curtain. On the one side of the curtains there are bookshelves and a white board, chairs and tables. There the lessons are held by the teachers. Every class is divided into level groups, not age groups. On the other side, pupils have lunch, do their exercises and play.

The children can choose themselves, in which area they want to study. The different ability-areas are marked by different colours. The children can also choose what they want to do each day and write it in their timetables themselves. Some classes are compulsory though. Those are written on a whiteboard in the hall. On it, it says the different classes with its ability-groups. If a child is in this ability group, it knows, at which time it has to be in which class.

Brussels: 31st of May - 5th of June

The first week of June we went on a trip to Brussels. Together with the Dutch and international students of the international class, as well as some new Dutch students from the first year, we had the best time in this beautiful city! Every day we went for some sightseeing, received insights into the European Parliament and Commission, got the chance to observe a Belgium School and get insights into the Belgium school system.

This week was very interesting and we had an amazing time together! Every night we went for dinner together and to some bar afterwards. The city is beautiful, but the language thing is a bit complicated. It is confusing, that within not only one country but one city they speak two languages, French and Flamish (Vlaams), which is very similar to Dutch.

Brussels-Atomium

School Practical in the Netherlands:

Basic Information:

Basisschool De Regenboog

Address:

De Regenboog, Fioringras 2

7623 DR Borne

Contact:

Headmaster: Alois Hilbers

074-2663235

info@regenboogborne.nl

http://www.regenboogborne.nl/

140 Pupils

6 groups – one for each age group, 6 and 8 are mostly together, 1 and 2 are in one group

12 teachers plus one principal

Schedule: 8.30-14.00

The school's principles:

The school’s principles follow the philosophy of Piaget. The pupils shall gain their basis knowledge about themselves, by focusing on their strengths and giving each other compliments. Every child thinks about strengths of their schoolmates and tells them they think they are good at. They are asked to think about their outer strengths, such as sports, as well as their inner strengths, like creativity.

Every day the school starts at 8.30, whereas pupils can enter at 8.20 already. The teachers are usually at school by 8 o’clock. The pupils’ parents are asked to leave their children after dropping them off at school by 8.30, for the younger children in Group 1 to 3, it is 8.45. Every day school ends at 2 o’clock in the afternoon and the teachers have a break until 3 o’clock afterwards.

The groups’ breaks to go to the playground outside start at 10 o’clock in the morning. Each group as 15 minutes to play outside, then the next one comes.

We were told, that the school is currently working on a plan to introduce English lessons already from Group 1 (age 4) onwards. So far the pupils are taught English from the age of 10 for about 1 hour each week. Additionally, we were told that every teachers teaches every subject, apart from gymnastics and music. The Borne city council provides money for the school for those additional teachers.

Our practical group contained of 3 international and one Dutch student. All practical groups had at least one Dutch student, to help us with the communication with the children and teachers.

Together we conducted some activities in the classes, firstly to introduce ourselves and get to know the children a bit better. As the practical lasted for 7 days in total, we conducted some more activities within these days. Unfortunately we weren't able to do full lessons, apart from one sports lesson, but we got the chance to join them for the so-called 'konings spelen', which are games for the king's birthday, where all the children from Borne met and had a great sports event and we could conduct some activities and taught them some English, Spanish and German.

Within our placement we had to write a research paper on the internationalization within the school. Therefore, we had to do some interviews with teachers and children and write a proposal for a project for the school. Beside some observations we were able to do, this was how we spent the rest of the time at our internship.

Groep 1 en 2 (age 4-6) - Basisschool De Regenboog: Introduction games

Within the Netherlands, almost every classroom has an interactive board and, in general, is quite modern. A lot of schools use iPads, but also still work with school books.

Comparison to the Austrian school system:

Considering English lessons in the Netherlands, noticed a difference to the Austrian school system, as pupils in primary school are taught English from the age of 6. During key stage one (age 6-7) English is taught inclusively, and during key stage 2 (age 8-10) we have one compulsory weekly hour. Whilst here there seems to be a main goal given by the curriculum which describes, which abilities the children need to reach by the end of primary school. How the teachers reach these aims is up to themselves. So the school can decide when they start teaching the foreign language.

Additionally, the playground outside in this school is very different to Austrian playgrounds. I have never seen one without a fence to prevent pupils running on the street and strangers coming inside in Austria – at least not right next to the street, in the middle of the town. In Austria you only have these kind of playgrounds in more suburb- or countryside-areas.

I noticed, that group 1/2 (4-5-year olds) has a TV-screen in class, instead of a white board. I have never seen this in any classroom before. This group also received new iPads today, which is also very new to me for that age group. Additionally, every classroom has a see-through door, so you can look inside the class any time. So far I have only seen doors, which are completely wooden in my country and you cannot look inside unless you open the door. This is very nice, as it is very open and everyone knows what is happening inside. It might seem disturbing, but I think as soon as the children get used to people walking pass the door they are not distracted by it anymore. And if you need anything from the teacher inside, you don’t have to open the door to check if he/she is busy or not, as you can see it easily.

The English lessons we observed always started with some dancing along with English instructions. The students seemed to enjoy that a lot, as they could learn by doing. The tacher translated a lot into Dutch during the lesson, which would not really be necessary, as the children understand a lot, as long as you use body language and multisensory techniques. In Austria we wouldn’t be allowed to talk that much German during English lessons. We have to try, already with the 6/7 year-olds, to explain instructions by visual examples and multisensory teaching. They do it here as well, but still translate a lot.

Koningsspelen:

We also joined group 1 for the Koningsspelen (King’s games) in Borne. All schools within Borne met at a big sports court, where different activities have been organized for the children.

Each one of us was in a group with some parents. We were together with a German and an English mother and their children. As we had 4 children in total, every one looked after one child for the entire day.

The games started off with a dance as an introduction for all the children. Afterwards we followed our given schedule and started with our first activity “building castles – kaastel bouwen”. As there were a lot of children and not that many blocks, it was hard to get the children into it, but after a while they did very well. Unfortunately we had to leave after 5 minutes, because we had to go to the next game. The schedule was pretty full and, in my opinion, it wasn’t enough time for the children, especially the little ones, to enjoy every game to its fullest.

I am glad we could be part of those games, as it has been a great experience. I have never had the chance to join an excursion with a school class before, so it was very nice to be part of this.

Michelle Goossens, Pädagogische Hochschule Steiermark, Austria, Mobility For Study, Phst - Incoming

Author: Michelle Goossens

When I was in my second year, I heard we could go on Erasmus in our last semester. I was really interested, so I went to an information session. After this session, I was completely convinced. But I had to choose a country. I love skiing and we don't have mountains in Belgium, so why not Austria? It's also located in the centre of Europe. So I had made my desicion, I wanted to study in Graz.

Graz is the second biggest city in Austria and the capital of Steiermark. It has 45.000 students, so it's a real studentscity!

In the middle of the city centre is a small mountain, Schloßberg.

Schloßberg (Image Jelle Van Erkelens)

The PHSt (Pädagogische Hochschule Steiermark), was very flexible. I could choose every course I wanted. Except five obligatory courses for the incoming students. This was really cool because I'm studying for a teacher physical education, and I could choose some sport courses.

I've learned a lot during my Erasmusadventure. There are a lot of differences between the schoolsystem in Austria and Belgium. For example in Austria the primary school teachers have to teach sports as well. In Belgium, you have a special sports teacher.

During my stay, I've had the opportunity to do a teaching practice. This was really interesting, because I had to teach in German. At that moment you can understand how important class management is, because German is not my mothertongue, but the children have to listen to me.

Erasmus is also travelling and discovering. During my stay in Graz, I had the opportunity to visit Prague, Ljubljana, Budapest and Pag. I've never been to these cities before, even not the countries!

But the best thing about Erasmus is getting in touch with people from all over the world. During my stay I've met people from 22 different countries!

This is intercultural learning. You live together with people from different countries and everybody has his own habits. Before I came here I didn't knew that the people from Spain ate their lunch at 14.00 in the afternoon for example.

But ofcourse you also have to learn something about the culture from your host country. In Austria, they have something that's called "Fasching". On this day you can dress yourself and have a party in the street!

Fasching (Image Michelle Goossens)

Sometimes people say "Live begins at the end of your comfort zone". Well, this is completely true! I left Belgium including all my friends and family for five months, but I've made a lot of new friends and some of them were like family to me. If I didn't came out of my comfort zone, I wouldn't had an amazing time in Graz.

"Come as a guest and leave as a friend".

Nicole Skoberne Und Viktoria Mosbacher, Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, The Netherlands, Mobility For Study, Phst

Author: Nicole Skoberne und Viktoria Mosbacher

Contacts University

University of Applied Science, Teacher Training Institute Primary Education

Hogeschool Katholieke PABO Zwolle

Ten Oeverstraat 68,

8012 EW Zwolle,

The Netherlands

Tel.: +31 (0)384217425

Fax: +31(0)384210914

webaddress:www.kpz.nl

Erasmus code: NL ZWOLLE06

Harrie Poulssen (international Officer)

Email: h.poulssen@kpz.nl

Bert Thole (Coordinator IM)

Email: b.thole@kpz.nl

About the University:

The Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, also known as KPZ, is an independent Interactum University of Applied Sciences (Dutch "hogeschool"). There are over 650 students and a staff of about 70. This means that the KPZ is one of the many small- to medium-sized institutes for higher professional education in the Netherlands.

The International Minor Program(IM) is a five month course in English for 30 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System). The website contains all the necessary information about our teacher training course in which we combine theory and practice and offer a varied study programme with a clear structure using the module system and ECTS. For the IM you need a required level of English like TOEFL or IELTS.

How can I apply?

Each year we have an international minor in spring semester from 1st of February until 1st of July.

Deadline for application is: 1 November (previous calendar year)

For application you need to fill in this student application form and mail it to us.

[application form on the website]

Please note: When we have received your complete application form an overview on admission will be held by means of Skype.

Before we got here:

Before we got to the Netherlands, we got a lot of information about our next semster. We have written a lot of emails and had to do a few things before we got here, for example we had to make a language test in Dutch, which was not really a success (we have to do it also afterwards, to see our progress).

To attend the Pabo we have had a conversation via Skype, where the English teacher asked me a few things (in English - so they can see our level), for example what I am expecting, why I want to go to the Netherlands, and so on.

Furthermore we had to get some information about how fractions are tought in Austria, we had to copy the schoolbooks, made a short clip about a mathlesson, made a foto of the classroom, ect.

The Pabo organised a very good accomodation, so we didn´t have to look for something - which was really a pleasentness!

Then Ria Posthumus asked us when and how we will get to Zwolle and if we wanted to have a welcome guide, who wouls pick us up from the railway station and bring us to our houses.

Info about the general things and the first weeks:

We are in a "seperate class" - The international Minor/class. All in all we are 15 people (6 Spanish girls, 1 girl from Turkey, 1 boy from Nepal, 2 Czech girls and 5 people from Austria). All our xouses we have together - we do not have any courses with the students from the PABO.

The first week was a welcome week to get aquaint with each other:

The first day most of our teachers and the headmaster were here to welcome us and to introduce themselves.

We also had to introduce ouselves to the other ones and to speak about our expectations.

The welcome week was really a good experiences, we were ice skating and played traditional Dutch games.

My courses:

1) English language (1 ECTS)

The objective of this course revolves around writing and presenting an academic paper in English in which your own written work will play a pivotal role. This very short course of 4 lessons focuses both on development of academic writing skills and strenghtening presentation skills.

2) Culture and Society ( 4 ECTS)

The students ude their ecperience and the kknowledge theyhave mastered of Dutch history, culture, art and society as a tool to understand and explore their own and other societies. Moreover students are confronted witht the questoins in which way history, culture and society shape our cultural identity, our wy of being.

3) Pedagogics (5 ECTS)

We will examine reform pedagogy in all its aspects. We will see which concepts are still used today.

We wonder what a present day and future child need. We explore the new didactics and explore existing concepts which have caught on in the Netherlands.

4) Dutch language (3 ECTS)

This is a Dutch course for our class. We learn the basics of the language, for example to introduce ourselves, talk about our hobbies, colors, show someone the way, ect.

5) Coaching/Counselling and tutorship (CCT / 3 ECTS)

The CCT is different from other modules, since most of the content is not definite yet.

There will be time for teambuilding activities and for personal coaching. Moreover students will be prepared for the practical training.

6) DRAMU (Drama and Music) (2 ECTS)

Starting with rhythm activities, movement and finishing with songd for children we learn to understand the meaning of rhythm, melody and harmony. All native songs will be produces on seet music and recorded ona CD.

7) Project week "Randstad" (2 ECTS)

During the semester we will take part in a prject week and a number of cultural activities. In this week (in Amsterdam and Den Haag) we will visit a number of cultural and social institutions.

8) Research (5 ECTS)

The research modules offer a good method to examime educational reform. During practical training we will be at school where we will do our research.

9) Teaching practise (4 ECTS)

This is the main and for me the most important part of the whole semester. I am in Heerde (small village next to Zwolle) in a Jenaplan school. I have to teach at least 26 lessons. I will see the idea of Jenaplan in a practical way.

10) Teacher in Europe student conference (1 ECTS)

Students learn in an international environment how to design a project under Erasmus + and to complete a final proposal.

Zwolle:

Accomodation

As I sais before the University organised a good accomodation for us. It is a little bit outside from the city center on a camping place. We have a sort of "bungalows". They are small houses with everything we need. The sleeping rooms are quite small but it is enough! Here on the camping place are 10 other people from Erasmus, and so we meet us often and doing something together. We pay about 375,- Euros per month for the rent.

Transport

In the Netherlands is is an obligation to have a bike! Without a bike you are totally lost. In the Netherlans are more bikes than cars, it is incredible. There are special ways for bikes everywhere, even in the roundabouts and cars have to stop for you. We have to drive about 30 minutes to University with our bikes.

But also the train in the Netherlands is really cool! Every 30 minutes there is a direct connection to the bigger cities (Amsterdam, Den Haag, Rotterdam, Groningen, ...) and it is quite cheap. But one thing is really good: the more people you are, the less is costs. So if you are a group of 10, you can go to any city you want for just 7 Euros - and this ticket is valid for the whole day (so back and forth).

Life in the Netherlands

Here in Zwolle are a lot of opportunities to do something, especially at night. Here are a lot of bars, discos and pubs. A bar called "The flying horse" is the most popular for students, it is always full! But it is not just good for drinking, you can get a meal for 2,50 Euros, which is really cheap.

When you compare Austria and the Netherland from the prices, it is actually the same. Food and clothes are the same, but I think products for "beauty" are quite expensive, but you can always get a special offer at "Kruidvat".

In the city center are a lot of shops where you can buy clothes, something to eat and a lot of other stuff!

When you are here, you have to visit the bigger cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Den Haag! They are absolutely wonderful and every city has its own charme!

About the teaching practice:

In the first 2 weeks on Monday I was just observing the school. As I said before I am in a Jenaplan school so it is very different to our common schools in Austria. Here the primary school is from age 4 to 12.

I am in a mixed aged class - the pupils are 9-10 years old.

When you enter the school you feel comfortable and it is relaxed! The whole school is one family, the older ones help the younger ones.

Here in this school the parents are involved a lot - they stay quite a long time in the morning and talking to other parents and teacher (and not just from the class in which their child belongs).

Also the pupils are very independent. They are working on their own and there is almost no introduction needed. When they have a problem, they do not go to the teacher. First they trying on their own, then they go to the classmates (maybe the older ones) and then , the last instance, they go to the teacher.

A lot of children have headphones around their chair so that when they want to work alone and in silence, they do not get disturbed.

Nicole Skoberne, Viktoria Mosbacher, Lisa Koller, Daniel Scharf Und Jacob Stössl, Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, The Netherlands, Mobility For Study, Phst

Author: Nicole Skoberne, Viktoria Mosbacher und Lisa Koller

Contacts University

University of Applied Science, Teacher Training Institute Primary Education

Hogeschool Katholieke PABO Zwolle

Ten Oeverstraat 68,

8012 EW Zwolle,

The Netherlands

Tel.: +31 (0)384217425

Fax: +31(0)384210914

webaddress:www.kpz.nl

Erasmus code: NL ZWOLLE06

Coordinators:

Harrie Poulssen (International Officer)

Katholieke Pabo Zwolle

Ten Oeverstraat 68

8012 EW Zwolle

The Netherlands

Phone: 0031(0)38 4217425

Email: h.poulssen@kpz.nl

Bert Thole (Coordinator IM)

Katholieke Pabo Zwolle

Ten Oeverstraat 68

8012 EW Zwolle

The Netherlands

Phone: 0031(0)38 4217425

Email: b.thole@kpz.nl

About the University:

The Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, also known as KPZ, is an independent Interactum University of Applied Sciences (Dutch "hogeschool"). There are over 650 students and a staff of about 70. This means that the KPZ is one of the many small- to medium-sized institutes for higher professional education in the Netherlands.

The International Minor Program (IM) is a five month course in English for 30 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System). The website contains all the necessary information about our teacher training course in which we combine theory and practice and offer a varied study programme with a clear structure using the module system and ECTS. For the IM you need a required level of English like TOEFL or IELTS. Upon consultation, it is also possible to stay three moths. Therefore, 20 ECTS have to be achieved.

The organisation and interactum:

The Katholieke Pabo Zwolle is an organisation where a clear identity and familiartiy play an important role. Whether you are following the teacher training course or a refresher course, you will notice that things are well organised.

University of Applied Sciences works within the Educational Federation Interactum together with four other independent teacher training colleges for pirmary education. The aim with this collaboration is to assure and imporve the quality of teacher training in primary education.

Canteen/cafeteria, ICT and library:

Next to the auditorium you will find the canteen where you can buy coffee, tea, soup, rolls and various other small snacks. The offers are really cheap and delicious.

The KPZ offers quiet workspaces equipped with computers where you can study on your own or in pairs. Software applications that are suitable for word processing, internet, multimedia use, email and aducational subjects have been installed. The multi media centre is a large modern facility where you have access to information you need when preparing for yours study and your work placement. KPS´s extensice collections consits text books, youth literature, methods for primary education, audiovisual material, software, flash cards and various magazines. Laptops, cameras as well as video cameras can be hired.

A huge benefit is that printing in black and white is for free. So you will have no addtional costs for printed work.

How can I apply?

Each year we have an international minor in spring semester from 1st of February until 1st of July.

Deadline for application is: 1 November (previous calendar year)

For application you need to fill in this student application form and mail it to us.

[application form on the website]

Please note: When we have received your complete application form an overview on admission will be held by means of Skype.

Preparations for the Erasmus+ stay at the PHST:

Before applying on the KPZ you have to make some organisational manners on the PHST as well:

- The curriculum vitae has to be filled out in a "europass" format. This format is available on the Internet. The issues in the curriculum vitae are personal data, type of study, professional experience, school career, personal abilities including spoken languages and skills.

- The motivational letter should include reasons why you want to go to a certain country and what is your motivation about that. Furthermore, you should write why you are a good person to go abroad.

- Additionally, a recommendation letter written by a docent of PHST is needed. In this letter, the docen justifys why you are a good person for going abroad.

- Next, the learning agreement is discussed. When you want to stay three months you have to make a special learning agreement in cooperation with the KPZ. When you want to stay the whole semester, the learning agreement is fixed. In general, it contains the ECTS you have to make and the schedule of the courses.

- There are also some meetings were organisational manners are discussed. Those meetings are at the beginning with all Erasmus+ outgoings together. At the end, two weeks before you leave Austria, a final meeting with the student going to the same country is organised.

- During the "International week" there is also a meeting with the Erasmus+ students from Graz. In this meeting differnt cultures and countries meet and talk a lot. This meeting is held in English

Besides the oranisational manners for the PHST it is advisable to cover an accident insurance in order to be insured during the stay abroad. The reason for advice is that you have to go by bike every day and that there are some other events for example a sportsday.

Before we got to Zwolle:

Before we got to the Netherlands, we got a lot of information about our next semster. We have written a lot of emails and had to do a few things before we got here, for example we had to make a language test in Dutch, which was not really a success (we have to do it also afterwards, to see our progress).

Viktoria, Lisa und Jacob were only staying for three months because they did their stay abroad in sixth semester. Therefore, the organisation to do so was rather much. Finally, we made a learning agreement in extent of 20 ECTS. The reason for staying three months was the "final teaching practice" in Austria.

To attend the Pabo we all have had a conversation via Skype, where a few thinks were asked in order to notice the level in English. Some questions were:

What do you expect from your Erasmus+ trip?

Why do you want to go to the Netherlands?

In the Skype interview, the level of English as well as the organisational and social skills were tested.

Furthermore, we had to get some information about how fractions are tought in Austria, we had to copy the schoolbooks, made a short clip about a mathlesson, made a foto of the classroom, etc. The assignment was used in the course "Reasearch 1".

The Pabo organised a very good accomodation, so we didn´t have to look for something - which was really a pleasentness! A part of the International students are staying on a camping side at the Agnietenberg. The issue "accomotation" is discussed in another topic more detailed.

Then Ria Posthumus asked us when and how we will get to Zwolle and if we wanted to have a welcome guide, who wouls pick us up from the railway station and bring us to our houses.

Info about the general things and the first weeks:

We are in a "seperate class" - The international Minor/class. All in all we are 15 people (6 Spanish girls, 1 girl from Turkey, 1 boy from Nepal, 2 Czech girls and 5 people from Austria). All our courses we have together - we do not have any courses with the students from the PABO.

The first week was a welcome week to get aquainted with each other:

The first day most of our teachers and the headmaster were here to welcome us and to introduce themselves.

We also had to introduce ourselves to the other ones and to speak about our expectations.

The welcome week was really a good experiences, we were ice skating and played traditional Dutch games.

The courses:

1) English language (1 ECTS)

The objective of this course revolves around writing and presenting an academic paper in English in which your own written work will play a pivotal role. This very short course of 4 lessons focuses both on development of academic writing skills and strenghtening presentation skills.

2) Culture and Society ( 4 ECTS)

The students ude their ecperience and the kknowledge theyhave mastered of Dutch history, culture, art and society as a tool to understand and explore their own and other societies. Moreover students are confronted witht the questoins in which way history, culture and society shape our cultural identity, our wy of being.

3) Pedagogics (5 ECTS)

We will examine reform pedagogy in all its aspects. We will see which concepts are still used today.

We wonder what a present day and future child need. We explore the new didactics and explore existing concepts which have caught on in the Netherlands.

4) Dutch language (3 ECTS)

This is a Dutch course for our class. We learn the basics of the language, for example to introduce ourselves, talk about our hobbies, colors, show someone the way, ect.

5) Coaching/Counselling and tutorship (CCT / 3 ECTS)

The CCT is different from other modules, since most of the content is not definite yet.

There will be time for teambuilding activities and for personal coaching. Moreover students will be prepared for the practical training.

6) DRAMU (Drama and Music) (2 ECTS)

Starting with rhythm activities, movement and finishing with songd for children we learn to understand the meaning of rhythm, melody and harmony. All native songs will be produces on seet music and recorded ona CD.

7) Project week "Randstad" (2 ECTS)

During the semester we will take part in a prject week and a number of cultural activities. In this week (in Amsterdam and Den Haag) we will visit a number of cultural and social institutions.

8) Research (5 ECTS)

The research modules offer a good method to examime educational reform. During practical training we will be at school where we will do our research.

9) Teaching practise (4 ECTS)

This is the main and for me the most important part of the whole semester. I am in Heerde (small village next to Zwolle) in a Jenaplan school. I have to teach at least 26 lessons. I will see the idea of Jenaplan in a practical way.

10) Teacher in Europe student conference (1 ECTS)

Students learn in an international environment how to design a project under Erasmus + and to complete a final proposal.

Lisa, Jacob and Viktoria had mostly only the first part of the courses because they left in the second part. Nevertheless, they also participated in the same courses as the other international students.

Zwolle:

Zwolle is the capital city of the province "Overijssel" being a paradise for students. It is a lively city with a population of more than 118.000 people. It boasts a beautiful city centre with historic buildings, canals and the remainders of an old city wall. But Zwolle has more to offer than just historic landmarks. The city is also rich in art and culture.

Green

Zwolle has great shopping, with charming shopping streets in the centre, where large chain stores alternate with small specialty shops. There are also plenty of culinary delights to be found in and around the centre, ranging from top restaurants to bistros and cafés.

The municipality of Zwolle feels very strongly about the nature found in and around the city. Not only will you find plenty of green spaces, but the municipality also maintains its natural beauty in an innovative fashion. With nearly eighty thousand jobs, Zwolle is also an excellent source of emplyment. The employed population of Zwolle is younger than the overall Dutch average.

Accomodation

As said before, the university organised a good accomodation for us. It is a little bit outside from the city center on a camping place. We have a sort of "bungalow". They are small houses with everything we need. The sleeping rooms are quite small but it is enough! Here on the camping place are 10 other people from Erasmus+, and so we meet us often and doing something together. We pay about 375,- Euros including water and gas per month for the rent.

Name of accomodation: Camping de Agnietenberg

Adress: Haersterveerweg 27

8034 PJ Zwolle

Country: Netherlands

Website: http://www.campingagnietenberg.nl/de/

Transport

In the Netherlands it is an obligation to have a bike! Without a bike you are totally lost. In the Netherlans are more bikes than cars, it is incredible. There are special ways for bikes everywhere, even in the roundabouts and cars have to stop for you. We have to drive about 30 minutes to University with our bikes.

But also the train in the Netherlands is really cool! Every 30 minutes there is a direct connection to the bigger cities (Amsterdam, Den Haag, Rotterdam, Groningen, ...) and it is quite cheap. But one thing is really good: the more people you are, the less is costs. So if you are a group of 10, you can go to any city you want for just 7 Euros - and this ticket is valid for the whole day (so back and forth).

Nevertheless, we suggest that you buy a bike when you arrive here. You can either go to a second hand shop or buy a bike from another student leafing Zwolle. Normally, the bikes are around 30€ to 70€. But be aware that you have a good tyre as well as chain, otherwise repairing can get really expensive.

Life in the Netherlands

Here in Zwolle are a lot of opportunities to do something, especially at night. Here are a lot of bars, discos and pubs. A bar called "The flying horse" is the most popular for students, it is always full! But it is not just good for drinking, you can get a meal for 2,50 Euros, which is really cheap.

When you compare Austria and the Netherland from the prices, it is actually the same. Food and clothes are the same, but I think products for "beauty" are quite expensive, but you can always get a special offer at "Kruidvat".

In the city center are a lot of shops where you can buy clothes, something to eat and a lot of other stuff!

When you are here, you have to visit the bigger cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Den Haag! They are absolutely wonderful and every city has its own charme! Furthermore you can get via facebook cheap group tickets for 7 euro!

Teaching practice:

First of all, Bert Thole divided us to different schools. Some schools are located in Zwolle, one school is in Heerde and one school in Dronten. You teach either alone or in pairs. Moreover, the university decided to mix the nationalities of the students. For example: Austria and Turkey. In addition, some schools have a reformpedagogical focus, like Jenaplan or Dalton. Other schools are concerned on ICT and on the foreign language English. Most of the primary schools can be reached by bus or bike.

In general the primary school in the Netherlands is called "basisschool" and the pupils have to attend school from the age of 4 to 12. All in all the pupils are divided in eight groups. Group 1 and 2 are similar to the "kindergarten" in Austria. Group 3 to 6 are like Austrian primary schools. The last two groups are matched with the first two grades of the secondary school in Austria.

Teaching practice:

Mid February we had the first contact with our teaching practice schools. The first two Mondays we just observed the lessons of our allocated groups. Moreover, we observed the teachers behaviour including the rituals, (non)-verbal signals and the arrangement in class. While this time we supported the teacher as much as we could. We have to mention, it wasn´t always easy to help the teacher because of the language barrier. Due to the fact, German and Dutch language is similar to each other, we could follow the main content of the lessons. Altough we understood most of the instructions of the teacher, helping the pupils with several tasks was difficult because of our missing Dutch knowledge. We also tried to get in contact with the pupils and to make a good relation as well as the teachers. Furthermore, we looked through all departments of the school to get a good orientation.

Generally, we were welcomed very friendly at each school and they were happy to have international students at their school because of improving the pupils´ English knowledge. In addition the cultural exchange of the diverse nationalities is a further advantage for the school.

Pupils behaviour:

At the first encounter with the pupils we recognised immediately that their behaviour is different to Austrian pupils. The pupils in our teaching practice schools were working very independently altough the teacher isn´t in the classroom. In addition, if they have a problem or question due to a task, they ask a classmate for advise before asking the teacher. The cohesion of the classes is very strong and the pupils help each other.

When you enter the schools you feel comfortable and relaxed! Each school seems like one family. Moreover, the pupils like being in school and we think that they know the importance of learning. The pupils have already recognised that they learn for themselves and for their future. This way of thinking is given through the working atmosphere in school.

Concerning the "teacher-pupils-relation" in our Netherland schools and in comparison to Austria, this relationship is much closer. This becomes apparent in class because the teacher seems to be like a "friend" or a "companion" for the pupils. Nevertheless, the pupils respect the teacher as an authority.

As you can see below there is the overview of our teaching practice lessons:

- week 8 (only monday, observations in different departments)

- week 10 (only monday, observations in different departments)

- week 11 (only monday, 1 lesson + supporting the teacher)

- week 12 (only monday, 1 lesson + supporting the teacher)

- week 14 (4 days; 2 lessons + supporting the teacher per each day)

- week 15 (4 days; 2 lessons + supporting the teacher per each day)

- week 18 (4 days; 2 lessons + supporting the teacher per each day)

- week 20 (3 days; 2 lessons (incl. world citizenship) + supporting the teacher per each day)

- week 22 (hand in "Demonstration Portfolio)

All in all we have to absolve 32 teaching practice lessons. For the students which stay 3 months have to absolve 26 lessons.

A "lesson" is defined as follows: The student chooses one activtiy of at least 20 minutes. This activity has to be prepared by using a "lesson preparation form". Each teaching practice day, at least one of our lessons have to be evaluated by using the "evaluation form". In addition, we had to work out a number of compulsory teaching practice assignments (f.e. lesson observation forms, form of effective teacher behaviour, fill in a list of competences, demonstration portfolio, ...)

In conclusion, at least 26 lessons should be given and at least 13 must be evaluated. As already mentioned, in week 20 we had to carry out a project on "world citizeship". This project is in connection with the module "Culture and Society 1". During this project a comparison of the Netherlands and our home country (f.e. Austria) has to be done. Therefore, different topics could be used for preparing a lesson such as special meals, typical dances, differences in school systems, mimes and gestures, proverbs and so on.

Every student has a tutor from university. This tutor is coming one time to observe you during your teaching. Afterwards, a discussion about your lesson takes places. In addition, the "demonstration portfolio" is a basis for the meeting.

Our teaching practice schools:

Lisa Koller and Nicole Skoberne -> Jenaplanschool Heerde

Viktoria Mosbacher -> Zonnewijzer Dronten (ICT)

Jacob Stössl -> Parkschool Zwolle (Early Bird - English)

Daniel Scharf -> Christelijke Daltonschool Koningin Emma Zwolle

Activities during the Internatinal Minor

Ice skating

On the first day at the Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, all Erasmus students as well as three teachers went after some lectures ice skating in Deventer. The previous knowledge of this kind of sport was very different within us students. While we Austrian are familiar with ice skating, others have had some difficulties at the beginning. However, they also could make progress in it. After ice skating, we were all sitting around a fire in the cafeteria of this ice hall. In our opinion, it was a great start of this Erasmus and we could get to know each other.

Typical Dutch games

In order to learn something about the Dutch culture, three Dutch students of the KPZ taught us some typical Dutch games, which are played especially at birthday parties.

This event was also in our first week and we played the following games:

- “Zaklopen” (sack race)

- “Koekhappen” (catching blindly an in the air hanging cookie only with the mouth )

- “Touwtrekken” (tug war)

- “Spijkerpoepen” (getting a on a string strapped spike, which is around your belly, into a bottle)

We liked those games very much and at the same time, our community within us international students was growing.

Week with English students

Due to the fact that English students were coming to the KPZ, the teachers had the idea to get them in touch with us international students. In addition, those students are also studying for becoming a primary school teacher. Generally, we had lectures together, in which we could also talk to each other as well as exchange experiences concerning teaching. In mixed national groups, we were playing board games, which were based on answering questions about school experiences. Additionally, we also talked in small groups about advantages as well as disadvantages concerning the educational system in England and in Austria, in our case. Furthermore, we had a Dutch dinner together at the famous student-pub “Het vliegende paard” with very delicious meals. On their last day in the Netherlands, two Dutch students of the KPZ organized a tour through the most popular pubs in Zwolle.

All in all, we think that it this meeting with the English students was a great idea and we could learn something from the others. In addition, the lectures of the KPZ-teachers were also informative and interesting.

International sport day

On the 27.03., the international sport day took place and we international students were invited to join. To be more precise, it had to do with a group competition within teams of the 5 schools for primary school in the Netherlands. In order to take part in it, we had to divide us in two groups and thereby, the minimum of seven students per team had to be considered

The following kinds of sports were offered:

- Frisbee

- “Monokorfbal”

- Hockey

- Football - different

- Football

- Wheel-chair basketball

- basketball

All in all, this event was really amusing and we had a lot of fun.

Project week 'Randstad' (Amsterdam and The Hague)

The teachers of the KPZ organized for us international students a three day trip, which was called “Project Week Randstad”. On the first day, we went by train to Amsterdam, where we visited…. . In the evening, we went by train to The Hague, where we went to our hostel. On the second day we went to…. . The night from the second to the third day, we slept in the same hostel. On the third day, we visited…. .

All in all, it only cost 75€, what in our opinion is really less for this nice offer concerning the sights as well as the accommodation in a hostel.

All in all, we are all the same opinion that the organization as well as the choice of the sights was great and we are very grateful for offering this project week.

Last days and leaving

The last weeks we had not a lot of classes but we need this freetime to work on our assignments. We had not to work only on written assignments, we also created for drama a little movie in small groups. We recorded in the whole city and it was a lot of fun. One of our last days was the presentation of our movies where the others from the international minor judged our film with criterias we descussed before.

On the last day of univeristy we had presentiations about our ideal schools we worked the weeks before. In small groups we planed interactive activities to present our ideas to the rest of the international student and our teachers. Than we rode with our bicycle back to the camping to prepare the final party. We cooked "Wiener Schnitzel" and "Kaiserschmarn". The others cooked their special meals from the different countries so we had a big meal all together and also had some last drinks in one group. The party was really nice and in the end it was really sad and hard to leave, because this was the last time we celebrated together as a group and maybe we will see a few of them never again.

Reflection Viktoria Mosbacher:

Studying in Zwolle for three months was an amazing experience. Due to the fact that the way of teaching is totally different to Austria, I could gather many suggestions for teaching during my teaching practice in Dronten. I espacially enjoyed living on the campsite with most of the international students. The international group was also very insprining and I made a lot of new friendships. Last but not least, I will totally recommend going to Zwolle, although the three months were really stressful.

Reflection Lisa Koller:

Staying for three months in Zwolle was an experience which has changed my life. I enjoyed it studying at the KPZ and especially living on the campsite with other international students. Living with people from different countries inspired me and I made a lot of new friendships. Due to the fact that we had to absolve teaching practice lessons, I could improve my way of teaching and I collected many new teaching methods. Although the three months were stressful, going abroad was one of the best things I have ever done. Therefore, I will give the advice: If you have the chance to go abroad, do it. =)

Reflection Jacob Stössl:

The time in Zwolle was an experience, which I will never forget. Although those three months were quite stressful, my learning progress was big. Especially from the education system, which is different to the Austrian system, I could learn a lot by observing lessons at Dutch schools. In addition, my English skills have been improved by talking with the other international students as well as teaching in English. Through this Erasmus, I have got to know a lot of people from different countries and so I could new friendships. In addition, living on the campsite was great, because almost all international students had a chalet there and we made many things together in our free time.

All in all, those three months were full of great experiences and I would recommend everyone to take this chance of studying abroad.

Reflection Daniel Scharf.

For five month of my course in University of Graz I got the opportunity to study abroad on the Erasmus experience. I had never thought about studying abroad from my beloved Austria before but with so many of my friends wanting to take this once in a life time opportunity to study abroad, I thought “why don’t I do the same”

That turned out to be the best decision of my life (so far). I ended up studying in Zwolle and what a place it was to study abroad. It had fun, food, culture and a social life to rival anywhere in the world. The relationship between teachers, students and international students is very friendly and close. I feel like i have studied here my whole life.

Reflection Nicole Skoberne:

My advise: If you have the opportunity, go abroad! Do your erasmus year and take the chance to go somewhere else! You will change and grow in your character and everything else. Here in Zwolle and at the KPZ I learned a lot! Not only you see something else, some other cultures and traditions, also you as a teacher change. At the KPZ it was a real stressful time, so do not go here if you just want to make party and have a relaxing semester but in my opinion if you really want to learn something and improve your “teacher skill“, the KPZ is for sure one of the best decisions, also because you have a good relationship to the teachers! I enjoyed my stay here a lot, and I want to come back some day, maybe for another education. But watch out: if you are once living somewhere else and meeting all those people, you want to visit everybody and look for the next opportunity to go abroad!

About my teaching practise:

In the first 2 weeks on Monday I was just observing the school.  I am in a Jenaplan school so it is very different to our common schools in Austria. Here the primary school is from age 4 to 12.

I am in a mixed aged class - the pupils are 9-10 years old.

When you enter the school you feel comfortable and it is relaxed! The whole school is one family, the older ones help the younger ones.

Here in this school the parents are involved a lot - they stay quite a long time in the morning and talking to other parents and teacher (and not just from the class in which their child belongs).

Also the pupils are very independent. They are working on their own and there is almost no introduction needed. When they have a problem, they do not go to the teacher. First they trying on their own, then they go to the classmates (maybe the older ones) and then , the last instance, they go to the teacher.

In my last week, we had an international week. I danced with the pupils a typical Austrian dance, Skyped with a class from Austria and made an Austrian spread. All in all the children had fun and it was a really nice experience!

So the Netherlands is the perfect opportunity to see all the alternative educations (Jenaplan, Montessori, Dalton, Frije School, ...)

Nicole Zelzer, University Of Huelva, Spain, Mobility For Study, Phst

Huelva

The province of Huelva is situated in the south-west corner of Spain, with Portugal to the west, Seville and Cadiz to the east, Extremadura to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the south.  It´s a city not very popular for tourists but maybe this is the special charm. Huelva City is also where Christopher Columbus organised and set sail on his trip to the New World.Today Huelva is a large, sprawling and industrialised city with a population of 141,000.They have a good and mainly cheap public bus system and its just half an hour to the beautif

ul beaches of Punta Umbria. A drive with the bus in the city and into the smaller ones around is between 0,60€ and 2,50€. Much of Huelva’s cuisine incorporates fresh fish and seafood, which can be found in the local city markets.Huelva has a typical Mediterranean climate, with extremely mild winters and long, hot summer days.

University

The University is spread over four sites. The main and newest campus is El Carmen, to the north of the city where the Faculties of Experimental Sciences, Law, Humanities, Education Sciences, Labour Sciences, the School of Nursing and the School of Social Work can be found as well as state of the art computing facilities and the central library. The Faculty of Business Science is housed in a building of architectural merit next to the cathedral in the heart of the city centre and is known as La Merced. The Polytechnic is strategically located to the west at La Rabida, high on a hill overlooking the Tinto estuary and the city’s industrial areas where strong links have been formed with the University. The University General Registry and administrative centre is located in Cantero Cuadrado.

We had all our courses at the campus El Carmen. The organization at the university was rather poor, we were not even registered the first 5 weeks. The main issue was the financial crisis and the degraded jobs at the university. They were overhelmed with all the Erasmus students and the no longer existing courses. Because of that, we had no possibility to officially attend courses, or to load materials. The professors didn´t want to have us in their courses as well, because that would mean that they had to speak in english, what they did not want because the spanish students didn´t understand english. The first few weeks were not easy and finally we had anyway to visit all courses they offered. Fortunately we quickly found friends among the Spanish students who helped us with organizational matters and also with the communication between us and the professors.

school practice

C.E.I.P. El Puntal

Goya s.n.

21110 Bellavista (Aljaraque-Huelva)

The ‘Colegio Público el Puntal’ offers a kindergarten for children from the age of 3 up to the sixth year of primary education. Since 2014 they may be described as a bilingual school.

Unfortunately there was not a possibility to do a official school practice this year. The University don´t offers this course any longer. Fortunately, we found a professor who helped us to find a school.

At the school, ther is an open, friendly environment for children. But of course I see many differences to the schools in Austria. Unfortunately I can´t say anything about the training of teachers, because we got no chance to join any courses. What is really different in practice in Austria is the diversity of methods. I spent 13 days in Bellavista and all I could see was classical frontal teaching. What I really liked at that school was how they deal with kids with special needs. Everyone was really integrated. I also liked the kindergarten. I think they are really forward looking. I think it was a good experience and showed me the good but self-evident things in my own country and school system. I´m really happy that the teachers from the school in Bellavista were so open minded to integrate us totally in the school. They were all very nice and dedicated people and I don´t want to miss the time there.

resume

It was a great pleasure for me to spend the summer semester 2015 in Spain, to gain study and life experience. I extended my knowledge of languages and saw other school systems. A great incentive for a semester abroud was the enrichment for me through another culture, conventions and mindset. Furhermore is Spain well-known for its unique landscape, which I saw and explored. We traveled a lot throughout the country what was indescribably exciting and impressive. The most beautiful side effect – I  lived by the sea for half a year. I explored the university got to know fellow students and took part in the Spanish way of study-life as good as possible. We had to organize a lot by ourselves and that wasn´t that easy but maybe thereby we learned even more for our future life. All in all, anyway a great enriching experience – I`ll recommend Erasmus continues!!

There are new chances behind each horizon.

Petra Schablas, University Of Huelva, Spain, Mobility For Study, Phst

Author: Petra Schablas

Universidad de Huleva

Contact: Servicio de Relaciones Internacionales

Contact Person: Juan José Gómez Boullosa (drinter02@sc.uhu.es)

Pabellón Juan Agustín de Mora. Campus «El Carmen»

Avda. Fuerzas Armadas, s/n

21071 Huelva

(University; Image: Petra Schablas)

Arrival And Housing

I got my confirmation to spend my summer semster 2014/15 in Huelva in June 2014. So I got a place in a 20 hours-spanish course already in June and another one was from November to December. I booked my flight from Vienna to Sevilla in October for 140€ and then, after a stressful winter semester at our home university, I started my journey on the 8th of February.

There were three other girls from my home university in Huelva. One of them was my flatmate, so I sharde the flat with her and another student from Slovakia. The flat was quiet nice and we paid each 240€ per month (electricity etc. included) which is an average price in Huelva. We found the flat on Facebook before we left to Spain. (For our landlord´s contact details just contact me!)

When we arrived we had to stay some nights in a hostel until our rooms in this flat were ready for moving into because there lived still the students from the winter semester. But after buying some new bed linen, towels and so on we felt homey quiet soon.

(Our flat; Image: Petra Schablas)

(Orange trees in front of our flat; Image: Petra Schablas)

University started at the 16th of February with the so-called Orientation Week in which we got some instructions and official papers from the University and also the chance to get in touch with other Erasmus students at some ESN-events.

Huelva

Huelva is a city in southwestern Spain in the autonomous region of Andalusia, and is situated close to the boarder of Portugal. It has a population of 150.000 and a climate whitch is characterized by very mild and wet winters and long warm to hot and dry summers. When we arrived it was still pretty cold- not so much in the outside but very cold in the flats. There are no heating systems in flats in this region of Spain so we had to heat with small radiators which costs a lot of electricity.

Huelva is not very famous for tourists but there are still some nice places.

(Port of Huelva; Image: Petra Schablas)

The closest beach is in a small town called Punta Umbria and is around 25 minutes per bus. It is nice that it´s not that far away but during the summer it is still kind of annoying that you always have to use the very crowded bus. The bus is the only way to go to the beach by public transport, costs 1,55€ and goes every hour. But this "effort" is worth taking it because how often in your lifetime do you have the chance to go every weekend to the beach.

(The beach in Punta Umbria; Image: Petra Schablas)

University

The university has approximately 10.000 students including 200 Erasmus students every semester. There are three buldings- Technical Studies are located in La Rabida, outside of Huelva, Economic Studies are located in La Merced in the old city center of Huelva and most of the other studies are located in the main campus named El Carmen. I have all my courses in El Carmen.

At the beginning it was not easy to get into all the courses. Due to the economic crisis the University has a huge money problem. There are just a few courses open for Erasmus students and they offered just one of my courses from the Learning Agreement. All the registration process was very chaotic because there were not enough places. I had my registration in the mid of March and we were not able to do anything in and for our courses until the registration because we didn´t get a password for the Moodle course which would have been very essential. The lecturers did not wanted to have us Erasmus students in their courses and we all did not feel very welcome.

Another problem was the language. We were told that all our courses will be in English so it is not completely necessary to speak Spanish. But when we were there some lectures were very upset that almost nobody of the Erasmus people spoke Spanish."This is a huge problem. There are rally not enough places and not enough English courses for all of you if nobody speaks Spanish."

Apart from the teacher practical all the other courses were twice a week for 2 or 2 1/2 hours. So we had every day about 2 hours of univeristy in the morning and two hours in the afternoon.

In the end we were able to enrol in the following courses:

-Didáctica de la lengua extranjera Inglés (6 ECTS): This course is for future primary teacher to learn how to teach english to very young learners. There were 50 Spanish students and 5 Erasmus students. The teacher tried to teach some didactics but most of the time she was just teaching basic English to the students because their English was really content we already learned at home and on the other hand she was not able to ask difficult questions at the final exam because the Spanish students would have had a language problem. We had to do a lot of handycraft homework and I was really amazed how much effort everyone of the spanish students put into!

-Inglés 2 (6 ECTS): This is a course from the langugage department for students who study English language and literature studies. Eventhough the students studied English as their main subject the level of difficulty was also not that high. I had a good feeling through the whole semester and it was easy going but in the end the final test was pretty hard. There was very complex vocabulary and tricky grammar and many people failed.

- Corrientes y Experiencias Renovadoras en Educación Infantil (6 ECTS): This is a course for future kindergarten teacher and is mainly about the history of pedagogy. Officially the course should have been held in English but on the first day when we joined this subject the lector told us that it will be held in Spanish due to English langugage problems. After some controversy and -again- a lot of persuading we made a deal that the teacher talked in Spanish and always made a quick summary of the spoken topics in English. This was good for our Spanish improvement but very exhausting. Especially the team work with the other Spanish students was very difficult. We had to arrange some lessons in a real school and also do some other project work which was a lot of work because they were not even able to speak some simple English phrases and my Spanish was also poor. Thank Google for Google Translate which was our savior. At the end the teacher was suprised that all of us 5 Erasmus students in the course managed to pass all the 5 Exams during the semester, obviously she didn´t expected that.

-Spanish A1 (6 ECTS): This was my favourite course. We had such a nice Spanish women who really cared about us 15 Erasmus students. We did a lot of grammar and vocabulary but it helped us to learn some basic structures of the langugage. I already had 6 years of French in school which really helped me to understand the langugage maybe a bit faster. But at the end of the semester we were all able to understand quite a lot and talk about some daily life routines and situations.

-Teacher practical (6 ECTS): After the problems with all our nonexistend courses we were not really suprised when the secretary told us that it is not possible any longer to do a teacher practical. So we had to care about it on our own and luckily found an employee from the university who has a son in a school where we were able to do the practicum. We arranged with the headmaster to stay in the school of Bellavista for 12 days from the morning until 3 o´ clock in the afternoon. The problem was that, as mentioned, it was not an official course so we had to skip some of our univeristy courses on all of these days. The practical was very interesting because we were able to join classes from the kindergarten until up to 13 year-old children. I teached some English lessons and the rest of the lessons I supported the teacher and the children. We were able to do a lot of cultural work and it was great to see the differnces between the spanish and the austrian school system.

(Classroom; Image: Petra Schablas)

The school:

C.E.I.P. El Puntal

Goya s.n.

21110 Bellavista

Secretaría: +34 959524978

Conclusion

To sum up I have to say that eventhough there have been some issues concerning the university it was a great semester abroad! I really started to love Spain and also the spanish people. Of course you don´t get used to their extraordinary lazy lifestyle but you really have to enjoy the positive aspects about it. I would definitely go again on Eramsus but maybe at his moment not to Huelva. Of course it is a great place but the financial situation is so noticeable at the university and I know Erasmus students which were at other universities where you can "enjoy" the semester more and don´t have to worry so much about the organisation and lectures. Furthermore I would highly recommend to be able to speak Spanish. Not just Level A1, I would say at least B1 to be able to join normal Spanish courses. But I got in touch with so many students from all around Europe and we were able to travel so much (Madrid, Valencia, Portugal, many cities in Andalucia, Marokko) that I don´t regret anything and I honestly can say that the months in Huelva were some months which I will never forget!

(Sagres, Portugal; Image: Petra Schablas)

If you want to get any informations or need some advices just contact me: petra.schablas@gmail.com

Ramona Weiskopf, University Of Iceland, Iceland, Mobility For Study, Phst

Author: Ramona Weiskopf

Reviewer: Philipp Wurm

University contacts

University of Iceland

Sæmundargötu 2

101 Reykjavík

Iceland

Tel.: +354 525 4000

Mail: hi@hi.is

Courses

Teaching Practice – 4 ECTs

Introduction to English Language Teaching – 10 ECTs

Pedagogy – 10 ECTs

Icelandic Culture and Nature Legacy – 10 ECTs

(I would recommend this class because here you learn a lot about this country and you have lots of interesting excursions.)

I did an Erasmus semester in the winter semester of 2014 in Iceland. It was a great experience and I wouldn´t like to miss all the positive impressions I´ve made in this country. I met a lot of people from all over the world and after my stay I still have contact to them.

For me, everything was a bit different and also a little bit difficult, because I was an exchange student in the first year of Erasmus+. So, I had to register twice and I couldn´t do a lot of things that should have been done before my stay abroad. But that was not because of the university in Reykjavik, but as a result of the organization of Erasmus. It is a lot of work to change the whole program, so don´t be afraid if something doesn´t work or if you don´t get all your material that you need immediately.

Money

If you want to do an exchange semester in Iceland, you should have some money left. For the rent you have to pay about 350-450€, if you take a location from the university page. They send you this list, if you choose to get it in your application. But if you want to have a good accommodation, you should be very fast in answering the landlords.

At the beginning the exchange rate from Euros to Icelandic Crowns (1 Eur ~ 150 ISK) is very unfamiliar, but you get used to it very fast. Not only the rents are expensive, also grocery shopping and especially clothes and so on are more expensive then in Austria. When you need food, you should go to Bonús. This is the cheapest way to do grocery shopping. Sometimes you pay 100% more for equivalent products in non-discounters. Of course sometimes they have a higher quality, but if you are on a budget, Bonús is the best way.

I would recommend to have a credit card, if you go to Iceland. First of all your purse will get very fat immediately if you carry all these coins that you get if you pay cash all the time. Secondly nearly no one in Iceland pays cash. Even if you go to a bar, nearly everyone pays by card. The third reason is to have a credit card to fill the tank of a car. In the gas stations outside of the capital, most of the time it is not possible to fuel without a credit card. You should have a credit card with a code, otherwise you can’t use the self-service gas stations outside of Reykjavik. (This is of course irrelevant if you don’t plan to make trips with rented cars – but why wouldn’t you?)

Learning the language – language course

Learning Icelandic isn´t easy. Before I went there I learned the language with the help of Icelandic Online (http://icelandiconline.is/). That´s a superb preparation. I also did a language course in august in the westfjords. That was great. I can recommend this course to everybody. First of all you meet a lot of people from all over the world and I profited from that the whole semester. In this course I found friends for my whole time in Iceland, but also long friendships arose. This language course is not cheap. You have to pay 500€ for the course and 500€ for the accommodation. But in my opinion it´s really worth it.

Social life

You get to know new people easily. The people there are very open minded. You can also party well in Reykjavik. But for that you have to wait until the weekend. During the week the many bars and pubs are only opened until 1 AM, but Fridays and Saturdays Icelanders and exchange students party hard. Nearly all of Iceland’s youth is downtown. A pint of beer costs around 1000 ISK (~ 6,70€). If you want to have cheaper beer you should get the “Appy Hour”-App. There you can find the happy hours for all the bars in Reykjavik and it’s always happy hour somewhere. There you can get your pint starting from 350 ISK (~ 2.30€).

Trips and freetime

I had to go to university three times, sometimes four times, a week, so I had a lot of time to discover this beautiful country. I rented a car with some friends, because that´s totally affordable in Iceland in the winter season. You can also hitch-hike easily. The people are very friendly and you don´t have to be afraid.

Some places you should absolutely visit when you are in Iceland:

Westfjords

Mývatn

Skaftafell

Golden circle

All in all this time in Iceland was one of the best in my life. I don´t want to miss all the impressions and experiences. In my opinion everybody should do such an exchange semester. You become more independent and more self-confident and you meet new friends from all over the world.

Sabrina Noichl, University Of Karlstad, Mobility For Study, Phst

Karlstad University

SE-651 88 Karlstad, SWEDEN

Universitetsgatan 2

Phone: +46-(0)54-700 10 00

Fax: +46-(0)54-700 14 60

E-mail: information@kau.se

International Office

Contact person: Alicia Berg

Universitetsgatan 2

651 88 Karlstad SWEDEN

E-mail: Alicia.Berg@kau.se

Study in Sweden

The university in Sweden is located about 3km out of the center and surrounded by student accommodations and it is one of the youngest universities in Sweden. The sun in front of the building shouldsymbolizethe light and it represents life, warmth and energy. It is associated with enlightenment and growth, just like Karlstad University. Compared to universities in Austria, in Sweden students are working a lot of their time in groups or alone. Actual time in the class with the teacher is about 5-10h a week, the rest of the time students are supposed to work indepented and with the course literature. Teachers in Sweden attach great important to using the course literature and spend time at the library research things and write assignments/ essays about it afterwards. Therefore the library is huge and there are four floors with about 1200 seats, 230 computers with a working space and 28 private rooms for group discussions or projects. It is a public research library - open to everyone needing to use its collections.

The grades in Sweden are also different than in Austria. You pass your exam / your class with a VG (pass with distinction) or with a G (pass), you fail your clas / exam when you get a F (fail).

Sweden is a very equal country, people face each other in a very equal way. So it was quite weird for me the first time to call my teachers and professors at the university with their first name and it was also new for me to be called by them with my first name.

The classes are always really small, not more than 25 people in one course group. This fact makes the courses in Sweden very familiar and easy to feel comfortable really quick. They don't have compulsory attendance but it is common that everybody visit the lectures as much as it is possible.

As an erasmus student you are also in a "Host Group" with about 10 other students and your hosts are students which are here since one semester or longer. They pick you up at the train station, show you everything on Campus and tell you everything you need to know. They also organizes "host-dinners" or other activities.

Orientation week:

In the week before the semester starts Karlstad University offers a orientation week in which they tell you really EVERYTHING important to know when it comes to study or/ and live here.

For example we had lectures about:

- How to live in a students budget

- Rules and laws in Sweden

- Library and how to rent books etc.

We also had guided tours on the university area and in town and they organized every night anything else to give us the chance to get to know each other better.

(University of Karlstad, January 2015)

My courses

1. Intercultural Communication I (15 ECTS)

"The course aims at building up skills in interpreting, evaluating and developing effective strategies for communication within various cultures. The focus is on the shaping of values and modes of behaviour in different cultures." (available at: http://www.kau.se/en/education/courses/IKGA11, 01.05.2015)

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the course the student should be able to:

- give an account of some theories on how values and norms are formed in different cultures

- apply the fundamental concepts and theories of intercultural studies to different cultures

- analyse the relationship between culture, communication, identity and values Content and Form of Instruction Instruction is in the form of lectures and group work in which students are expected to participate actively.

The course focuses on the following aspects:

- approaches to intercultural studies

- the basic terminology, concepts, and theories in the field of intercultural studies

- survey of the development of the field and its relevance to contemporary society

- the implications of the relation between culture, verbal and non-verbal communication, identity, and values - the students' cultures

(available at: https://www3.kau.se/kursplaner/en/IKGA11_20072_en.pdf ; 01.05.2015)

The class was constructed in lectures, group work in class, presentations in teams and a lot of assignments and group analyses and at the and we had a big written exam.  We got seperated in groups of 4-5 people of different country origins , for example in my group was Alberto from Spain, Chey from the Philippines, Sonja from Germany and Yanbark from Turkey. We were supposed to make presentations about our education and culture in our country and do analyses of movies.

We also had to make a country presentation, in my case with Alexander from Austria and of course about Austria. We talked about culure differences, customs and special celebrations.

At the end of the term , middle March, we had our written exam about the contents of the course literature and the Power Point slides.

Our teachers Annika and Andreas are the heads of the Intercultural Communication department and they are genius in what they do. Both are really good in connecting new information, basic knowledge and a lot of fun in therer courses. We also had an international dinner in class and they tried to open us new ways to understand Intercultural Communication.

All in all the class was really interesting and I learned a lot about communication, international connections and how to deal with new or foreign challenges.

2. Swedish as a foreign language I (7,5 ECTS)

My second class was a little bit harder for me than the first one. We had a male teacher who told us in the first lesson that he hadn't teached a beginner swedish class for a while and so he doesn't know what we want to learn or what are the important things. His way of teaching was pretty chaotic and we struggled a lot with the new grammar- which is really complicated in swedish- and the vocabularies.

After a little bit of time passes by he got better and I started to like the swedish language more and more. Anyway I was really glad for having my notes and the basic knowledge from the swedish language course in Austria.

We had to pass a listening comprehension, an oral exam and a almost 15 pages written grammar exam at the end of the term to pass the class.

3. Intercultural Communication; Media, Arts and Literature (7,5 ECTS)

This class is the continuation of my first Intercultural Communication class and my teacher is Andreas again. He specialized the contents of the class and we  work a lot with New Media, Mass Media, social networking and of course literature. We don't have to write a written exam at the end but we have to write two assignemts / analyses with the course literature, read an english novel and write answer questions afterwards and write a thesis (about 10 pages) about a theme we will get later on.

To apply / registrate for courses

Sweden and Swedes are well known for being really organized and so it is with every thing they do or create. They really care about there exchange students and remeber you about everything.

The homepage : http://www.kau.se/en is really overseeable created and you find everything really quick. They seperated there homepage in different chapters for example "Future students" or "Education" in which you can find everything you need for the registration.

As an Erasmus student you can only apply for english classes and you have to pay attention if the class is bachelor or master level.

But as I mentioned, the homepage is really comprehensible and easy to understand : http://www.kau.se/en/education/courses.

The next step after you chose your classes is to fill out the Learning Agreement and send it to the International Office and they will tell you what to do next.

After your arrival here you getyour own credentials for a page called "My page". It is pretty the same as our "Ph-Online" system and it is for your class registrations, to registrate for exams or/and log in to "Its learning" (similar to our Moodle Learning system).  How exactly everything works with my page and its learning will be explained at the orientation week.

How to live in Sweden

As a student you always live on Campus in Sweden. A own appartment is not financeable and also not really usual. The Campus is about 4min with the bus or a 10min walk away from university and it is fantastic. The Campus is seperated in Duettgatan and Triogatan (gatan = street) and it looks like a small village full of students. KBAB is the housing- cooperative and you sign up online for a room. Therefor they will write you an email soon enough (most of the time 1-2 months before you start your term).

You can apply/choose between a 17qm, 23qm or 26qm room. The 26 one is kind of a loft room with a stair inside and it is the most expensive one.  KBAB allocate you a room at the end and you get an email about 3 weeks before you start. I would suggest to be quick after you get the mail to apply for a room - I think it is a "first come - first serve" system.

I applied for the 23qm because I am used to have a bigger room and the price difference was only 30€. It costs me about 390 - 400€ p.months - it depends on exchange rate from Euro to Swedish Krona. In the rooms there are basic things like a bed, a table (or two), chairs, a wardrobe and a shelf. There also can be more things in it, it depends on who lived in your room before :) You have your own bathroom with toilett , sink and shower.

I can really recomment the 23qm room because you have enough space for your stuff and it is also allowed to bring friends here for a longer time f.e. friends from Austria who visit you. Therefore it is nice to have space for them and their air mattress to sleep.

All information to the rooms are given here:  http://www.kbab.se/student/foreign-students

You share a kitchen with 7-9 other people on your floor. You have your own space in the frigde (if you are lucky , you have two ;-) ) , a space in the freezer and two cupboards for your things. Normally there are plates, bowls etc. in the kitchen, worst case you just buy your own things at IKEA.

There is also one laundry room in the house with two washing machines and one dryer. You book the laundry room with your key.

All in all Sweden is an expensive country so you need more money for groceries etc. A normal week is about 50-70€ , depends where are you going (they also have Lidl her - would recomment to go there!).

School practise in Sweden

Internationella Engelska Skolan Karlstad

Gruvgången 4

653 43 Karlstad

Senior School

+46(0)54 771 91 10

Junior School

+46(0)54 771 91 14

www.engelska.se

info.karlstad@engelska.se

Contact Person: Christoffer Hook - Head of Department

christoffer.hook.karlstad@engelska.se

16 hours in primary school seperated in:

5h Sport

11h GU (Maths, English, History, Physics, Swedish)

The children in this school are there from 7:30 to 14:00 (primary school) or till 15:00. They eat together between 11:30 and 13:00 and spend almost all their time together. Between the lessons they have longer breaks where they go outside (they don't care about the weather) to play ice-hockey, street-hockey, soccer etc.

The school is a private school so parents have to apply for a spot really early. The classrooms are big and really nice furnished. When I saw them the first time the remembered me on living rooms with schools desks in it.

I had the chance to participate and also teach lessons in the International English school of Karlstad which was impressing and amazing. I accompanied Mr. Ely (teacher for English and Maths) the first two days because it was easier at the beginning to have somebody who speaks English and who also teachs in English. Mr. Ely is from Arizona, USA and since two years in Sweden.

He teachs in year 4- 6  and primary school. In Sweden the students have Maths in English after they finish primary school and English as a subjects since the first year.

At the start of every lesson he gave the students "welcome- questions" to solve. For example new calculuses or vocabularies they have to translate. That is his way to make the children focus on the context for the next 50min.

They don't have notebooks, they use notepads or their computers to note things.

So the students solve the welcome questions and the teacher set a "magical number" which is for exampel 15. That means that he will wait till 15 childs are finish with their questions and then they start to compare.

They work with a lot of New Media materials like Ipads, Computers and they only have interactive white boards. The only thing what is strictly forbidden are Smartphones, the childs have to put them into boxes and put it in a shelf.

Mr. Ely was a very funny, creative and passionate teacher. He made video clips at home about fields of mathematics and showed it to his class on the next day. The lessons are very varied and the students are very motivated. I was also impressed who good their English is, they knew technical terms of mathematics and switched without problems between English and Swedish.

During the lessons the children work very autonomous and only ask something if they really don't know or if nobody of the classmates can help.

An inherent part of the schedule is also lessons called "Mentor - lesson". Every teacher in this school has his mentor- class with about 10-15 childs. They are seperated in girls and boys and most of the time the boys f.e. come to a male teacher and reverse.

This lessons are used to give the students the chance to talk about things they bother them or also about things they want to change. They also are taught in being respectful and how to solve problems or discussions in a respectful way. When I was there, they talked about how to do it / how to behave when other people speak or how to behave if somebody makes a mistake. After that they wrote nice "one-sentence / one - word messages" on post-its and gave them to the teacher. Together we stuck on on every locker on the corridor, so the students found messages like "you are great" or "be proud of you" on the next morning when they came to school.

Also a different thing is that they have evaluations after every lessons or at least after every day. The students can write what they liked or if there was a problem with something and the teacher take this really serious. As everywhere in Sweden this school is very equal and so everybody behaves. But there is also a lot of respect between teacher and student, students call their teacher wit Mr. and Mrs. and there are very strict rules they have to stick to.

Once a month they have an "expert - day" where a special person comes to school and talks with the children about his/her work and make experiments or something else.

After two days I changed the teacher and I accompanied Mrs. Nyström in a primary school class (10years old children). This was a very new experience for me because they mostly talked in Swedish and the lessons were also 50% in Swedish. After my Swedish class at university I was able to speak a little bit, introduce myself and give woking - orders. We had a lot of fun together trying to speak in a language mix out of English, Swedish and also a little bit German beacause the children were very curious how German sounds like.

I participated a History lesson which was a little bit hard because it was in Swedish and Group - Work lessons. The children worked on the districts of Sweden. They built  a model out of paper and cardboard and researched everything in the internet or out of books. They wrote all their knowledge down on a paper and at the end of the project they make a book out of it.

So I helped the kids with their research and we practiced the presentation. At the presentation the teacher graded and also  the classmates had the chance to say something. They called is " two + and two - ". So two children were allowed to say something positiv and two to say something negativ.

I also had the chance to teach Sport lessons for the primary school and 5th grade. The teacher asked us if we can make a dance with the children so they have the chance to watch and grade them.

The sport lessons are always 90min in Sweden so we had a lot of time to make a choreography + warm up and stretching afterwards.

All in all my school practise in Sweden was really impressive and instructive. In my opinion they are a few steps forward us and I love how they integrate the children in almost all their decissions on the one hand but also demand a lot of respect on the other hand. In this school everybody works together as a team and because of the Mentor - lessons the children gain a lot of social skills and learn a lot for their lifes after school.

Sandra Schögler, Uniwersytet Pedagogiczny Kraków, Poland, Mobility For Study, Phst

Contact of my university

The Pedagogical University of Cracow

ul. Podchorazych 2

30-084 Kraków, Poland

www.up.krakow.pl

contact person, ERASMUS office:

Magdalena Birgiel

phone: (+4812) 662 60 48

e-mail: m.birgiel@up.krakow.pl

About my university

The university consists of the following faculties:

- Faculty of Humanities

- Faculty of Philology

- Faculty of Pedagogy

- Faculty of Geography and Biology

- Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Technical Science

- Faculty of Art

As an ERASMUS student you can choose your courses from one or more of these departments. Some of the courses are only available in Polish language, whereas others are in English.

You should contact each teacher at the beginning of your ERASMUS semestre, if the course will be in English or not.

UP also offers special courses only for ERASMUS students. These courses will be anounced at the beginning of each semestre and are held in English.

My courses

- Teaching Practice

ECTS: 4

I completed my teaching practice at the Katolickie Gimnazjum im. Świętej Rodziny z Nazaretu. At this school, I was teaching German and English in primary and secondary school. Moreover, I could observe some Music lessons.

My teaching colleagues and the school's principal were very welcoming and helpful. Especially for German Native speakers, this is a good school. I was the first German Native speaker teaching there. The students and the teachers were motivated to work together with me.

In my opinion, the ERASMUS office team in Cracow was not very helpful, as far as searching for schools for  ERASMUS students is concerned. I had to be persistent to get my school practice. Some of my international ERASMUS colleagues could not do their teaching practice at all. If you need the school practice for your learning agreement, you should definitely tell the ERASMUS office at the very beginning about it, shortly after arriving. AND: be persistent and tell them, that you really need this course.

- Intensive Polish Language Course

ECTS: 3

teacher: Julia Wilczynska

During the first weeks of my ERASMUS, I participated in an intensive polish language course. In this course, we learnt basic language skills, which were helpful to survive in every day life situations. Furthermore, this course offered a good opportunity to get to know the other ERASMUS students better.

The teacher can be called "UP's ERASMUS mother". She organised many great ERASMUS events and was very helpful.

- Polish Language Course (A1)

ECTS: 4

teacher: Julia Wiczynska

In this course, we learnt how to lead basic conversations in Polish and how to deal with situations in the supermarket, at the train station, and so on.

I was a little bit disappointed by that course, because most of us did not learn more Polish than in the Intensive Polish Language Course. My 5 polish flatmates and their friends helped me to improve my language skills much more. Nevertheless, I would take this course again, because the language is difficult to learn without practicing a lot.

- Photography

ECTS: 4

teacher: Halina Cader-Pawlowska

This course was about learning different analogue photography techniques. As it was a course from the Department of Art, it was more chaotic than the other courses. Sometimes, we had to be patient because the organisation was probably not the best. Nevertheless, it was definitely worth it: In the end, some of our pictures were exposed at the Museum of Modern Photography in Krakow. Our teachers organised a Vernissage, where we could introduce our art, together with our Polish classmates. Another reason, why I would take this course again, is, that I met nice Polish people around my age. They helped us ERASMUS students a lot and translated certain techniques to us, if the teacher's English was not good enough.

I learnt a lot during that course and it was a good experience for me.

- Contemporary Britain

ECTS: 4

teacher: Piskorz Artur

The seminar was about reflecting on British society. Therefore, we watched various British films together and discussed the main sociological issues in class. We also had to write a seminar paper about one British film and reflect on issues like Thatcherism, ethnical minorities, gender aspects, industrialisation and society and others.

This course was interesting because there was a lot of in-class discussion. We also compared British society to our own society. I liked the aspect of discussing certain sociological issues with an international class. Moreover, the teacher was competent and knows a lot about the topic.

- English Phonetics: Remedial Pronunciation Practice

ECTS: 4

teacher: Piotr Okas

In this course we practised English pronunciation in a small international group. We did chants, dialogues and focused on improving our pronunciation difficulties, by having a closer look at our Native languages as well.

I can definitely recommend this course, because the teacher was enthusiastic about the topic. This enthusiasm helped us improve our English pronunciation. His way of teaching was really authentic and his English pronunciation and knowledge about the topic in general was excellent.

- Using stories and storybooks in child education

ECTS: 4

teacher: Rokita-Jaskow Joanna

In this seminar we learnt about international children's literature and its use in class. We had to prepare presentations and write lesson plans about various books. There was also a discussion part in every class.

Even though this course was about primary school teaching, I still could use some ideas for improving my secondary school teaching.

- Introduction to Polish culture and history

ECTS: 6

teacher: Julia Wilczynska

It was a course, for ERASMUS students only. The teacher organised field trips and discovered Polish culture and history with us. We went to museums, Polish dance workshops, concerts, a beer brewery, the cinema, churches, synagogues and even to other Polish cities like Wroclaw, Wadowice and Zywiec.

This course helped me to understand Poland's difficult past and also today's Poland better. In this course, I learnt a lot about the places and people I was surrounded by during my ERASMUS stay. I can definitely recommend it.

Description of the application procedure at UP

Please send the nominations by email to Magdalena Birgiel (m.birgiel@up.krakow.pl )with the following data:

Name of the sending Institution and its Erasmus code

Full name of the student

The Student’s email address

The Student’s area of studies and Erasmus code to that area

The Student’s duration of stay (1st semester, 2nd semester, whole year)

The deadlines for your application are:

31 st May for the first/winter semester

30 th November for the second/summer semester

However, in case you need accommodation, June, 30 is the deadline for both semesters.

Once the Pedagogical University of Cracow has received an official nomination from a Partner University, prospective Erasmus student will receive an e-mail with application instructions.

After being nominated by a Partner University each student is asked to send signed and stamped documents such as:

1.) Application Form

2.) Learning Agreement for Studies

3.) Housing and Arrival Information (only if, a student want to have a room booked in our dormitory „Za Kolumnami„)

4.)  payment confirmation for dormitory till 31st, July 2015 (first semester and whole year), and 31st December 2015 (second semester)

5.) scanned the european health insurance card (european health insurance card is requested only if you are an EU-citizen, non-EU-citizens-other insurance, that is valid in Poland)

via e-mail at the address: m.birgiel@up.krakow.pl.

All the documents mentioned above are a mandatory requirement for the enrolment at the Pedagogical University of Cracow!

Once the Pedagogical University of Cracow has received an official nomination from a Partner University, prospective Erasmus student will receive an e-mail with on-line application instructions.

●If you are applying to come to the Pedagogical University of Cracow, you also need to check the courses and submit a Learning Agreement form. It should be completed with the help of the Erasmus Coordinator at your home institution. This covers all aspects of the programme of study and ECTS credits to be awarded on satisfactory completion, committing both home and host institutions, as well as the student. The courses given at our University are mainly taught in Polish but we also offer many courses in foreign languages (see courses available).

● At the end of their stay, a transcript of records showing the courses they have studied together with exam results and the ECTS credit points is sent to their home University directly.

Please be aware of the importance of meeting deadlines and procedure![1]

My teaching practice at Katolickie Gimnazjum im. Świętej Rodziny z Nazaretu

contact:

adress: 31-152 Kraków, ul. Pędzichów 13

phone: +48 12 634 50 50

fax: 12 634 30 57

e-mail: szkola@kcecak.krakow.pl

homepage: http://www.kcecak.krakow.pl/index.php/kontakt

General information about my teaching practice

The school is a catholic school in the centre of Krakòw. It consists of kindergarten, primary and secondary school. The students have to wear school uniforms only on the days when there is a mass for their grade. It is obligatory for them to participate in the holy mass, in the church next to their school, once a week. The teachers finish some of their lessons with a prayer. Before the long break, students and teachers pray together.

At this school, I could not observe heterogeneous classrooms. The students were divided into ability groups, similar to our old "Hauptschule" with its "Leistungsgruppen".

Foreign languages are an important issue in the Polish school system. All students have to learn English and German. Later, at gimnazjum, they can also choose other languages, like French or Spanish.

As far as the school's infrastructure is concerned, the school does not have much technical devices, musical instruments and other teaching equipment. In some classrooms there is nothing more available than a blackboard.

I was teaching various age groups and subjects. Even though I am only teaching children between the age of 10 and 14 at home, here I was also teaching younger and older students. In Krakòw I taught 6-17 year olds.

My first subject is English. I taught and observed it in different classes/ability groups and together with different teachers/mentors.

Music, wich is my second subject, I could only observe. As music lessons are usually in Polish language, I could not teach the subject by myself. I observed music lessons at primary and secondary school. In primary school every child must learn how to play the flute. There was no music room available. Furthermore, the only music teacher at that school had to bring her own equipment, which was a CD-player, a guitar and a flute.

The German teachers invited me many times to teach German to students around the age of 12 and 17. I was the first German Native speaker, which was teaching at that school.

Comparison of my Polish and Austrian school practice

For me, teaching at a Polish school was different than all my previous teaching practice at PH.

At PH we always learn about the importance of heterogeneous classrooms. Here in Poland, I could only observe homogeneous classrooms. The students were divided into ability groups. It can somehow be compared with the former Hauptschule- and Realschule- system in Austria. When I told the English teachers, that teachers in Austria should prepare differentiated material for every lesson, they were really surprised.

Moreover, I observed that the high-flyers ability group of the same 4th grader's class was fluent in speaking English. Whereas, the low-achievers, which had a different English teacher, were speaking almost only Polish during English lessons. One could say, that there was an obvious gap between their language level.

Speaking about teaching methods and technology, there was also a big difference. Most of the classes were only equipped with a blackboard. Therefore, teachers must be very creative in order to teach a good lesson. Otherwise, the lesson soon gets a little old-fashioned. Despite a lack of new technologies, I observed some creative lessons. One can say, that the teacher's attitude to teaching plays an important role for a good lesson.

The music lessons were completely different to those in Austria. In primary school, the whole class practices playing the flute together. They all must learn that instrument. As not every student was interested in learning the flute, one can imagine, how flute lessons sounded. Sometimes it was hard for me to identify something similar to a melody or rhythm.

Even though the school was not small, there was only one music teacher for primary-, secondary- school and for gymnazjum. I can imagine, that for some students it can be boring, to have the same music teacher throughout their school time.

I observed that the student's level of music theory was very high. In my view, they knew a lot more about music theory and music history than most Austrian students. One must add, that the music teacher also was singing with the students. Most of the songs were religious or classical music songs, but some of them were also popular music songs. Unfortunately, there was no music room available in the whole school. Therefore, the teacher only had her guitar, flute or CD-player as teaching equippment. In Austria, I never taught at a school without any music instruments available.

Moreover, I observed that there are not many foreign students in the classes. Most of the students are of Polish origin. Classes in Austria are much more multicultural.

Another big difference was the focus on religion and praying. There was a picture of the former Pope, John Paul II, (= the only real Pope for Polish people;)) and a picture of the new Pope in every classroom. Students had to sing many religious songs in music lessons and they are supposed to attend the holy mass every week, together with their classmates, additionally to their regular lessons. Furthermore, students and teachers were praying together during breaks. I never observed the same in Austrian schools before. I was talking to other Polish people about that and found out, that this is not the case in every school. Probably, there was a focus on religion because it was a Catholic school. Still, I could imagine that many schools in Poland are stronger connected to the Catholic church than Austrian ones.

Final reflection

The teaching practice in Poland was a completely new experience for me. I had to face many challenges, one, for instance, was, that I did not know a lot about the classes I was teaching. The teachers invited me to teach many different classes. Sometimes, I only new the children's age and their approximate language level. Additionally challenging, was the fact, that I did not teach German before.

Because of a rather badly equipped school, I had to face certain teaching boundaries. There is no multisensory-vocabulary teaching on the whiteboard or with a ppt-presentation, without any available device. There is no overhead transparency without a projector. That is why I could not use many of the teaching methods, which I learnt at PH. Sometimes, I took my guitar with me. Instead of using the CD-player, I was singing songs together with the students. According to their feedback, the students and teachers appreciated that.

My teaching practice in Poland helped me a lot, to practice how to react on unforseen situations in class. I am glad, that I managed to handle many new situations. The fact that there was only a blackboard available made me even more ambitious to prepare a good lesson.

Review of my stay abroad...

... in academic terms

The advantage of being an ERASMUS student at UP is, that you can choose among many different faculties and courses. I can only speak about the Department of Fine Arts and the English Department.

Courses from the Department of Arts are not well organised. You have to be very patient and spend a lot of time on waiting. It took me one month to start my courses there. You should not waste time in writing the teachers some emails about the courses. It's better to go to the department and meet them in person, if you would like to do some courses there. Once you managed to participate in the courses, it's great. The teachers are very enthusiastic about their subjects and they leave you a lot of space to experience your creativity. I participated in some advanced arts courses as a beginner in that field. Still, they supported me and my ideas a lot.

The English Department offers some courses only for ERASMUS students, but it is also possible to take part in regular courses, together with Polish students. If you would like to take non-ERASMUS courses you should find out, which teacher teaches your subject as soon as possible and send them an email, if you could participate in it. Sometimes, it was difficult to find information about courses. In this case it is best to ask Ms. Julia Wilczynska for help. She is a very caring teacher, who organizes courses and events for ERASMUS students.

... in cultural terms

Poland's culture and history is huge. Especially Cracow has a lot to offer. It is the only Polish city, which was not completely destroyed by wars. Therefore, you can walk around Rynek (Main-Square) and enjoy the atmosphere there. St. Mary's Church and the Renaissance Cloth Hall are only two of the many beautiful buildings, situated on the Main-Square.

The Main Square is surrounded by the Planties, a huge park with beautiful trees, flowers, small monuments and the famous blue Obwarzanek-sales boxes, where you can buy typical Polish pretzels.

Only around 15 minutes away, on foot, you will reach the famous Wawel castle, situated next to the Vistula river. It is a historical and religious place but it is also used for concerts, film festivals and much more. Especially in spring and summer, there are cultural events nearly every weekend.

If you walk a few minutes more, you will reach the former Jewish quarter Kaszimierz with its synagogues. On the one hand, it reminds people of Poland's dark history, with Jews being exterminated by the Nazis. On the other hand, it nowadays serves as a cultural meeting point for musicians, artists and writers. Furthermore, it atracts many tourists to eat more or less typical Jewish food in one of the many restaurants, while listening to Klezmer bands playing. Today, the quarter is alive again, even though it's music still plays melodies in a slightly sentimental mood.

You should not forget to try Polish food and drinks like Pierogi, Zapiekanka, Szarlotka, Sernik, Nalesniki or Kompot and Vodka in Cracow. There's only one description for it: DELICIOUS!

... in social terms

If you are interested in meeting people from around Europe, you should make sure to take one or two of Ms. Julia Wilczynskas courses or stay at the dormitory Za Kolumnani. You will meet many ERASMUS students that way.

To meet Polish people, living in a shared flat with Natives would be the best. Sometimes you have to be patient, if you want to make friends with Polish people, for many of them are a little bit shy as far as speaking foreign languages is concerned. One useful tip to make friends with Polish people: drink Vodka with them and you will find yourself trying to sing Polish songs at the next parties, together with them.

Cracow has many bars, restaurants and clubs. The best thing about it is, that you don't have to walk a lot to enjoy the cities cultural life. Everything important is situated around Main-Square and the Jewish quarter Kaszimierz.

Useful tips

If you would like to travel around Poland and Europe by Polski bus, you should have a credit card. It is one of the cheapest means of transport in Poland but you need a credit card to buy a ticket.

Make sure that you compare the money changing rates. The best places to change money are a little bit outside of the city centre. In some places it makes sense to pay by card, in order to avoid paying extra money for changing the currency. Biedronka, one of the cheapest supermarkets, is one of those places.

Don't drink in public. It can be expensive. If you still would like to have a beer outside, together with your friends, you should go to Miasteczko Studenczkie AGH. It is a place where students are allowed to drink outside and have barbecue there.

Don't cross the street at red flashlights or next to a zebra crossing. It can be expensive.

Avoid conversations about religion, when you don't know a Polish person well. Many Polish people, also young people, are very religious and also go to mass on Sundays.

If you go to a restaurant with your friends keep in mind, that it is not common in Poland to pay separately. You will get one receit for the whole group.

If you have some questions about ERASMUS in Cracow and you are planning to go there, don't hesitate to contact me!

(sandra.schoegler@gmx.at)

I would always do ERASMUS again! I met so many interesting people from Poland and from other countries, saw new places, spoke many different languages, tried many new dishes, listened to some nice concerts,.....and got to know myself better! My time abroad was amazing!

1. http://www.bwm.up.krakow.pl/incoming/exchange-student-application-procedure/ ^

Stefanie Wonisch, Università Degli Studi Del Molise, Italy, Mobility For Study, Phst

University

Università degli Studi del Molise

Via De Sanctis 1

86100 Campobasso

Tel.: +39 0874 40 41

E-mail: amministrazione@cert.unimol.it

http://www.unimol.it/

Erasmus Contact

Dr. Margherita Di Paolo

Tel.: +39 0874 404415

E-mail: mdipaolo@unimol.it

Description of the University

The "Università degli Studi del Molise" (Unimol) offers a wide variety of departments, listed below:

- Economics, Management, Society and Institutions

- Humanities, Education and Social Sciences

- Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences

- Biosciences and Territory

- Medicine and Health Sciences

- Law

The University is wide-spread, as Medicine-students have to go to the hospital, which is a little farer away from the center. All other departments are situated 10-15 minutes from the city-center.

Inside the building it’s pretty difficult to find the right room in the beginning, as it looks everywhere the same, but you can find descriptions on every floor and if you're completely lost, there are offices on every floor as well and they will accompany you to your classroom.

Language

Concisely - you have to learn Italian in Campobasso!

There are only a few people who can understand English and even fewer who can speak English. On the first day I arrived they spoke a mixture of English and Italian, but on the second day it was clear, that I will stay in this flat and my flatmate said: "In this house - only Italian!" In the beginning it was quite difficult, but as you have to deal with it all day long at university, at home and everywhere else in Campobasso, you get used to it rather quickly.

If you want to learn Italian, you should choose Campobasso, because in Rome or Bologna (or other bigger cities) there are so many Erasmus-students, so you will speak more English than Italian.

Description of chosen courses

Educazione musicale e didattica della musica + Laboratorio

As I study music in Austria, I decided to attend a course about education and didactics of music. The course covers nearly all basics about the theory of music, such as intervalls, scales, notes and accords. I already knew these things, because I had to know them for the entrance examination at the PHST to study music, so I only had to learn the new vocabulary. In Italy they call the notes "Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si Do", in Austria it's "c d e f g a h c". I knew the way of solmisation, but nevertheless it was a reorganization for me.

The course was quite theoretical and for me also rather simple, but it was nice to learn all those things again in a new language.

Laboratoria di lingua Inglese III

As already mentioned only a few people understand or even speak English, also at University. When I first came in and the professor asked me who I was, I answered in English and all of a sudden there was complete silence in the room and everybody was looking at me. In every lesson I felt like "the queen", because everyone asked me for help with grammar, vocabulary and particularly pronunciation. The professor told me they have a B1-level, but in my opinion some of them don't even have A2! So if you know a little more than only the basics of the English language, you are the hero ;-)

Laboratorio di lingua Inglese IV

My professor of LAB III encouraged me to attend also the Laboratorio of the 4th year. I've missed the first two lessons, but when I came in the professor looked at me strangely. Then she asked for a volunteer to read a text of three lines, but nobody volunteered, so she looked at her attendance list and said my name. I read the three lines quickly and like in the other English course, everybody was staring at me like I was from marse. From this moment on I was her favourite student and there were no more volunteers. "Any volunteers? ... Stefanie?".

The exercises (listenings, vocabulary, grammar) were at a high level, so only a small number of students understood even the instructions. When the first results of the written exam came out, we were only four people out of twelve who passed it.

Corso della lingua Italiana (only for Erasmus students)

The course about the italian language only for Erasmus students was boring. There were a few students who didn't get the language and so sometimes it took us three hours only for one unit of the book. But anyway I learned something new each and every lesson, even if I already knew the main stuff we learned in the lessons. I took the exam for the levels A1 and A2 and I passed the two of them.

Communication Sciences (at the Giurisprudenza =Law building)

The course was in Italian, but the professor was nice and explained unclear things to us Erasmus-students. The exam was rather easy, also without studying, and in English. The only thing was, that it was supposed to be one written exam and one oral. In the end both of them were written and there was no oral exam at all.

Application for Università degli Studi del Molise:

- Students are nominated by home university

- Students must complete and return these documents to university of Molise's International Relations Office:

-Students application form

- Learning aggreement

Deadlines

- Application:

- Full year/ First semester: 30 June

- Second semester: 30 October

Academic Year (October - July)

- 1st October: first semester begins

- mid January: first semester ends

- end of January - end of February: examination session

- 1st March: second semester begins

- mid May: second semester ends

- end of my - mid July: examination session

Practising teaching

After one and a half months I finally went into the school with Dr. Margherita di Paolo to get to know the teachers. After this first meeting I went to school nearly every day. They wanted me to do 150 hours and get a 360° - view from the school and the system. At first I was shocked about the huge amount of hours, but in the end it was good to see everything (primary school, secondary school, secretary) and I got to know loads of students and teachers.

The school methods are rather old-fashioned, the teachers stand in the front, the students have to sit in rows and be quiet. Also, they only have one break after the fourth lesson. So the teachers only have a few minutes to change the classrooms, but as Italians it takes them about 15-20 minutes sometimes.

All in all, the teachers were very friendly and if I needed help there was always someone there.

In conclusion, my Erasmus-trip was awesome. I will never forget the people I met, the cities and things I saw, the things I learned, all the fun we had ... I recommend to every student to study at least one semester abroad. You don't just get more self-confident and learn a new language. You also get to know a bunch of people, get to know a new culture and experience a total different life.

Campobasso from the castle on a mountain                                                                    Castello Monforte

Theresa Außerlechner & Katharina Schüler, Odisee, Belgium, Mobility For Study, Phst

Authors: Katharina Schüler & Theresa Außerlechner

Reviewer: Theresa Rauter

Odisee

Campus Brussel

Warmoesberg 26

1000 Brussel

BELGIUM

Tel.: +32 (0)2 210 12 11

info@odisee.be

Coordinators:

Stefanie Derks (International Office)

Campus Brussel

Warmoesberg 26

1000 Brussel

BELGIUM

Tel.: +32 (0)2 609 81 00

E-Mail: stefanie.derks@odisee.be

About the University:

The University College Odisee is the result of a merger between 2 Belgian university colleges, i.e. Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel and Katholieke Hogeschool Sint-Lieven. The six campuses of both educational institutions are widely spread over Flanders but work together towards a joint future.

Odisee has locations in different cities: in and around Brussels, Ghent, Aalst and Sint-Niklaas. Different campuses:

- Campus Brussel Warmoesberg 26, 1000 Brussels

- Campus Parnas Stationsstraat 301, 1700 Dilbeek

- Campus Hoger Instituut voor Gezinswetenschappen Huart Hamoirlaan 136, 1030 Brussels

- Technologiecampus Gebroeders De Smetstraat 1, 9000 Ghent

- Campus Dirk Martens Kwalestraat 154 , 9320 Aalst

- Campus Waas Hospitaalstraat 23 9100 Sint-Niklaas

The campus that we stayed in is Campus Brussels. Odisee is a Flemish school which means that they receive subsidiaries from the Flemish government to organize courses for students in Dutch. Besides that they do offer English-taught programmes for incoming students.

Odisee has approximately 165.000 students in their professional bachelor programmes and academic bachelor and master programmes. Odisee offers education in different fields of study:

- Business Studies

- Science and Technology

- Health Care

- Teacher Training

- Social Work

Exchange

KeyS for Teachers in Europe

We had the opportunity to attend an international class. That means the class consisted of 2/3 international and 1/3 Flemish students. The programme consisted of a three-month period of lectures, self-study and teaching practice. In the course of the programme 20 or 30 ECTS could be obtained. We chose the programme with 20 ECTS. In total we attended 5 courses.

1)    Communication, cultural awareness and expression (4 ECTS)

The three themes (communication, cultural awareness and expression) are explored in depth by confrontation in nature, self exploration and cooperation with other people. There is a whole variety of cultures in Europe. What is ‘culture’? Do you think in stereotypes? Looking for the Belgian culture in the city is one of the tasks for students.

There are many ways to express your emotions, feelings, dreams. A lot of young people do this by music, clothing, nonverbal and verbal language. In small groups we explored different youth subcultures: Hip hop, Straight Edge, Gothic, EMO etc. The aim was to offer learning opportunities to the group and its members.

- Exploring personal qualities like authenticity, empathy, confidence, ...

- Encouraging personal skills like accepting challenges, developing life skills and discovering creativity

- Cooperation with students of different countries & cultures

- Building knowledge about experience-based education

2)    Diversity in/and education (4 ECTS)

This module aimed to establish an understanding and awareness of equality and diversity and to enable students to reflect critically on and challenge perceptions, attitudes and practices that promote prejudice and discrimination in education. During this module we looked into different aspects of diversity in our society, in schools and education and acquire the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes to deal with diversity in education. Beside a theoretical introduction on diversity in/and education, we also got the opportunity to practically experience and investigate diversity in Brussels and other places in Belgium. In a project work we developed our insight and skills in different implementations of diversity in education. We acquired some in-school experience, while observing classes in pre-primary, primary and secondary schools. We participated in an International Teacher’s Day (Thomas More Vorselaar) and were able to share our views on diversity and internationalisation with Flemish teacher training students.

3)    Teaching in Europe/Europe in teaching (4 ECTS)

In this module teaching in Europe/Europe in teaching we prepared ourselves for a career as “teacher in/for Europe”. We learned about different educational systems (with)in European countries: the similarities and differences. We also discussed how the European dimension is integrated in the education of each participating country. Last but not least we discovered the possibilities for teaching in a European perspective.

4)    Keys for Europe in education (4ECTS)

Teachers are confronted with new technologies in education. They also have to enable their pupils to develop their digital competences. Digital competence involves the confident and critical use of information society technology (IST) and thus basic skills in information and communication technology. The new challenge for a teacher is to integrate new technologies in his classroom.

We learned about:

- … the power of images

- … the way young people use social networks: facebook, twitter, ..

- … and work with animation-tables

- … and be confronted with cyber-bullying selecting and developing adaptive teaching methods for children in a defined environment so the pupils acquire key competences for lifelong learning and will become autonomous learners.

5)    Social and cultural competences (4 ECTS)

Skills for civic competence relate to the ability to engage effectively with others in the public domain and to display solidarity and interest in solving problems affecting the local and wider community. Therefore, we focused in this key on self-knowledge and facing diversity in our way of life. The qualifications we need to live as a citizen in the Europe of today, requires insight in the complex phenomenon of identity and the way we live as a human being in a group. We implemented this on the teacher and his pupils. Facing history learned us more about the complexity of human society.

Together, we reflected on the past and the current tendencies in our society. We paid much attention to our own experiences in Belgium. We tried to link our information about Flanders to what we saw and heard during our visits to different places and to the influence of foreign cultures.

Our International Class (Image Alice Bowring)

Practice

We visited a school in Oostende, called Onze-Lieve-Vrouwecollege. It is an old Catholic school with history, the most famous graduate of the school is the artist James Ensor. 900 students attend this school and 90 teachers teach there. The school is divided into a primary and a secondary school. The school building itself consists of old buildings and newer components. Almost every classroom is equipped with the latest technology (Smartboards, PCs, etc.). In average there are 25 pupils in one class. Diversity exists in terms of origin and language. The students speak more than 100 different languages and they have a wide range of nationalities. But they all speak fluent Flemish.  According to a teacher, this has historical reasons: the students are the 3rd generation of immigrants. Obviously this school has a cultural diversity in the classrooms.

When we arrived we got a tour of the secondary school. The guide told us about the history, school rules and general information about Oostende. In my opinion, the school rules for the secondary are very strict. For example, the students are not allowed to wear nail polish, mascara or short skirts. It is also forbidden to use the phone/tablet on school grounds. If a student arrives late to class, he/she will be punished with additional work orders.

After the tour we were able to observe a few hours in primary school. During my observation I noticed many similarities and differences between Belgium and Austria.

Similarities:

- School milk: Also in Austria, the children have the opportunity to order a school milk. But Belgium thinks more sustainable - they use glass bottles instead of plastic cups.

- Structure of textbooks: The textbooks are similarly organized and set up (topics, examples, etc.)

- Classroom design: The classrooms are very lovely and colourfully designed with many learning materials, images, etc.

But also differences were evident:

- Wardrobe: The Belgian students are allowed to go inside the class with their outdoor shoes. They just take off the jacket in the wardrobe. In Austria the children have to wear slippers in the classrooms.

- Equipment: The chairs were fixed at the tables (I do not think that this is child-oriented, because younger children need to move. With this furniture it is impossible to create an environment for an open learning, focused on the kids.) Further more the Smartboard has many advantages. It is practical and universally useable, but the curtains were always closed, that they were able to see the screen. In consequence of this the children had no daylight all day in the classroom.

- Teaching: The teaching itself was frontal teaching and not student-centered. What also irritated me was the raised platform in front of the class. That made me feel that the teachers look down on the children.

- Chess: It was interesting for me, chess is embedded in the curriculum. I think this game teaches the children logical thinking and has a reference to mathematics.

- Breaks: After every lesson the children had breaks for 15 to 20 minutes, where they were allowed to go on the playground. I think that is great because children have to move (as I mentioned earlier). After the breaks I got the impression that the pupils were relaxed and focused.

In summary, it was a very exciting and interesting day. We are grateful for this little insight into this school. However, I do not think that this school is representative of whole Belgium. I saw many things - some aspects I liked about the school, some I don´t. But as a future teacher, I can learn from it and take only the positive.

We also went to an alternative pedagogic school – a Freinet school. It was an amazing experience for us. You could notice that the children loved to go to school and that they were really curious to learn something from us. The morning in this type of school starts always with a circle time where the children express their feelings. Afterwards some children presented a historic topic, an actual topic from the newspaper or a self-written poem. During the day the children always work independently on their tasks. We loved this school and really hope to work later in one of this type of schools as well.

Freinet school (Image Kamila Hrníčková)

Belgium/Brussels in general

The Kingdom of Belgium is a federal monarchy in Western Europe. In total Belgium has about 11,2 million inhabitants and covers an area of 30528 km². It is a dense populated country. Belgium shares borders with France, Germany, Netherlands and Luxemburg. In Belgium they speak 3 languages and there are two main linguistic groups. On the one hand there is a Dutch-speaking-population, the Flemish community (called Flanders) in the northern part, which comprises about 59% of Belgians. On the other hand there is the French-speaking-population, the Walloon population in the south which constitutes 41% of the population. German is only spoken by a limited number of people, who live close to the German border. Brussels, the capital of Belgium, is a bilingual enclave. It is located in the Flemish part but 90% of the one million inhabitants speak French. After French the second most spoken language is English because Brussels is a cultural mix of all different nationalities from all over the world. Our university in Brussel was a Dutch-speaking University but our Flemish colleges always spoke French or English in the city centre. Because of this fact our Dutch didn´t improved but we learned the basic facts in French and through the international class, where we only spoke English, we improved our English skills a lot.

Useful tips

Housing

We had a wonderful accommodation at the house of a French-speaking couple in the quarter Ixelles. Close to our house (ten minutes by walk) we had a huge and magnificent parc, bois de la cambre, where we often went to relax and enjoy the nature. We found the accommodation through a friend of us but there is a Facebook group, called Bxl á Louer – de bouche á oreille, where you can find good apartments as well. We definitely recommend to spend a little bit more money and find an accommodation in one of the “good” quarters in Brussels. Ixelles, St. Gilles and the city center are for example very good ones. In our quarter we had never any problems, there were a lot of restaurants, pubs and shops around us and it was a typical living area. Other regions like Mollenbeek, Etterbeek and Scharbeek have a rather bad reputation and you should be carefully at night.

Travelling

Belgium is a very small country and Brussel is perfectly located. In one hour you are almost at every important city, it doesn´t matter if it is located in the north, south, east or west. The train connection is very good in Belgium and on the weekend there are special weekend tickets, where you get a 50% discount on the standard fare. We almost discovered whole Belgium. Amsterdam, Paris are also only 1 ½ hour trips by train and Luxembourg and cities in Germany are also very close to Belgium. In our holidays we discovered a lot of new places. We went for example to Amsterdam and Paris by bus, as it was much cheaper.

We travelled a lot also with our university. We went to Brugge, Ypser, Leuven and Vorselaar. It was an amazing experience because we always had locals who showed us the most interesting places. We went to a lot of museums and interesting institutions and the best fact was that we did not have to pay for anything.

Social life

We went to the international class where we formed many friendships around the world. We not only learned a lot about the Belgium culture, but also about the English, Scottish, Irish, Spanish, Italian, Turkish and Norwegian culture. The university organized at the beginning an international dinner, where we had the first time the possibility to get in contact with our different cultures, traditions and meals. Through our stay in Brussels we often went to the Irish pup Nua´s. It is a karaoke bar with a lot of international people. We really recommend you to go to the Bonnefoi or to the Madame Moustache when you want to have an unforgettable night in the capital. A good alternative to going out in Brussel, is taking the last train to the student city Leuven (only 20 minutes by train) and have a couple of typical beers with the students from this city. In the morning you can go back to Brussel with the first train.

Thomas Dzuban, University Of Barcelona, Spain, Mobility For Study, Phst

Contacts University

University of Barcelona

Email:entorns.web@ub.edu

Gran Via de Les Corts Catalanes, 585

08007 Barcelona - Spain

Tel.: (+34) 934 021 100

Faculty of Teacher Education:

Facultat de Formació del Professorat

imatge de diagramacióPasseig de la Vall d'Hebron, 171

08035 - Barcelona

Telèfon: 93 403 51 18

Fax: 93 403 51 21

http://www.ub.edu/fprofessorat/

Registration process and welcome week activities

The very first step after the application at the home university is the online applicaton of the host university. Then you get a mail from the university with instructions for the next step and a list of recommended courses. Information: http://campusvirtual.ub.edu/mod/resource/view.php?id=1052534

To continue the process you need to send the signed application form with one passport-sized photograph to the international office of the Faculty of Teacher Training. You also get a document called "keydata" where you find contact information and links of interest concerning the Faculty of Teacher Training. Even if you might change the courses later, you need to decide for some courses before your stay by filling out the learning agreement.

The Faculty of Teacher Training offers a welcome week before the regular semester starts. In this case you are going to do a course called "Catalonian History". This is a nice chance to get known the culture and the history of Barcelona and get in touch with all the Erasmus students of the faculty. In my case this course was compulsory and by the way highly recommendable.

The course includes the following classes:

Catalonia - A Bird's View

Historic Meeting at the Campus

Hiking - Watergate Promenade

Catalonian festivals

History of Sports

Music and Instruments of Catalonia

Catalonian Folk Dances

Catalonian Language

Courses

CATALAN HISTORY, 3 ECTS

PRÀCTIQUES 3, 9 ECTS

During the school practices I had the chance to receive expressions from a different school in a foreign country. I increased my knowledge a lot by noticing new and different teaching methods. Even if some of them were similar to the methods used in Austria I've could see many new methods. I noticed that it is common in Spain and furthermore useful back home to teach English across the curriculum and connect it with arts for example.

Luckily I was able to visit a music lesson because my English teacher was out of duty for one hour. From this moment on I also taught Music classes and improved my skills as a music teacher with all the belonging aspects. I get known one of the best music teachers I've seen so far and will adapt a lot of her methods and the way how she is treating the students.

I don't want to forget to mention that I always felt welcome when I went to school because the children as well as the teachers and the other staff treated me very nice and friendly. I am not overselling if I say that I never saw a school where the contact between the staff and the social interaction with the students were so nice and caring like in this school, before. I will appreciate this time and keep it in mind always.

EDUCACIÓ FÍSICA A PRIMÀRIA, 6 ECTS

I will always remember my very first lesson at the University of Barcelona. It was a theoretical lesson in Physical Education and I waited in front of the classroom. The teacher came with correct Spanish delay and opened the door. I was the last person who entered the classroom and I recognized that people were sitting at the floor because there was no more space. I had to "hide" myself under the overhead-projector. The teacher talked something about the "crisis" in Catalan. In this moment I realized that the circumstances in Barcelona would be different to those in Austria.

The practical lessons in this subject were quite funny. I had the chance to enrich my methodbox with a few physical exercises and games for the gym.

LLENGUA ANGLESA (NIVELL AVANCAT), 6 ECTS

In this course we had an English teacher from London who's personality I will remember. He knew it to reach the students and had obviously great teaching skills. The lessons were focused on the english language and not so much didactics like in Austria. It was a good opportunity to improve my English. We had to do two presentations as well as an exam at the end of the semester.

LLENGUA CASTELLANA, 5 ECTS

This course was an offer of the faculty "estudios hispanicos" which is in the center of Barcelona near "Placa Catalunya". It was a special course for Erasmus students for 150€ and went over 6 weeks every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It was a great opportunity to learn the basics in Spanish. At the end of the course I could speak about general things in daily business and I had the A2 certificate.

SOCIAL LIFE

The course of Catalan History at the beginning of the semester is a very good chance to get known the Erasmus students of the faculty. I think that the hiking we did at the third day was the kickstart for some friendships in the exchange period. Caused by the fact that everyone was new in Barcelona and they all wanted to make friends, it's very easy to get in touch.

But also with local people you can create easily some new friendships because they are all open persons in Barcelona. Very soon some local people invited me to a party. Anyway... in Barcelona are so much students from abroad as well as locals, that you don't have to worry about your social life.

ACCOMMODATION

The first 3 nights I slept in a hostel because I didn't decide for an accommodation before leaving Graz. First I was a little bit worried because all the other people I met had an accommodation but after all I have to say that it was the right decicion to wait and visit the flat before moving in. Especially if you come one or two weeks before the semester start, you don't need to worry about finding an accommodation.

I lived the first 3 months in the center of Barcelona, the "Barrio El Gotico" so I had all the action in front of my house door. Considering these fact I have to suggest a locality which is not as central as the Barrio Gotico. The good thing was that the flat was very nice and we had a rooftop from where you could see almost everything in Barcelona - the view was really amazing. But it was also quite expensive (400€ a month). You can live definitely cheaper in BCN.

Caused by some legal troubles of my landlord with the police, I had to move out of the flat in January. He offered me a nice flat in Barceloneta where I lived alone with my girlfriend for the last two months. It was great to live near the harbour and the beach but I liked more the Gotico.

SUGGESTIONS

In this five months I had the chance to explore this great city, even if I've been ill long time. After all I have to say that you don't have to live in the centre of Barcelona to enjoy the city. I liked most the district "Gracia" where most of the local students lived. It's a calm district in the north of the center and there are a lot of places where students meet each other. Bars, restaurants, cinemas, etc. And with the metro you are very fast in the centre as well as in the faculty in the north. If I ever go back for a longer period, I will live in Gracia.

If you are just somehow interested in sports you should definitely visit the Camp Nou. Our teacher gave us in the second week two tickets for a Barca game in the Champions League and I have to say that this experience was one of the greatest in BCN. Also the museum of Barca is highly recommendable.

The "Raval" is a district in the west of "Les Rambles" with a quite bad reputation under local people. But I liked the district because you can find a lot of cheap bars and restaurants and its in the center. We startet to go there very late but then in a high frequent. You just need to look after your belongings because there are a lot of thieves.

The district "El Born" is to me the most beautiful in Barcelona when it comes to cultural sightseeing. You can find the Picassomuseum there as well as a big cathedral and wonderful alleys and lanes. It is also a good district to go out for eat. One place I will visit again if I can is called "PIM PAM BURGER" - probably the best burgers I've ever eaten in my life, in the centre of "El Born".

Victoria Neubauer, University Of Huelva, Spain, Mobility For Study, Phst

Contact person Huelva: Isabel Leandro

I got many mails about the courses and administration from Isabel. Sometimes it was a bit confusing, because she sent mail, from first as well as from the second semester, to all Erasmus students. But if I had any questions she answered pretty soon. I think she is a nice person.

Contact: University of Huelva

Departamento de Educación- Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación - Campus de «El Carmen»

Avda. Fuerzas Armadas, s/n. 21071 Huelva

Teléfono: +34 959 219245

Fax: +34 959 219224

University Of Huelva

The University of Huelva is a very big Campus with 12.000 students and lots of studies. It gained its independence from Seville University in 1993 and continued to grow.

In Huelva there are three universities:

“Campus el Carmen”: It is the biggest and newest campus. There you can find the Faculties of Experimental Sciences, Law, Humanities, Education Sciences, Labor Sciences, the School of Nursing and the School of Social Work.

“La Merced“: It is the Faculty of Business Science in the city center of Huelva.

“La Rabida”: It is the Polytechnic and located on a hill in the western part of Huelva.

Find Courses

Spanish A1

Geography of Spain

Criminal Cases

English for Tourism 2

English

I do not know that much about the courses and I do not know yet, if I will attend all of them. At the moment it is not clear which of these courses will be taught in the next semester. I do not have my teacher practicum in my learning agreement, because it has no course number.

I wanted to chance some courses before I left Austria, but Heiko Vogl told me, that I should wait and chance them in Spain, because the courses are not confirmed up to this day.

Registration

I found all the information about the registration on the platform of the university. There is an extra link for Erasmus + incomings with all the instructions I needed. http://uhu.es/english/erasmusplusincoming/

Say Goodbye

I am really looking forward to my journey to Spain because it is my dream to study abroad. But sometimes I have mixed feelings. How will it be? Was it the right decision? Will I be happy in Spain? What about my boyfriend? Lots of questions are in my head. I spoke with my family and my friends and I really need to thank them because they supported me all the time and told me, that it will be the journey of my life. And that is what I believe now. So there is no more to say than: Hasta la vista!

The First Time In Huelva

Bianca and I decided to stay in the hostel “Albergue Inturjoven” for the first days. It is a cheap accommodation where I had my first contact with other Erasmus students from foreign countries. We went to the city center to eat Spanish food, for example paella and patatas bravas, and to see what the city is like. Everything is so new and exciting! We discovered places like Plaza la Merced, Plaza de las Monjas and the port. There are thousands of palm and orange trees in the center which looks great!

Time passes bye slower than in Austria. Everybody seems to be relaxed and happy, behaves friendly and tries to help us - in Spanish language of course. Spanish people talk with their whole body, so we were able to understand most of the things they told us.

Every day new students arrive in the hostel. Most of them speak English, beside some students from Italy, they speak Italian and Spanish. It is quite difficulty and demanding to speak the whole day in a foreign language, but it is also a lot of fun. You get to know several people from different countries and you find equalities and differences all over the world.

Teacher Practicum

My fist impression of the school El Punto was: “It is amazingly big!” In Austria I am used to small primary schools with a few teachers and maybe  4-8 classes with around 16-26 children in each class. This school next to the city Huelva has 13 primary school classes and 28 teachers. That is really a lot in my opinion! Also the kindergarten is included in the school building complex with 5 additional classes.

Some schools in Spain have a school uniform. In Bellavista it is not obligatory to wear such a uniform, but if the children want to, they are allowed to. The primary school in Austria lasts four years, form the age of 6 until the age of 10. In Spain there is another system for primary school education. The primary school lasts six years from the age of 6 until the age of 12. It was really interesting for me to work with children of various ages and to see the progress they do from year to year.

In my opinion the teaching methodology is different to what we practice in Austria. In Spain there is more traditional frontal teaching methodology. In my home country we try to make the children work more my themselves. The teacher should stay in the background, he is supposed to support the children if they need some help. I can see that there is also a new way of thinking coming up in Spain, but like it was in Austria it will take lots of years until this new style of teaching will reach the public schools.

During our practicum days we were allowed to visit five teachers: Ramón, Fernando, Juani, Teresa and Juana. We got the timetable from all these teachers and we could decide ourselves where to go and which subject to attend. I loved it, because we were able to see many different teaching situations in various classes. We were also free to decide the days when to do our practicum. So we had the opportunity to see a lot of subjects and to join many teachers.

University Courses

Spanish B1

Before we were able to sign in for a Spanish course we had to check our Spanish skills. Therefore we had to do an online language test and to upload our results on our platforms.

I had Spanish two times a week from 19 to 20.30 o´clock. The course was well structured and I really learned a lot. Our teacher was very nice and tried to speak Spanish with us all the time, although it was not always easy. To become a grate we had to pass an oral and written exam at the end of the semester.

Geography of Spain

Only Erasmus students participated at this course. We learned facts about the Spanish climate, population, provinces and culture. Our teacher Alfonso Miguel Doctor !!!!___ tried to discuss many interesting things about his country with us. The only problem was the communication. He had no high English level and that is the reason why it was hard to understand him sometimes. We had to do some homework and attend in most of his classes to get a grate.

Didáctica de la lengua extranjera

This course was actually for kindergarten students, but we were allowed to participate. In this course we learned how to teach English to very young learners. We sang songs, like the “ABC song” and read stories, for example “The little engine that could”.  Here we had to do a presentation, a reading exam and to pass a final exam to get a grate.

Motivation and Emotional Intelligence in Physical Education

Also this course was full of Erasmus students, mostly future teachers. We had some theoretical classes where we discussed what emotional intelligence means and some practical classes, in which we did sports activities and games. It was really a lot of fun! To get a grate we had to do some presentations, to create some games and to write a final review about what we had learned in this course.

Spanish Culture

“Tranquila!” – “calm down!” This is the Spanish way of life in just one word. At the beginning, when I arrived, it was very strange and I needed time to calm down. Everything takes longer, for example going to the supermarket, getting money from the cash machine, waiting for the bus…

And do not forget the “Siesta”! Most of the stores are closed from 15 to 18 o´clock. It happened a few times that I was standing in front of closed shop doors and I wondered why.

Generally you can say that everything is later than in Austria. Spanish people wake up much later, have their lunch at 15 o´clock, dinner at 22 o´clock and I do not know what time they go to bed.

This way of life is very strange for me.

Traveling

Huelva is the perfect place to start trips all over Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Huelva is located close to Seville, on the biggest and most famous cities of southern Spain. The cultural heritage is extraordinary and also the landscape is like a wonderland. By bus you can reach almost all the other arias in Andalucia and it is more or less cheap. Another common opportunity to travel through the country is going by “blalbacar”, a very cheap lift ordered by internet.

Erasmus Family

Erasmus students stick together - like a big family abroad. One helps another in every situation of life. Erasmus students can count on each other, which has a calming effect. It is reassuring to know that you are never alone in Huelva.

Yuliya Pavlyuk, University Of Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic, Mobility For Study, Phst - Incoming

Yuliya Pavlyuk

Am Anfang, als ich festgestellt habe, dass ich auf Erasmus fahre, war ich sehr glücklich und hatte Angst. Vielleicht Angst war größer als die Freude, aber nur am Anfang. Als ich nach Graz gekommen bin, war diese Stadt natürlich fremd für mich, aber ganz schnell habe ich mich gewöhnt und die ganze Zeit habe ich mich in Graz angenehm gefühlt. Es ist nicht nur dank der Stadt geschehen, sondern auch dank der Leute, die ich kennengelernt habe. Meistens habe ich nur sehr nette Leute getroffen, die Lehrer und buddies an der Hochschule, Freunde, die ich auf verschiedenen Veranstalltungen kenengelernt habe, auch Leute auf einer Straße waren hilfsbereit. In Graz habe ich so viele tolle Aungenblicke erlebt.

Mit der Hochschule haben wir ein Wochenende in Ramsau verbracht, Bärenschutzklamm, Schockofabrik besucht. Wir haben mit anderen Erasmusstudenten an der Internationalen Woche teilgenommen. Ich habe viel gelernt und war in verschiedenen neuen Situatuionen, die ich lösen sollte. Das hat mir für das Leben viel geholfen und ich habe neue Erfahrungen gesammelt. Ich meine, dass Erasmus das beste in meinem Studium war. Ich bin dankbar, dass meine Eltern und Erasmusprogram mir diesen Aufenthalt ermöglicht haben. Erasmus war viel besser, als ich erwartet habe und ich kann es nur empfehlen.

Kpz International Office - General Information

Contact

The teacher training department ‘Katholieke Pabo Zwolle’ has an International Office to support international exchange of students and staff for incoming and outgoing mobility.

If you are interested in the KPZ international exchange program for Erasmus students, look for the information about the International class in Spring semester (5 months) each year.

Please fill out theapplication form to apply.(KPZ website: www.kpz.nl)

In other cases please contact us by e-mail or by phone / fax.

International Officer:

Mr. Harrie Poulssen, email: h.poulssen@kpz.nl

Assistant International Office:

Ms. Ria Posthumus, email: r.posthumus@kpz.nl

or

International office, general email: internationaloffice@kpz.nl

Interactum University of Applied Sciences, Teacher Training College Primary Education

Hogeschool Katholieke PABO Zwolle

Ten Oeverstraat 68,

8012 EW Zwolle,

The Netherlands

Tel.: +31 (0)384217425

Fax: +31 (0)384210914

webaddress:www.kpz.nl

Erasmus code: NL ZWOLLE06

Author: Adela Faltynkova

Contacts University

University of Applied Science, Teacher Training Institute Primary Education

Hogeschool Katholieke PABO Zwolle

Ten Oeverstraat 68,

8012 EW Zwolle,

The Netherlands

Tel.: +31 (0)384217425

Fax: +31(0)384210914

webaddress:www.kpz.nl

Erasmus code: NL ZWOLLE06

Harrie Poulssen (international Officer)

Email: h.poulssen@kpz.nl

Bert Thole (Coordinator IM)

Email: b.thole@kpz.nl

About the University:

The Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, also known as KPZ, is an independent Interactum University of Applied Sciences (Dutch "hogeschool"). There are over 650 students and a staff of about 70. This means that the KPZ is one of the many small- to medium-sized institutes for higher professional education in the Netherlands.

The International Minor Program(IM) is a five month course in English for 30 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System). The website contains all the necessary information about our teacher training course in which we combine theory and practice and offer a varied study programme with a clear structure using the module system and ECTS. For the IM you need a required level of English like TOEFL or IELTS.

How can I apply?

Each year we have an international minor in spring semester from 1st of February until 1st of July.

Deadline for application is: 1 November (previous calendar year)

For application you need to fill in this student application form and mail it to us.

[application form on the website]

Please note: When we have received your complete application form an overview on admission will be held by means of Skype.

Before we got here:

Before we got to the Netherlands, we got a lot of information about our next semester. We have written a lot of emails and had to do a few things before we got here.

To attend the Pabo we have had a conversation via Skype, where the English teacher asked me a few things (in English - so they can see our level), for example what I am expecting, why I want to go to the Netherlands, and so on.

Furthermore we had to get some information about how fractions are tought in the Czech Republic, we had to copy the schoolbooks, made a short clip about a mathlesson, made a foto of the classroom, ect.

The Pabo organised a very good accomodation, so we didn´t have to look for something - which was really a pleasentness!

Then Ria Posthumus asked us when and how we will get to Zwolle and if we wanted to have a welcome guide, who wouls pick us up from the railway station and bring us to our houses.

Info about the general things and the first weeks:

We are in a "seperate class" - The international Minor/class. All in all we are 15 people (6 Spanish girls, 1 girl from Turkey, 1 boy from Nepal, 2 Czech girls and 5 people from Austria). All our courses we have together - we do not have any courses with the students from the PABO.

The first week was a welcome week to get aquaint with each other:

The first day most of our teachers and the headmaster were here to welcome us and to introduce themselves.

We also had to introduce ouselves to the other ones and to speak about our expectations.

The welcome week was really a good experiences, we were ice skating and played traditional Dutch games.

My courses:

1) English language (1 ECTS)

The objective of this course revolves around writing and presenting an academic paper in English in which your own written work will play a pivotal role. This very short course of 4 lessons focuses both on development of academic writing skills and strenghtening presentation skills.

2) Culture and Society ( 4 ECTS)

The students ude their ecperience and the kknowledge theyhave mastered of Dutch history, culture, art and society as a tool to understand and explore their own and other societies. Moreover students are confronted witht the questoins in which way history, culture and society shape our cultural identity, our wy of being.

3) Pedagogics (5 ECTS)

We will examine reform pedagogy in all its aspects. We will see which concepts are still used today.

We wonder what a present day and future child need. We explore the new didactics and explore existing concepts which have caught on in the Netherlands.

4) Dutch language (3 ECTS)

This is a Dutch course for our class. We learn the basics of the language, for example to introduce ourselves, talk about our hobbies, colors, show someone the way, ect.

5) Coaching/Counselling and tutorship (CCT / 3 ECTS)

The CCT is different from other modules, since most of the content is not definite yet.

There will be time for teambuilding activities and for personal coaching. Moreover students will be prepared for the practical training.

6) DRAMU (Drama and Music) (2 ECTS)

Starting with rhythm activities, movement and finishing with songd for children we learn to understand the meaning of rhythm, melody and harmony. All native songs will be produces on seet music and recorded ona CD.

7) Project week "Randstad" (2 ECTS)

During the semester we will take part in a prject week and a number of cultural activities. In this week (in Amsterdam and Den Haag) we will visit a number of cultural and social institutions.

8) Research (5 ECTS)

The research modules offer a good method to examime educational reform. During practical training we will be at school where we will do our research.

9) Teaching practise (4 ECTS)

This is the main and for me the most important part of the whole semester. I am in Heerde (small village next to Zwolle) in a Jenaplan school. I have to teach at least 26 lessons. I will see the idea of Jenaplan in a practical way.

10) Teacher in Europe student conference (1 ECTS)

Students learn in an international environment how to design a project under Erasmus + and to complete a final proposal.

Zwolle:

Accomodation

We live in camping de Agnietenberg which is little bit far away from school, but it is nice. There are chalets for 3 persons. Every person has own room and living room and bathroom is shared with next two persons. Chalets are very nice and it looks new. Sometimes you can recognize that it only looks new, but thats funny :D Rent for this chalet is 375 Euro per person. First you have to pay a deposit 300 Euro but at the end of semestr you will get money back if everything will be ok :) Rooms are small but cute. And finally it is better to stay away from town, because you can relax, go to the beach, to lake, play games outside or go for a walk or something.

Transport

In Holland, there is common to travel by bicycle. I have to tell you that you have to buy a bike immediately after you come. It is necessary, because anyway you cant go everywhere you want. I had bicycle from my country, but then I had a problems with sell it. So it is better to buy a bike here and then you can easily sell it in one shop near HEDON. I dont know how to travel by bus, because I only used bike and my car, what I brought from my country.

Life in the Netherlands

I like to live in Holland. People here are friendly and you will see it. Everybody wants to help you. Some problems are with medical help here. Dont go to hospital. Find some practic doctor and go there. In hospital you will spend a lot of money and they will do nothing!!!!!!! But if you want to go out at night, the best place are De Stoof and Flying horse. There are the best parties :)

About the teaching practice:

I was at International school Eerde in Ommen. I was there, because i had my car there and i could travel by it. It was amazing school, I enjoyed a lot this time there and I want to go back to see everybody :) I think teaching practice is almost the best thing on that International Minor. You will learn a lot of education, population in Holland, culture and more.

Alice Kucirkova, Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, Neterland, Mobility For Study, Uhk

Contacts University

University of Applied Science, Teacher Training Institute Primary Education

Hogeschool Katholieke PABO Zwolle

Ten Oeverstraat 68,

8012 EW Zwolle,

The Netherlands

Tel.: +31 (0)384217425

Fax: +31(0)384210914

webaddress:www.kpz.nl

Erasmus code: NL ZWOLLE06

Harrie Poulssen (international Officer)

Email: h.poulssen@kpz.nl

Bert Thole (Coordinator IM)

Email: b.thole@kpz.nl

About the University:

The Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, also known as KPZ, is an independent Interactum University of Applied Sciences (Dutch "hogeschool"). There are over 650 students and a staff of about 70. This means that the KPZ is one of the many small- to medium-sized institutes for higher professional education in the Netherlands.

The International Minor Program(IM) is a five month course in English for 30 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System). The website contains all the necessary information about our teacher training course in which we combine theory and practice and offer a varied study programme with a clear structure using the module system and ECTS. For the IM you need a required level of English like TOEFL or IELTS.

How can I apply?

Each year we have an international minor in spring semester from 1st of February until 1st of July.

Deadline for application is: 1 November (previous calendar year)

For application you need to fill in this student application form and mail it to us.

[application form on the website]

Please note: When we have received your complete application form an overview on admission will be held by means of Skype.

Before we got here:

Before we got to the Netherlands, we got a lot of information about our next semster. We have written a lot of emails and had to do a few things before we got here.

To attend the Pabo we have had a conversation via Skype, where the English teacher asked me a few things (in English - so they can see our level), for example what I am expecting, why I want to go to the Netherlands, and so on.

Furthermore we had to get some information about how fractions are tought in the Czech Republic, we had to copy the schoolbooks, made a short clip about a mathlesson, made a foto of the classroom, ect.

The Pabo organised a very good accomodation, so we didn´t have to look for something - which was really a pleasentness! But the accomodation was far from the university so we had to found and bought some bycicle by ownself before school. You can't exist here without the bicycle.

Then Ria Posthumus asked us when and how we will get to Zwolle and if we wanted to have a welcome guide, who wouls pick us up from the railway station and bring us to our houses.

Info about the general things and the first weeks:

We are in a "seperate class" - The international Minor/class. All in all we are 15 people (6 Spanish girls, 1 girl from Turkey, 1 boy from Nepal, 2 Czech girls and 5 people from Austria). All our xouses we have together - we do not have any courses with the students from the PABO.

The first week was a welcome week to get aquaint with each other:

The first day most of our teachers and the headmaster were here to welcome us and to introduce themselves.

We also had to introduce ouselves to the other ones and to speak about our expectations.

The welcome week was really a good experiences, we were ice skating and played traditional Dutch games.

My courses:

1) English language (1 ECTS)

The objective of this course revolves around writing and presenting an academic paper in English in which your own written work will play a pivotal role. This very short course of 4 lessons focuses both on development of academic writing skills and strenghtening presentation skills.

2) Culture and Society ( 4 ECTS)

The students ude their ecperience and the kknowledge theyhave mastered of Dutch history, culture, art and society as a tool to understand and explore their own and other societies. Moreover students are confronted witht the questoins in which way history, culture and society shape our cultural identity, our wy of being.

3) Pedagogics (5 ECTS)

We will examine reform pedagogy in all its aspects. We will see which concepts are still used today.

We wonder what a present day and future child need. We explore the new didactics and explore existing concepts which have caught on in the Netherlands.

4) Dutch language (3 ECTS)

This is a Dutch course for our class. We learn the basics of the language, for example to introduce ourselves, talk about our hobbies, colors, show someone the way, ect.

5) Coaching/Counselling and tutorship (CCT / 3 ECTS)

The CCT is different from other modules, since most of the content is not definite yet.

There will be time for teambuilding activities and for personal coaching. Moreover students will be prepared for the practical training.

6) DRAMU (Drama and Music) (2 ECTS)

Starting with rhythm activities, movement and finishing with songd for children we learn to understand the meaning of rhythm, melody and harmony. All native songs will be produces on seet music and recorded ona CD.

7) Project week "Randstad" (2 ECTS)

During the semester we will take part in a prject week and a number of cultural activities. In this week (in Amsterdam and Den Haag) we will visit a number of cultural and social institutions.

8) Research (5 ECTS)

The research modules offer a good method to examime educational reform. During practical training we will be at school where we will do our research.

9) Teaching practise (4 ECTS)

This is the main and for me the most important part of the whole semester. I am in Heerde (small village next to Zwolle) in a Jenaplan school. I have to teach at least 26 lessons. I will see the idea of Jenaplan in a practical way.

10) Teacher in Europe student conference x Celebration week (1 ECTS)

Teacher in Europe: Students learn in an international environment how to design a project under Erasmus + and to complete a final proposal.

Celebration week: You will be like manager of your group at secondary Dutch school in country project. Each group had one country and you had to just manage the work. It was really good experience.

Zwolle:

Accomodation

The accomodation is in camping Agnietenberg. It is very nice place in the nature.

Transport

In the Netherlands is is an obligation to have a bike! Without a bike you are totally lost. In the Netherlans are more bikes than cars, it is incredible. There are special ways for bikes everywhere, even in the roundabouts and cars have to stop for you. The journey to school takes 20 minutes.

But also the train in the Netherlands is really cool! Every 30 minutes there is a direct connection to the bigger cities (Amsterdam, Den Haag, Rotterdam, Groningen, ...) and it is quite cheap. But one thing is really good: the more people you are, the less is costs. So if you are a group of 10, you can go to any city you want for just 7 Euros - and this ticket is valid for the whole day (so back and forth). So on facebook is page called NS group ticket Amsterdam od den Haag.

Life in the Netherlands

I like live specially here in Zwolle. Here is very nice style of live with using of bicycles.

About the teaching practice:

It took me many nice experiences. I was in Kubus school. It was really small school but very friendly. We had to prepare some english lessons for the children and during the lessons was fun. The teachers were very kind a I really enjoyed it.

The reflection of subjects at KPZ:

Almost every lessons teach me something new and interresting about education. About alternative education and we had also lessons, that made us fun: Music and drama and Art lessons. Sometimes was difficult because of assignments.

Ana Vila, Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, The Netherlands

Contacts University

University of Applied Science, Teacher Training Institute Primary Education

Hogeschool Katholieke PABO Zwolle

Ten Oeverstraat 68,

8012 EW Zwolle,

The Netherlands

Tel.: +31 (0)384217425

Fax: +31(0)384210914

webaddress:www.kpz.nl

Erasmus code: NL ZWOLLE06

Coordinators:

Harrie Poulssen (International Officer)

Katholieke Pabo Zwolle

Ten Oeverstraat 68

8012 EW Zwolle

The Netherlands

Phone: 0031(0)38 4217425

Email: h.poulssen@kpz.nl

Bert Thole (Coordinator IM)

Katholieke Pabo Zwolle

Ten Oeverstraat 68

8012 EW Zwolle

The Netherlands

Phone: 0031(0)38 4217425

Email: b.thole@kpz.nl

About the University:

The Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, also known as KPZ, is an independent Interactum University of Applied Sciences (Dutch "hogeschool"). There are over 650 students and a staff of about 70. This means that the KPZ is one of the many small- to medium-sized institutes for higher professional education in the Netherlands.

The International Minor Program (IM) is a five month course in English for 30 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System). The website contains all the necessary information about our teacher training course in which we combine theory and practice and offer a varied study programme with a clear structure using the module system and ECTS. For the IM you need a required level of English like TOEFL or IELTS. Upon consultation, it is also possible to stay three moths. Therefore, 20 ECTS have to be achieved.

The organisation and interactum:

The Katholieke Pabo Zwolle is an organisation where a clear identity and familiartiy play an important role. Whether you are following the teacher training course or a refresher course, you will notice that things are well organised.

University of Applied Sciences works within the Educational Federation Interactum together with four other independent teacher training colleges for pirmary education. The aim with this collaboration is to assure and imporve the quality of teacher training in primary education.

Canteen/cafeteria, ICT and library:

Next to the auditorium you will find the canteen where you can buy coffee, tea, soup, rolls and various other small snacks. The offers are really cheap and delicious.

The KPZ offers quiet workspaces equipped with computers where you can study on your own or in pairs. Software applications that are suitable for word processing, internet, multimedia use, email and aducational subjects have been installed. The multi media centre is a large modern facility where you have access to information you need when preparing for yours study and your work placement. KPS´s extensice collections consits text books, youth literature, methods for primary education, audiovisual material, software, flash cards and various magazines. Laptops, cameras as well as video cameras can be hired.

A huge benefit is that printing in black and white is for free. So you will have no addtional costs for printed work.

How can I apply?

Each year we have an international minor in spring semester from 1st of February until 1st of July.

Deadline for application is: 1 November (previous calendar year)

For application you need to fill in this student application form and mail it to us.

[application form on the website]

Please note: When we have received your complete application form an overview on admission will be held by means of Skype.

Preparations for the Erasmus+ stay at the University of Valencia:

Before applying on the KPZ you have to make some organisational manners on the UV as well:

- There is a subasta and the students can choose the country where they want to go depending on their marks.

- You also need a B2 level of English to apply for the Erasmus program. If you do not have, the University give to you the chance to do a free exam of B2 level.

- There are some appointments to get information about the university, accommodation and country.

- You stay in contact with your coordinator to fill in all the papers.

- You have to do an exam in Dutch at the beginning and another at the end to evaluate the difference and what you have learned about Dutch language.

Besides the oranisational manners for the UV it is advisable to cover an accident insurance in order to be insured during the stay abroad. The reason for advice is that you have to go by bike every day and that there are some other events for example a sportsday.

Before we got to Zwolle:

Before we got to the Netherlands, we got a lot of information about our next semester. We have written a lot of emails and had to do a few things before we got here, for example we had to make a language test in Dutch, which was not really a success (we have to do it also afterwards, to see our progress).

To attend the Pabo we all have had a conversation via Skype, where a few thinks were asked in order to notice the level in English. Some questions were:

What do you expect from your Erasmus+ trip?

Why do you want to go to the Netherlands?

In the Skype interview, the level of English as well as the organisational and social skills were tested.

Furthermore, we had to get some information about how fractions are tought in Spain, we had to copy the schoolbooks, made a short clip about a math lesson, made a foto of the classroom, etc. The assignment was used in the course "Reasearch 1".

The Pabo organised a very good accomodation, so we didn´t have to look for something - which was really a pleasentness! A part of the International students are staying on a camping side at the Agnietenberg. The issue "accomotation" is discussed in another topic more detailed.

Then Ria Posthumus asked us when and how we will get to Zwolle and if we wanted to have a welcome guide, who wouls pick us up from the railway station and bring us to our houses.

Info about the general things and the first weeks:

We are in a "seperate class" - The international Minor/class. All in all we are 15 people (6 Spanish girls, 1 girl from Turkey, 1 boy from Nepal, 2 Czech girls and 5 people from Austria). All our courses we have together - we do not have any courses with the students from the PABO.

The first week was a welcome week to get aquainted with each other:

The first day most of our teachers and the headmaster were here to welcome us and to introduce themselves.

We also had to introduce ourselves to the other ones and to speak about our expectations.

The welcome week was really a good experiences, we were ice skating and played traditional Dutch games.

The courses:

1) English language (1 ECTS)

The objective of this course revolves around writing and presenting an academic paper in English in which your own written work will play a pivotal role. This very short course of 4 lessons focuses both on development of academic writing skills and strenghtening presentation skills.

2) Culture and Society ( 4 ECTS)

The students ude their ecperience and the kknowledge theyhave mastered of Dutch history, culture, art and society as a tool to understand and explore their own and other societies. Moreover students are confronted witht the questoins in which way history, culture and society shape our cultural identity, our wy of being.

3) Pedagogics (5 ECTS)

We will examine reform pedagogy in all its aspects. We will see which concepts are still used today.

We wonder what a present day and future child need. We explore the new didactics and explore existing concepts which have caught on in the Netherlands.

4) Dutch language (3 ECTS)

This is a Dutch course for our class. We learn the basics of the language, for example to introduce ourselves, talk about our hobbies, colors, show someone the way, ect.

5) Coaching/Counselling and tutorship (CCT / 3 ECTS)

The CCT is different from other modules, since most of the content is not definite yet.

There will be time for teambuilding activities and for personal coaching. Moreover students will be prepared for the practical training.

6) DRAMU (Drama and Music) (2 ECTS)

Starting with rhythm activities, movement and finishing with songd for children we learn to understand the meaning of rhythm, melody and harmony. All native songs will be produces on seet music and recorded ona CD.

7) Project week "Randstad" (2 ECTS)

During the semester we will take part in a prject week and a number of cultural activities. In this week (in Amsterdam and Den Haag) we will visit a number of cultural and social institutions.

8) Research (5 ECTS)

The research modules offer a good method to examime educational reform. During practical training we will be at school where we will do our research.

9) Teaching practise (4 ECTS)

This is the main and for me the most important part of the whole semester. I am in Heerde (small village next to Zwolle) in a Jenaplan school. I have to teach at least 26 lessons. I will see the idea of Jenaplan in a practical way.

10) Teacher in Europe student conference (1 ECTS)

Students learn in an international environment how to design a project under Erasmus + and to complete a final proposal.

Zwolle:

Zwolle is the capital city of the province "Overijssel" being a paradise for students. It is a lively city with a population of more than 118.000 people. It boasts a beautiful city centre with historic buildings, canals and the remainders of an old city wall. But Zwolle has more to offer than just historic landmarks. The city is also rich in art and culture.

Green

Zwolle has great shopping, with charming shopping streets in the centre, where large chain stores alternate with small specialty shops. There are also plenty of culinary delights to be found in and around the centre, ranging from top restaurants to bistros and cafés.

The municipality of Zwolle feels very strongly about the nature found in and around the city. Not only will you find plenty of green spaces, but the municipality also maintains its natural beauty in an innovative fashion. With nearly eighty thousand jobs, Zwolle is also an excellent source of emplyment. The employed population of Zwolle is younger than the overall Dutch average.

Accomodation

I have been living at Leliestraat, a student accommodation really near to the school and good for me. The price is 305 euros per year sharing a room, a kitchen and a bathroom. My roommaye is also my classmate and she is Spanish too, that's why I am so comfortable with her. We speak Valencian and we share the same hobbies and studies. However, our classmates live in a camping a little bit far away but so nice. Nevertheless, I prefer the residence because thanks to that, I have known amazing people there and I have improved my English and my social skills a lot.

Name of accomodation: Leliestraat

Country: Netherlands

Website: http://sshxl.nl/

Transport

In the Netherlands it is an obligation to have a bike! Without a bike you are totally lost. In the Netherlans are more bikes than cars, it is incredible. There are special ways for bikes everywhere, even in the roundabouts and cars have to stop for you. We have to drive about 30 minutes to University with our bikes.

But also the train in the Netherlands is really cool! Every 30 minutes there is a direct connection to the bigger cities (Amsterdam, Den Haag, Rotterdam, Groningen, ...) and it is quite cheap. But one thing is really good: the more people you are, the less is costs. So if you are a group of 10, you can go to any city you want for just 7 Euros - and this ticket is valid for the whole day (so back and forth).

Nevertheless, we suggest that you buy a bike when you arrive here. You can either go to a second hand shop or buy a bike from another student leafing Zwolle. Normally, the bikes are around 30€ to 70€. But be aware that you have a good tyre as well as chain, otherwise repairing can get really expensive.

Life in the Netherlands

Here in Zwolle are a lot of opportunities to do something, especially at night. Here are a lot of bars, discos and pubs. A bar called "The flying horse" is the most popular for students, it is always full! But it is not just good for drinking, you can get a meal for 2,50 Euros, which is really cheap.

When you compare Spain and the Netherland from the prices, here it is actually more expensive.In the city center are a lot of shops where you can buy clothes, something to eat and a lot of other stuff!

When you are here, you have to visit the bigger cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Den Haag! They are absolutely wonderful and every city has its own charme!

Teaching practice:

First of all, Bert Thole divided us to different schools. Some schools are located in Zwolle, one school is in Heerde and one school in Dronten. You teach either alone or in pairs. Moreover, the university decided to mix the nationalities of the students. For example: Austria and Spain. In addition, some schools have a reformpedagogical focus, like Jenaplan or Dalton. Other schools are concerned on ICT and on the foreign language English. Most of the primary schools can be reached by bus or bike.

In general the primary school in the Netherlands is called "basisschool" and the pupils have to attend school from the age of 4 to 12. All in all the pupils are divided in eight groups. Group 1 and 2 are similar to the "kindergarten" in Spain.

Teaching practice:

Mid February we had the first contact with our teaching practice schools. The first two Mondays we just observed the lessons of our allocated groups. Moreover, we observed the teachers behaviour including the rituals, (non)-verbal signals and the arrangement in class. While this time we supported the teacher as much as we could. We have to mention, it wasn´t always easy to help the teacher because of the language barrier. Due to the fact, German and Dutch language is similar to each other, we could follow the main content of the lessons. Altough we understood most of the instructions of the teacher, helping the pupils with several tasks was difficult because of our missing Dutch knowledge. We also tried to get in contact with the pupils and to make a good relation as well as the teachers. Furthermore, we looked through all departments of the school to get a good orientation.

Generally, we were welcomed very friendly at each school and they were happy to have international students at their school because of improving the pupils´ English knowledge. In addition the cultural exchange of the diverse nationalities is a further advantage for the school.

Pupils behaviour:

At the first encounter with the pupils we recognised immediately that their behaviour is different to Austrian pupils. The pupils in our teaching practice schools were working very independently altough the teacher isn´t in the classroom. In addition, if they have a problem or question due to a task, they ask a classmate for advise before asking the teacher. The cohesion of the classes is very strong and the pupils help each other.

When you enter the schools you feel comfortable and relaxed! Each school seems like one family. Moreover, the pupils like being in school and we think that they know the importance of learning. The pupils have already recognised that they learn for themselves and for their future. This way of thinking is given through the working atmosphere in school.

Concerning the "teacher-pupils-relation" in our Netherland schools and in comparison to Austria, this relationship is much closer. This becomes apparent in class because the teacher seems to be like a "friend" or a "companion" for the pupils. Nevertheless, the pupils respect the teacher as an authority.

As you can see below there is the overview of our teaching practice lessons:

- week 8 (only monday, observations in different departments)

- week 10 (only monday, observations in different departments)

- week 11 (only monday, 1 lesson + supporting the teacher)

- week 12 (only monday, 1 lesson + supporting the teacher)

- week 14 (4 days; 2 lessons + supporting the teacher per each day)

- week 15 (4 days; 2 lessons + supporting the teacher per each day)

- week 18 (4 days; 2 lessons + supporting the teacher per each day)

- week 20 (3 days; 2 lessons (incl. world citizenship) + supporting the teacher per each day)

- week 22 (hand in "Demonstration Portfolio)

All in all we have to absolve 32 teaching practice lessons. For the students which stay 3 months have to absolve 26 lessons.

A "lesson" is defined as follows: The student chooses one activtiy of at least 20 minutes. This activity has to be prepared by using a "lesson preparation form". Each teaching practice day, at least one of our lessons have to be evaluated by using the "evaluation form". In addition, we had to work out a number of compulsory teaching practice assignments (f.e. lesson observation forms, form of effective teacher behaviour, fill in a list of competences, demonstration portfolio, ...)

In conclusion, at least 26 lessons should be given and at least 13 must be evaluated. As already mentioned, in week 20 we had to carry out a project on "world citizeship". This project is in connection with the module "Culture and Society 1". During this project a comparison of the Netherlands and our home country (f.e. Austria) has to be done. Therefore, different topics could be used for preparing a lesson such as special meals, typical dances, differences in school systems, mimes and gestures, proverbs and so on.

Every student has a tutor from university. This tutor is coming one time to observe you during your teaching. Afterwards, a discussion about your lesson takes places. In addition, the "demonstration portfolio" is a basis for the meeting.

My teaching practice schools:

Ana Vila -> ICT school, Dalton

Activities during the Internatinal Minor

open podium? -> first week

ice skating

On the first day at the Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, all Erasmus students as well as three teachers went after some lectures ice skating in Deventer. The previous knowledge of this kind of sport was very different within us students. While we Austrian are familiar with ice skating, others have had some difficulties at the beginning. However, they also could make progress in it. After ice skating, we were all sitting around a fire in the cafeteria of this ice hall. In our opinion, it was a great start of this Erasmus and we could get to know each other.

Typical Dutch games

In order to learn something about the Dutch culture, three Dutch students of the KPZ taught us some typical Dutch games, which are played especially at birthday parties.

This event was also in our first week and we played the following games:

- “Zaklopen” (sack race)

- “Koekhappen” (catching blindly an in the air hanging cookie only with the mouth )

- “Touwtrekken” (tug war)

- “Spijkerpoepen” (getting a on a string strapped spike, which is around your belly, into a bottle)

We liked those games very much and at the same time, our community within us international students was growing.

Tour through zwolle

Week with English students

Due to the fact that English students were coming to the KPZ, the teachers had the idea to get them in touch with us international students. In addition, those students are also studying for becoming a primary school teacher. Generally, we had lectures together, in which we could also talk to each other as well as exchange experiences concerning teaching. In mixed national groups, we were playing board games, which were based on answering questions about school experiences. Additionally, we also talked in small groups about advantages as well as disadvantages concerning the educational system in England and in Austria, in our case. Furthermore, we had a Dutch dinner together at the famous student-pub “Het vliegende paard” with very delicious meals. On their last day in the Netherlands, two Dutch students of the KPZ organized a tour through the most popular pubs in Zwolle.

All in all, we think that it this meeting with the English students was a great idea and we could learn something from the others. In addition, the lectures of the KPZ-teachers were also informative and interesting.

concert Harrie

International sport day

On the 27.03., the international sport day took place and we international students were invited to join. To be more precise, it had to do with a group competition within teams of the 5 schools for primary school in the Netherlands. In order to take part in it, we had to divide us in two groups and thereby, the minimum of seven students per team had to be considered

The following kinds of sports were offered:

- Frisbee

- “Monokorfbal”

- Hockey

- Football - different

- Football

- Wheel-chair basketball

- basketball

All in all, this event was really amusing and we had a lot of fun.

Project week 'Randstad' (Amsterdam and The Hague)

The teachers of the KPZ organized for us international students a three day trip, which was called “Project Week Randstad”. On the first day, we went by train to Amsterdam, where we visited…. . In the evening, we went by train to The Hague, where we went to our hostel. On the second day we went to…. . The night from the second to the third day, we slept in the same hostel. On the third day, we visited…. .

All in all, it only cost 75€, what in our opinion is really less for this nice offer concerning the sights as well as the accommodation in a hostel.

All in all, we are all the same opinion that the organization as well as the choice of the sights was great and we are very grateful for offering this project week.

Reflection Ana Vila Cuenca:

To be in Netherlands has been a great experience for me because I have made new friends from different countries and I have learnt a lot on the KPZ. I really like the country and the traditions (use of the bike, familiar people...), but the university has been the best for me due to I have learned by doing. In this experience, I have had everything I wanted: new concepts for teachers about alternative systems, new friends from different countries and close teachers if I compare with Spain. Living in a student residence has been so great because my life has been active during these 5 months, learning English and improving my social skills. I will never forget this country, this experience and my classmates.

Andrea Alborch Adam, Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, The Netherlands, Mobility For Study, University Of Valencia, Spain

niversity of Applied Science, Teacher Training Institute Primary Education

Hogeschool Katholieke PABO Zwolle

Ten Oeverstraat 68,

8012 EW Zwolle,

The Netherlands

Tel.: +31 (0)384217425

Fax: +31(0)384210914

webaddress:www.kpz.nl

Erasmus code: NL ZWOLLE06

Coordinators:

Harrie Poulssen (International Officer)

Katholieke Pabo Zwolle

Ten Oeverstraat 68

8012 EW Zwolle

The Netherlands

Phone: 0031(0)38 4217425

Email: h.poulssen@kpz.nl

Bert Thole (Coordinator IM)

Katholieke Pabo Zwolle

Ten Oeverstraat 68

8012 EW Zwolle

The Netherlands

Phone: 0031(0)38 4217425

Email: b.thole@kpz.nl

About the University:

The Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, also known as KPZ, is an independent Interactum University of Applied Sciences (Dutch "hogeschool"). There are over 650 students and a staff of about 70. This means that the KPZ is one of the many small- to medium-sized institutes for higher professional education in the Netherlands.

The International Minor Program (IM) is a five month course in English for 30 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System). The website contains all the necessary information about our teacher training course in which we combine theory and practice and offer a varied study programme with a clear structure using the module system and ECTS. For the IM you need a required level of English like TOEFL or IELTS. Upon consultation, it is also possible to stay three moths. Therefore, 20 ECTS have to be achieved.

The organisation and interactum:

The Katholieke Pabo Zwolle is an organisation where a clear identity and familiartiy play an important role. Whether you are following the teacher training course or a refresher course, you will notice that things are well organised.

University of Applied Sciences works within the Educational Federation Interactum together with four other independent teacher training colleges for pirmary education. The aim with this collaboration is to assure and imporve the quality of teacher training in primary education.

Canteen/cafeteria, ICT and library:

Next to the auditorium you will find the canteen where you can buy coffee, tea, soup, rolls and various other small snacks. The offers are really cheap and delicious.

The KPZ offers quiet workspaces equipped with computers where you can study on your own or in pairs. Software applications that are suitable for word processing, internet, multimedia use, email and aducational subjects have been installed. The multi media centre is a large modern facility where you have access to information you need when preparing for yours study and your work placement. KPS´s extensice collections consits text books, youth literature, methods for primary education, audiovisual material, software, flash cards and various magazines. Laptops, cameras as well as video cameras can be hired.

A huge benefit is that printing in black and white is for free. So you will have no addtional costs for printed work.

How can I apply?

Each year we have an international minor in spring semester from 1st of February until 1st of July.

Deadline for application is: 1 November (previous calendar year)

For application you need to fill in this student application form and mail it to us.

[application form on the website]

Please note: When we have received your complete application form an overview on admission will be held by means of Skype.

Preparations for the Erasmus+ stay at the UV:

Before applying on the KPZ you have to make some organisational manners on the UV as well:

- You have to handle in papers that demonstrate you have a B2 level. If not, you have to pass an exam prepared by the University that represents this level.

- Then,you have to fulfill an online application choosing at least five countries where you would like to do your Erasmus.

- Then, there is a reunion of all the people who applied for an Erasmus and the coordinators. This meeting is like a subhasta, where the students with highest marks at the year before have the preference to choose the place they want.

- When the places are spread, one have to assist to different informational meetings there in the UV.

- Finally, about a couple of months to leave, you have to fulfill some papers. Some are for the International Relations Office, others for the coordinator in Spain, and some others for the coordination of your destiination university.

Before we got to Zwolle:

We have written a lot of emails and had to do a few things before we got here, for example we had to make a language test in Dutch, which was not really a success (we have to do it also afterwards, to see our progress).

To attend the Pabo we all have had a conversation via Skype, where a few thinks were asked in order to notice the level in English. Some questions were:

What do you expect from your Erasmus+ trip?

Why do you want to go to the Netherlands?

In the Skype interview, the level of English as well as the organisational and social skills were tested.

Furthermore, we had to get some information about how fractions are tought in Spain, we had to copy the schoolbooks, made a short clip about a mathlesson, made a foto of the classroom, etc. The assignment was used in the course "Research 1".

The Pabo organised an accomodation, but we prefered to look for another one cheaper and closer to the Kpz by ourselves. They ofered us a chalet on camping the Agnietenberg, but we decided to book a room on Leliestraat, a building for Students situated in the same street as the school.

Then Ria Posthumus asked us when and how we will get to Zwolle and if we wanted to have a welcome guide, who wouls pick us up from the railway station and bring us to our houses. Our guide was Bert Thole, one of the coordinators.

Info about the general things and the first weeks:

We are in a "seperate class" - The international Minor/class. All in all we are 15 people (6 Spanish girls, 1 girl from Turkey, 1 boy from Nepal, 2 Czech girls and 5 people from Austria). All our courses we have together - we do not have any courses with the students from the PABO.

The first week was a welcome week to get aquainted with each other:

The first day most of our teachers and the headmaster were here to welcome us and to introduce themselves.

We also had to introduce ourselves to the other ones and to speak about our expectations.

The welcome week was really a good experiences, we were ice skating and played traditional Dutch games.

The courses:

1) English language (1 ECTS)

The objective of this course revolves around writing and presenting an academic paper in English in which your own written work will play a pivotal role. This very short course of 4 lessons focuses both on development of academic writing skills and strenghtening presentation skills.

2) Culture and Society ( 4 ECTS)

The students ude their ecperience and the kknowledge theyhave mastered of Dutch history, culture, art and society as a tool to understand and explore their own and other societies. Moreover students are confronted witht the questoins in which way history, culture and society shape our cultural identity, our wy of being.

3) Pedagogics (5 ECTS)

We will examine reform pedagogy in all its aspects. We will see which concepts are still used today.

We wonder what a present day and future child need. We explore the new didactics and explore existing concepts which have caught on in the Netherlands.

4) Dutch language (3 ECTS)

This is a Dutch course for our class. We learn the basics of the language, for example to introduce ourselves, talk about our hobbies, colors, show someone the way, ect.

5) Coaching/Counselling and tutorship (CCT / 3 ECTS)

The CCT is different from other modules, since most of the content is not definite yet.

There will be time for teambuilding activities and for personal coaching. Moreover students will be prepared for the practical training.

6) DRAMU (Drama and Music) (2 ECTS)

Starting with rhythm activities, movement and finishing with songd for children we learn to understand the meaning of rhythm, melody and harmony. All native songs will be produces on seet music and recorded ona CD.

Then, at Drama we learnt how to use our body, face and voice to act, to be actors in front of our children. We do a lot of activities during the lessons for doing a final movie where we evaluate our improvement ourselves.

7) Project week "Randstad" (2 ECTS)

During the semester we will take part in a prject week and a number of cultural activities. In this week (in Amsterdam and Den Haag) we will visit a number of cultural and social institutions.

8) Research (5 ECTS)

The research modules offer a good method to examime educational reform. During practical training we will be at school where we will do our research.

9) Teaching practise (4 ECTS)

This is the main and for me the most important part of the whole semester. I am in Zwolle in a Jenaplan school. I have to teach at least 26 lessons. I will see the idea of Jenaplan in a practical way.

10) Teacher in Europe student conference (1 ECTS)

Students learn in an international environment how to design a project under Erasmus + and to complete a final proposal.

Zwolle:

Zwolle is the capital city of the province "Overijssel" being a paradise for students. It is a lively city with a population of more than 118.000 people. It boasts a beautiful city centre with historic buildings, canals and the remainders of an old city wall. But Zwolle has more to offer than just historic landmarks. The city is also rich in art and culture.

Green

Zwolle has great shopping, with charming shopping streets in the centre, where large chain stores alternate with small specialty shops. There are also plenty of culinary delights to be found in and around the centre, ranging from top restaurants to bistros and cafés.

The municipality of Zwolle feels very strongly about the nature found in and around the city. Not only will you find plenty of green spaces, but the municipality also maintains its natural beauty in an innovative fashion. With nearly eighty thousand jobs, Zwolle is also an excellent source of emplyment. The employed population of Zwolle is younger than the overall Dutch average.

Accomodation

The name of my accomodation is Leliestraat, as the street it is situated (street of flowers in Dutch). It is a building in which a lot of Erasmus students of other univiersities are staying. It has got 10 floors of which the 7th, 8th and 9th are only for Erasmus students, the others are for whoever. My room costs 305€ because is shared. The individual ones cost about 400€. My room is 306b, situated in the 7th floor.

Name of accomodation: Leliestraat

Adress: Leliestraat

8034 PJ Zwolle

Country: Netherlands

Website: http://www.sshxl.nl/

Transport

In the Netherlands it is an obligation to have a bike! Without a bike you are totally lost. In the Netherlans are more bikes than cars, it is incredible. There are special ways for bikes everywhere, even in the roundabouts and cars have to stop for you.

But also the train in the Netherlands is really cool! Every 30 minutes there is a direct connection to the bigger cities (Amsterdam, Den Haag, Rotterdam, Groningen, ...) and it is quite cheap. But one thing is really good: the more people you are, the less is costs. So if you are a group of 10, you can go to any city you want for just 7 Euros - and this ticket is valid for the whole day (so back and forth).

Nevertheless, we suggest that you buy a bike when you arrive here. You can either go to a second hand shop or buy a bike from another student leafing Zwolle. Normally, the bikes are around 30€ to 70€. But be aware that you have a good tyre as well as chain, otherwise repairing can get really expensive.

Life in the Netherlands

Here in Zwolle are a lot of opportunities to do something, especially at night. Here are a lot of bars, discos and pubs. A bar called "The flying horse" is the most popular for students, it is always full! But it is not just good for drinking, you can get a meal for 2,50 Euros, which is really cheap.

When you compare Spain and the Netherland from the prices, it is actually the same (maybe in some stuff like meat, fish or alcoholic drinks Spain is cheaper). Clothes are the same, but I think products for "beauty" are quite expensive, but you can always get a special offer at "Kruidvat".

In the city center are a lot of shops where you can buy clothes, something to eat and a lot of other stuff!

When you are here, you have to visit the bigger cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Den Haag! They are absolutely wonderful and every city has its own charme!

Teaching practice:

First of all, Bert Thole divided us to different schools. Some schools are located in Zwolle, one school is in Heerde and one school in Dronten. You teach either alone or in pairs. Moreover, the university decided to mix the nationalities of the students. For example: Austria and Turkey. In addition, some schools have a reformpedagogical focus, like Jenaplan or Dalton. Other schools are concerned on ICT and on the foreign language English. Most of the primary schools can be reached by bus or bike.

In general the primary school in the Netherlands is called "basisschool" and the pupils have to attend school from the age of 4 to 12. All in all the pupils are divided in eight groups. Group 1 and 2 are similar to the "guarderia" in Spain. Group 3 to 6 are like Spanish primary schools.

Teaching practice:

Mid February we had the first contact with our teaching practice schools. The first two Mondays we just observed the lessons of our allocated groups. Moreover, we observed the teachers behaviour including the rituals, (non)-verbal signals and the arrangement in class. While this time we supported the teacher as much as we could. We have to mention, it wasn´t always easy to help the teacher because of the language barrier. It was realy difficult for us Spanish people because our language is specially different than Dutch.

Generally, we were welcomed very friendly at each school and they were happy to have international students at their school because of improving the pupils´ English knowledge. In addition the cultural exchange of the diverse nationalities is a further advantage for the school.

Pupils behaviour:

At the first encounter with the pupils we recognised immediately that their behaviour is different to Spanish pupils. The pupils in our teaching practice schools were working very independently altough the teacher isn´t in the classroom. In addition, if they have a problem or question due to a task, they ask a classmate for advise before asking the teacher. The cohesion of the classes is very strong and the pupils help each other.

When you enter the schools you feel comfortable and relaxed! Each school seems like one family. Moreover, the pupils like being in school and we think that they know the importance of learning. The pupils have already recognised that they learn for themselves and for their future. This way of thinking is given through the working atmosphere in school.

Concerning the "teacher-pupils-relation" in our Netherland schools and in comparison to Austria, this relationship is much closer. This becomes apparent in class because the teacher seems to be like a "friend" or a "companion" for the pupils. Nevertheless, the pupils respect the teacher as an authority.

As you can see below there is the overview of our teaching practice lessons:

- week 8 (only monday, observations in different departments)

- week 10 (only monday, observations in different departments)

- week 11 (only monday, 1 lesson + supporting the teacher)

- week 12 (only monday, 1 lesson + supporting the teacher)

- week 14 (4 days; 2 lessons + supporting the teacher per each day)

- week 15 (4 days; 2 lessons + supporting the teacher per each day)

- week 18 (4 days; 2 lessons + supporting the teacher per each day)

- week 20 (3 days; 2 lessons (incl. world citizenship) + supporting the teacher per each day)

- week 22 (hand in "Demonstration Portfolio)

All in all we have to absolve 32 teaching practice lessons. For the students which stay 3 months have to absolve 26 lessons.

A "lesson" is defined as follows: The student chooses one activtiy of at least 20 minutes. This activity has to be prepared by using a "lesson preparation form". Each teaching practice day, at least one of our lessons have to be evaluated by using the "evaluation form". In addition, we had to work out a number of compulsory teaching practice assignments (f.e. lesson observation forms, form of effective teacher behaviour, fill in a list of competences, demonstration portfolio, ...)

In conclusion, at least 26 lessons should be given and at least 13 must be evaluated. As already mentioned, in week 20 we had to carry out a project on "world citizeship". This project is in connection with the module "Culture and Society 1". During this project a comparison of the Netherlands and our home country (f.e. Austria) has to be done. Therefore, different topics could be used for preparing a lesson such as special meals, typical dances, differences in school systems, mimes and gestures, proverbs and so on.

Every student has a tutor from university. This tutor is coming one time to observe you during your teaching. Afterwards, a discussion about your lesson takes places. In addition, the "demonstration portfolio" is a basis for the meeting.

My teaching practice schools:

Jenapleinschool Zwolle

Activities during the Internatinal Minor

open podium? -> first week

ice skating

On the first day at the Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, all Erasmus students as well as three teachers went after some lectures ice skating in Deventer. The previous knowledge of this kind of sport was very different within us students. After ice skating, we were all sitting around a fire in the cafeteria of this ice hall. In my opinion, it was a great start of this Erasmus and we could get to know each other.

Typical Dutch games

In order to learn something about the Dutch culture, three Dutch students of the KPZ taught us some typical Dutch games, which are played especially at birthday parties.

This event was also in our first week and we played the following games:

- “Zaklopen” (sack race)

- “Koekhappen” (catching blindly an in the air hanging cookie only with the mouth )

- “Touwtrekken” (tug war)

- “Spijkerpoepen” (getting a on a string strapped spike, which is around your belly, into a bottle)

We liked those games very much and at the same time, our community within us international students was growing.

Week with English students

Due to the fact that English students were coming to the KPZ, the teachers had the idea to get them in touch with us international students. In addition, those students are also studying for becoming a primary school teacher. Generally, we had lectures together, in which we could also talk to each other as well as exchange experiences concerning teaching. In mixed national groups, we were playing board games, which were based on answering questions about school experiences. Additionally, we also talked in small groups about advantages as well as disadvantages concerning the educational system in England and in Austria, in our case. Furthermore, we had a Dutch dinner together at the famous student-pub “Het vliegende paard” with very delicious meals. On their last day in the Netherlands, two Dutch students of the KPZ organized a tour through the most popular pubs in Zwolle.

All in all, we think that it this meeting with the English students was a great idea and we could learn something from the others. In addition, the lectures of the KPZ-teachers were also informative and interesting.

International sport day

On the 27.03., the international sport day took place and we international students were invited to join. To be more precise, it had to do with a group competition within teams of the 5 schools for primary school in the Netherlands. In order to take part in it, we had to divide us in two groups and thereby, the minimum of seven students per team had to be considered

The following kinds of sports were offered:

- Frisbee

- “Monokorfbal”

- Hockey

- Football - different

- Football

- Wheel-chair basketball

- basketball

All in all, this event was really amusing and we had a lot of fun.

Project week 'Randstad' (Amsterdam and The Hague)

The teachers of the KPZ organized for us international students a three day trip, which was called “Project Week Randstad”. On the first day, we went by train to Amsterdam, where we visited…. . In the evening, we went by train to The Hague, where we went to our hostel. On the second day we went to…. . The night from the second to the third day, we slept in the same hostel. On the third day, we visited…. .

All in all, it only cost 75€, what in my opinion is really less for this nice offer concerning the sights as well as the accommodation in a hostel.

All in all, we are all the same opinion that the organization as well as the choice of the sights was great and we are very grateful for offering this project week.

Reflection:

Studying in Zwolle for five months was an amazing experience. It definitelly changed my life. I especially enjoyed living on leliestraat with a lot of different erasmus students. The international group was also very insprining and I made a lot of new friendships. Last but not least, I will totally recommend going to Zwolle, although people have to be prepared to work hard.

Ane Diaz De Sarralde, Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, The Netherlands, Mobility For Study, Bam Bilbao Basque Country

Author: Ane Diaz de Sarralde Gutiérrez

Contacts University

University of Applied Science, Teacher Training Institute Primary Education

Hogeschool Katholieke PABO Zwolle

Ten Oeverstraat 68,

8012 EW Zwolle,

The Netherlands

Tel.: +31 (0)384217425

Fax: +31(0)384210914

webaddress:www.kpz.nl

Erasmus code: NL ZWOLLE06

Harrie Poulssen (international Officer)

Email: h.poulssen@kpz.nl

Bert Thole (Coordinator IM)

Email: b.thole@kpz.nl

About the University:

The Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, also known as KPZ, is an independent Interactum University of Applied Sciences (Dutch "hogeschool"). There are over 650 students and a staff of about 70. This means that the KPZ is one of the many small- to medium-sized institutes for higher professional education in the Netherlands.

The International Minor Program(IM) is a five month course in English for 30 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System). The website contains all the necessary information about our teacher training course in which we combine theory and practice and offer a varied study programme with a clear structure using the module system and ECTS. For the IM you need a required level of English like TOEFL or IELTS.

How can I apply?

Each year we have an international minor in spring semester from 1st of February until 1st of July.

Deadline for application is: 1 November (previous calendar year)

For application you need to fill in this student application form and mail it to us.

[application form on the website]

Please note: When we have received your complete application form an overview on admission will be held by means of Skype.

Before we got here:

Before we got to the Netherlands, we got a lot of information about our next semster. We have written a lot of emails and had to do a few things before we got here.

To attend the Pabo we have had a conversation via Skype, where the English teacher asked me a few things (in English - so they can see our level), for example what I am expecting, why I want to go to the Netherlands, and so on.

Furthermore we had to get some information about how fractions are tought in Basque Country, we had to copy the schoolbooks, made a short clip about a mathlesson, made a foto of the classroom, ect.

The Pabo organised a very good accomodation, so we didn´t have to look for something - which was really a pleasentness!

Then Ria Posthumus asked us when and how we will get to Zwolle and if we wanted to have a welcome guide, who wouls pick us up from the railway station and bring us to our houses.

Info about the general things and the first weeks:

We are in a "seperate class" - The international Minor/class. All in all we are 15 people (6 Spanish girls, 1 girl from Turkey, 1 boy from Nepal, 2 Czech girls and 5 people from Austria). All our xouses we have together - we do not have any courses with the students from the PABO.

The first week was a welcome week to get aquaint with each other:

The first day most of our teachers and the headmaster were here to welcome us and to introduce themselves.

We also had to introduce ouselves to the other ones and to speak about our expectations.

The welcome week was really a good experiences, we were ice skating and played traditional Dutch games.

My courses:

1) English language (1 ECTS)

The objective of this course revolves around writing and presenting an academic paper in English in which your own written work will play a pivotal role. This very short course of 4 lessons focuses both on development of academic writing skills and strenghtening presentation skills.

2) Culture and Society ( 4 ECTS)

The students ude their ecperience and the kknowledge theyhave mastered of Dutch history, culture, art and society as a tool to understand and explore their own and other societies. Moreover students are confronted witht the questoins in which way history, culture and society shape our cultural identity, our wy of being.

3) Pedagogics (5 ECTS)

We will examine reform pedagogy in all its aspects. We will see which concepts are still used today.

We wonder what a present day and future child need. We explore the new didactics and explore existing concepts which have caught on in the Netherlands.

4) Dutch language (3 ECTS)

This is a Dutch course for our class. We learn the basics of the language, for example to introduce ourselves, talk about our hobbies, colors, show someone the way, ect.

5) Coaching/Counselling and tutorship (CCT / 3 ECTS)

The CCT is different from other modules, since most of the content is not definite yet.

There will be time for teambuilding activities and for personal coaching. Moreover students will be prepared for the practical training.

6) DRAMU (Drama and Music) (2 ECTS)

Starting with rhythm activities, movement and finishing with songd for children we learn to understand the meaning of rhythm, melody and harmony. All native songs will be produces on seet music and recorded ona CD.

7) Project week "Randstad" (2 ECTS)

During the semester we will take part in a prject week and a number of cultural activities. In this week (in Amsterdam and Den Haag) we will visit a number of cultural and social institutions.

8) Research (5 ECTS)

The research modules offer a good method to examime educational reform. During practical training we will be at school where we will do our research.

9) Teaching practise (4 ECTS)

This is the main and for me the most important part of the whole semester. I am in Heerde (small village next to Zwolle) in a Jenaplan school. I have to teach at least 26 lessons. I will see the idea of Jenaplan in a practical way.

10) Teacher in Europe student conference (1 ECTS)

Students learn in an international environment how to design a project under Erasmus + and to complete a final proposal.

Zwolle:

Accomodation

We had a good accomodation for these five months. It is a camping called Agnietenberg, but it is little far from the school and the city center. It takes around 20 minutes by bycicle to the school.  There we have a chatels or kind of them, not too big but with the necessary things for living there. Each room is quite small, but it is enough for sleeping and working inside. We have also a kitchen-livingroom with a bigger table and more space if we need it. We pay about 375 euros per month for the rent,  with light, electricity and internet included. We are more students here in the camping, and we do a lot of things together.

Transport

You really will need a bycicle in The Netherlands for going everywhere. Without a bike it is dificult to go to the center or to any other places.There are special ways for bikes everywhere, even in the rounds and this was very surprising for me at the begining, and also that cars always have to stop for you.

But also the train in the Netherlands is good transport, very clear and every 30 minutes there is a direct connection to the bigger cities like Amsterdam or Rotterdam, among others. But in muy opinion the trains are quite expensives. But one thing is really good: the more people you are, the less is costs. So if you are a group of 10, you can go to any city you want for just 7 Euros - and this ticket is valid for the whole day (so back and forth).

Life in the Netherlands

Here the people is very helpful, and kind. they are so calm, and one thing that I did not like was that everything is closed so early, at 6 pm more or less. Some days they open until littlle later. There is also party for students in the pubs in the centre also, and there you can meet more people and erasmus students.

About the teaching practice:

we did some teaching practices, I were to an International school in a village near Zwolle and I think this is one of the best things of this Erasmus; to have an oportunity to know and work in different ways.

Annemiek Withaar, International School Of Cape Town, South Africa, Mobility For Internship, Kpz

Woodland Heights Edinburgh Close Wynberg 7806 Cape Town South Africa

In the second year of my education we had to make a choise if we wanted to go abroad. I choose South Africa immediately. This was a dream for me. After a year of collecting all the European Credits, it was time to give the journey to Cape Town some shape. Together with a student from my school, Kasper van den Hoorn, we went to Hengelo in The Netherlands. At Saxion we got our information about the internships. We heard about the do and dont's and the way of education. After our briefing we heard the name of the school where we would go for our internship. The principal, Mr Hunter, sended us an email after a week to confirm our internships at his school. He already arranged a place for us to stay during our internship.

We will fly to Cape Town on the 23rd of February and be staying till the 24th of May.

We are really looking forward to the journey we are about to make.

UPDATE 02-03-2015

We arrived at Wynberg. When we arrived at the airport Danie was waiting for us. We drove to our house where we will stay for the next three months. I can say that Africa is a really nice country. But you can see the difference between the poor and the rich people, because there are people who lives in villas and there are houses made from corrugated. The people are very nice to us.

The next three month we will stay in a mansion. The house is really big. The host family consists of Danie (the man of the house), Jola (the woman of Danie) and their daughter, Elsa. I’m feeling really at home, because we can do all the things we also do at home.

The first week we did a lot of things. I’ve eaten ostrich for the first time. It taste very well. We went to Victoria Wharf what is next to Clifton beach. The shopping center is really big and luxurious. On the way back we drove along the coast. The view was really nice. In the evening we met some other students from The Netherlands. We now know more about their stay and internship. They are teaching at different schools. We decided to see that schools in the future. So we have different looks of the schools in South-Africa.

We went to a wine tasting on Thursday at Klein Constantia. The views of the vineyards is breathtaking. We took a bottle of wine for the host family and they tried Dutch cheese. They liked it, off course!

In the evening we went to the carnival. It’s a different carnival then at our place at home. There were several food stalls and there was also a fair.

On Friday we went on the mountain bike to our internship school for a first look. The roads are really high, so it was a really tough route. We still need to get used to it. The traffic is really busy and there are no cycle paths. The roads are really small so we have to watch out. It’s really funny because you see very few bicycles and in the Netherlands you can’t watch nowhere and you see a bike.

We do our internship at the International school of Cape Town. It is a private school and the classes are small. At the school they’re working with projects. And they’re having a substitute teacher for nearly every subject. This means that the education is of a high standard. The International school is working with the schools in the townships to help each other to give the best education that is possible.

UPDATE 22-03-2015

We are getting used to living in Cape Town. We cycle to school, give our lessons, observe the teachers and go home. We do this for 4 day's. The fifht is for research.

I gave all mathematics lessons this week. In this lessons I gave the children some cooperative methods. They like my way of teaching.

A couple of weeks ago we had Dutch visitors at the ISCT. Sander from Saxion came by to see how we were doing. He observed a lesson I gave and gave feedback afterwards. He said my English was very good and I will be okay at ISCT. I was happy to hear this.

From 27-03-2015 till 13-04-2015 it's term break. My boyfriend comes and we are going to travel. I'm looking forward to it.

UPDATE 22-04-2015

The weeks are going really fast! The time with my boyfriend was really amazing!

We went to the Krugerpark, Newlands forest, serval beaches and we drive the Grand River Canyon and we went up to Lions head. The few was amazing! When you drive through South-Africa you see a lot of diverent cultures. You see poor people bagging for money and rich people with security in front of the house. There are a lot of people walking on the streets hope to get some food or they try to sell something. Besides that, they have a lot of hitchhikers. We did not take them with us. Everybody in South Africa takes everything easy. So if you’re in a hurry you’ll have a problem! Haha. At a hotel I saw a really big spider! I never saw a spider like that! Really amazing to see that they are really exist!

The holiday is over and I went back to my internship. I like my class and all the kids. After school the kids have some after school activities (extra murals). They are doing sports, homework club, music, drama, media or gardening. Every week I’m doing swimming. There is another teacher who is they swimming teacher. I’m watching and if something is going on than I can help the other teacher.

Every week I’m doing break time. The children take their own food with them and first they going to eat that at the playing ground. Than they can play on the field. The children have to stand in a line with their own group at they and from the break time. We (the teachers) tell them if they can go to their classroom.

Once a week I’m taking care of after duty. If the schools out the children come to a place. They have to stand in groups. They can go to their extra murals if the group is complete. Parents can come to us in that time to ask us what they want. This is going pretty good.

For school I’m doing serval researches. I wanted to learn more about inquiry-based learning and learning by design. With the other teachers we started a science expo week. We teach the children all the steps how to design your own project. They made their own groups and make their own research. At they and they will present their work on a table and have to explain how they did their research. It’s really great to see how this is working and how enthusiastic the children are! And for these lessons I did serval interviews to know how people think about inquiry-based learning and learning by design.

Every day I’m teaching more lessons. During these lessons I’m the only teacher in the classroom. First I’m doing the register when the children come into the class. The children swap over for math’s and I’m teaching that also. The rest of the day I’m teaching other lessons like science. I really like the school and the British education. I’m looking forward to the rest of these weeks!

UPDATE 08-05-2015

I did a lot of researches the last weeks of my internship. In my update from 22-04-2015 I told that I did some research about inquiry-based learning and learning by design. During this weeks I learnt more about how to teach especially inquiry-based learning to design these lessons on my own. Inquiry-based learning is divided into several stages. From the different designs of models, such as Suchman, Llewellyn, EDC, De Vaan & Marell and Van Graft & Kemmers I made my own design. This consisted of Question > Prediction > Equipment > Method > Variables > Results > Conclusion. Before they started their own research I gave them some examples on paper. We have reviewed all the steps the children have to make in their own research. The children worked in pairs. They could write down who they would like to collaborate. I said clearly that they should keep in mind that the experiment had to be done at home, so that the children live close to each other. I made at they and the groups. There was a parent who came into our class to tell about her job. She helps to organize events. The children could ask her serval questions about thinking before you start something. It was really useful. Every science lesson I helped the children to think about their question. This was a long process, because it is really hard to have a question that they can actually perform on their own at home. I told them to send me the questions. I controlled them and after that we started the rest of the project. The children could prepare their expo during the lessons on paper. The actually science project do they at home. I was there as a coach to help them during these research. It was really good to see how the children had fun during the lessons and also learned a lot. For me as a teacher I learned a lot to. I could observe and adapt my teaching.

At the last week of my internship there was the science expo week. All those serval weeks to prepare this special day. We could use signs from the higher school. I prepared questions that the children could practice first. After break time the parents could see their projects.

This project of all those serval weeks was really worth it! I learned a lot and it was great to work together with the children, my colleagues and the parents as well. The results were amazing!

Besides this project I investigate literature about self-responsible learning. I came to serval literature such as Carol Dweck “Brainology”. There are different currents that make together self-regulated learning. I learned a lot about the role from the teacher and from the children. About their self-motivation, learning skills and learning attitudes. I certainly take this information along in my career.

It was already or last week of or internship at the International School of Cape Town. I had a really great time on this school and from the beginning a felt really welcome. All the teachers were really friendly and If I had a question I could always ask them to help me out. During my internship I observed serval teacher from different years. It was great to see all those different visions about teaching. I could think about what my way of teaching is and what I should do in serval situations.

During the assembly on Monday I had to come on stage for the whole key stage 2 and all the teachers. They wanted to thank me for everything I did and after that I had a little speech for all of them. Then was the time to say goodbye. The children had lots of presents for me and during break time all the teachers came to the staffroom to say goodbye. They had also some presents for us. It was really great to have to opportunity to go abroad and to meet all those people.

Next week we (Kasper, his two sisters and I) are going to travel. We are going to drive route 62 and the Gardenroute. I’m looking forward to it, but I’m also sad that it’s almost time to leave the beautiful South-Africa.

UPDATE 23-05-2015

It was an amazing trip! We went to Barrydale, Plettenbergbay, Cango Caves, Wildlife ranch, Cape of good hope, Bloukrans river bridge, Montagu, Swellendam and a lot more towns. The nature in South-Africa is amazing. You see a lot of different landscapes when you travel around. I thought a lot during the trip. I thought about my home, the people here and my own live. It makes you think, because you’re in a totally different environment. The three months passed quickly. I told Kasper that I still remember the moment that we walked through the customs in the Netherlands and we said to each other: Bye Netherlands, see you in three months. That feeling seems like it was yesterday. In these three month I experienced a lot. I’ll take all these things with me the rest of my life.

A small overview of my expenses:

Every month I paid €300,00 to stay with a family. This included unlimited internet, wash and groceries. Besides that I had to pay my own school in the Netherlands. This was €381,20 for two months. At the end of my trip I had to pay the same amount for my school.

I paid €103,52 for my health insurance and €11,66 for my continuous travel insurance. I had to pay for my own phone bill (€23,27 per month). Besides that you can make your own expenses. Every week we went out for dinner. To go out for dinner is much cheaper in South-Africa. Besides that I have been traveling for two weeks in total. In these two weeks I rent a car.

And we could use the car when I was with the family. We paid per km.

The experience with the family was really good. It was very exciting because you have simply now idea with who you’re going to life the next three months. It was also completely new for the people themselves and that made you first calm to look at the whole situation. But if you talk with each other, you know what to expect from each other. We’ve also done a lot of things together and polite. It’s nice to actually live in another culture. This naturally also requires adjustments. It is up to you how you act in another situation. I can say that I learned a lot from this ‘other world’. I never wished for another family because they were really nice to us and that is something that I’m going to miss. The open people who always make a conversation before you start to talk about what is really going on. And the relaxing people, because everybody in the Netherlands is always in a hurry. I learned to relax and join every moment in your live, because it’s beautiful.

Tomorrow we are going back to the Netherlands. I will never forget this journey.

This was my last update. If you have any questions about my journey, prices or want some tips, don’t hesitate to send me a message on this website.

Bart Van Langen, Kidsgear, Uganda, Mobility For Internship, Kpz

Hi, my name is Bart van Langen and together with Remco Schakelaar and Rosan Heitte we are going to Uganda.

If you just want some information about housing and eating cost, that is all the way down the page.

Our first idea for a place for our internship was Kenia, this was because Rosan had experience teaching in Kenia. Because of a negative traveladvise for Kenia we changed it to Uganda. This happend largely because of Remco.

Now we are going to teach at the KidsGear Primary school in Bukomansimbi. We going here with the help of UP4S. Now we have the chance to go to Uganda and I'm excited.

Organisation: http://www.up4s.nl/

The school: The school is placed in a small village in the jungle area of Uganda. It a rich school if you look at Ugandan standard. The schoolbuilding is always kept clean and every position needed to run a school is avaible in school. On the site stated above there are pictures.

The journey in Uganda.

My journey started with my parents and girlfriend bringing me to schiphol airport. After a few hugs and kisses I boarded the plane with Rosan and Remco. Our first stop was Istanbul. It was a calm flight in a fancy plane where I played Pokemon till we landed. We also got some dinner. Brought to us by a chef, with a chef’s  hat. On our arrival we saw that it was snowing in Istanbul. We exited the plane and we were hit with – 10 Celsius. Not a good time to forget your coat.  The stair we used to get out was slippery as hell. We boarded a bus that  stood near the plane. The bus skated navigating through the parked planes till we were at the entrance of  Istanbul airport. Quickly we went to  the toilets and to my surprise there were no urinals. The line in the men’s room was nearly as long as the line in the  women’s bathroom. After that we got some drinks in some airport bar, my  first confrontation with a African lady who tried to cut in line. Luckily I’m not the quiet type. With our drinks in hand we searched for a place to charge our Nintendo DS’s.

While discussing our planes Rosan looked at the departure schedule and shouted at us that it was time to board the plane. Quickly we boarded the plane. This plane was even nicer than the other one. Only negative side was the crying child in the seat in front of us, and our Nintendo ds’s went out after two hours of playing. There were a lot of movies to choose from, so I watched a total of five movies. Had a lovely dinner with minced beef and a lovely dessert. Then we got stuck on Rwanda airport because some passengers were missing. So in the mean time I stacked some pillows on Remco his head, dressed as a ghost and then we were off to Entebbe airport.

We landed on Entebbe airport with a hour delay. It was  4 ‘o clock. The airport was a runway, some staircasecars and a building where we could get our visa and baggage. We exited the plane and we were hit by a 20 degree raise in temperature. I was already tired and because of the change in heat I was even getting worse. In the main hall we were guided to a  desk where we got checked for Ebola. After that we went to buy our visa and get our luggage. Chris(Our guide) was waiting  near the exit. We got in a raggedy car with our baggage on our laps. We drove to a guest house near the airport. On the way there I saw families sitting beside the road. In contrast with the billboard which advertised expensive drinks.

On arrival our bags were carried to the guest house. After a few beers with our guide we went to  bed.

After two hours of  sleep we had some breakfast which consisted of an omelet, toast and a two sausages. A typical Ugandan big breakfast. After that we got ready and went to the bank on local Boda Boda’s(Big moppets were three people can sit on, google it. It’s awesome.) It was quite the experience. We had no helmet, were swerving through traffic with a speed of 60 k/m. It was scary and relaxing at the same time. Wind blowing through my hair. Finally some cold. At the bank I  got 5.000.000 shilling.  That sounds like a lot but it’s not. Back on the bikes and to the guest house. When we got there Chris waved some more Boda Boda’s over for us to travel on with our luggage. Our bags were strapped on two Boda Boda’s and we sat on the other two.

We then drove to a bus station, this was a collection of guys with vans screaming at each other and there passengers. Chris picked a van and our luggage was strapped on the roof with some simple ropes. Me with my above average height for a Dutch person had to sit in the bag. If it were a Dutch van, then there would be 7 persons max in one van. We had eleven people in it. Not counting the conductor. Cause he was hanging out of the car during our travel.  After a few stops  the conductor was saying something to me. I couldn’t understand him. Chris then told me I had to open the back door. After some time figuring out how that type of lock worked I opened the backdoor. He took a bag, set it down. At that moment the bus started to drive. Our conductor ran beside the car and jumped in. And no, it was not driving slowly.

When we got out in Kampala, we got out of the van and quickly some of the local folks picked up the bag and started discussing with Chris. Chris then explained that he paid them to carry our bags. So our bags were carried to the bus station. Which is a just a combination of busses on a little piece of land.  We were hassled by different bus drivers. Bags were ripped from our hands but Chris assured us that this is a normal way of doing business in Uganda. After that we were stuffed in a bus, with not  nearly enough room to sit. After a hour of getting of the busstop and another half hour getting out of Kampala we were on our way. We drove through the most beautiful sights. Everywhere we looked we saw some type of jungle. On every stop we made people would come through the windows and the door to sell us cooked chicken on sticks, banana’s, potato chips or even whole chickens. It was a drive of five/six hours. When we arrived in Masaka we arranged a taxi that brought us to  a supermarket where we bought some snacks, Nutella, Jam and a lot of water.

The taxi drove us  to Bukomansimbi, the first fifteen kilometers were asphalt, but after that it was just a dustroad, our driver was driving 100 k/m while we jumped of little hills and in holes. We were scared the suspenders would give out at any moment. People on Boda boda’s were almost driven of the road and people walking quickly jumped in the ditch near the road to avoid getting hit. The only thing warning them was our driver constantly honking. When we arrived at Kidsgear the gatekeeper let us in and we drove up the steep hill, while we were driving up I was scared that our taxi would tilt over and we would slide back from the mountain on our  roof. Luckily this was not the case.

We arrived at our house at the view was and still is AMAZING. Everywhere we could look it was green. And not the sad green we have in The Netherlands. No beautiful shades of green. Even more than 50 different shades of green.

I took the bags out of the car, and the car drove off. At that moment Remco  realized that he didn’t have his hand baggage. Chris started calling some of the local folk and assured Remco that the bag would come back. After that we started unpacking our stuff. We immediately noticed we didn’t have any power.

After some struggling with my Malaria-net. We walked up to Chris his house on top of the mountain. Well, his view is even more amazing, you feel like you can see all of Uganda from his house. We started the barbeque and I roosted some chicken and some sausages. Chris his dad made some salad and we had a lovely dinner. The sunset was over in just a mere ten minutes. It was like somebody pulled on a string and the sun was out. After a while and after my first Ugandan beer we went down the mountain to our houses and got  ready for bed. The power was back  on so we could charge our electronic devices. After again some struggling with my net I went  to sleep. Day one of our Ugandan journey ended.

I woke up at 7 a.m. The heat was burning me out my bed. I started by getting a shower.  The power was out. But the sun was already shining bright high above my head. I get dressed and brush my teeth at our outside bathroom. I get some breakfast. But quickly notice that we don’t have any knives. So it becomes a dipping party. Little dip of Jam and Nutella. Chris knocks at our door, we are getting a tour of the school. We start walking down. We see the children cleaning the school buildings, it’s called general cleaning. The children do it  every day before the lessons begin. We continue on  our tour and easily see twohunderd children walking around. Signs on the door say p2 to p7. Every group has a different class. We are introduced to some of  the teachers. The look a little distracted and don’t make eye contact.  Chris introduces us to the headmaster of Kidsgear. Finally, somebody who’s English I immediately understand. The people  here can speak English, but it is a total different type of accent. We continue our tour. We see the expertise centre where every type of theory is stored. The sickbay, a dining room where four-hundred children easily can fit in. We get some tea with a  little snack which is called a Mandazi. The children come pouring in, but it doesn’t make noise. Four-hundred children in one room and I can easily talk with the teachers next to me. After a long conversation with one of the local teachers I look up and see that most of the children are gone. It feels like a magic trick. We continue our tour to Hoys college, the nearby middle school that is also under direction of Up4s. I look around at realize that UP4S almost  owns the whole mountain.

After this we rest for a bit at  our home and Chris asks us what we think of the school. We say that it is totally different. After some soda we go to Bukomansimbi, the local village at the foot of the mountain. We walk down and I immediately get struck by the heat. IT’S HOT! When we get at the foot of the mountain we get looks from everybody, some of the local children shoot Mzungu! Mzungu! Chris explains that this means white person. Well, everywhere we go we hear it. Chris shows us some of the useful stores in  Bukomansimbi. After that we continue on our journey through Bukomansimbi and Chris show us the backstreets and we see a  local Ugandan school. It’s  a school the size of little shed and eighty children are in it. They all look happy to see us and exit the school waving. They are afraid to approach us. After a while they show us  there school. It’s really something that makes you think.

Exiting the school we walk back to  Kidsgear and we look in the classes. I had the fright of my life. The moment we come in the  classroom, all the children stand up and on the same they say, HELLO OUR VISTAS! Chris takes the word and says that we are fine, and asks how they are. They answer with YES, WE ARE FINE! Then Chris says that they can sit down. The teachers comes up to us and explains what kind of lesson he is giving.  I am still shell-shocked by the drilling of  the children to say they are fine. We continue to the next class and it’s  the same story. We ask  some of the teachers about their way of teaching and after that we continue to the headmaster. We get our schedules and in the grass we discuss our schedules.

After some discussing we are escorted to the dining hall for some dinner. Rice with beans. We eat, and I was surprised. I liked it.  During eating one of the teachers asked us questions about our culture and was surprised by everything. He could not image  how  it was like in the Netherlands. When I told him it was minus two he looked at me and I could see he had no idea what minus two was like.  He  asked me if we wouldn’t freeze to death is such weather. We walked to a big mango tree and  sat down under it  and  he asked us more questions. About our tribes, that we don’t have. About when we kneel and more like that.

Then we walked up to  our house. We rested on our porch and talked about everything that happened that day. I got some sunflower-seeds from Chris and we planted that in our little garden, now I hope we equally get some flowers.

And the end of the day we went to Chris’s office to get some WIFI. We three got messages and instantly shut down the WIFI by doing so. We went to our home and set on our  porch  without WIFI, without  power, but with a nice candlelight and ten times more stars than we got at home. Short summary,  it’s beautiful here,  but it’s  really, really different.

Again waking  up at 7 a.m. I’m still not used to the hot sun. I stay in bed and try to sleep, it doesn’t work. After a hour of turning and tossing I decide to do something. I wash myself under the shower. I’m still getting used to the ice cold water coming down the shower. My first instinct is to wait till it turns warm but it never does. I get dressed and wait on our breakfast. A egg cooked so hard that the insides turn blue, but still, it’s quite tasty. Our toaster doesn’t work because the power is still out. The bread here in Uganda is always white, sticky and just plain discussing. So I quickly splatter some jam on it. Then it’s bearable. We can’t toast it because power is still out. We get dressed and just when we get seated on the porch Chris drives up with his bike. We should get ready for the assembly, something that kidsgear has every Friday to show plays and to announce new plans. Chris wanted us to introduce ourselves during the assembly. We quickly take some water and head down. At the time it start we arrive and nobody is there yet. After a few minutes children start to come in and take a seat at their table. After that we watch the assembly. It’s a lot of singing, dancing and thanking god for almost everything. During the assembly the director walks in with some other Dutch guests. She is immediately greeted by the headmaster. This man that normally looks like he’s the boss of everything becomes a little puppy, puppy eyes included.

She asks us how we are doing and we have a small chat with her and her guests. During our talk we are summoned up to the stage. We introduce ourselves and four hundred Ugandan children try to pronounce our names, it was hilarious.

After the assembly we have a talk with Sylvia(the director) and her guests. They say they are having a meeting and want us to join. We quickly get some water and head to the meeting. The meeting was bizarre. Sylvia wanted an interactive meeting. Well, if somebody spoke more than three sentences to Sylvia it would be a miracle. It felt like somebody broke a lamp and the mother was looking for the culprit. And everybody blamed somebody else. We were assured that this is the normal way in Uganda. And that nothing would  chance, because Chris heard the same things a dozen times before this meeting, and it is still the same.

After visiting some classes and going to Bukomansimbi to get some soda, where I came back on a Boda Boda with a crate of  soda on my knees, we get ready for our first football game. We get the stuff from Chris and  head to the playground. Shit, we are late. That’s what I’m thinking to myself. But on arrival I just see a cow and some local  kids playing. After a hour of playing with the local children the first people  of  our school arrive.

We look at the games and this is not the type of football we play. It gets rough, we see the ball flying all over the place and people are dropping as flies.

After the first game it’s Remco and my turn.  After 10 minutes I’m exhausted.  I’m in defense and I try to hold them off. It’s hard but I manage. After the game I’m being told that we won. I have no clue why, but that doesn’t matter. I survived my first game of African football.

The Saturday was our first day off. We slept in and after a while we went to hoys college for some WIFI. This to let my family know that I was alright and to show them a little bit of my piece of Africa. The rest of the day was filled up by playing pokemon and writing this blog. At 12 a.m. Charles came to our house to say that the party for celebrating the scores for that year was starting at 2 p.m. But he quickly mentions that it would be African time. So we went to hoys college to work out some mails and to update my statuses on all kind of social networks. At 3 p.m. Charles came up to us and told it  would be 4 p.m.  African time. And he said we would meet us at the center of Bukomansimbi, after a half hour of waiting at the gas station there was no sight of Charles. Ten minutes after that one of the teachers came up to us on a Boda Boda. Rosan and Remco jumped on the back and I waited back there. Two local teenagers came up to me and sat next to me. I was a little bit scared and one of the teenagers grabbed his phone and a selfie with me. Then walked off with his friend.  Shortly after that Jospeh(the teacher) arrived with the Boda boda. I jumped on the back and he drove to the party.

When arriving at the party it  was very quiet. Everybody was sitting  quietly and listening to the director of  Hoys college. After a talk to Martha(the adjunct-director) I went to the other guests and my fellow travelers. After the ceremony we could get our dinner first. Because we were guests. After dinner and some beer the opening dance was  announced. Sylvia(the founder of Up4s) opened  it. She took some teachers by the hands and after some awkward minutes everybody went dancing. And the moment they hit the dance floor they went all out.  After enjoying the party for around two hours we went back to our houses. We  took a special ride(a private taxi) back to kidsgear. Just before entering the taxi I bought some soda and put it in the back. After some fiddling with the gate we arrived at home. Enjoyed  some soda and listened at the music from the party still playing.

Sunday, our second day off. Short summary, preparing for the Monday and playing Pokemon.

Our first day of really going into the classes. We arrive in our classes and notice that our schedules is in no way being followed by the teachers. In the  first class I sit I am roughly reminded that they teach in a different way when one of the children is hit by a stick. After the lesson I meet up with the rest and tell them that my schedule is wrong. It’s the same with them.

We go to the headmaster and tell him that something is wrong. He quickly agrees with us and we tell him that we will try to make a schedule fitting the schedule the teachers already have. We go up to our living room and get busy with the schedule. After a while and some empty soda bottles we finish our schedule.

We walk down to  talk to the headmaster but we can’t find him.  One of the  teachers tells us that he’s out on business. We look at some more classes. I notice that in the classes it is just repeating what the teachers is saying. In every class it’s the same. After each instruction the teachers writes some exercises on the chalkboard. The children silently write everything in their books with the corresponding answer that they repeated in the class. It feels like a masterclass learning to exactly say what the teacher is saying. After classes we go up to get our supper and to get some  shopping done in Bukomansimbi.

On our second day we follow our schedule. Just the night before the headmaster told us he trusts us to do the right thing. In the classes we  measure the amount of children equally participating during the lessons. The percentage is lower than 40 %. The minimal amount in the Netherlands is 65 %. The day we spent doing observations and thinking of ways of approving the teachings. Noting is really different in the way of teaching. During lunch we get some kind  of  oliebol. Here it’s  called a Mandasi. What I do notice is that teachers have different ways of completing children. By letting the whole class clap for them, give them flowers(they shake with their hands) or give them soda(pointing at the child and making a szzzz sound)

At the third day we walk down to the school and children start calling me Uncle Bart. First it was Visitor. The children are all gathering by the stairs and do some exercises with the teachers. They national anthem is sung by the children and a prayer is said. After that the children march to their class. While marching they sing the song: Walking in the light of God. But because of their accent it sounds like they are walking in the light of goat. In one lesson the alphabet is repeated by the children and I notice that the q and g  are pronounced differently in Uganda.

In one lesson one of the teachers just leaves at shows up at the end of the lesson. The children just do their homework in the meantime. In one lesson the children learn to write the words connecting to some numbers over the 100.000. The exercises that are written on the board in no way have any real meaning for the children.

The last lesson I observe is a pleasant surprise. It’s a class by the director of studies and it’s a lesson where children have to  think and have the time and opportunity to think for themselves. The children are really enjoying the lesson and are less afraid to speak their mind. He complements children, he doesn’t give orders to the class to give the child a complement, he does it himself. He uses cooperative learning in the correct way, not as something quick to use to fill time. After class I ask him if the others could also watch his lesson.

Yes also the next day I  see a teacher letting the children think for themselves.  You see the children doubting. He continues saying be free, and some children are start to take a relaxing position. The amount of active children are way higher that with any other teacher. He doesn’t only wants the definition from the dictionary. He even thanks children for trying.

The only I think is yes, there are some who are also thinking about the relation with the children, not only the theory.

Today was a day where I got burned out of bed because of the sun. I get ready to go to the assembly. After the assembly I speak with Joseph where to meat for church on the Sunday. After that I go up to our house to prepare for schoolwork. We had a short meeting where the most interesting happing was me opening everybody’s soda with my ring.

We went to Masaka.  We took a special ride to Masaka. After some argument with a local that this was a special ride and not a normal ride we were off. It’s normal in Uganda to drive 80 k/m on a road with huge puttholes and with steep drops. We then were dropped off at Backpackers Masaka. A little compound with different types of accommodations. We ordered a dormitory for  four people.  And luckily we were with four. After that we took the ride to the main street of Masaka. This brought some confusion with our driver cause Masaka has two main streets.

After departing from our special ride we went to see some stores. Chris showed us some supermarkets and together we got  our cell numbers and wifi access.

We also went to the local market, the first thing I noticed was the stench of chickens. They were pushed in a crate were the chickens had no way to move. Chris showed us a trustworthy guy were to get our fruits and vegetables. We bought some bananas. On exiting the  market we noticed that a lot of Maribu’s were gathering near  the market.  If you are wondering what  Maribu’s are, they are giant birds with just enough feathers on them to fly. They were gathering there because the chickens are slaughtered next to the market, and  they eat what’s left.  After some more shopping we went to a Belgium tea house and I had some fantastic Pizza. After that we walked back down to the bank where I got some more cash after getting back from the bank I saw that some Boda Boda’s  has been arranged to take us to a nearby Mzungu pool. We were dropped at the pool. Around the pool was a concrete fence with barbwire on top. We were told that we should knock at the door and then somebody would open. And yes, that was the case. It was a miracle. Inside those walls was a white person paradise with a swimming pool, and waitress walking around to serve you drinks. We even had top notch WIFI.  And I hear you ask how much is this little piece of paradise, well three euros. We stayed the whole day, had a hot shower and went back to Backpackers. Were Remco and I talked to a Englishman called Patt. Who had the most amazing story and now even started his own orphanage. Patt his plan was three months in Uganda, but this was his second year in Uganda. After that Milotte and Rosan also joined us. We talked and had some beers and some snacks and after that we called it a night.

Today  we got out of bed at 7 a.m. The owner of Backpackers(Joseph) told us he would bring us to church. We told him that we needed to be there at 8. He asks us if it would be a African we were going to meat. I told him yes. He told us that leaving at 8 would then be fine. We was right. We arrived at the church at 8:20. There was no one to meet us. Just some funny looks from the locals. After a half  hour we decided to go inside. There was no Joseph(the teacher) inside. We looked at the women sing in bright dresses. After a hour, Joseph entered. We set down and watched a ceremony  by a local reverent. The people in the church found him funny, I just found it taking way to long.

Almost at the beginnig of the sermon he asked the crowd if there were any new visitors. Us four raised our  hands and we were handed books to sign and after it all we should meet in the visitors room. The sermon felt like a bad combination between a pop concert and a standup show. The people loved it. A half hour later than supposed he ended the sermon and we were directly approached by a usher to follow us. We wanted to refuse but Joseph insisted that we should follow. We had some tea and Cipatt(pancake) and it was one of the most awkward moments in my  whole life. After church we were dropped off at the bakery and we bought some snacks and bread. After that we got a cab. Our driver was called mister Powers, and now I we have a private driver. Mister powers, just as it says in my phone.

First day of remedial teaching. The lessons started a half hour too late. So remedial teaching wasn’t an option the first lesson.  The second lesson was my first time remedical teaching, for Ugandan standards it  would be a good lesson, in Dutch standards it would be horrible. There was no contact with the kids, they were afraid to answer questions, they even wouldn’t make eye contact. It felt like teaching a pack of scared street dogs to give you a pow.

PE in the contrary went great. The most shocking thing was that the children didn’t know the game tag. I taught it to them, and they enjoyed it. After that we did a variety on Simon says.

After PE I did some remedial teaching for mathematics and that went a lot better. They even dared to ask me questions. Well, only the boys. If I spoke to the girl it was like she wanted to disappear.  After the lesson the children asked me if I would teach them tomorrow.

After that I went to our house and we had internet!

We also went to the local market to get some rolleggs.

Today was the first lesson I gave over here and where  I am proud of. The children had fun and were less afraid to  ask me questions.  At the end  we even walked like ducks back to our classroom. Even the normally quiet girl said something and ask me questions. Too  bad that the rest of the lessons were disturbed by  teachers too late for work or  teachers even not coming to work. That’s when I decided that I needed a copy  of  their  books. So that’s what I did in the afternoon.

The day started like any other day. But I  decided that I would like a system in the way we should teach, so I went down to the expertise center and rearranged the books so it would be much easier for the other and me to give lessons and know what lesson we should be teaching.

After that I gave a lesson about transforming nouns to adjectives. There were no classrooms available, so I gave the lesson under a tree. The lesson had a slow start but after a while the children had the hang of it. After this lesson we saw a music lesson, a music lesson is just repeat after me till you know the lyrics to heart.

Today I observed Remco, it was the first time that I saw Remco frustrated. The teachers aren’t giving us all the information. After this lesson I prepared my lessons. All in vain, cause there was a reverent coming. That meant that all the children should gather in the dining hall. They said it would take a hour, so after two hours of sermons and singing the sermon was over and it was time for lunch. So after lunch I had one lesson. It was suppose too be four lessons. So after that I prepared lessons for the next few days.  After that we ate our Catoke and went upstairs to Chris his place.

Next day I started on my newsletter that I have to make for school. After that I played some soccer on the local football field in Bukomansimbi with some of the local children. After Milotte, Rosan and me finished playing we got some soda and rolleggs and went upstairs.

After dinner we had a tallow in our room, so after some bird-chasing we guided it outside with the help of our flashlights.

Then we heard the choir and went to see that. We saw the children dancing on their own. Without shame, and with a lot of pride. The contrast was made when the teacher entered and all the music, singing and fun stopped and all their heads went down. Also for us the fun went away.

Saturday we slept in, and after 9 o’clock I got ready. Chris drove up to our  house on his motorcycle and told us he’ll see us there. After two hours of everybody slowly getting ready we went to Bukomansimbi to get a special ride. After some discussing we had a price with the driver, we got in and he drove off. After not even 100 meters we heard a loud  bang. The driver stopped went to the back and saw that the exhaust pipe came off the car. With some rope he tied it back on and we were off to Masaka. After a bumpy ride we drove into Masaka and nearly hit a big truck, nothing special. Happens every time. He dropped us near a second hand clothing shop on the  main street. I  went in to get some swimming trunks and bought a pair. After that I noticed my phone ringing. That’s new, it was a Ugandan number. It was Chris. I told him where we were. The rest of the group went grocery shopping. Chris dropped by and helped us get two boda boda’s. In the meantime he told me that everything in that second hand shop  is our second hand clothing. Cause nothing is  giving away. It is always resold.

We continued on our way to our guesthouse, a place whose owner is from The Netherlands. It had unlimited WIFI, great breakfast, nice beds, nice view, a normal toilet and a HOT shower. It was paradise.

After that we went to the swimming pool. After getting of the boda boda I got in an argument with the drivers. In the meantime Chris drove up with a local in not the normal way to dress in Uganda. She helped me to get my point across and we went in to the swimming pool. The local told us about her time in The Netherlands and in Amsterdam. Chris told me that she probably was a prostitute. Well, now  I know how you get money in Uganda. After five minutes a Swedish guy arrived but didn’t except  us  there.  Cause after ten minutes he went to  get some friends and we didn’t see him again. After a lot of swimming,  internetting, eating and throwing balls around we went to plot  99 to get some dinner. I had tomato soup, olives and a pizza Carne.  Yeah, I know. But in weekends I like to eat something different than rice and beans.

After plot 99 we went to Villa Katwe(the guesthouse) and we got ready for clubbing. Clubbing was a contrast, normally we only see raggedy houses that are 90 % dust. The club was something  straight out of the Netherlands. Neon lights, big LED screens and a bar with everything you ever desired. The club was mostly filled with men, so Rosan and Milotte got a lot of attention. And the men here are pretty hands on, even with other men. In the club my hand was grabbed a least six  times. And keep in mind that in Uganda homosexuality is life in prison.

After a while we were in the middle of the club surrounded by locals. All in a circle and we all were showing off our dance moves. After that we went to our guest house, but not before we got some rolleggs and ate them in the grass. It was a good night and I slept as a baby.

The Sunday I woke  up around 11 a.m. Got  in a nice warm shower and we had breakfast. We played some baseball and after that we went to the market to get some groceries. But our driver first had to stop. He paid some dude in a bar and told us it was his previous passenger. He dropped him at a bar. Gave him enough money for two beer and told him to wait for him. Cause he first had to drop us off.

After some talking and some groceries we went on our way to kidsgear. On kidsgear we chilled and got ready for the barbeque. We went barbequing and watched the Ugandan Episodes of the Top Gear special. After that we went down to our house and got some rest. The next day was the start of a  new  school day.

This morning I gave a English lesson about verbs. The children reluctantly came with me. Chris observed the lesson. I did a game during the lesson and during this lesson everybody paid attention. It was  a simple lesson but  it was a lesson  driven by the pupils, not only on the teacher. I ended the lesson by letting the children walk back as a chosen animal, it became an elephant. After that I got the materials for P.E. Then I went for break and after that I went to P4, to give them physical education. I did a musical game with rhythm and after that I did an animal game, I finished the lesson with a variation on Simon says. After that we went to class.

After that I observed a PE lesson from Remco. I discussed with Chris about the quality of Remco his lesson.

In the afternoon we decided that we  should try a local  restaurant because it was Milotte her birthday. The first restaurant we entered had no food…. Okay, that’s new. An open restaurant with no food  inside. The second one we entered had two small tables, ten broken plastic chairs and to salt shaker with some toothpicks in them. We had no choice in food, it was matoke (banana), rice and some local fish caught in the nearby swamp.  The fish still had everything, luckily I had no intestines, no head and no tail. I ate half of everything and then I decided I had enough. The cook, the biggest African lady I have ever seen entered the room to collect the plates. While doing this she cause a look of confusion why there was still food left. After that we got some water, soda and food from the local supermarket. I’ve been there so many times that everybody knows my name. There are around six people in the store at once. And no, it’s not a big store. While the group was arranging a special ride. We ended the night by lighting our garbage on fire. Yes, with plastic and all those bad stuff. There is no other way.

Today I started with a mathematics lesson  about adding numbers above 1000. It was the group who I had a couple of times before that. The  group enjoyed the lesson, and  the watching photo’s that were made during the lesson, even I enjoyed it. That was not the case with the mathematics lesson in P.5. There was no reaction from the children, the only thing that they could do, was repeat  after me. After that Remco and me went on our break, were Remco told me he was feeling sick. During my next lesson Rosan stormed into my class, demending my phone.  I was a  little bit angry till I noticed that something was wrong. I gave my phone and after the lesson I went up to our house and everybody was inside with a puking Remco. Too not  crowd up the place I went to Hoy’s college  to do some schoolwork. After coming back up the girls went to photograph the children in Hoy’s college. I stayed with Remco and continued on my schoolwork.

Today, let’s  call  it sick day. We all tried waking up, we all  failed at it. All of us with stomach pain. All with headaches. After a while I felt  better and went down to the school. A lot of explaining that we also get sick. They all guessed it was Malaria, cause here in Uganda it’s Malaria or it’s nothing else.  So after explaining that the switch in weather and food also causes illness, they were contended with the answer. Know I am sitting here, writing my paper, my reports and all of that other good stuff without throwing up. Wish me good luck….

Today I  felt a lot better. I  had a lesson prepared. Not for remedial teaching but for the whole class. A mathematics lesson that could be given in the Netherlands. I prepared the last evening when I was feeling  better, I even told some teachers that they could watch me teach in a Dutch way.  So, this morning I went to kidsgear to get everything ready. The kids in P 6 were looking flustered when I started exercises on the blackboard. After finished writing the exercises on the blackboard I turned around and saw that some teachers had gathered to watch my lesson. After that previous lesson ended I started my lesson. I can say it was a trill to do give a class to 35 + Ugandan  Children. There were a lot of things that  went wrong, but I noticed that I was enthusiastic and it had some effect on the children, it was a shame when the groups started discussing and one of the local teachers screamed that it should be quiet. She did not understand the goal of the lesson, to let kids discuss their answer and think about what they learn instead of just accepting everything the teacher says is true. I finished the lesson by  letting the kids and local teachers ask me questions. Cause my motto during the class was GET BRIGHTER, ASK QUESTIONS. It had a slow start, with almost no questions,  but after the initial ten I got questions about the Dutch president, the provinces, my age, capitol and even if I could sing the Dutch Anthem.  So after a while all of the children were trying to think of questions. So I could say that goal succeeded.

After that I went to  hoy’s to skype with my girlfriend. Haven’t done that in 1,5 weeks. It wasn’t a success. The longest time we got was 1.18 minutes with a 10 second delay in audio. So the only thing  I got was a hello and a I think the connection is bad.  After almost throwing my laptop down the mountain I got internet and I had a chat with her for at least 5 minutes. Hope next time is  better.

We went to Kampala. After a special ride to Welcome(the taxi place near Masaka) we got on a bus for 4.000 shilling less than the usual price.  We placed ourselves on the couch in the back. This the most enjoyable I could sit. After 2 hours we entered a taxi place, but luckily a local warned us  this was not Kampala. After  another stop  she guided us to the right place. We got in a special ride and after a hour of busy traffic and a lot of honking we were  at our hotel, the Red Chilli. We got in our  rooms and quickly after that we entered(jumped) the pool. What a refreshment after  a long day of sitting cramped in public transportation(all the time combined, it were 4 hours in public transportation) We stayed at the hotel, we ate pizza, we swam some more, we drank some drinks and played some pool. It was good.

Remco and me went early out of bed. To watch Max Verstappen race. After that I went to  the pool and swam. After a while I was joined by the rest. Around 12 o’ clock we took the shuttle to a luxury mall in Kampala. We shopped and watched how the rich Ugandan acted.

After that we came back and swam, ate and now I’m writing this story. The mosquitoes are in a constant attack and slowly becoming more  of a blood factory for mosquitoes than anything else. And they sting, they don’t do it all sneaky, the just plunge in  and get as many as they can.  I can you, it’s more than a slight annoyance.

Woke up, watched formula 1, too bad Max Verstappen could no finish his race. Packed, and then we wait for the bus to bring us to Kampala. Oh, and I shaved my beard. After that we found out that we had to check out before 10 a.m. So we checked out, we waited for the shuttle bus and then went for the taxi park where we got into a small van(Matato), when we entered a guy came up to me asking if  I would like to buy some bread. I said no, and then we had a 5 minute conversation about Dutch Soccer. Another guy asked us if we would like a newspaper. I bought one of the newspaper and the curious  thing was that it looked like a gossip magazine. But the locals  assured me it was the national  newspaper. One of the articles was about a guy that had a conversation with God. In the national newspaper. After a 2 hour long cramped ride that brought us to the outskirts of Masaka after that we were guided to a small car were we sat with four people in the back and five  people in front. That was the way the common folk drove here. After our driver arguing for a half hour with the gas station clerk we were off. Two minutes in our drive we noticed people standing at the side of the road. One truck stopped right in front of us. Our driver shouted at the drive of the truck and he shouted something back. After another two long cramped minutes we were off. But we noticed something lying on the road. Something green with a lot of debris next to it. It was a woman, probably hit when riding a boda boda. The weird thing is that our fellow passengers and the people around the accident didn’t pay attention to it. The just went their way.

When we were near Bukomansimbi, our driver got out and urged some of our passengers to get out. He got them a boda boda and we drove off. After 200 meters we stopped  and were joined by our fellow passengers that got on the boda  boda. Why that was, was because that there may not be five persons in front of the car, so we drove past the police with two in front of the car, and after the police patrol we were with five in front. I could say I experienced public  transport Ugandan style, that’s something I can say but I would like to not experience it another time.

I went down to give my English lesson to P5. Half way through the lesson, a teacher came in and disturbed my lesson. Because he wanted the class do to an exam he forgot to do the day before that. The worst thing is that I spoke multiple times to the class teacher days before the lesson and every time he said it would be fine. So me and Remco did some activities we had to do for Chris. After that I have my job interview. And around 5 o’clock I will give the lesson meant for the morning. Let’s hope that lesson will continue.

I had a job interview, or I was supposed to have one. The internet connection  went terribly bad ten minutes before my interview. This interview was over skype, if you’re wondering. After some fixing and trying different things I got the internet up to 50kbps. That’s incredibly low. After that they called me again and after not even a minute internet went down, again. So, after that all I decided to send a message that this couldn’t work. They agreed. So I sent them a mail. Now to hope that internet fixes itself and that I get another appointment. Cause I really want this position.

Today Remco and me sawed and fixed some soft boards for in the class. This have not without some constrictions. Like children walking through our work and teachers who decide they want our room to have a meeting. But after a while we were finished with making them and I checked were we could hang them. Too bad it was too busy in the classrooms to hang them. So hanging the boards would be something for tomorrow.

We went to the assembly what was a general repetition for visitation day. Every class preformed a dance and in one dance Chris, Remco and me, together with the headmaster and some local teachers were invited to dance on stage. After that I did the last preparations for my 12 o’clock lesson.

We drove our own on boda boda’s, it was beautiful. I really enjoyed myself with these huge mountains and steep hills. Every meter was an adventure. We toured around the real Uganda, not the ‘’civilized’’ part of Uganda. We drove to the old village were the interns lived. That was  5 kilometers of steep hills. After that we drove through a tea plantation. It was awesome, I love driving my motorcycle at home, and here I  love it even more.

When we got home, I even went to the top of another mountain and got some water. Then we went to Masaka for groceries. We ate at café Frikandellen. At night we went back to kidsgear. In the daylight they drive like maniacs, but when the sun is down. Then they drive…. Reasonably.

Went to the visitation day. Picture this, a small classroom with five huge loudspeakers and then two Ugandan teachers screaming WOOOOW!!! through the microphone. This and some dancing was visitation day. Oh the weird thing is, it’s normal as a parent to walk on stage and give your child a bit of money, during  preforming.

First day of the next week. Gave a English story-making lesson to the kids of P 6. Finally they are opening up and asking questions. I see them enjoying the lesson. After that some P.E. for two hours and mathematics as the finishing touch.  The evening we had an evaluation with Chris.

Well, to summarize this day, I  would say rain. A lot of rain and new types of bugs. It was quiet down at the town, if it rains. Everything stops here in Bukomansimbi. Everything. Even the guy shouting how great God is from the loudspeaker on the roof of his car stops for the rain. It’s a real relaxing day. I need one of those, you could say I bless the rain down in Africa.

We decided to make an information college for the teachers of kidsgear. This college is about cooperative learning and how it should be given in the classrooms. This because we see teachers trying to give it but doing it(to say it bluntly) wrong.  I called the headmaster and he said that he would be back in one hour, we didn’t see him for the  rest of the day.  So maybe tomorrow.

Today my new chance for a job interview  and a skype call with my rayon teacher. I prepared everything hours in advance. Luckily, cause my laptop wanted a update, internet was not correct at first and my headphones weren’t in the correct setting.

Oh, what was I clad to see a screen with a face on it and a voice in my ear, cause minutes before the interview internet went down. After 17 minutes of questions the line went down and we continued by writing our questions and answers. Not the best way to do an interview, but at least it is a way. Too bad this way, was not a way that got me the job.

This weekend I stayed in Bukomansimbi, alone. To work on some reports and papers. It’s nothing that comes easy here in Uganda. At least not to me. After everybody came back from Masaka we went up to Chris to eat some dinner and watch The Netherlands versus Turkey.

Visitation day…. Yeah… another day of shooting in the microphone and repetitive music. At least in the morning I saw Formula 1 racing.

Today we gave a lesson to the teachers of Kidsgear about cooperative learning. It was something new for us but also for them. They are used to only getting information by people telling them the information, but we did different excerices with the teachers to show them the pros of cooperative learning. It was a whole new experience and I liked it. The teachers asked us to show us more about cooperative learning, so we’re doing another class for them, on a different time. Even the headmaster said down with us to tell us he was very excited about what we told the teachers. Now we want to  give another lesson to the teachers, so that the school can benefit from our visit.

So, I gave another set of  lessons. About consecutive even and odd numbers. After the lesson I had some time to spare.  So I did a beatboxing lesson with the kids and even the teachers was laughing and practicing. Maybe cooperative lesson are not going to stick, but they at least can beatbox. And tomorrow we are going to eat at café frikadellen, it’s going to be a barbeque and maybe they have crocodile burgers, crocodile burger. That sounds amazing!

Too  bad, there were no crocodile hamburgers… Better luck next time.

I been here for more than one and a half months, just a half a month more of teaching and then classes are over for a while. Then it’s time to see gorillas, hug giraffes and to wrestle lions. But before that moment is here, I have to do my lessons about international teaching. So I made some photos round the school building, and for tomorrow I will arrange time with P6 to start my lessons about this subject.

So two days without power. Bought a notebook to keep track of my lessons and to draw so I won’t get bored. I also given my first lesson in my lessen session. The kids had to look at drawings that kids in the Netherlands made. The kids in the Netherlands made the drawings about what they found typical Dutch.

The kids here in Uganda needed to write down what they saw in the drawings. If they had questions, they had to write them down. Then we talked about what was typical Dutch, I even took the kids aside to point out how big a windmill would be.

When I came back in with the children I gave them the assignment to write things and draw things that are typical Ugandan on a paper.

Then I went to  Masaka, where there is power!!!

So my lesson sessions were a success, the kids enjoyed the lessons and it was great to see the kids here in Uganda motivated for school. They were thinking for themselves and discussing, something that did not happen during normal lessons. But now I’m laying sick in bed. Think something like a stomach ache.

Do you want to see fight club, but then with kids. Bring jumping ropes to the playground and start handing them out to play with during the break. The first ten kids will line up nicely, the rest will rush at you and grab what the can grab. I saw this and got angry, all kids released their jumping ropes. I explained I wanted a nice line and who was in this line will get a jumping rope. While I was explaining myself some kids were trying to grab a rope behind my back. The other kids saw this and rushed to the ropes. Remco picked up the ropes and held in tight. We then gave them to kids how weren’t pushing and were nice. This confused the children because they are accustomed that the strong and quick ones get stuff and only them.

When we handed out the jumping ropes I showed them some tricks with the rope. They were watching in amassment because they never saw a man jumping rope and because I am pretty good at it.

We went to Masaka to go to the doctor for Remco his infected leg. After a while and a lot of tests they knew what was wrong with him. He had an infected leg…. Yeah, we already knew that.

So after a few weeks of getting ready for our trip through Uganda, we went to Kampala. In Kampala we went  to the casino. In an Ugandan casino you get free drinks and snacks as long as you play. So after a few beers we left the casino and I won 100% the money I put in. So that’s always a plus

We went to brood, which is a Dutch bakery in Kampala and ate some delicious bread.

Then we went to a mixed club, and mixed means 2% white and 98% black. After getting harassed by multiple black ladies we went to another club. After that club we went back to our hotel.

Day after that I got a pair of brand jeans. And it was less than two euro’s. After that we went to Entebbe. In the guesthouse we had some drinks and after that we going to get something to eat. AAAND THEN……. THE AVENGERS AGE OF ULTRON!!!!!

Okay safari time. Leave from Entebbe, towards Bukomansimbi. The road to Bukomansimbi was being prepared, what meant that is was in the most horrible condition ever. Oh, I was driving. After we arrived I could say it was amazing to drive down this road. In Bukomansimbi to get some new and clean clothes. Off to leave to our first destination, this is lake Mburo. First national park. First sighting of zebra’s, warthogs and other kinds of animals you see dancing in the Lion King. In our afternoon drive we saw  all kind of animals. The next morning we decided to do a walking tour. We climbed different sorts of hills and had amazing views and came very close to some waterbucks, zebra’s and impala’s.

After lake Mburo we went to one of our main attractions. The mountain gorillas in Bwindi impenetrable. On the road to Bwindi I experienced my first African flat tire. After some creative thinking with rocks and help from a local we were back on the road.

Then we had the road up to the mountains of Bwindi. It was the most scary ride I ever had. It was pitch black and the road was just big enough for the car. With on the left side a steeper getting cliff. The last half hour we had to walk cause another car got stuck up the mountain. Luckily some locals could help us with our bags. So with flashlights in hand and some new found courage I went up to the lodge. Arriving in my lodge I was in heaven. Hot shower, nice temperature, bath, luxury beds and everything looked very nice.

The next morning we went gorilla tracking. After a steep cliff, where we had to walk off. We arrived at the gorillas. I want to describe it, but it was to beautiful and majestic. We were standing in the middle of a gorilla group. After some sliding and climbing I founded twelve different gorillas.  Amazing. After a Hour and a half we went back. Still amazed about what we all saw.

That same day we left for lake Bonyunyi, the deepest lake in Uganda. Nothing special happened, except that Rosan and me got lost on the middle of the lake in the dark in an old fashioned canoe made out of a tree. At least I can say that I came to twelve bottles of beer (English walking song).

After lake Bonyunyi we went to Queen Elizabeth national park. After a short drive we arrived at the scene of the lion king. We were standing on a rock and saw 2000 square kilometers of Safari/ jungle combined in one view. After a hour driving through the park we finally reached the park headquarters. We got our tickets and went in. After that we went on the boat ride and saw different kinds of aquatic animals like hippopotamus and different kinds of birds like weaver birds.

The next morning we got up  at way to early but it was worth it. We saw lions. Even a male lion. Okay, most of the time he was licking his balls, but we saw a male lion from 5 feet distance.

From Queen to Fort Portal, were I ate some good food, slept in a typical  African house and had monkeys walking over my breakfast table.

After a long, long, long Fr@#cking drive of twelve and a half hours we arrived at Murchison falls. We made some photos at the falls and then we went to the hotel. To get some very welcomed sleep.

Oh, a Hippo was walking past our tents.

The next morning we went on a boat ride. It was the most beautiful scenery. We even saw elephants with their young drinking from the water.

After the boat ride we went to the ferry and from the ferry we went without guide through the park. Biggest smile on my face was when I saw giraffes (my favorite animals). I sat on top the car until we reached the entrance, this was about 30 miles. Murchison falls was my all-time favorite park. At least in Uganda.

From Murchison we went to the rhino reserve where I petted a warthog. From there we went to Kampala, in Kampala a quick snack and then we went to Entebbe. Some of our company went back to Holland and three others and me went to Jinja.

In Jinja we rested and as a finisher we went Rafting. It was the coolest thing ever. We flipped  four times, I stayed under water for ten seconds and almost lost my swimming trousers. I would do it again in a hart-beat.

The last day, driving back from Jinja to Entebbe. Preparing my suitcase. Getting some good food and typing the last of this report. Cause  guys and girls. I’m going back!

Now some information about money and housing.

You sleep in a bunkbed with the same gender. The houses are kept clean by the housekeeper. The bed are for Ugandan standards very good, but don’t except anything  like you have in a normal western country. The housing with food included was 300 euro's a month. If you wanted something different, you could get something to snack for 2000 shilling. This translates in about 60-70 eurocent. Soda is about 1000 shilling a piece. If you get a whole crate of soda you’ll pay 14.000 shilling. If you pay 2000 shilling extra they will bring it upstairs. In the weekends I went to muzugu places which are expensive in comprehensive. A big dinner would cost you around 15 euro’s. So each month was like 400 euro’s, without all the extra's it would be like 320 euro's á month.

Kpz, Zwolle, Nawaraz, Nepal

Contacts University

University of Applied Science, Teacher Training Institute Primary Education

Hogeschool Katholieke PABO Zwolle

Ten Oeverstraat 68,

8012 EW Zwolle,

The Netherlands

Tel.: +31 (0)384217425

Fax: +31(0)384210914

webaddress:www.kpz.nl

Erasmus code: NL ZWOLLE06

Coordinators:

Harrie Poulssen (International Officer)

Katholieke Pabo Zwolle

Ten Oeverstraat 68

8012 EW Zwolle

The Netherlands

Phone: 0031(0)38 4217425

Email: h.poulssen@kpz.nl

Bert Thole (Coordinator IM)

Katholieke Pabo Zwolle

Ten Oeverstraat 68

8012 EW Zwolle

The Netherlands

Phone: 0031(0)38 4217425

Email: b.thole@kpz.nl

About the University:

The Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, also known as KPZ, is an independent Interactum University of Applied Sciences (Dutch "hogeschool"). There are over 650 students and a staff of about 70. This means that the KPZ is one of the many small- to medium-sized institutes for higher professional education in the Netherlands.

The International Minor Program (IM) is a five month course in English for 30 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System). The website contains all the necessary information about our teacher training course in which we combine theory and practice and offer a varied study programme with a clear structure using the module system and ECTS. For the IM you need a required level of English like TOEFL or IELTS. Upon consultation, it is also possible to stay three moths. Therefore, 20 ECTS have to be achieved.

The organisation and interactum:

The Katholieke Pabo Zwolle is an organisation where a clear identity and familiartiy play an important role. Whether you are following the teacher training course or a refresher course, you will notice that things are well organised.

University of Applied Sciences works within the Educational Federation Interactum together with four other independent teacher training colleges for pirmary education. The aim with this collaboration is to assure and imporve the quality of teacher training in primary education.

Canteen/cafeteria, ICT and library:

Next to the auditorium you will find the canteen where you can buy coffee, tea, soup, rolls and various other small snacks. The offers are really cheap and delicious.

The KPZ offers quiet workspaces equipped with computers where you can study on your own or in pairs. Software applications that are suitable for word processing, internet, multimedia use, email and aducational subjects have been installed. The multi media centre is a large modern facility where you have access to information you need when preparing for yours study and your work placement. KPS´s extensice collections consits text books, youth literature, methods for primary education, audiovisual material, software, flash cards and various magazines. Laptops, cameras as well as video cameras can be hired.

A huge benefit is that printing in black and white is for free. So you will have no addtional costs for printed work.

How can I apply?

Each year we have an international minor in spring semester from 1st of February until 1st of July.

Deadline for application is: 1 November (previous calendar year)

For application you need to fill in this student application form and mail it to us.

[application form on the website]

Please note: When we have received your complete application form an overview on admission will be held by means of Skype.

Preparations for the Erasmus+ stay at the PHST:

Before applying on the KPZ you have to make some organisational manners on the PHST as well:

- The curriculum vitae has to be filled out in a "europass" format. This format is available on the Internet. The issues in the curriculum vitae are personal data, type of study, professional experience, school career, personal abilities including spoken languages and skills.

- The motivational letter should include reasons why you want to go to a certain country and what is your motivation about that. Furthermore, you should write why you are a good person to go abroad.

- Additionally, a recommendation letter written by a docent of PHST is needed. In this letter, the docen justifys why you are a good person for going abroad.

- Next, the learning agreement is discussed. When you want to stay three months you have to make a special learning agreement in cooperation with the KPZ. When you want to stay the whole semester, the learning agreement is fixed. In general, it contains the ECTS you have to make and the schedule of the courses.

- There are also some meetings were organisational manners are discussed. Those meetings are at the beginning with all Erasmus+ outgoings together. At the end, two weeks before you leave Austria, a final meeting with the student going to the same country is organised.

- During the "International week" there is also a meeting with the Erasmus+ students from Graz. In this meeting differnt cultures and countries meet and talk a lot. This meeting is held in English

Besides the oranisational manners for the PHST it is advisable to cover an accident insurance in order to be insured during the stay abroad. The reason for advice is that you have to go by bike every day and that there are some other events for example a sportsday.

To attend the Pabo we all have had a conversation via Skype, where a few thinks were asked in order to notice the level in English. Some questions were:

What do you expect from your Erasmus+ trip?

Why do you want to go to the Netherlands?

In the Skype interview, the level of English as well as the organisational and social skills were tested.

Furthermore, we had to get some information about how fractions are tought in Austria, we had to copy the schoolbooks, made a short clip about a mathlesson, made a foto of the classroom, etc. The assignment was used in the course "Reasearch 1".

The Pabo organised a very good accomodation, so we didn´t have to look for something - which was really a pleasentness! A part of the International students are staying on a camping side at the Agnietenberg. The issue "accomotation" is discussed in another topic more detailed.

Then Ria Posthumus asked us when and how we will get to Zwolle and if we wanted to have a welcome guide, who wouls pick us up from the railway station and bring us to our houses.

Info about the general things and the first weeks:

We are in a "seperate class" - The international Minor/class. All in all we are 15 people (6 Spanish girls, 1 girl from Turkey, me from Nepal, 2 Czech girls and 5 people from Austria). All our courses we have together - we do not have any courses with the students from the PABO.

The first week was a welcome week to get aquainted with each other:

The first day most of our teachers and the headmaster were here to welcome us and to introduce themselves.

We also had to introduce ourselves to the other ones and to speak about our expectations.

The welcome week was really a good experiences, we were ice skating and played traditional Dutch games.

The courses:

1) English language (1 ECTS)

The objective of this course revolves around writing and presenting an academic paper in English in which your own written work will play a pivotal role. This very short course of 4 lessons focuses both on development of academic writing skills and strenghtening presentation skills.

2) Culture and Society ( 4 ECTS)

The students ude their experience and the knowledge theyhave mastered of Dutch history, culture, art and society as a tool to understand and explore their own and other societies. Moreover students are confronted witht the questoins in which way history, culture and society shape our cultural identity, our wy of being.

3) Pedagogics (5 ECTS)

We will examine reform pedagogy in all its aspects. We will see which concepts are still used today.

We wonder what a present day and future child need. We explore the new didactics and explore existing concepts which have caught on in the Netherlands.

4) Dutch language (3 ECTS)

This is a Dutch course for our class. We learn the basics of the language, for example to introduce ourselves, talk about our hobbies, colors, show someone the way, ect.

5) Coaching/Counselling and tutorship (CCT / 3 ECTS)

The CCT is different from other modules, since most of the content is not definite yet.

There will be time for teambuilding activities and for personal coaching. Moreover students will be prepared for the practical training. In the second part we prepare for the final presentation of Ideal School.

6) DRAMU (Drama and Music) (2 ECTS)

Starting with rhythm activities, movement and finishing with songd for children we learn to understand the meaning of rhythm, melody and harmony. All native songs will be produces on seet music and recorded on a CD. In the second part of drama, we learn about drama and making movies. Finally we have to make a movie and present in the class.

7) Project week "Randstad" (2 ECTS)

During the semester we will take part in a prject week and a number of cultural activities. In this week (in Amsterdam and Den Haag) we will visit a number of cultural and social institutions.

8) Research (5 ECTS)

The research modules offer a good method to examime educational reform. During practical training we will be at school where we will do our research. In first part we work on method part of research and in second part analysing the results and making conclusions.

9) Teaching practise (4 ECTS)

This is the main and for me the most important part of the whole semester.My teaching practice was in general primary school.

10) Teacher in Europe student conference (1 ECTS)

Students learn in an international environment how to design a project under Erasmus + and to complete a final proposal.

Lisa, Jacob and Viktoria had mostly only the first part of the courses because they left in the second part. Nevertheless, they also participated in the same courses as the other international students.

Zwolle:

Zwolle is the capital city of the province "Overijssel" being a paradise for students. It is a lively city with a population of more than 118.000 people. It boasts a beautiful city centre with historic buildings, canals and the remainders of an old city wall. But Zwolle has more to offer than just historic landmarks. The city is also rich in art and culture.

Green

Zwolle has great shopping, with charming shopping streets in the centre, where large chain stores alternate with small specialty shops. There are also plenty of culinary delights to be found in and around the centre, ranging from top restaurants to bistros and cafés.

The municipality of Zwolle feels very strongly about the nature found in and around the city. Not only will you find plenty of green spaces, but the municipality also maintains its natural beauty in an innovative fashion. With nearly eighty thousand jobs, Zwolle is also an excellent source of emplyment. The employed population of Zwolle is younger than the overall Dutch average.

Accomodation

As said before, the university organised a good accomodation for us. It is a little bit outside from the city center on a camping place. We have a sort of "bungalow". They are small houses with everything we need. The sleeping rooms are quite small but it is enough! Here on the camping place are 10 other people from Erasmus+, and so we meet us often and doing something together. We pay about 375,- Euros including water and gas per month for the rent.

Name of accomodation: Camping de Agnietenberg

Adress: Haersterveerweg 27

8034 PJ Zwolle

Country: Netherlands

Website: http://www.campingagnietenberg.nl/de/

Transport

In the Netherlands it is an obligation to have a bike! Without a bike you are totally lost. In the Netherlans are more bikes than cars, it is incredible. There are special ways for bikes everywhere, even in the roundabouts and cars have to stop for you. We have to drive about 30 minutes to University with our bikes.

But also the train in the Netherlands is really cool! Every 30 minutes there is a direct connection to the bigger cities (Amsterdam, Den Haag, Rotterdam, Groningen, ...) and it is quite cheap. But one thing is really good: the more people you are, the less is costs. So if you are a group of 10, you can go to any city you want for just 7 Euros - and this ticket is valid for the whole day (so back and forth).

Nevertheless, we suggest that you buy a bike when you arrive here. You can either go to a second hand shop or buy a bike from another student leafing Zwolle. Normally, the bikes are around 30€ to 70€. But be aware that you have a good tyre as well as chain, otherwise repairing can get really expensive.

Life in the Netherlands

Here in Zwolle are a lot of opportunities to do something, especially at night. Here are a lot of bars, discos and pubs. A bar called "The flying horse" is the most popular for students, it is always full! But it is not just good for drinking, you can get a meal for 2,50 Euros, which is really cheap.

When you compare Austria and the Netherland from the prices, it is actually the same. Food and clothes are the same, but I think products for "beauty" are quite expensive, but you can always get a special offer at "Kruidvat".

In the city center are a lot of shops where you can buy clothes, something to eat and a lot of other stuff!

When you are here, you have to visit the bigger cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Den Haag! They are absolutely wonderful and every city has its own charme!

Teaching practice:

First of all, Bert Thole divided us to different schools. Some schools are located in Zwolle, one school is in Heerde and one school in Dronten. You teach either alone or in pairs. Moreover, the university decided to mix the nationalities of the students. For example: Austria and Turkey. In addition, some schools have a reformpedagogical focus, like Jenaplan or Dalton. Other schools are concerned on ICT and on the foreign language English. Most of the primary schools can be reached by bus or bike.

In general the primary school in the Netherlands is called "basisschool" and the pupils have to attend school from the age of 4 to 12. All in all the pupils are divided in eight groups. Group 1 and 2 are similar to the "kindergarten" in Austria. Group 3 to 6 are like Austrian primary schools. The last two groups are matched with the first two grades of the secondary school in Austria.

Teaching practice:

Mid February we had the first contact with our teaching practice schools. The first two Mondays we just observed the lessons of our allocated groups. Moreover, we observed the teachers behaviour including the rituals, (non)-verbal signals and the arrangement in class. While this time we supported the teacher as much as we could. We have to mention, it wasn´t always easy to help the teacher because of the language barrier. Due to the fact, German and Dutch language is similar to each other, we could follow the main content of the lessons. Altough we understood most of the instructions of the teacher, helping the pupils with several tasks was difficult because of our missing Dutch knowledge. We also tried to get in contact with the pupils and to make a good relation as well as the teachers. Furthermore, we looked through all departments of the school to get a good orientation.

Generally, we were welcomed very friendly at each school and they were happy to have international students at their school because of improving the pupils´ English knowledge. In addition the cultural exchange of the diverse nationalities is a further advantage for the school.

Pupils behaviour:

At the first encounter with the pupils we recognised immediately that their behaviour is different to Austrian pupils. The pupils in our teaching practice schools were working very independently altough the teacher isn´t in the classroom. In addition, if they have a problem or question due to a task, they ask a classmate for advise before asking the teacher. The cohesion of the classes is very strong and the pupils help each other.

When you enter the schools you feel comfortable and relaxed! Each school seems like one family. Moreover, the pupils like being in school and we think that they know the importance of learning. The pupils have already recognised that they learn for themselves and for their future. This way of thinking is given through the working atmosphere in school.

Concerning the "teacher-pupils-relation" in our Netherland schools and in comparison to Austria, this relationship is much closer. This becomes apparent in class because the teacher seems to be like a "friend" or a "companion" for the pupils. Nevertheless, the pupils respect the teacher as an authority.

As you can see below there is the overview of our teaching practice lessons:

- week 8 (only monday, observations in different departments)

- week 10 (only monday, observations in different departments)

- week 11 (only monday, 1 lesson + supporting the teacher)

- week 12 (only monday, 1 lesson + supporting the teacher)

- week 14 (4 days; 2 lessons + supporting the teacher per each day)

- week 15 (4 days; 2 lessons + supporting the teacher per each day)

- week 18 (4 days; 2 lessons + supporting the teacher per each day)

- week 20 (3 days; 2 lessons (incl. world citizenship) + supporting the teacher per each day)

- week 22 (hand in "Demonstration Portfolio)

All in all we have to absolve 32 teaching practice lessons. For the students which stay 3 months have to absolve 26 lessons.

A "lesson" is defined as follows: The student chooses one activtiy of at least 20 minutes. This activity has to be prepared by using a "lesson preparation form". Each teaching practice day, at least one of our lessons have to be evaluated by using the "evaluation form". In addition, we had to work out a number of compulsory teaching practice assignments (f.e. lesson observation forms, form of effective teacher behaviour, fill in a list of competences, demonstration portfolio, ...)

In conclusion, at least 26 lessons should be given and at least 13 must be evaluated. As already mentioned, in week 20 we had to carry out a project on "world citizeship". This project is in connection with the module "Culture and Society 1". During this project a comparison of the Netherlands and our home country (f.e. Austria) has to be done. Therefore, different topics could be used for preparing a lesson such as special meals, typical dances, differences in school systems, mimes and gestures, proverbs and so on.

Every student has a tutor from university. This tutor is coming one time to observe you during your teaching. Afterwards, a discussion about your lesson takes places. In addition, the "demonstration portfolio" is a basis for the meeting.

Our teaching practice schools:

Lisa Koller and Nicole Skoberne -> Jenaplanschool Heerde

Viktoria Mosbacher -> Zonnewijzer Dronten (ICT)

Jacob Stössl -> Parkschool Zwolle (Early Bird - English)

Daniel Scharf -> Christelijke Daltonschool Koningin Emma Zwolle

Activities during the Internatinal Minor

open podium? -> first week

ice skating

On the first day at the Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, all Erasmus students as well as three teachers went after some lectures ice skating in Deventer. The previous knowledge of this kind of sport was very different within us students. While we Austrian are familiar with ice skating, others have had some difficulties at the beginning. However, they also could make progress in it. After ice skating, we were all sitting around a fire in the cafeteria of this ice hall. In our opinion, it was a great start of this Erasmus and we could get to know each other.

Typical Dutch games

In order to learn something about the Dutch culture, three Dutch students of the KPZ taught us some typical Dutch games, which are played especially at birthday parties.

This event was also in our first week and we played the following games:

- “Zaklopen” (sack race)

- “Koekhappen” (catching blindly an in the air hanging cookie only with the mouth )

- “Touwtrekken” (tug war)

- “Spijkerpoepen” (getting a on a string strapped spike, which is around your belly, into a bottle)

We liked those games very much and at the same time, our community within us international students was growing.

Tour through zwolle

Week with English students

Due to the fact that English students were coming to the KPZ, the teachers had the idea to get them in touch with us international students. In addition, those students are also studying for becoming a primary school teacher. Generally, we had lectures together, in which we could also talk to each other as well as exchange experiences concerning teaching. In mixed national groups, we were playing board games, which were based on answering questions about school experiences. Additionally, we also talked in small groups about advantages as well as disadvantages concerning the educational system in England and in Austria, in our case. Furthermore, we had a Dutch dinner together at the famous student-pub “Het vliegende paard” with very delicious meals. On their last day in the Netherlands, two Dutch students of the KPZ organized a tour through the most popular pubs in Zwolle.

All in all, we think that it this meeting with the English students was a great idea and we could learn something from the others. In addition, the lectures of the KPZ-teachers were also informative and interesting.

concert Harrie

International sport day

On the 27.03., the international sport day took place and we international students were invited to join. To be more precise, it had to do with a group competition within teams of the 5 schools for primary school in the Netherlands. In order to take part in it, we had to divide us in two groups and thereby, the minimum of seven students per team had to be considered

The following kinds of sports were offered:

- Frisbee

- “Monokorfbal”

- Hockey

- Football - different

- Football

- Wheel-chair basketball

- basketball

All in all, this event was really amusing and we had a lot of fun.

Project week 'Randstad' (Amsterdam and The Hague)

The teachers of the KPZ organized for us international students a three day trip, which was called “Project Week Randstad”. On the first day, we went by train to Amsterdam, where we visited…. . In the evening, we went by train to The Hague, where we went to our hostel. On the second day we went to…. . The night from the second to the third day, we slept in the same hostel. On the third day, we visited…. .

All in all, it only cost 75€, what in our opinion is really less for this nice offer concerning the sights as well as the accommodation in a hostel.

All in all, we are all the same opinion that the organization as well as the choice of the sights was great and we are very grateful for offering this project week.

Carmen Saurín, Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, The Netherlands From Spain, Mobility For Study

Contacts University

University of Applied Science, Teacher Training Institute Primary Education

Hogeschool Katholieke PABO Zwolle

Ten Oeverstraat 68,

8012 EW Zwolle,

The Netherlands

Tel.: +31 (0)384217425

Fax: +31(0)384210914

webaddress:www.kpz.nl

Erasmus code: NL ZWOLLE06

Harrie Poulssen (international Officer)

Email: h.poulssen@kpz.nl

Bert Thole (Coordinator IM)

Email: b.thole@kpz.nl

About the University:

The Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, also known as KPZ, is an independent Interactum University of Applied Sciences. At this University there are over 650 students and a staff of about 70. This means that the KPZ is one of the many small- to medium-sized institutes for higher professional education in the Netherlands.

The International Minor Program(IM) is a course formed with international students that have been travelling from other countries to come and study in the KPZ.

How can I apply?

Each year we have an international minor in spring semester from 1st of February until 1st of July.

The deadline for application is: 1 November (previous calendar year)

You will need to fill some data on the application. Then, the university will give you a date for Skype interview. Then, you will have a conversation in English about different things: your level of English, your work as a teacher...

Before we got here:

You should make an exam of Dutch before come here, but don't worry it is about your level and the mark it is not important.

Probably you must take some material from education at your country before, so is better is you asked before.

About accomodation, the best option is Leliestraat. You have to contact SSH in sshxl.nl and regist your name. Be constant because they don't accept Pabo students normally, only students from Windesheim. But it is the best option anyway, near from University and city center.

The University will provide you with a partner to pick you at the station, they are normally students from the University and it is a really nice idea.

Info about the general things and the first weeks:

We are in a "seperate class" - The international Minor/class. All in all we are 15 people (6 Spanish girls, 1 girl from Turkey, 1 boy from Nepal, 2 Czech girls and 5 people from Austria). All our courses we have together - we do not have any courses with the students from the PABO.

The University organized a lot of activities to know each other, skating, and dutch games.

Zwolle:

Transport

Everybody uses the bicycle in The Netherlands. Is faster and really great to ride a bicycle here.

Life in the Netherlands

A lot of opportunities to enjoy really nice landscapes and also to go out.

Danielle Smeding, Bal Prabhat School, Nepal, Mobility For Internship, Kpz

Contact Bal Prabhat Boarding School

New Road, Pokhara-9

Contact person: Prem Kunwar

premknwr@gmail.com

Our stay

We've rent an appartment in Lakeside, the tourist side of Pokhara. First we had a small appartment. Jut one room and we lived on our beds. After a month we've moved to a bigger one. Now we had two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a good kitchen with livingroom. We also had a balcony. The houseowner was a really kind man. He was willing to help with everything.

Review of your stay abroad in academic terms

We arrived the 26th of february in Pokhara. We started our internship the 27th. We arrived at the Bal Prabhat Boarding School at 10:00 am. The children were standing in line waiting for the teacher to give comments. In the mean time, we were introduced to the prinicipal. A really nice man and he was very proud of his school. There was a whole ceremonie planned for us. We got a scarf and a red point on our face with paint. It was a sign of respect. They were very greatfull. We also got the oppertunity to choose our own class. I choose grade 4.

After the weekend we came back to the school. We were observing the first few days. The children were very curious. They asked questions about me and the Netherlands. So I decided to teach them some Dutch words. I also saw the teachers hitting the childeren. They got beaten when they didn't know an answer or just disobate the teacher. It was really hard to see, but I didn't know what to do.

I had much time to teach, because sometimes teachers just didn't show up. I experienced it positive but also negative. The positive thing is that I was free to do anything I wanted. I could teach them things they never heard of like the second world war. The children were very supportive and enthousiastic. The negative thing was that I never got feedback and most of the time I didn't get a chance to prepare my lessons.

Another nice experience during my internship was parentsday. The children were learning a dance. Every grade another traditional dance. They were practicing for weeks for that one special day. Parentsday was at the end of the school year and the children got the chance to show their dance to their parents. It was also a day were prices were rewarded. It was a long day for us, but it's nice to see so many happy faces on the stage.

Review of the stay abroad in cultural terms

Before I even went to Nepal, people were warning me for a culture shock. I knew Nepal is way different from the Netherlands, but I thing you can't prevent a culture shock. The only thing that's important is to be open-minded. Don't judge other cultures. There will be negative things, but try to see the positive things. For example the Nepali people never have stress. They are so relaxed. The negative thing is that they're always late, but the positve thing is that they're always wanting to help you.

I didn't have a real culture shock. There were things that i was fascinated about, but not real shocked or anything. The fact that children got beaten was really hard to see, but you get used to it. I tried to enjoy everything a saw like cows on the street and the fact that the traffic was horrible. It's also nice that we meet Nepali people. At that moment you learn the real Nepali culture. They took us to restaurants we would never go to.

I also wanted to go to Nepal because of the religion. I'm fascinated about the life style of the Budhism and Hindoeism. We visited a few temples and stupa's. It is hard to understand those religions, but the way they see things is something we western people can learn a lot from. I thing my culture shock came when I arrived back in the Netherlands.

Housing and food & drinks:

We've rented an appartment in Pokhara, Lakeside. We did this with the help of our teacher and Prem.

We payed around 450 dollars with the three of us for one month.

There are also a lot of guesthouses were you can stay. But we wanted a place for ourself.

Our appartment was very nice, we had 2 bedrooms, a livingroom with a kitchen, 2 bathrooms and a balcony.

If you want to rent an appartment its a good idea to have a person in Nepal who can help you with it. Renting an appartment from your home country can be difficult.

We did our groceries at the local store. There was a big supermarket, where you can buy almost everything.

You can make a supper for less then 5 dollar. Also its a possibility to go out for supper, we've paid around 20 dollars with the three of us.

Social terms:

The people in Nepal are very kind and hospitable. The first time we meet our Nepalese mentor he was directly very kind to us. He even called us his family, and inivited us to his home for supper.

Also the people on the street are very kind. They are always willing to help.

Dinise Schimmel, Ascham School, Australië, Mobility For Internship, Kpz

Contact Ascham school.

188 New South Head Rd,

Edgecliff NSW 2027,

Australië

Phonenumber: +61 2 8356 7000

Contact

We have made contact with the Ascham school by E-mail. (Judith Butcher [jbutcher@ascham.nsw.edu.au])

Information

We contected with the school through a E-mail. The Ascham school is looking forward to seeing us.

Discription of the school

The Ascham school has DALTON education and is only for girls. We will do research about the differences between the education in the Netherlands and Australia.

Preparation

We fulled in a document for the visa (http://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/417.aspx), The visa cost 400 dollar.

A travel company has arranged our first week in Australia. When we get there we will arrange a place to sleep.

At school we attended a few classes to brush up our English. (Katholieke PABO Zwolle).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you want to know the prices and costs we’ve made, feel free to ask us.

My email addresses is d.schimmel@kpz.nl

This consideration is made because of privacy reasons.

Return ticket Amsterdam-Adelaide.

€ 1200,-

Booked by a travel organization.

Visa

+- €300

Work-holiday visa

House

Room 1: € 116,70 per week p.p.               (shared room, 3 persons)

Room 2: € 70,00 per week p.p.                 (shared room, 3 persons)

We looked on the internet and found www.furnishedproperty.com We also looked on several sites like www.gumtree.com and www.roommates.com. The second house we stayed in was a recommendation of one of the teachers.

Before we get our own place we stayed in a hostel for a week.

A smart thing to do is ask around, the people are very friendly and will help you!

Train and bus

+- €200 in total.

We get an opal card from the beginning. It’s a free card and you can add money on it. You have to tap on and off. From Monday it start counting, when you travelled 8 times you can travel the rest of the week for free. Look on tripview (App) how you have to travel.

Phone

If you use you’re own sim card, you will make a lot extra costs with you phone. We bought a prepaid card from Telstra, this is an Australian provider. This gave us data and credits, to use internet, sms and made phone calls. You have to ad money at it every month.

Traveling

We did lots of traveling before the internship, during the holiday and after the internship. We travelled by campervan and a rental car. A good company to hire you’re campervan is: www.totallycampers.nl  This is a Dutch organization. We also traveled by plane, because of the big distances between places.

Grocery

+- €100

The cheapest supermarket is Aldi! You can also go to the Coles or Wholeworths.

Astralia is a great country for youre internship!

Eline Geschiere, Petrus Donderschool, Suriname, Mobility For Internship, Kpz

Petrus Donderschool

The Petrus Donderschool is a good school. The headteacher is a nice women, she wants the best for the school and has big dreams about the school. Four years ago she has built a new school, when you look at the picture you can see the result. There are ten classes with children of the age 6 to 14. The teachers are good but in the Netherlands they are better. During a day the teacher went away while I was teaching my lessons. So she never whitnissed a lesson from me, she went to the supermarket or had a meeting with the other teachers. The children have a lot of respect for the teacher. They listen to her but it is hard for the children to listen to me. In a Surinam school you have to be very strict, otherwise the children won't listen. The children act very nice during the break. When I was leaving the children had to cry because I left Surinam. So eventually I had a good time at this school but sometimes it was difficult to be a good teacher because the real teacher wasn't there very much time.

One teacher of te KPZ and one teacher of the Marnix Academy have arranged this place for my stage. They have contact with the central organisation of the primary schools in Surinam. That organisation have picked a school for each student in Paramaribo. Four weeks before we went to Surinam, we had a phonecall with the school and made an appointment for the first week, so the headteacher knew when we would arrive.

My appartment

During my time in Surinam I stayed in a house with other students. With seventeen other students have we been staying on Koenawaristraat 32. It was a house with 17 rooms en 2 kitchens. It was a good house but the houseowner weren't delivering proper work every time. Sometimes he said: 'I'll do that but after two weeks it wasn't done yet. I paid 300 euros for a month but it was too much for this house. The kitchens weren't very clean and the water was cold. In the evening we made dinner in groups or we went out for dinner. I bought my food in the Tulip, a dutch supermarket, or in the chinese one. I think that cost me 70 euros per week. The cheapest food you can buy is on the big market in the centre of Paramaribo.

We have found our house on the internet. At www.stagewonen.nl, first we saw another house but that was occupied already. We sent a mail to the owner of another house of the same organisation and he said that we can stay in this one house. So we said yes and we signed a contract regarding that house. You can see the house on the pictures.

cultural awareness

Surinam has a beautiful culture. In Surinam are a lot of different cultures. There are marrons, hindoestanen, javanen, creolen etc. All this cultures live next to each other. All the people in Surinam have respect for each other and are nice to tourists and trainees. The people will help everybody. It is a wonderful experience to have contact with the people in the jungle. They live from the jungle and have a very different culture than the western civilization.

Climate

In Surinam are very high temperatures. It's about 30 degrees every day, it's a tropical climate. There are rain seasons and dry seasons. There is a lot of rain in the rain season, that's very boring. In the dry season is it better and than it is very dry.

The trips

During my time in Suriname I've made the most wonderful trips. Blanche marie, Apoera, White beach, Overbridge, Brownsberg, Stone Island, Galibi, Frans Guyana and blakawatra. All the trips are beatiful experiences. You'll go with a guide to the jungle or to other beautiful places in Suriname. The trips are a little bit expensive but it is cheap for what you get. I think for two days with food and a place to sleep it is 140 euros.

Costs

plain: 800 euros

appartment: 300 euros for 1 month

live: 300 euros for 1 month

trips: 800 euros for 3 months

Eline Koiter, Ascham School, Australia, Mobility For Internship, Kpz

Contact

Ascham School

188 New South Head Rd,

Edgecliff NSW 2027,

Australia

Phonenumber: +61 2 8356 7000

Website: http://www.ascham.nsw.edu.au/

E-mail: jbutcher@ascham.nsw.edu.au (Mrs. Judith Butcher, head of preparatory and junior school)

About the school

The Ascham School is a non-selective and friendly private school for girls. They have a strong academic program, teach through the Dalton Plan and offer a lot of co-curricular activities (such as music and sports lessons). The school is organized in three sections: preparatory school (prep to Year 2), junior school (Year 3 to Year 6) and senior school (Year 7 to Year 12). As a PABO student, you’ll be placed in preparatory or junior school.

We e-mailed Mrs. Judith Butcher to get in touch and she was very pleased to welcome us at the Ascham School. I was placed in one of the three Year 2 classes in preparatory school (girls in the age of 7 and 8).

Preparation

We had to get a visa for our stay in Australia. You can get a normal Tourist Visa (because you won’t get paid for the internship so you won’t need a working visa) if you want to stay up to 3 months. Because we wanted to stay a bit longer, we needed the Working Holiday Visa. This one allows you to stay for one year and get a job. You can apply for a Visa at http://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/417.aspx a  Working Holiday Visa costs about 300 euros.

We (my friend and I) tried to arrange an apartment before we left, but no one responded because we couldn’t move in straight away. So we booked a hostel in Sydney for the first 4 nights and just called/texted the people who had put their apartments on the websites. We looked at different websites: flatmates.com.au / gumtree.com.au. We visited 4 different apartments, one of them was very suitable for us and we moved in the next day.

Review of my stay in Sydney/Australia

Sydney is an amazing and very big business city. Although it’s a very busy city I felt very save and at home. We stayed in the suburb Pyrmont, just a 10 minutes’ walk outside the CBD and 15 to the nearest train station (but you could take busses/railways as well).

I think Australians are very friendly and helpful. I experienced this at the school as well. I felt very welcome and they really appreciated it that I was there. As I said, I was placed in Year 2. The 21 girls in this group were very interested in me and I build up a great relation with them during my internship. My mentor, the teacher of the group, was very pleased to have me in her class. She was interested in my ideas about education and tried to give me as much time as possible to do lessons. Because it was a private school, there were a lot of specialists lessons. So the time schedule was very full planned and there was not that much time left for me to take over some lessons. Because I wasn’t allowed to teach the English grammar, were mathematics and arts the only possibilities left. Although I couldn’t teach much myself, I was never bored at all. I saw new things every single day and learned a lot about the Australian school system. My mentor tried to involve me as much as she could, so I didn’t just sat in back of classroom all the time to observe. Speaking English was not a very big issue, in the beginning I struggled a bit at finding the right words, but after a few weeks I didn’t felt that struggle anymore.

The girls at Ascham School are very well mannered, the school finds academical skills very important and because it’s a private school they can offer a lot of co-curricular activities. Every girl has sports or music lessons at the school, there is a theater, swimming pool and tennis fields and the girls get homework every day. These are just a few of all the differences I noticed between the Australian and Dutch education. It was completely different than my expectations. I thought it wouldn’t be that different than the Dutch education, because The Netherlands and Australia are both western countries and the education system is both very high rated. I think that most of the differences are caused by the fact that the school is a private school and we don’t have private schools in The Netherlands.

The people in Australia are very friendly and hospitable and because it’s a western country, the culture is not that different to The Netherlands which made it very easy to settle and feel like home.

Tips

-          Get an Opal card for public transport. After 8 check ins you can travel for free for the rest of the week and on Sundays you can travel the whole day for 2,50 aus dollars.

-          Get an Australian phone number (we got it at a Telstra shop), you can recharge each month so you’re not stuck to  a subscription.

-          Only get your cash at the yellow CommonWealth banks. They charge less extra money than the other banks.

-          Take a creditcard with you.

-          If you want to travel; don’t book it until you’re there. Go to backpackers agencies like Happy Travels or Peterpans (they’re everywhere), they help you planning your whole trip and they offer you the cheapest trips and activities.

-          If you have time/money make sure you do some travelling. It’s an amazing and beautiful country with lots of diversity in its nature/landscape/views/culture. I traveled the eastcoast (from Cairns to Brisbane), the outback (from Alice Springs to Adelaide) and the Great Ocean Road (from Adelaide to Melbourne) and I loved every bit of it!

Budget

Visa: €300

Retour plane ticket: €1100

Residence/stay: €600 a month

Grocery: €100 a month

Else Van Der Wal, University Of Oulu, Finland, Mobility For Study, Kpz

In holland:

Contact University:

University of Oulu (Oulun Yliopisto)

Pentti Kaiteran katu 1,

90014 Oulu, Finland

http://www.oulu.fi/english/

international.office@oulu.fi

Contactperson University:

Jani Haapakoski

Faculty of Education, International Coördinator

jani.haapakoski@oulu.fi

During orientation days in the Netherlands I heard information about going abroad.

At first I tought about going outside of Europe, but then I figured out that it was very expensive.

Then I heard about going to study at Scandanavië, that's when everything started.

First I had to choose which country, this became Finland.

I searched information about education in Finland and I found that the education in Finland is very good, especially in primary school. Finland is number 1 in Europe on education.

At school we had a presentation about different opportunities to go abroad. In that presentation I saw the University of Oulu. At home I searched on the website and became very excited.

Then I went to our international coördinator Harrie Poulssen, to tell him about my interest in Oulu. He was very excited.

But he told me that I needed to write a motivation letter, so I wrote my motivation letter.

After that we had a conversation about my motivation. This was good and I had my temporary GO!

Then started the kind of boring stuff, filling in al the papers.

We had to think about a lot of stuff like:

- Financing (DUO)

- Temporary stop for the travelcard

- Insurance

- ID or Pasport

- Housing (PSOAS)

Housing is arranged trough PSOAS, you can look on the site of the school. www.psoas.fi

- Creditcard

- Learning Agreement (choosing courses, that's fun)

- Contact the University (to apply, ask the international office at KPZ)

That's it!

In Finland:

It's already been 2 months that I came here in Oulu and time flies by.

So many things have happend and I already have seen so much.

At the beginning that we (Merel, Evelien and I) came here at was -20. And I can tell you that is very cold.

Luckily I had enough warm clothes with me. Before I came here I had a little contact with my Kummi. This is a person that helps you at the beginning of your stay. Well if I can be honest, my kummi didn't do a lot for me. She got me my key and a finnish sim-card and some basic information, like whiche busstop I can take to the city and to school. The rest I all found out with Merel and Evelien. Because my Kummi only told me about one supermarket that's almost across from our building. What she didn't tell was that this supermarket was very expensive and when your a student you always want to know the cheapest supermarket. Lukily my roommate found out on her own,that there was a different supermarket nearby and that it was much bigger and cheaper. Later on we found the lidl and now we buy there our stuff.

When we first got to school for the oriëntation program, we were a little shocked. The school is so big, we found out there are more than 16.000 students, well that's a lot different then our own school, haha!

At orientation we found out that we need to register for our courses that we selected, but there was a possibility that our learning agreement could change, because some courses had selected places. In the end we only had to change one course. The courses that we followed were:

Human Development

Society and educational institutions

Educational philosophy and ethics

Comparative Education 2: Europe

Professional English

Inclusive and special education

Early learning in multicultural contexts

Ethics

Basic of art teaching

For the first two months we didn't have that much classes. That's why we could do some nice things. I went on a ski-trip to Svanstein (Sweden), this was organized by ESN. Skiing at -24 degrees, I will tell you that is cold.

I also went to Finnish Lapland with some friends and we had some nice weather -27 degrees, and we also saw for the first time the Northen Lights, that was amazing! But I will tell you Finland and Lapland is something everybody has to go to, certainly in winter. It is so beautiful and special.

We also had a lot of party's. ESN (Erasmus) organizes so many events, so you can choose where you want to go. At the beginning I bought the ESN-card, this was 5 euros, but very handy because you can get discounts or free entrance at party's.

(Svanstein)

(Northen Lights in Lapland)

March -May

In the first week of march my parents and sister came to visit me, because I had one week vacation.

This was very nice, I went again to Lapland, but this time I did a Husky ride and went on a snowmobile. I also have my driving license for riding a reindeer, so next time I am qualified to drive again.

After the week of vacation, our school schedule became a lot busier. This was also nice, because we had some new courses that started. In one course, Early Learning we had a guest speaker, and yes she came from Holland (they are everywhere) it was Helma Brouwers. And we found out that she also teached at KPZ!

Also in this time the course Basics of Art teaching started and I was very excited for this course. We did some cool things and I have so many new ideas that I can do when I am a teacher.

In march we had again a nice trip organized by ESN. We went on the pirates of the baltic sea. We were on a big boat dressed as pirates going to Stockholm. It was very nice.

April was the month that we finished a lot of courses and we were almost done by the end of april.

At the end of april there is also a very big party in Finland, it's called Vappu! In oulu it was a two week celebration, every day there was a party, so you could choose where you wanted to go. At the 30th of april was the biggest party for the finnish students, and of course we were there.

* Tip: buy a Overall, every student has one, each guild has there own color! (ESN has a blue one, that's the one that I have to)

After Vappu my brother and his girlfriend came to visit me for a couple of days, this was very nice.

On the 6th of may we had our last exam and that was also the last time we were at school.

For the last three weeks in Oulu it was:

- Goodbye party's, having some last fun times with the friends that we made these couple of months.

- Visiting a Finnish primary school (very informitive)

- Going on a trip to Helsinki, Tallinn and Iceland and this was awesome.

- It never gets dark anymore

- Packing and cleaning... :(

(Husky's)

(Oulu has one of the most beautiful sunsets and sky's I have seen)

These 5 months in Oulu were amazing! It was an experience that I will never forget. I learned a lot, about the Finnish school system and of course a little bit about myself.

At the end of my ebook I will have a short financial report of what I spend these 5 months. But I did some extra's and of course these things cost a lot. So save money before you go on this experience, so you can choose activities that you want to do, because yes these things that ESN organizes costs money!

Beforehand:

Ticket                              365

Deposite + registration      400

In Finland:

Groceries            5 x 80 = 400

Buscard              5 x 40 = 200

Rent           5 x 286,35 = 1431,75

Unionfee                            48

Studentcard                       15

ESN-card                             5

Total                              2864,75

For the extra's I probably spend more than 1500 euro's, but like I said, you can make it as expensive as you want!

Yours sincerly,

Else van der Wal

Emilie Van Arendonk, Bal Prabhat School, Nepal, Mobility For Internship, Kpz

Contact Bal Prabhat Boarding School

New Road, Pokhara-9

Contact person: Prem Kunwar

premknwr@gmail.com

Discription of the school

Bal Prabhat Boarding School is a private school. Nepal is one of the porest countrys, so don't expect much. You have a withboard and the children wearing a uniform. The teachers hit the childeren. It happens pretty much; when they haven't made there homework, when they aren't listening or not wearing the right cloths.

The principal is a really nice man. He wants the best for us and he takes good care for you.

Our stay

We've rent an appartment in Lakeside, the tourist side of Pokhara. First we had a small appartment. Jut one room and we lived on our beds. After a month we've moved to a bigger one. Now we had two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a good kitchen with livingroom. We also had a balcony. The houseowner was a really kind man. He was willing to help with everything.

- Review of your stay abroad in academic terms

We arrived the 26th of february in Pokhara. We started our internship the 27th. We arrived at the Bal Prabhat Boarding School at 10:00 am. The children were standing in line waiting for the teacher to give comments. In the mean time, we were introduced to the prinicipal. A really nice man and he was very proud of his school. There was a whole ceremonie planned for us. We got a scarf and a red point on our face with paint. It was a sign of respect. They were very greatfull. We also got the oppertunity to choose our own class. I choose grade 5.

After the weekend we came back to the school. We were observing the first few days. The children were very curious. They asked questions about me and the Netherlands. So i decided to teach them some Dutch words. I also saw the teachers hitting the childeren. They got beaten when they didn't know an answer or just disobate the teacher. It was really hard to see, but I did't know what to do. I was just a volunteer and, it sounds weird, but it's normal for them. The children even said that i had to beat, but I would never do that.

I had much time to teach, because sometimes teachers just didn't show up. I experienced it positive but also negative. The positive thing is that I was free to do anything I wanted. I could teach them things they never heard of like the second world war. The children were very supportive and enthousiastic. The negativ thing was that I never got feedback and most of the time I didn't get a chance to prepare my lessons.

Another nice experience during my internship was parentsday. The children were learning a dance. Every grade another traditional dance. They were practicing for weeks for that one special day. Parentsday was at the end of the school year and the children got the chance to show their dance to their parents. It was also a day were prices were rewarded. It was a long day for us, but it's nice to see so many happy faces on the stage.

- Review of the stay abroad in cultural terms

Before I even went to Nepal, people were warning me for a culture shock. I knew Nepal is way different from the Netherlands, but I thing you can't prevent a culture shock. The only thing that's important is to be open-minded. Don't judge other cultures. There will be negative things, but try to see the positive things. For example the Nepali people never have stress. They are so relaxed. The negative thing is that they're always late, but the positve thing is that they're always wanting to help you.

I didn't have a real culture shock. There were things that i was fascinated about, but not real shocked or anything. The fact that children got beaten was really hard to see, but you get used to it. I tried to enjoy everything a saw like cows on the street and the fact that the traffic was horrible. It's also nice that we meet Nepali people. At that moment you learn the real Nepali culture. They took us to restaurants we would never go to.

I also wanted to go to Nepal because of the religion. I'm fascinated about the life style of the Budhism and Hindoeism. We visited a few temples and stupa's. It is hard to understand those religions, but the way they see things is something we western people can learn a lot from. I thing my culture shock came when I arrived back in the Netherlands.

- Housing and food & drinks:

We've rented an appartment in Pokhara, Lakeside. We did this with the help of our teacher and Prem.

We payed around 450 dollars with the three of us for one month.

There are also a lot of guesthouses were you can stay. But we wanted a place for ourself.

Our appartment was very nice, we had 2 bedrooms, a livingroom with a kitchen, 2 bathrooms and a balcony.

If you want to rent an appartment its a good idea to have a person in Nepal who can help you with it. Renting an appartment from your home country can be difficult.

We did our groceries at the local store. There was a big supermarket, where you can buy almost everything.

You can make a supper for less then 5 dollar. Also its a possibility to go out for supper, we've paid around 20 dollars with the three of us.

- Social terms:

The people in Nepal are very kind and hospitable. The first time we meet our Nepalese mentor he was directly very kind to us. He even called us his family, and inivited us to his home for supper.

Also the people on the street are very kind. They are always willing to help.

Esther Mekelenkamp, Mairehau Primary School, New-Zealand, Mobility For Internship, Kpz

Contact and general information

Adress Mairehau Primary School

43 Mahars Road, Mairehau

Christchurch, New Zealand

+64 3 3853796

mairehau@mps.school.nz

www.mps.school.nz

During the organisation of our internship, we looked at the internet for a couple of schools in Christchurch, New Zealand. Because another student had already done an internship at Mairehau Primary School, that was our best chance. At the website of this school, we found the principle's emailadress and we dicided to try. Within a few days, we received an positive email form the principle. He was very enthusiastic and that was the beginning of our yourney.

After that things went very easy. The principle wanted to help us with everything, including homestay. He made sure that we could stay with one of his teachers, for 120 New Zealand dollars the week (which is cheap). We emailed him our Placement agreement and he made sure he signed everything. So, things went pretty easy.

The school is located in an area with a lot of poor people. That is one of the interesting things about this internship. This school accept all kinds of children, diabled, behaviour problems, kids with traumas, kids with rich parents, gifted kids. Every child has a place at Mairehau Primary School. Besides that, the New Zealand education system is very different from ours. (more in chapter: educational system)

I'm going to find out in what way the New Zealand school system is different from ours and what I can do (with my Dutch vision at education) for them. I want 'best of both worlds'. I think it is good to change you mind and be open for other visions. So, that's what I'm hopefully going to find out.

I prepared myself by reading about the country and the educational system. We emailed with the other Dutch student from the KPZ, who went to Mairehau Primary School. As soon as we knew where we were going to stay, we had contact with the people. Besides form that, it was waiting until the date that we were leaving was finally there.

Internship (educational system)

I already said that the education in New Zealand is different from ours. First this is schooltimes. A normal schoolday looks like this:

- 8:30 schoolbel rings, children are supposed to be at school.

- 8:30 - 9:00 play time (inside and outside)

- 9:00 - 10:30 learning time (reading)

- 10:30 - 11:00 Morning tea

- 11:00 - 12:00 learning time (maths)

- 12:00 - 12:20 Kai time (lunch)

- 12:20 - 13:20 learning time

- 13:20 - 14:00 Big play (children play outside)

- 14:00 - 15:00 learning time

- 15:00 end of day

There are a lot more breaks during the day and that is nice for the children. Another big difference is that they don't use methods. With is fine, but I still don't get what their structure is. Every class from the same level is doing something else. The teacher is very free in what they want or don't want to do. The tempo of working is lower than in the Netherlands. It is more like 'go with the flow'. That is something that for me, as a Dutchie, feels like breathing. I think sometimes we expect to much from our children, even if they are not capable enough. But, it frustrates me a lot that they can work for three days (one our a day) about a story from eight phrases. It has two sides. Another thing different from the Netherlands is that the kids during instruction time, start of the day and the time after the breaks, are sitting at the floor. In my classroom there is no Smartboard. We have a beamer, but that isn't working that well. So we use a whiteboard. The children are sitting in front of that, at the floor. As soon as they start working, the find a place to work. There is a big table (with chairs) in the middle of the class, there is a standing table and there are some 'normal' schooltables. Some kids like working at the floor and that is fine as well.

Costs

flight: 1320,- (Emirates airways) (Amsterdam - Christchurch)

Visa: 100,- (working holiday).

homestay with teacher: 800,- (depending on exchange rate). It's 120 NZ dollars a week. This contains food and a room.

Groceries are pretty expensive here, so make sure you have enough money with you to buy yourself stuff. You get breakfast, lunch and dinner from the people you live with. You have to pay for all the rest.

If you want to travel a bit, you need a lot of money. Everything costs money, even doing a hike. The distances are pretty far. We stayed in Christchurch and on the south island, everything is almost a 5-6 hour drive.

Femke Scholten, Petrusdonderschool, Suriname, Mobility For Internship, Kpz

Contact:

Petrusdonderschool

Hofstede Crull’laan 25

Paramaribo, Suriname

00597-475601

In the second year of my education we had to make a choose if we wanted to go abroad. I choose Suriname. This was a dream for me. With four other people from my school, we went to Utrecht in the Netherlands in. At the Marnix we got our information about the internship. There we meet some other people who also go on internship in Suriname. Our teacher from the Katholieke Pabo sent us the names of the school where we get or internship. The first time I had contact with the Petrusdonderschool in January, tis was by phone. We talked about the school, about me and when my internship will start. The Petrusdonderschool houses in Paramaribo, the capitol of Suriname. The school is a primary school with children in the age of 4-12 years. The main language is Dutch. Each day of the week the school schedules are from 08:00 – 13:00.

After a year I graped my stuff together and fly the 28th of February and be staying till 28th of May.

A month ago I came back from Suriname an I can tell something about my internship end my experiences in this beautiful country.

Intership at the Petrus Dondersschool

The Petrus Donderschool is a school with good attention to children. The headteacher is a nice woman who lifes for the school. She has some big dreams, like building a new school by renovating the old school and bring everything to a new level. This dreams has already started. changes are enormous and beautiful. The changes are enormous and beautiful. For example there are a lot of new furniture for the children. At the school there a ten classes with children in the age of 6 to 14.

The different between the Dutch teachers and the Surinam teachers are huge. As Dutch teacher I know more about teaching and at pedagogical area are we farther. During my internship I gave lessons in the first class. In the Netherlands we say it’s group three. During my lessons the teacher wasn’t always there so she hasn’t seen a lot of lessons given by me. The children have lot of respect for there Surinam teacher. They listen to her but she is hard to them. I wasn’t so hard to the children so they listen not always good. I must be very strict and then they listen to me. Some days the Surinam teacher don’t show up. So I take the lesson from her and a teach all day long alone. At my last day at school the children were crying because I was leaving them and they gave me a lot of hugs. My time at school was sometimes difficult but I enjoyed the experience.

The apartment

The place where I stayed in Surinam was a big house where I lifed with 17 other students for three months. The house address is the Koenawaristraat 32. There were sixteen rooms and two kitchens. It was a good house but the house owner wasn’t delivering proper work every time. I paid €300 euros for a month but I think it’s too much for the things we got. The kitchens were not clean and we had cold water. I had my own room with hot water and a toilet. For dinner we cooked together and we bought are food in the Tulip a supermarket and other Chinees supermarkts. The Tulip is a Dutch supermarket. We found are house on the internet, www.stagewonen.nl. At first we saw another house but that was occupied already. After some emails with the owner of the houses we could stay in his house.

Climate

When we left the Netherlands it was freezing so it was a big change to come in 30 degrees. Every day the temperature was zo high. It’s a tropical climate so moist. In Suriname are rain seasons and dry seasons. In March and April we had a dry season and a lot of sun. In may the rain seasons was started and we got a lot of rain. Almost every day it was raining and we only had a few dry days. In the Netherlands the rain is cold but in Suriname the rain is warm, which is very nice but also strange.

Cultural Awareness

In Suriname are a lot of cultures. We have seen a lot of them. There are Marrons, Hindoestanen, Javanen, Creolen, Moslims etc. These are living next to cultures lives next to each other. So they have a lot of respect to each other. It was nice to see that we as trainees also get some respect.

The trips

Duriny my time in Suriname I’ve made the most wonderful trips I ever had. Brownsberg, Stone Island, Galibi, Voltzberg, Raleighvallen, Frans Guyana, White beach, Overbridge, Isadou, Jawjaw, Gunsi. At some trips I slept in a hammock and sometimes in a bed. Sleeping in a hammock were very nice. I find a hammock much relaxter than a bed. With some guides we Got to the jungle and saw some beautiful places. The trips weren’t  Cheap but I have seen a lot of Suriname. I liked it a lot! For four days with food, travel and guides it cost 200 euros. I had the money so why not!? Just do it! It was amazing to saw the cultures and the landscape.

The finances

Plain: 800 euros (retour)

Appartment: 300 euros for 1 month

Household: 300 euro in a month

Trips: 800 euros for 3 months.

Geanne Van De Belt, Kathedrale Koorschool Suriname, Mobility For Internship, Kpz

In my second year of study, we have to think about the next thing: would i take a trip to the outcast, or will i stay in Holland, so i can do my internship in Holland. I chose to make a trip to Surinam, accompanied by 4 other students. With this little group of students, we went to Utrecht. In Utrecht is the Marnix academy, a school with the same study. At the Marnix academy, we got some more information about the internship in Suriname and we’ve got to meet other people that planned to go to Suriname. A teacher from our own school sent us a list of schools. We had to call our own school in Suriname. The first time that we were in contact was in January, a month before we left to Suriname. This was by phone. We talked about the school, about me, and when i was going to start my internship. The Kathedrale Koorschool is in Paramaribo, de capital of Suriname.

After a year of preparing i got my stuff together and early in the morning, we went to Schiphol. 28 february till 2 june i was in Suriname. It is a beautiful country with beautiful people.

My internship at the Kathedrale Koorschool Suriname

The Kathedrale Koorschool Suriname is a school with a open and friendly atmosphere. There are 8 teachers, one of them is the headteacher. She is very openminded en full of dreams. There is also a music teacher, he teaches the childeren some skills that they need when they’re singing. The childeren perform alot in the church that’s next to the school. Not every kid can go to the Kathedrale Koorschool. They have to do an audition. The headteacher and the music teacher decide whether te kid will be accepted, or will be denied.

My appartment

During my time in Surinam I stayed in a house with other students. With seventeen other students have we been staying on Koenawaristraat 32. It was a house with 17 rooms en 2 kitchens. It was a good house but the houseowner weren't delivering proper work every time. Sometimes he said: 'I'll do that but after two weeks it wasn't done yet. I paid 300 euros for a month but it was too much for this house. The owner was friendly, but you can’t trust him. With 17 other students it was very noisy, but also good. When you’re sad or there is something you would like to talk about, there is always a person who wants to listen to you.

We found the house on the internet, at www.stagewonen.nl.

The culture of Suriname

In Suriname there are a lot of cultures. You can find Marrons, hindoestanen, javanen, jewish people etc. All these cultures live next to eachother, something that Holland can learn from Suriname. It is a wonderful experience to meet different people from different cultures. You can learn so much from these people.

Trips

I have made a lot of trips. It’s a wonderful way to get to know Suriname. The nature is so wonderful, a trip trough the jungle is amazing. There is a zipline above the Suriname-river, a great experience. I spent a lot of money to take all these trips, but it was worth it!

Costs

Flight: 800 euro

Appartment: 900 euro for three months

Living: 300 euro for a month

Trips: 1000 euro (?) for three months.

Iris Van Dijk, Sister Borgia Elementary School, Saint Martin, Mobility For Internship, Kpz

Contact Of The School

Sister Borgia Primary School

Cannegieterstraat

P.O.Box 294

Philipsburg, St.Maarten

Dutch West Indies

P:+ 1 (721) 5423440

srborgia@hotmail.com

Description Of The School

It is a relatively small school situated in the heart of Philipsburg, on the island of St.Maarten, Netherlands Antilles since 1978.

The school consists of 8 class rooms , they called groups 1 thru 8. Their education is divided into two cycles, with 4 groups per cycle.The age bracket ranges from 4- 12 years.

They stress both the academic, the spiritual and the social emotional formation of all students. The language of instruction at the school is the Dutch Language.

The English language is taught as a subject. Due to their uniqueness in size, their students are known on a first name basis and they enjoy a closeness that would be lost at a large school population.

History of the school

Ms. Charlotte Johanna Wilhelmina Linskens was born on November 1, 1912 in Holland. Her convent name was Sister Borgia. Sr. Borgia arrived on St. Maarten in August of 1964 and became principal of the St. Joseph School.

Sr. Borgia became directress of the Pastoor Niewenhuis MAVO. She was known to be an excellent teacher. She was always interested in all her students and gave all her students a fair chance.

In those days not everyone had a telephone. So when she said she was going to call on the parents, the ‘call’ was made on her bicycle.

Sr. Borgia was also an outspoken person. She loved to work and nothing was too much for her. She never complained of the pains she was suffering, and she always had a comforting word for people who needed it. She had a lovely way of cheering people up around her.

She always gave her best to the students. Before reluctantly returning to Holland, she was head of the “Pedagogisch Didaktisch Bureau”. In 1988 our school was renamed Sr. Borgia Elementary School in commemoration of the Reverend Sister Borgia.

Sr. Borgia died on October 21, 1990 in Holland.

Every first of November, her birth date, the school, celebrates Sr. Borgia Day.

Description Of The Island

St. Martin's Dutch side is known for its festive nightlife, beaches, jewelry, drinks made with native rum-based guavaberry liquors, and casinos. The island's French side is known for its nude beaches, clothes, shopping (including outdoor markets), and French and Indian Caribbean cuisine. English is the most commonly spoken language along with a local dialect. The official languages are French for Saint-Martin, and both Dutch and English for Sint Maarten. Other common languages include various French-based creoles (spoken by immigrants from other French Caribbean islands), Spanish (spoken by immigrants from the Dominican Republic and various South American countries), and Papiamento (spoken by immigrants from Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao).

Tourists often use accommodations such as hotels, guesthouses,villas, and timeshares.

Rental cars are the primary mode of transportation for visitors staying on island. Traffic on the island has become a major problem. Long traffic jams between Marigot, Philipsburg and the airport are common.

Because the island is located along the intertropical convergence zone, it is occasionally menaced by tropical storm activity in the late summer and early fall.

Things you need to see:

- MAHO beach: The island is served by many major airlines that daily bring in large jet aircraft, including Boeing 747s and Airbus A340s carrying tourists from across the world. The short main runway at Princess Juliana International Airport, and its position between a large hill and a beach, causes some spectacular approaches. Aviation photographers flock to the airport to capture pictures of large jets just a few metres above sunbathers on Maho Beach.

- Marigot: Capital of the French Side. The border momument is a very polupar spot.

- Paradise Pic: The highest spot of Saint-Martin with a beautiful view of the island.

- Fort Amsterdam (Philipsburg) & Fort Louis (Marigot)

- The others islands of the caribbean. Neighbouring islands include Saint Barthélemy (French), Anguilla (British), Saba (Dutch), Sint Eustatius "Statia" (Dutch), Saint Kitts and Nevis (independent, formerly British). With the exception of Nevis, all of these islands are easily visible on a clear day from St. Martin.

Financial Report

Every month:

- $510 rent

- $150 for groceries

Extra cost:

- $15 going out on friday

- $20 poolparty every last saturday of the month

- $500 if you want to rent a car for a month

- $90 visiting Anguilla

- $140 swimming with dolphins.

- $100 visiting St. Barth

Ticket to Saint-Martin

$935 including an extra suitcase

Karla Haandrikman, Fatima College, Aruba, Mobility For Internship

Preparation

Together with a fellow student I decided to go to Aruba for a three month internship. The KPZ arranged the internship placement so we did not have to worry about that. We had to arrange our tickets to actually get to Aruba, our accommodation and the necessary documents. To be able to go to Aruba I needed an passport, a VOG (Verklaring Omtrent Gedrag, a Dutch certificate that proves that one’s past behaviour is not an obstacle for fulfilling a certain role or function in society) and a medical certificate.

Aruba

Aruba is a small island that belongs to the ABC-island from the Dutch Antilles and is a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Aruba has around 111,000 citizens and a surface area of around 180 square kilometres. Both Dutch and Papiamento are spoken on Aruba. The island has a tropical climate with an average temperature of thirty degrees Celsius. The island is the habitat of lizards, salamanders and iguanas. Snakes also reside there, but these are rarely spotted.

Aruba does not really have any food-specialities. The supermarkets sell the same food that is also available in the Netherlands and in the rest of the world.

Aruba is not a rich country. The island largest economic sector is tourism. A lot of tourists visit Aruba for the lovely white beaches and the terrific weather. Other touristic activities are for example rock climbing and visiting Aruba’s national park.

Internship

I did my internship at the primary school ‘Fatima College’. This school is situated in Dakota, one of the disadvantaged, poor neighbourhoods of Oranjestad. I did my internship in first grade, which had the youngest pupils, who were six or seven years old. There were 28 pupils.

It was a very difficult internship, as children this young in general only speak Papiamento, which means they could not understand me. Papiamento could be compared to Spanish. The pupils did not speak English either, which made teaching difficult. During the classes I taught my mentor functioned as translator.

The classes are taught from Dutch methods, which are forwarded from the Netherlands. Very often, these are out-of-date methods we do not use anymore in the Netherlands. I was familiar with the methods they used at the Fatima College, which made it easier for me to design a lesson.

The teaching differs a lot from the Dutch teaching. There is a lot of classroom teaching and the teachers act very condescending towards the pupils. The pedagogical methods that are used in the Netherlands are not yet used in Aruba. There is also a lot of yelling towards the pupils. The teachers explained their behaviour by arguing that the children are also treated like this at home, and if the teachers do not act the way they do, the pupils simply do not listen to them.

Despite our differences in teaching, the Fatima College was a really nice school do to my internship, where I have learned a lot. The other teachers were very open towards me and I really enjoyed my time there.

Review of my stay

I had an amazing time during my three month internship at Aruba. I loved the island and its environment and there are a lot of activities to participate in. I would definitely recommend goint there.

We resided in Blue Village, a really nice building with several apartments for students. A lot of students with different education-backgrounds lived in the other apartments. I met a lot of people in Blue Village, who first were my neighbours but ended up being very close friends. These new contacts certainly only improved my time at Aruba.

My internship was also very satisfactory. In the beginning there was a lot to get used to, but over the next few weeks, I really started to enjoy teaching there. Despite the language barrier I had a really nice and educational time with the children.

Finance

If you want to know more about the costs of this trip, you can send an email to k.haandrikman@kpz.nl and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Kasper Van Den Hoorn, The International School Of Cape Town, South-Africa, Mobility For Internship, Kpz

Woodland Heights

Edinburgh Close

Wynberg 7806

Cape Town

South Africa

In the second year of my education we had to make a choise if we wanted to go abroad. I choose South Africa immediately. This was a dream for me. After a year of collecting all the European Credits, it was time to give the journey to Cape Town some shape. Together with a student from my school, Annemiek Withaar, we went to Hengelo in The Netherlands. At Saxion we got our information about the internships. We heard about the do and dont's and the way of education. After our briefing we heard the name of the school where we would go for our internship. The principal, Mr Hunter, sended us an email after a week to confirm our internships at his school. He already arranged a place for us to stay during our internship.

We will fly to Cape Town on the 23rd of February and be staying till the 24th of May.

We are really looking forward to the journey we are about to make.

UPDATE 02-03-2015

We arrived at Wynberg. When we arrived at the airport Danie was waiting for us. We drove to our house where we will stay for the next three months. I can say that Africa is a really nice country. But you can see the difference between the poor and the rich people, because there are people who lives in villas and there are houses made from corrugated. The people are very nice to us.

The next three month we will stay in a mansion. The house is really big. The host family consists of Danie (the man of the house), Jola (the woman of Danie) and their daughter, Elsa. I’m feeling really at home, because we can do all the things we also do at home.

The first week we did a lot of things. I’ve eaten ostrich for the first time. It taste very well. We went to Victoria Wharf what is next to Clifton beach. The shopping center is really big and luxurious. On the way back we drove along the coast. The view was really nice. In the evening we met some other students from The Netherlands. We now know more about their stay and internship. They are teaching at different schools. We decided to see that schools in the future. So we have different looks of the schools in South-Africa.

We went to a wine tasting on Thursday at Klein Constantia. The views of the vineyards is breathtaking. We took a bottle of wine for the host family and they tried Dutch cheese. They liked it, off course!

In the evening we went to the carnival. It’s a different carnival then at our place at home. There were several food stalls and there was also a fair.

On Friday we went on the mountain bike to our internship school for a first look. The roads are really high, so it was a really tough route. We still need to get used to it. The traffic is really busy and there are no cycle paths. The roads are really small so we have to watch out. It’s really funny because you see very few bicycles and in the Netherlands you can’t watch nowhere and you see a bike.

We do our internship at the International school of Cape Town. It is a private school and the classes are small. At the school they’re working with projects. And they’re having a substitute teacher for nearly every subject. This means that the education is of a high standard. The International school is working with the schools in the townships to help each other to give the best education that is possible.

UPDATE 22-03-2015

We are getting used to living in Cape Town. We cycle to school, give our lessons, observe the teachers and go home. We do this for 4 day's. The fifht is for research. This can be a problem. My laptop decided to leave me alone in Cape Town. Thankfully I can use the computer from the people i'm living with. After a week of being on school my mentor decided to be sick. This ment that I had to do the class. The manager of the school came up to me and asked if I was up for the job. I'm always ready for a challenge so said yes right away. Maybe I forgot to do everything In English.... Well, I needed some practise and got it. It was a great day and the children wore impressed of the lessons I gave. I added a Dutch touch to it. They loved it.

A couple of weeks ago we had Dutch visitors at the ISCT. Sander from Saxion came by to see how we were doing. He observed a lesson I gave and gave feedback afterwards. He said my English was very good and I will be okay at ISCT. I was happy yo hear this. After this day I skyped with my Dutch internship supervisor Gertrude Pieters. I read that you have to have two skype moments with her. Well, that was fun. We talked about allot and I was trying to make her jealous about my sunny situation. It worked! But The Netherlands just experienced 14 degrees so were completely in summer mode and I had to hear that. Yeah, I'm used to 26 degrees in general so I was freezing with the thought of 14.

From 27-03-2015 till 13-04-2015 it's term break. me and some other Dutch students are going to a vacaion cabine somewhere outside Cape Town. I'm looking forward to it. I'm a little bit done to hear the alarm go off at 6:30 (5:30 Dutch time) three days and one day at 6:00 (5:00 Dutch time).

UPDATE 07-05-2015

After a fantastic vacation where I visited Britainna Bay with some Dutch students I had to return to ISCT. A new challenge! I was starting in the other Year 6. First I worked with Mr. Greenwood, now it was the turn of Mrs. Swiegers to guide me. She gives Afrikaans when the children have MFL (Modern Foreign Languages). I can even speak a little bit Afrikaans now. The first thing I noticed about here way of teaching was that I got allot of freedom. Freedom to do what I wanted with my lessons. Every week I would get email with the verbs that the children had to know in for example the Numeracy lesson.  This was the main aim. I could create my own lesson around these subjects. That was a great thing to do. I've learned how I can create own materials to support the children. In this intern period I also started my lesson series. My theme was 'Working With World War II'. The aim is that children learned to work with maps and the key. Well, that was quite special for them. When I showed the children an atlas, they were suprised that they could get so much information out if it. I even had to explain the verb: grid reference. They didn't know how this worked. I learned them to use the index, to read a key and to look at a map from different perspectives. After this first lesson in my series I wanted the children to create their own map. This with the second World War as theme. This was a challenge. First I divided the class in 4 groups. Becauce the World War was happening on two sides of the globe 2 groups got Germany as theme and 2 groups Japan. The assigment was: How did the world look in the year 1942? This is letterly and in the figure of speech. They had to create a map how Europe and East-Asia looked like in that year. They also had to name the big events in these particular years of war. What where the consequenses for the people, the country and what did they thought themselfs? After a lesson of working in a group the 2 groups were combined in the next lesson. They had to share information and use the best information to create a presentation for the other group. They had to divide assigments, decide who was going to give the presentation and make their map as clear as possible. This map HAD to be shown in the presentation. This went very well and above my expections. This week the presentations were given. They were fantastic. They were al so serious and so driven to tell their story! It was fantastic to see. At the beginning of the project we had made an agreement. The World War is a serious subject and the children are not alloud to make fun of something what so ever when discussing this project. The children where very keen and handled the subject as adults. I gave them some questions to work with. Besides that they also could tell the other group what they wanted to tell themselves. The presentation where very different. One was a kind of interview with an eyewitness and the other was done by powerpoint. The maps were done great and came back in the presentation. I think accomplisht my goal.

Today we had to say goodbye to our internship. Our 40 days are done and dusted. I got presents from my mentor aswell from the children. All the staff gatherd in the staffroom to say something and again, a present. We are spoiled. I had a fantastic time at ISCT and I am jealous of the next interns who will walk through those hallways.

Now Annemiek and I have two weeks left for traveling. We are looking forward to it. Lets do some bungeejuming! We are going to do the R62 to Humansdorp and the Gardenroute back. Our trip will be ziplining, sightseeing, bungeejumping and enjoying. Time to see Africa in its most beautiful form.

UPDATE 20-05-2015

Well, that was a impressive bungee jump! What is South Africa beautiful. Can't think of a country who can offer you this much. As you look at the date of this update you can tell that my three months in Cape Town are almost over. In 4 days I will be up in they air, going back to The Netherlands. If I look back at the journey, I have to say that some things really surprised me on the financial level. Down below you will find the costs.

I forgot that my school in The Netherlands keeps charging. If you have to pay 300 euro's per month, 365 euro's per 2 months and get your life going I'm gonna warn you. It's expensive. But I have to say, I was lucky. Some people I got to know had it way worse. They paid 350 euro's per month. That was excluding the groceries and a limited Wifi. My 300 euro's was with unlimited Wifi and the groceries were done for us. You think that Africa is cheap. At the moment that I'm typing this, one euro equals 13 rands. It may sound cheap, but it isn't. If you calculate everything and make it in to a sum, you will be surprised. The basic things are much cheaper in South Africa. The things you don't expect to be that expensive are the expensive things. For example, groceries. In The Netherlands it's cheaper to do groceries than to go out for dinner. In South Africa it is cheaper to go out for Dinner than buy groceries. It is just the other way around.

In the beginning of our trip we had an agreement with Saxion in Hengelo. If we didn't like it, we would have an other place in two weeks. This was because we had to live with a family and basically had to adjust. We were not really looking forward to that. By the time we arrived we didn't want to go anywhere else. The family is so caring and so loving towards us. It felt that we were part of the family. That is something I really going to mis.

This was my last update. If you have any questions about my journey, prices or want some tips,  don't hesitate to send my a message on this website.

Keimpe Wierstra, Mairehau Primary School, Nieuw-Zeeland, Mobility For Internship, Kpz

address Mairehau primary school:

43 Mahars Road,

Christchurch, New Zealand

(03)3853796

mairehau@mps.school.nz

During the orientation for an internship abroad, we saw that a student from the KPZ went to New Zeland before. We asked her how it was and where she has done her internship. She told us that she went to the Mairehau Primay school. After we got a 'go', we mailed the school.

They were very positive and the principal told us we were very welcome. A part of his reaction was even in Dutch. Even on our birthdays we recieved an e-mail with his congratulations.

After that, we kept in touch. The principal arranged the home stay for us. We also mailed the woman where we are going to stay. She was very positive as well. We had to pay around €300,- per month. That's a sort of standard price what every student has to pay. This includes food, wi-fi, etc. Besides that, we also have to pay our mentor.

I've got a exemption for the research we have to do. So I can focus on other things.

internship

We are here now for four weeks. During the first week we were watching a lot how the teachers were teaching. A lot of things are different when you compare it tot the Netherlands. For example the school starts at 09:00. We've got morning tea from 10:30 to 11:00. Around 12:00 there is a lunch which will be eaten outside. Around 13:20 there is a 'Big play' till 14:00 and at 15:00 the children are free to go. The school has around 450 students. Comparing to the netherlands it is more pore. For example there is just one Smartboard on the whole school. There is also less materials to work with.

Every moring the children start on a mat in front of the class. It starts with a 'Roll'. The teacher says goodmorning to a student and the student has to say 'Goodmornig Mr.W'. Then they continue with the subjects. They don't work with methods. During a term the class is focusing on a specific goal. During this first term it's working with graphs with math and writing letters with writing. Further more the children don't have their own places in class. When the children have to work, the children can choose where they're going to work. There are stand tables, a jelly bean table, they can work on the floor as well, or they can work on long tables with chairs.

Comparing to the Netherlands, the education is really different. We work more with goals and our teaching time is more productive (in the Netherlands). Sometimes the children don't do a lot, but there aren't really consequences. Physical Education is always outside and the children don't change clothes. It's less stressfull when you look at the learning time, a day before camp we spend a whole day about respect. They also spent most of time at reading and writing and math.

collaborative learning (educational)

In the Netherlands cooperative learning is quite popular. In New Zealand is collaborative learning popular. It means that two classes are working together during for example math. The classes are starting together, than they split up in their groups (we've got 6 groups). The groups are doing three rotations during one lesson. It can be: explenation from the teacher, working on the computer, discovery, basic facts, group work and practice. One teacher is doing the instruction for one group, the other teacher is walking around and helping the other groups.

respect (cultural)

Mairehau primary school is a low decile school which means that the social circumstances of the neighbourhood are low. Some children have to sleep with nephew and nieces in one bed or that they have to deal with a lot of things. Because of that, there are a lot of behavioural problems. The school is really working on showing respect. That is also why the children have to sue us by our surname. When children are misbehaving, they are ask to show their 'Mairehau manners' and make good choices. Comparing to the Netherlands it is quite strict, but it works. Before going to class they have to line up, in two  nice lines. Sometimes the teacher use a wistle as well outide.

personal experiences

After the first days three days, the children had they 'year three/four camp'. We went tot the living springs outside of town and the year 4 was sleeping over. It was really nice doing a camp with the children. I've never been on a camp before so you learn a lot as well about what kind of activities the teachers are doing with the children and how they organize the camp.

In the weeks that followed, I started to give some lessons. Sometimes it is hard to find the right words, but after a couple of days it's getting easier. When i'm not teaching, i'm helping a lot. During reading I've got my own group with who I'm reading with. I also read before moring tea or I'm singing with the children.

Furthermore I've given lessons around Global Citzenship. Which I had to do for Civics. In six lessons I've learned them more about the world around them. It's nice that you can use ICT like computers, Prezi or other software like Google Earth. In New Zealand there is less money for education, so we had only one smart board in the whole school. Because of that, they don't work a lot with ICT. Also coöperative teaching is something they don't know in New Zealand so it was nice to introduce some cooperative activities like placemat.

costs:

- flight: €1300,0

- stay per week: €80,0

Al together, it was a really nice experience. You learn a lot about education in another country, but also how you can teach a different way. Except for the things on school, you learn a lot about the New Zealand culture. It's nice to live with a family. Everybody enjoined their stay. During the weekends and during the holiday (term 1 ended in april, so we had a two week holiday) we've seen a lot of the country. During the holiday we went to the North Island. We drove from Wellington to Auckland. During the weekend, we've seen glaciers, Queentown, Milford Sound, walked a two day track in Abel Tasman national park and we've seen seals, dolphins and whales in Kaikoura. It was an amazing adventure and I would definitely do it again!

Kevin Ferwerda, Sisters Middle School, Usa, Mobility For Internship, Kpz

Sisters Middle School

15200 McKenzie Highway

Sisters, OR 97759

The first time I had contact with the school was in January 2014. During my internship I will stay with relatives. That is also how I found the Sisters Middle School. I send an email to the principal of the school. It took a while before he respond to my email, but finaly in June he send me the confirmation for the internship.

Sisters Middle School is a school for children with the age of 10-14 years. The school houses in a small village. The lessons that are given to the students are:

- Americana: exploration of american roots music and folk art;

- Art;

- Band: Playing in a band;

- Choir;

- Drama;

- Education Recource Center: develop specific learning strategies;

- Foreign language;

- Health

- Language Arts

- Leadership/yearbook

- Math

- Algebra

- Science

- Social Studies

The daily school schedules are from 8.05-3.05 for monday, tuesday,  thursday and friday, and on wednesday the schedule is from 8.55-3.05.

For my own education I will need to set up a research. What I want to find out, is the place that the school takes within the community. I will help with certain extracurricular activities, I will question the teachers, students and I hope to speak to some parents.

Getting a Visa for the United States is a very long and hard procedure. To get your Visa, you got to have certain forms. To obtain these forms, you need to contact a sponsor organisation. This organisation will screen you and set up a contract for the internship. They are your 'supervisors' during the internship. In order to complete this contract they will do and ask you certain things:

- having a Skype interview;

- your university has to sign a student school verification;

- fill out a form with personal information;

- the organisation need to had contact with the host school.

Walking through these steps will finaly result in obtaining your forms, wich you will need to hand over to the ambassy.

The organisatioin that I used is the CICD. This is an organisation located in Seattle. They provide visa programs for teacher interns. For more information, visit http://www.cicdgo.com/

Ambassy/consulate.

Like I said earlier, you have to complete som forms for the organisation. Make sure you complete this as soon as possible. One thing that is very important is your health insurance. Your health insurance in The Netherlands is usually not good enough, because they are not able to provide enough information about the coverage in the United States. There is an opportunnity to take health insurance through the organisation. This will only cost 45 or 70 Dollar per month, depending on the coverage you choose.

You can choose to search for your own school for your internship, or your sponsor can provide a hostschool. The CICD has a lot of hostschools all over the United States. after you completed all your paperwork, and the hostschool did their part, you may go to the consulate (the sponsor has to give you a 'go', and provide you with the DS-2019 form). In the mean time you got to pay the fee for the sponsor program. Everything cost money sad enough. For me, this was $1530,- (including the health insurance). NOTE: Do not book a flightticket before you received your visa! As soon as you have your information, you can make an appointement at the consulate. Go to http://amsterdam.usconsulate.gov/ and go to the right visa program. you have to answer a lot of questions. This contains peronal information, dates of your program, where you stay during your program, and some questions about your background.

After this you need to upoad a picture of yourself. This picture must be 5 inch by 5 inch. This is for your official visa. After this you are able to pay your SEVIS fee. This is a fee for the visa itself. This will cost $180,- (creditcard only). After this you get a link to go to a website to make the official appointment with the consulate. Also here you have to provide some personal information, your addres (they are taking your passport to print your visa on one of the pages) so they can sent it to your home addres. When you provided all the required information, you have to pay another $160,- for the appointment and to sent your passport to your homeaddres. I know, it's a lot of money, but it is worth it.

At the day of the appointement you have to take care of certain things. First make sure you do not take ANY electronic devices with you. THEY WILL NOT LETT YOU IN, and you have to pay again for a new appointement. Also make sure you have the following documentation with you:

- SEVIS Payment receipt

- All the documents provided by the Sponsor organisation

- Bank statement copy (for 3 months you got to have at least $2000,- available.

- Passport

- Proof that you will return home (school documents, parents lettre, etc.)

- Resumé

This is a list that your sponsor will provide when they sent you the documents. Also you get a list for your preparation for the interview at the consulate. Take good notice of these lists.

Going to the States

The flight ticket will be about 700 euro, depending on the time of year you try to book.

At the airport you have to go through ceveral checkpoints. At every checkpoint, you have to answer some questions.

As soon as you are in the united states, you have to fill in a blue card with your information. This is for the douane, your last checkpoint before you are officially in the States. But first you have to go through immigration. Her you have to show you passport with the visa, he will ask you some questions about the reason of your stay, your location and the duration. To not make jokes, usually they do not like that, they take it very serious.

After all this, Welcome to the Big United States.

Living in the States

It depends on the city, the state and the area where you live, how people are. I lived in Central Oregon (a very beautiful area), the people here ar very nice, polite and willing to help you. If you need help, you can go to everyone and they will help you. I think, and I have heard that the mentallity in the bgger cities, like Los Angeles and San Francisco, is way different.

There is one big note I have to make: the United States is a 'car-country'. that means that they do a lot with their car. Unlike The Netherlands, if they have a bike, they only use it for sports, not to go to their work (in general). I bought a really good bike in the first week for only $100,-. But after a couple of times on the road, I noticed that they are not used to bikers. So be careful on the road. Cars are the big bosses on the road.

Grocery shopping in the US is different and more expensive. I haven't bought a lot of grocery's because I lived with my family, but to show you how expensive it can be: for one week of food we paid an average of $120,- for three persons. In The Netherlands we pay that for 5 persons. So buy what you need.

The US is a country for snacks in stead of a real lunch, going out for dinner and cereal in the morning. It is a little different thean you're probbably used to, but you will get used to it.

Teaching in the US

I thought in Social studies 6th and 7th grade. It covers economy, geogrophy, history and a part biology. During the lessons you also have to provide some reading and writing exercises. I didn't had one way to teach the children. I got a subject and i just had to cover all the important parts of this subject. I could use my own ceativity during my lessons, create my own assignments and disign my class like I want it. This was very good for my OGO skills. Every day was different. I build my lessons on the lesson that I already gave.

The teachers at the school where very nice and helpful. I could come in every class to see what was happening in the other classes. The classes that I visited were:

- Reading 5th grade

- Writing 5th grade

- Math 5th grade

- Science 5th grade

- Language arts 6th grade

- Science 6th grade

- Health 7th grade

I took the morning hours to observe in other classes and the afternoon to teach for myself.

The school also organised different schooltrips. one of them was to Ashland, the Shakespeare festival. We saw two different plays, Guys and Dolls and Much ado about Nothing. For the 8th grade they organised trips to a skiing area, the coast and a survival trip. Every year they are organising some trips for outdoorschool with the 6th graders. This contains science, biology, geography and sometimes even history.

Trip to Seattle

I know that the trip to the USA is very expensive. But the organisation, CICD, organises once or twice a year a conference. This is a conference just for student teachers, like us. You are going to talk about the experiences for so far, talk about new developments, etc. My stay in Seattle was complety paid. The organisation wants to do something for the students, so that is why they organise this. The only thing that I had to pay for was the travel. But your accomodation and food for the stay is covered. A really good opportunity to see he city and share your thoughts.

Laudy Den Hollander, Ascham School, Australia, Mobility For Internship, Kpz.

Contact Ascham school.

188 New South Head Rd,

Edgecliff NSW 2027,

Australië

Phonenumber: +61 2 8356 7000

Contact

We have made contact with the Ascham school by E-mail. (Judith Butcher [jbutcher@ascham.nsw.edu.au])

Information

We contacted with the school by sending them an E-mail. The Ascham school is looking forward seeing us.

Discription of the school

The Ascham school has DALTON education and is only for girls. We will do research about the differences between the education in the Netherlands and Australia.

Preparation

We filled in a document for the visa (http://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/417.aspx). This visa costs 400 dollars.

A travel agency has arranged our first week in Australia. While we are there, we will arrange a place to sleep. At school we attended a few classes to brush up our English. (Katholieke PABO Zwolle).

The internship

The Ascham school is a private school and all the children have rich parents. The school has its own tennis court, swimming pool, private music lessons and there are many expert teachers in the school. There are many differences between the education in the Netherlands and Australia. In Australia they work with laptops in the lessons and they work in groups. The children have discipline to work hard for school and they have many homework. These differences help you develop your own teaching style.

You get possibilities to teach but there are high expectations. The language is a small issue. In the beginning it is hard to say everything correctly in English but you learn it during the internship.

Living in Sydney

Sydney is a vast city compared to any other city in the Netherlands. To my surprise, the people that live in Sydney are very kind en helpful. Usually in large cities people are very individual minded and not really bothered by their surroundings. In several occasions i got help before I even asked for it! Public transportation is very well organised and in terms of costs it's comparable with the Netherlands. It's rather hard to find suitable and affordable accomodation though.

Financials

accomodation: Normally they ask €170 per week. But there are posibilities to get a cheaper accomodation.

groceries: €50 weekly. Doing groceries at Aldi is recommended in terms of price/quality ratio.

flights: €1200 retour from Amsterdam to Sydney via Dubai with Emirates/Qantas. Flying with these airlines was pleasant and comfortable, which come in quite handy during a 25-hour trip!

Visa: depends on your own plan but if you go for maximum of 3 months it is free, but if you want to stay any longer it will be €300. If you do so, you can stay for a year.

It is a expensive city to stay. If you want to travel (I've travelled for about 6 weeks in total), you need around €5000 at least.

Leanne Peeters, Thi Lakin School, Malta, Mobility For Internship, Kpz

ESE, European School of English

St Julian's, Malta

+356 2137 3789

contact person: Simon Agius

Thi Lakin School

Head of the school: Tami Mifsud

Preparation

When we decided to go to Malta for our international minor, the first thing we did was trying to find a primary school where we could do our internship. We soon found out this was difficult, because we had to do it all by mail and internet. We couldn't find primary schools easy at the internet, and the ones we did found didn't response to our e-mails. After that we e-mailed students who also went to Malta for their international minor to ask how they managed to get an internship school at Malta. They gave us the contact information of an english language school at Malta who also can provide workplacements. This school is named ESE, European School of English. We e-mailed them and we immediatly got a response from the contact person of ESE. The ESE took care of everything, including a place for us at a primary school.

Malta

Malta is a small island located between Italy and North-Africa. The population is around 450.00 people. Malta is part of the EU. Malta has been ruled by the British. So some things in Malta are the same as in Great Britain, such as the driving at the left side of the road, some drinks and food and English is also an official language in Malta. Most people in Malta can speak english very well. The other official language is Maltese, which is a mix of different languages.

Most of Malta's income depends on tourism. A lot of people come to Malta for their holidays. Partially because of the great weather and climate in Malta. It has a meditarrenean climate with mild winters and warm summers. It's also a great holiday island because of it's recreational areas, architectural and historic monuments and beautiful landscapes and clear sea.

Internship

We did an internship at a primary school. The school we were placed was the Thi Lakin School. In Malta there are three types of schoolsystems: the stateschools, the private schools and the church schools. The Thi Lakin School is a private school. I was placed in prep 2, the children in prep two are 6/7 years old. There were 24 children in prep 2.

All of the subjects at the Thi Lakin School were given in English so I was capable to follow all lessons and to give lessons myself, in english. They also had Maltese as a subject, that was the only subject given in Maltese.

The education was very different from what I'm used to in Holland, so I really had to adapt in the beginning. I saw a lot of new things and new impressions but after a while you're getting used to the differences and I was capable of doing my own things like activities and helping the children.

I felt really welcome at the Thi Lakin School. The other teachers and colleagues were very kind and welcoming to us. They were helpful and interested in us.

Review of my stay

I had a great time doing my internship in Malta. The island itself was a beautiful and fun place to stay. The experience I've gained at the Thi Lakin School was nice. And the school for English: ESE was very good. We've met a lot of nice people we had a lot of fun with. Most of the people we met were in the same apartmentbuilding as we were. They also went to the ESE for English classes.

The apartment itself was good. There were a lot of other students so it was fun to meet other people from different countries. We had to share an apartment with three other people. But the apartment was big enough for five people, so this was no problem.

The area where the apartment was located was also very nice. We were located in Sliema, this is a very touristic part of Malta. There were a lot of shops and restaurants in our area. We alse went to other places nearby such as St. Julians which is also a touristic place where there's a lot to do. You can travel very easily around Malta by bus. Because Malta is so small you can see a lot of Malta by going by bus to different places.

Finance

Placement fee: 200 euro

Flight: 213 euro

Transfers: 50 euro (transfer from the airport and back and transfers to the ESE)

Tutoring and supporting: 227 euro

Accomodation: 2145 (for 14 weeks)

Food and drinks: 60 euro per week

Bustickets: 1,50 a day

Pla

Lorea Cubilledo, Katholieke Pabo Zwolle University, Netherlands. Mobility For Study, Bam Bilbao.

Contacts University

University of Applied Science, Teacher Training Institute Primary Education

Hogeschool Katholieke PABO Zwolle

Ten Oeverstraat 68,

8012 EW Zwolle,

The Netherlands

Tel.: +31 (0)384217425

Fax: +31(0)384210914

webaddress:www.kpz.nl

Erasmus code: NL ZWOLLE06

Harrie Poulssen (international Officer)

Email: h.poulssen@kpz.nl

Bert Thole (Coordinator IM)

Email: b.thole@kpz.nl

About the University:

The Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, also known as KPZ, is an independent Interactum University of Applied Sciences (Dutch "hogeschool"). There are over 650 students and a staff of about 70. This means that the KPZ is one of the many small- to medium-sized institutes for higher professional education in the Netherlands.

The International Minor Program(IM) is a five month course in English for 30 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System). The website contains all the necessary information about our teacher training course in which we combine theory and practice and offer a varied study programme with a clear structure using the module system and ECTS. For the IM you need a required level of English like TOEFL or IELTS.

How can I apply?

Each year we have an international minor in spring semester from 1st of February until 1st of July.

Deadline for application is: 1 November (previous calendar year)

For application you need to fill in this student application form and mail it to us.

[application form on the website]

Please note: When we have received your complete application form an overview on admission will be held by means of Skype.

Before we I went to the Netherlands

Before I came to the Netherlands, I had to pass three english level exams in my own University in Bilbao. I passed them so I was able to aply for an Erasmus experience. I chose the Netherlands and the Katholieke Pabo Zwolle because my Erasmus coordinator recommended me.

Few months later, we had an skype interview with some teachers of the KPZ, so they had the opportunity to know more about our english level. I understand that is a good way to know about our speaking ability but I did not like it because I was really nervous and I did it a little bit bad.

It was dissapointing for me because I passed the other exams in my home country, so for me was too much. Many people were out of the program because of this interview, and I think it was too late to say no.

Info about the general things and the first weeks

The international Minor is a close program, so all international students are separated in class from the other Dutch students of the university. That has been good in one hand, but I would like to be together with more people. We have been 15 and three Austrian left in the middle of the course, so finally we have been 12 students. I really think that is too less, and I expected more from this point.

The first week was the welcome week, and we really did a lot of things, and that was wonderful. We introduced ourselves and also the teachers present themselves to us. Then, we went all together to Ice Skating, which was really amazing and we had the opportunity to know more each other and also the teachers. We also played typical Dutch games and did a tour through Zwolle to know more about the city with the Eudaimon students group.

Some British students were also in KPZ the first week, and we spent some time with them, which was also nice because we had the opportunity to know more new people.

About the courses:

1) English language (1 ECTS)

The objective of this course revolves around writing and presenting an academic paper in English in which your own written work will play a pivotal role. This very short course of 4 lessons focuses both on development of academic writing skills and strenghtening presentation skills.

2) Culture and Society ( 4 ECTS)

The students ude their ecperience and the kknowledge theyhave mastered of Dutch history, culture, art and society as a tool to understand and explore their own and other societies. Moreover students are confronted witht the questoins in which way history, culture and society shape our cultural identity, our wy of being.

3) Pedagogics (5 ECTS)

We will examine reform pedagogy in all its aspects. We will see which concepts are still used today.

We wonder what a present day and future child need. We explore the new didactics and explore existing concepts which have caught on in the Netherlands.

4) Dutch language (3 ECTS)

This is a Dutch course for our class. We learn the basics of the language, for example to introduce ourselves, talk about our hobbies, colors, show someone the way, ect.

5) Coaching/Counselling and tutorship (CCT / 3 ECTS)

The CCT is different from other modules, since most of the content is not definite yet.

There will be time for teambuilding activities and for personal coaching. Moreover students will be prepared for the practical training.

6) DRAMU (Drama and Music) (2 ECTS)

Starting with rhythm activities, movement and finishing with songd for children we learn to understand the meaning of rhythm, melody and harmony. All native songs will be produces on seet music and recorded ona CD.

7) Project week "Randstad" (2 ECTS)

During the semester we will take part in a prject week and a number of cultural activities. In this week (in Amsterdam and Den Haag) we will visit a number of cultural and social institutions.

8) Research (5 ECTS)

The research modules offer a good method to examime educational reform. During practical training we will be at school where we will do our research.

9) Teaching practise (4 ECTS)

This is the main and for me the most important part of the whole semester. I am in Heerde (small village next to Zwolle) in a Jenaplan school. I have to teach at least 26 lessons. I will see the idea of Jenaplan in a practical way.

10) Teacher in Europe student conference (1 ECTS)

Students learn in an international environment how to design a project under Erasmus + and to complete a final proposal.

Zwolle

Accomodation

The University organised a good accomodation for us. It is a little bit outside from the city center on a camping place. We have a sort of "bungalows". They are small houses with everything we need. The sleeping rooms are quite small but it is enough! Here on the camping place are 10 other people from Erasmus, and so we meet us often and doing something together. We pay about 375,- Euros per month for the rent.

Transport

In the Netherlands is is an obligation to have a bike! Without a bike you are totally lost. In the Netherlands are more bikes than cars, it is incredible. There are special ways for bikes everywhere, even in the roundabouts and cars have to stop for you. We have to drive about 30 minutes to University with our bikes.

But also the train in the Netherlands is really cool! Every 30 minutes there is a direct connection to the bigger cities (Amsterdam, Den Haag, Rotterdam, Groningen, ...) and it is quite cheap. But one thing is really good: the more people you are, the less is costs. So if you are a group of 10, you can go to any city you want for just 7 Euros - and this ticket is valid for the whole day (so back and forth).

Life in the Netherlands

Here in Zwolle are a lot of opportunities to do something, especially at night. Here are a lot of bars, discos and pubs. A bar called "The flying horse" is the most popular for students, it is always full! But it is not just good for drinking, you can get a meal for 2,50 Euros, which is really cheap.

When I came here I thought it was more expensive than in my country, but I was surprised because it is more oe less the same price. The most expensive thing is maybe the transport from my point of view.

In the city center are a lot of shops where you can buy clothes, something to eat and a lot of other stuff!

When you are here, you have to visit the bigger cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Den Haag! They are absolutely wonderful and every city has its own charme!

About the teaching practice

I did my Teaching Practice in De Kubus school, which is located in Zwolle. The way was quite long, but it was nice to go there by bike all mornings (when the weather was nice, of course!). I really enjoyed a lot my teaching practice here, and it has been also a very big challenge for me because my pupils knew only speaking in Dutch and my lessons were in English.

I did it my best and the teacher helped me a lot with the language. The children were really nice, organized and responsible even if they were 4 and 5 years old! It was amazing to know more about Dutch education taking part directly in a Dutch school!

Lynde Hans And Maaike Spijkerman, Linköpings University, Sweden, Mobility For Study, Kpz

Study In Sweden

Study at:

Linköping University

SE-581 84 Linköping

www.liu.se

Since we missed the deadline, we informed the University personally. Our International Office helped us and contacted straight. Normally, the deadline for the spring semester is in October (for next year 15October 2015). You can choose different courses. You will find information about the courses on the website of the University (www.liu.se). After the registration you will receive all information by mail. You have to be sure you signed your learning agreement  before departure.

We followed the next courses in Sweden:

Film, video as aesthetic expression, 7,5 credits

This course is primarily designed for exchange students who are not familiar with the Swedish language. This course aims at developing skills in using film and video as an educational tool in pre-schools and elementary schools.

Introduction to Special Education in a Swedish Context, 7,5 credits

The course takes its departure in a description of the Swedish school system and the political decisions that it is built on. The main points of the National Curricula for both elementary and secondary education are looked into, as well as policy documents that constitute the base for special education.

Nordic Culture - Area of emphasis: Educational Science, 15 credits

The course give insights into Nordic cultural life. Culture is known as the system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artfacts. From an educational point of view we explore and discuss culture, identity and citizenship. We study esthetical expressions in for example literature, fine art, craft, film and music for children and youth. Students will visit and experience both urban and rural surroundings. The course will also give the participants the possibility to take part in Nordic natural outdoor activities as part of their experience and learning. The course include two compulsory seminars with a cost for the student.

Beginner's Course in Swedish for Exchange Students, level A1, 7.5 credits

This course is intended for exchange students with no previous knowledge of Swedish and has the same content as the course above. The aim of the course is to give students a basic knowledge of Swedish with an emphasis on oral skills. The course includes pronunciation exercises, oral training, basic Swedish grammar and short, writing exercises.

Preparation:

You can try to prepare yourself to do an English course, read information about the country etcetera, but actually you will learn everything if you are in the country itself. It ‘s smart to buy a visa card. If you want to buy things on internet (for example a train/ bus ticket or an if you want to book a hostel) you always have to pay by visa card.

You can register yourself at ‘Studentbostader’ to save point in case you don’t get a room to life in from the University. On the notice board on the portal are a lot of people who want to sublease their room or who want to find someone to life with in another house. Try to find an accommodation in ‘Ryd’. Most of the students are living in this place.

From an educational point of view:

Before you leave to Linköping you have to choose some courses. We can tell you something about the courses we know things about.

Swedish, level A1:

We can recommend you to do this course. It is useful to know something about the Swedish language and you will also learn about the Swedish culture. As a Dutch, Swedish is not hard to learn. You can choose for a full-time course in the beginning of the semester or for a part- time course once a week for five months. If you choose for the full- time course, you will have Swedish for 3 weeks, five times a week. The advantage is that you know already a lot about Sweden in the beginning of the semester and you can follow the A2 level course during the rest of the semester. Moreover, it’s a good way to make friends for the whole semester. If you don’t want to leave earlier to Sweden (one week earlier) for the intensive course you can follow the course once a week.

Film and video as Aesthetic Expression

We won’t recommend you this course. The course is about using film and video in classroom. The description of the course says that you will develop your skills in using film and video as an educational tool. Actually, sometimes we thought that we knew more than our teacher.

Artistic Methods in education

We both didn’t follow this course, but people told us that it is a nice course: not to hard with a lot of practical lessons. You will receive good ideas for your teaching practice.

Teaching practice

After these five months we both regret that we didn´t choose this course. It is a good way to learn the Swedish school system and to see the ins and outs of a school. You have to do your teaching practice only for 20 days (can be more if you want, of course) and you can help, teach, participate in the school.

Introduction to special education in a Swedish context

This course gives a good opportunity to take a look in Swedish schools. You will learn about ‘Inclusive education’ in Sweden and how special education is shaped. You don’t have lectures only, you will also visit different schools.

Nordic Culture

This is one of the best courses we took here. You will learn about Sweden and the Nordic culture. It’s also related to education. You will have lectures, but you will also go on some trips. The trips are for you own costs (a part), but it is a good opportunity to see the small things in Sweden. If you take this course you will probably go to Åre, a part in the middle/ north of Sweden and to Småland (west coast). You will do things you will never do on your own or never will do again.

Next to the courses related to ‘Educational sciences’ you can take courses in academic writing or English. It can be useful, but we both don’t know a lot about this courses.

Generally, the courses in ‘Educational sciences’ are not really hard. It is easy to get your credits (every course is 7.5 ECTS, expect Nordic Culture you will get 15 ECTS for that and teaching practice, 8 ECTS). Courses from other faculties are generally a little bit harder.

From a cultural perspective:

Linköping is a typical student city which is located in the area Östergotland. Linköpings University consists 27.500 students. A lot of these students live in Ryd, the student neighborhood of Linköping. It consists a lot of big buildings with corridors. Almost all international and Swedish students live here. It is around 10 minutes biking to the University.

When we came to Sweden in the beginning of January there were some things which stood out directly. It started with taking off your shoes when you come in to another corridor or house. The Swedish people will not appreciate it when you come in their house without taking off your shoes.

The second thing is Fika. Fika is a social cup of coffee. Swedes do it a lot. They talk with each other and drink a coffee, a thee or soda, sometimes with a Swedish delicacy like Kanelbulle, kladdkaka or chokladbullar.

There are a few things, you can do in Linköping. A special attraction are the locks of Berg on the Göta Canal. There are a lot of locks placed after each other. In summertime this is a big attraction.

You also have Gamla Linköping. It is a kind of open air museum. When you walk around you see a lot of wooden houses, cobblestone alleys, gardens, small museums, shops, a restaurant and a café from hundred or more years ago.

Linköping is not the most beautiful city of Sweden, but it is a real student city. Linköping is surrounded by beautiful other cities. These other cities are easy to reach by public transport. (The trains and busses in Sweden are not that expensive. It is a little bit cheaper than the public transport in the Netherlands.) One of these beautiful cities is Norrköping. You can reach Norrköping with a free student bus during week days, which goes from Linköpings University to the University in Norrköping. Norrköping is a beautiful old industrial city. Next to visiting these city, we also want to recommend Göteborg and Stockholm. Stockholm is the biggest city of Sweden and Göteborg the second biggest. Both are beautiful.

Next to visiting cities you can also go hiking. There are a lot of forests where you can hike. Close to Norrköping, Åby, is a wonderful forest. In Sweden is a rule, which is called ‘Allemansrätt’. This rule gives everyone the freedom to roam the Swedish countryside. You can, for example hike and sleep in the forest.  There are also some facilities in the forest. In the beginning of June we hiked once for two days around a lake. We slept in a shelter with a fire place in front of that.

You also have the possibility to make some trips. There are two student organizations for international students in Linköping, ISA (International Student Association) and ESN (Erasmus Student Network), who organize trips. ISA  organize the most (and best organized) trips during the semester. You need to watch on their Facebook to see which trips they organize. They put their links where you can sign up for the trips there. You have the opportunity to go with ISA for example to Lapland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia and Norway. We went with ISA to the Stockholm, Helsinki, Russia and Lapland.

The Lapland trip was amazing. It was five days long. We stayed in a few houses on a camp in Kiruna. Our few was a beautiful frozen lake. During our stay there we went with a snowmobile to the Ice hotel, we went dog sledging and one day to Narvik in Norway. In the evening we all sat together at a bonfire after we went to the sauna. During our stay we also had the possibility to go cross country skiing.

Our trip to Russia was also with the student organization ISA. On an evening we left with the ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki. The next morning we arrived in Helsinki. We stayed here for one day. That evening we took another ferry to St. Petersburg. We stayed here for three days. The way back was the same. We also spent one day in Helsinki.

From a social point of view:

‘Erasmus people'

You arrive in Linköping in the beginning of January and you don’t know anyone or anything. It can be hard, but believe us: it’s only for one or two days! Look around on the University, try to find some people who are also doing their ‘Erasmus’. The good thing in the beginning of the semester is that there are many people like you: no one has a group of friends. One tip that we can give you is try to meet people on the first days (the welcome faire organized by the University is a good opportunity to make new friends).

If you don’t have a room from the beginning of the semester, try to find someone who is doing his or her Erasmus too and live together. The living is much more cheaper when you share the rent. Next to that you will make new friends and you are not alone. Try to post a message on the notice board on www.liu.se. You will see that there are more people who are looking for a room/ looking for some people to share an accommodation with.

People who are doing their ‘Erasmus’ in Linköping are from all over the world, from Finland to Canada. You will meet them and become friends. You will also learn a lot about other cultures!

‘Swedish people’

One of the prejudices of Sweden are the Swedish people. A lot of people think that people from Sweden are shy and individual. We also experienced this a little bit. But we also saw the amazing part of Swedish people. Swedish people are really social, they don’t like small talk, but they always want to help you. Don’t hesitate to ask them!

If you are coming alone (or you just want to meet Swedish people, what we can recommend you) you can indicate that you would like to have a ‘peer- student’. This is a Swedish student who can help you with the ins and outs of Sweden, you can ask him or her question and he or she can tell you everything about the Swedish (student) life. A lot of people became good friends with their ‘peer-student’.

Linköping is not a really big city (you can compare it with Zwolle), but it’s a real student city. Specially, when you are living in Ryd, you will be a part of it. We should not give away all funny things to discover, but Swedish students have some good traditions.

Useful tips:

- Generally, Sweden is a little bit more expensive than the Netherlands. You have to pay with another currency (the Swedish Krona). One Swedish Krona is approximately € 0.90.

- If you choose for Linköping try to live in Ryd. It’s a quarter of Linköping and most of the students live here in big buildings. These buildings consists of a lot of corridors. You will have your own room (20m^2) with toilet and bathroom. You will share your kitchen with approximately 8 other students.

- It’s harder to buy alcohol  in Sweden. You have to go to the special shops to buy liquor (System Bolaget). In the supermarkets you can only buy alcohol up to 3.5 %.  Moreover you have to be twenty years old to buy alcohol in System Bolaget. (18 in clubs)

- A card for public transport is only 20 SEK (€2.20). You can upload your money and travel cheaper by train and bus in the region (only Östgotrafiken).

- Try to buy a second hand bike by Facebook (and maybe other useful stuff for your room).

* Erasmus Linköping

* Erasmus student network (general)

* ESN Linköping

* Linköpings Universitet

* Studentbostader i Linköping

- If you know that you are going to Linköping subscribe yourself at ‘Studentbostader’. You get one point every day, with this points you can try to hire a corridor room. In case you don’t get a room from the university, try to get a room via ‘Studentbostader’.

- It is not strange if you get a room by the University, but you can’t live there from the beginning of the semester. You have to find another accommodation for approximately three weeks. These weeks can be the most expensive for you if  you can’t find a good accommodation, but it can also be your cheapest! You can try to live in a corridor of someone who left (people try to hire their room on Facebook). It’s better to try to book a guest room at ‘Studentbostader’. These rooms are as big as corridor rooms (now you have your own kitchen, bathroom and toilet and a double bed). You can live with two persons in one guestroom.  The prices are approximately €120 per week, this is much cheaper than a hostel or hotel.

- Check your insurance before leaving, even if you are sure that you have a good one. Most of the annual travel insurances are only for three months.

- If you choose for the Swedish course be sure that you buy the new book! Since January 2015 the University uses a new edition, totally different than the old one. (A lot of people are trying to sell their old books now on Facebook).

Financial overview: Study in Sweden, 2015

Sweden doesn’t use Euros, if you are going to Sweden you have to pay in Swedish Kronas. For this reason the prices below are approximately.

Prices are based on expenditure per month, except of the travel costs, trips and the Erasmus scholarship.

Expenditures

Rental

± € 320,-

An average room is 20 square meters. You have your own bathroom and toilet. You have to share the kitchen with approximately seven others. The rooms are already furnished (bed, table, lamp, 2 cabinets and chair). You can choose to live with someone else in one room (double room), you have to indicate this in advance. In this case you only have to pay a little bit more that the half of  the rent for a single room (± 180)

Study

During your semester abroad you have to pay tuition to your home University. In Sweden you don’t have to pay extra tuition.

Trips with courses (varying from one day to a week) are partly funded by University, but you have to pay always a little bit (up to € 200).

Livelihood

± €150,-

Generally, Sweden is a little bit more expensive than the Netherlands because of the other currency.

This € 150 is without parties and alcohol. If you want to go to a party, you have to pay most of the time an entrance between € 5 and €12.

Alcohol is more expensive than the Netherlands and you can’t not buy strong ( < 3.5%) alcohol in the supermarket. You have to go to ‘System Bolaget’ to buy your alcoholic drinks.

Traveling expenses

± 1.40

Traveling in the region is not really expensive. You alway have to pay 12 krona (if you have a resakart which you can buy for 20 krona).

As a student or youth (ungdom) you get often discount (on many things).

Traveling outside the region is more expensive. You have to buy a ticket for the bus and train. The prices are approximetaly the same as the Netherlands.

Traveling by bus is often cheaper than traveling by train. (www.swebus.se)

Trips

(not required)

€ 1280

This expenditure can be much more, but also much less. It depends of what you want to see of Sweden.

There are different organizations who organize trips to popular parts of Sweden and neighbours. This trips are most of the times the cheapest. You can always choose for extra activities during this trips.

Trips we made:

Åre (Nordic Culture): € 167

Helsinki – Stockholm: € 93

Lapland: € 550

St. Petersburg: € 250

Smäland( Nordic Culture): € 160

Götheborg: € 60,00

Bank

2 %

The amount of money you have to pay to your bank because you don’t pay in euros is different per bank.

To Linköping and back

€ 50 - € 150

It’s different per airport what you have to pay. You can choose for a direct flight to Linköping and after that a cap to your new house, a flight to Stockholm and then the train or bus or a flight to Nyköping and then the bus to your new home.

Incomes

Erasmus scolarship

€ 1312.50

Presumably this amount of money changes every year and depends of your days abroad. This was 147 days in or case.

2/3 of the money you receive before your departure (€ 875). The last part you receive if your are back in the Netherlands and have finished the mandatory things.

Study funding

€ 264.40 €552.68

This amount of money depends of the incomes of your parents. You get money for ‘not living at home’ if you are abroad for a couple of months.

OV vergoeding

€ 98.11

Since you can’t use your ‘free traveling’ in the Netherlands you receive a compensation per month to travel in you new country. This amount of money is for everyone the same.

Contact

Lynde Hans                    - L.hans@kpz.nl

Maaike Spijkerman          - Maaikespijkerman@live.nl

lyndemaaike.waarbenjij.nu

Marije Wolbink, Cheka School, Tanzania, Mobility For Internship, Kpz

The School

Cheka School is located in Arusha, Tanzania. It's a pre-primary school and around 60 childeren. In the morning there's the morning group, those childeren are three and four years old. In the afternoon there's the afternoongroup and those childeren are five and six years old. There are two classrooms in the school, a kitchen, a diningroom, an office and a playroom. The lessons started at 8:00 in the morning and they ended at 15:30 in the afternoon.

There are two teachers at Cheka School. Teacher Thabea and teacher Happy. Thabea speaks English very well, Happy speaks mostly Swahili all the time. Happy is teaching the youngest childeren of the morning and afternoon group and Thabea the oldest childeren. They are very friendly and they helped us with all our questions.

It's hard to teach the childeren at Cheka School, because they don't speak English very well. It was a challenge to teach them and that made it interesting. We were aloud to give a lot of lessons but teacher Thabea had to translate everything for us and the childeren.

In April we made a curriculum for the teachers to show them how we teach in the Netherlands. We made goals for every single subject that they had to score. We teached them how to give the lessons in a fun way with for example toys, blocks, singing and dancing. So we made ourselfs very useful.

Living

Michelle and I lived in the volunteer house and it was located at the schoolground, so we didn't had to travel to come to the school. It was a small house and we didn't had an refrigerator, washing machine and hot water. But for three months, it really felt like our home. The childeren where not allowed to enter the house. At the playground we had two guards. A dayguard and a nightguard. There was always someone there to watch us and the childeren. We had to cook our own food and we did groceries ourselves.

The Country

Arusha is a big city with 271.000 inhabitants. The people in Arusha are friendly and hospitable. There are a lot of shops and restaurants. The first week we were there our supervisor showed us the city. After that week we did almost everything ourselves. We had our own taxidriver who we could call every minute of the day and there were scooters which served as taxi. In the daytime we called them if we wanted to go somewhere.  We have met many people in those three months and we made a lot of friends.

Excursions

The 13th, 14th and 15th of March we did a Safari. It was amazing. We went to three Safaria parks, which where called: Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro and Tarangire. We almost saw the whole big five except for the leopard.

Three weeks after that we went to Moshi for the weekend. The famous mountain Kilimanjaro is located at Moshi. We saw it from the roof of our hotel. In Moshi we went hiking, saw a beautiful waterfall and we did a coffeetour. Our guide showed us how they make coffee. It was amazing.

On April 16th we went to Zanzibar for one week. The first day we were in Stonetown. It was 40 degrees and way to hot. The next day we went to Kendwa beach and we layed on the beach for 4 days. It was great and the view was amazaing.

On May 2th our family came to Tanzania. We showed them where we lived for three months and offcourse the school, the teachers and the childeren. With our familys together we did a safari again. With twelve people in two safari cars, it was great and we had so much fun.

I had a great time with Michelle. I would never have done this without here and I'm so thankful that we had this oppertunity.

Marina Pérez Clemente, Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, Mobility For Study, University Of Valencia, Spain.

GENERAL INFORMATION

University of Applied Science, Teacher Training Institute Primary Education

Hogeschool Katholieke PABO Zwolle

Ten Oeverstraat 68,

8012 EW Zwolle,

The Netherlands

Tel.: +31 (0)384217425

Fax: +31(0)384210914

Webaddress:www.kpz.nl

Erasmus code: NL ZWOLLE06

Harrie Poulssen (international Officer)

Email: h.poulssen@kpz.nl

Bert Thole (Coordinator IM)

Email: b.thole@kpz.nl

About the University:

The Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, also known as KPZ, is an independent Interactum University of Applied Sciences (Dutch "hogeschool"). There are over 650 students and a staff of about 70. This means that the KPZ is one of the many small- to medium-sized institutes for higher professional education in the Netherlands.

The International Minor Program(IM) is a five month course in English for 30 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System). The website contains all the necessary information about our teacher training course in which we combine theory and practice and offer a varied study programme with a clear structure using the module system and ECTS. For the IM you need a required level of English like TOEFL or IELTS.

How to apply

Each year there is an International Minor for the spring semester from 1st of February until 1st of July.

Deadline for application is: 1 November (previous calendar year). You need to fill the form from the website with information about you. It is necessary to have a Skype account to do an interview before you are finally accepted.

Before I came here:

I kept in contact with Ria Posthumus (International officer assistant) since I knew I was going to the Netherlands to my Erasmus studies. She sent me information about accomodation and about the general course, and also about the form I had to fill for my application.

From my home university, in Valencia, I did not get many information so all I could get was thanks to the university of destiny.

In november, after the application, I had an interview with Bert Thole (coordinator of the International Minor) and he asked questions related to education, why I chose the Netherlands, my experience in schools... And I had to wait one week until they send me a letter of admittance.

After that, I started to look for accommodation with the other three Spanish girls I knew I was coming with, because Katholieke PABO Zwolle offers a camping, but it is a little bit far from University as well as from the city. There is a student residence next to the PABO and we four tried to get a room there. It was difficult but finally we got them by sending many emails and being insistent.

The staff from PABO were really helpful and they asked me when was I arriving to Zwolle to arrange a picking up. Bert Thole came to the train station very early in the morning to take us to the residence, what is very kind per part of the University.

Info about the general things and the first weeks:

The students from the International Class are apart from the Dutch students who attend to the PABO. We were 15 at the beginning but after 3 months three of our classmates left to continue in their own country, so we finished 12 students.

All the teachers we were going to had welcomed us the first day and introduced themselves. They were all very open and talkative and wanted us to talk as well. During the first week we had an Introduction Week in which we get to know each other and also some teachers. We did ice-skating, games with them or even we went to a pub! They are very friendly and close and are used to have this kind of relationship with their students. For me was weird at the beginning because I come from a huge University in which professors does not know who you are.

Studies at my institution (University of Valencia) and at the guest institution (Katholieke PABO Zwolle)

I came here because I saw the courses were so different from what I am used to have in Spain. In the Netherlands Education is more advanced, they have more freedom and alternative pedagogies are frequent, so I wanted to 'see world' before coming back to Spain and finish my studies. I thought it could give me a wide perspective of education and eager to come back and try to change the way education is in Spain.

My courses:

1) English language (1 ECTS)

The objective of this course revolves around writing and presenting an academic paper in English in which your own written work will play a pivotal role. This very short course of 4 lessons focuses both on development of academic writing skills and strenghtening presentation skills.

2) Culture and Society ( 4 ECTS)

The students use their experience and the knowledge they have mastered of Dutch history, culture, art and society as a tool to understand and explore their own and other societies. Moreover students are confronted with the questoins in which way history, culture and society shape our cultural identity, our way of being.

3) Pedagogics (5 ECTS)

We will examine reform pedagogy in all its aspects. We will see which concepts are still used today.

We wonder what a present day and future child need. We explore the new didactics and explore existing concepts which have caught on in the Netherlands. We have visited Dutch alternative schools (as Dalton or Montessori) which has given us a wider vision of their own Educational System. We have worked on our own Educational system (Spanish) and compared with Dutch using the Boland Model.

4) Dutch language (3 ECTS)

This is a Dutch course for our class. We learn the basics of the language, for example to introduce ourselves, talk about our hobbies, colors, show someone the way, ect. In the second part of the course we have analyzed general patterns in languages and used scientific papers and a documentary to learn about languages.

5) Coaching/Counselling and tutorship (CCT / 3 ECTS)

The CCT is different from other modules, since most of the content is not definite yet.

There will be time for teambuilding activities and for personal coaching. Moreover students will be prepared for the practical training. The assignments are about writing a log book in the first period and to come up with your ideal school in the second one.

6) DRAMU (Drama and Music) (2 ECTS)

Starting with rhythm activities, movement and finishing with song for children we learn to understand the meaning of rhythm, melody and harmony. All native songs will be produces on seet music and recorded one CD.

For the second period we had Drama. We had to record a movie using theoretical aspects we had learnt during the lessons. This part was funny and the team enjoyed a lot.

7) Project week "Randstad" (2 ECTS)

During the semester we will take part in a project week and a number of cultural activities. In this week (in Amsterdam and Den Haag) we will visit a number of cultural and social institutions.

8) Research (5 ECTS)

The research modules offer a good method to examime educational reform. During practical training we will be at school where we will do our research. The course was not very interesting for the students, but the teachers and coordinators were opened and listening to our comments to improve for next year.

9) Teaching practice (4 ECTS)

This is the main and for me the most important part of the whole semester. All the students do their teaching practice in Dutch schools. I did my teaching practice in Koningin Emma Daltonschool, which is a school with reformed pedagogics and I learnt a lot.

10) Teacher in Europe student conference (1 ECTS)

Students learn in an international environment how to design a project under Erasmus + and to complete a final proposal. I was disappointed with this conference, but they will change it for next years as for our feedback.

Zwolle:

Accomodation

The University has an arrangement with the Camping of de Agnietenberg where students live in bungalows of three. They have their own small room and share the kitchen, dinning room and bathroom. It is 20 minutes by bike from the University and from the city center and the rent is €375-. I was living in a student residence which is two minutes by bike from University and 10 minutes by bike from the city centre. There are shops nearby and many other Erasmus students living in the same building. There are two individual rooms per floor and the rest you share: bunk bed, kitchen and bathroom. There is also a balcony which connects all the rooms. The rent is €305- for the shared room and around 70 euros plus per month for the individual room (in which you also share kitchen and bathroom).

Transport

Since the first day I arrived here I bought a bike and I used it every day. It is the most comfortable transport and the roads and ways are totally adapted to it. It is very safe and I enjoyed that a lot! There are grouptickets you can get for 7 euros (there are Facebook groups to achieve 10 people) and travel to any city in the Netherlands. If you cannot get those tickets, travelling with train it is a little bit more expensive than in Spain.

Life in the Netherlands

There are many bars and restaurants. In Het Vliegende Paard or Flying Horse (as we, international students, call it) they prepare dinner every week day from very good prices. International students are also used to go out to that pub, but there is another one, De Stoof, nearby where we also had fun few times!

When the weather is nice, there are many parks and lakes we enjoyed visiting. And riding the bike above the sun is also a great experience. There are little villages nearby where you can get riding your bike.

Marjolein Leemhuis, Ascham School, Australië, Mobility For Internship, Kpz

Contact Ascham school.

188 New South Head Rd,

Edgecliff NSW 2027,

Australië

Phonenumber: +61 2 8356 7000

Contact

We have made contact with the Ascham school by E-mail. (Judith Butcher [jbutcher@ascham.nsw.edu.au])

Information

We contected with the school through a E-mail. The Ascham school is looking forward to seeing us.

Discription of the school

The Ascham school has DALTON education and is only for girls. We will do research about the differences between the education in the Netherlands and Australia.

Preparation

We fulled in a document for the visa (http://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/417.aspx). An travel company has arranged our first week in Australia. When we get there we will arrange a place to sleep. At school we attended a few classes to brush up our English. (Katholieke PABO Zwolle).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Review of your stay abroad in academic terms

My internship at the Ascham School (Private and Dalton School) in Sydney was great! I had an lovely class (Year 6) and supervisor.

At the beginning of my internship we (my supervisor and I) discussed the program and goals from the school in term 1, term 2 and my own goals. In this conversation about the goals, my supervisor told me that there was an assembly for Year 6 in March. We were really excited about the idea to make the subject of the assembly about the Netherlands. This was an great opportunity for me to teach the children about our culture, traditions and food of the Netherlands. In the end of the assembly they would like to be doing a dance, and because they were learning about the culture and traditions of the Netherlands, I’ve learned the children a specific dance called “the Kanga” which connected too (an typical Dutch tradition) Kingsday in this same period.

The performance of the children was just perfect and they really liked it. Also the reactions of the parents and teachers were very enthusiastic. As an teacher I was so proud of the children as well a bit for me!

The switch between speaking Dutch and English was a bit of an trouble in the beginning. But because you’ve to talk English all the time, I was getting better by the moment. Especially in front of the class I was more confident.

I was giving a lot of lessons to the children, especially mathematics. In total there are 4 classes of year 6, those children were spilt in groups of 5 levels mathematics (level 1 is the weakest and level 5 is the most advanced). The level of my group was the lowest level, level 1. For me it was a great challenge to teach the children in this group. I’ve used a lot of cooperative methods. The children liked the way of my teaching, and learned a lot.

Review of the stay abroad in cultural terms

At the Ascham school there are a lot of different cultures between the children. Every girl is welcome at the Ascham school, whatever the religion of believe is. In Year 6 the children are learning about the different religions. Every girl (with a religion) is getting a chance to talk about her religion, it really opened my eyes about the different religions.

The culture between Australia and the Netherlands is in most of his ways the same. In Sydney are living a ton of Asian people, which I didn’t expect. This is changing the Australian street in Asians cultures. For me this was the most notable, because I didn’t recognize any of this in my travel experience.

Review of the stay abroad in social terms

In my opinion the people of Australia are very kind and friendly. They have respect for the foreigners who are willing to speak English. Like my father in law always says: “You’re talking better English then they are talking Dutch!”. The first week we went to the phone shop, called Telstra. As a foreign student we had no idea which phone card we needed, and how it’s worked. The phone shop  man was very helpful and made everything ready for using the phone card correctly.  When he saw/heard that we’re foreigners, he toke his time to help us.

Also he told us some beautiful places that we had to see, and some helpful information.

Tips

When you choose for an internship to Australia, the best way to find an place to live is to buy first an Australian phone card and call the house managers directly. It is a lot cheaper then calling from an foreign country, and it’s the fastest way to find a place. Because you can plan an inspection of your (future) room/house.

The best way to travel across Sydney is by the public transport. Like in most lands there is an public transport card, here in Sydney this card called: the OPAL-card. You can buy this card in a lot of small shops, outside this shops there is waving an OPAL-card flag. The minimum prepaid on this card is 10 dollars and you have to “top-up” the card to keep using it. Using this card you get access to all kinds of public transports (train, bus, ferry).

An credit card is an must, it’s the easiest way to buy stuff, pay stuff and booking (rent apartment, vacations excreta).

When it comes to traveling I can recommend to travel across the east coast. It is so beautiful like you have never seen before. Especially the Great Barrier Reef! You can swim with turtles, all kinds of beautiful colored fishes (like Finding Nemo) and, if you lucky, with dolphins.

If you prefer the outback, you have to travel to the middle of Australia. Where you sleep under the stars and where you life truly back to basic!

Marloes Tutert, Sister Borgia School, Sint Martin, Mobility For Internship, Kpz

Sister Borgia Primary School

Cannegieterstraat

P.O.Box 294

Philipsburg, St.Maarten

Dutch West Indies

P:+ 1 (721) 5423440

srborgia@hotmail.com

Description of the school

The sister Borgia school one of six Catholic elementary schools.The school consistst of 8 classrooms. The school is located in Philipsburg.

My internship was in group 5.My mentor worked five days a week. Even as the rest of the teachers.

The children speak english at home. Dutch is the official language at school, but children find it hard te learn, so the level is low. The english language is taught as a subject.

Due to their uniqueness in size, their students are known on a first name basis and ther enjoy a closeness that would be lost at a large school population.

History of the school

Ms. Charlotte Johanna Wilhelmina Linskens was born on November 1, 1912 in Holland. Her convent name was Sister Borgia. Sr. Borgia arrived on St. Maarten in August of 1964 and became principal of the St. Joseph School.

Sr. Borgia became directress of the Pastoor Niewenhuis MAVO. She was known to be an excellent teacher. She was always interested in all her students and gave all her students a fair chance.

In those days not everyone had a telephone. So when she said she was going to call on the parents, the ‘call’ was made on her bicycle.

Sr. Borgia was also an outspoken person. She loved to work and nothing was too much for her. She never complained of the pains she was suffering, and she always had a comforting word for people who

needed it. She had a lovely way of cheering people up around her.

She always gave her best to the students. Before reluctantly returning to Holland, she was head of the “Pedagogisch Didaktisch Bureau”. In 1988 our school was renamed Sr. Borgia Elementary School in

commemoration of the Reverend Sister Borgia.

Sr. Borgia died on October 21, 1990 in Holland.

Every first of November, her birth date, the school, celebrates Sr. Borgia Day.

Description of the island

French and Dutch have lived side by side on St. Maarten/St. Martin for hundreds of years—with no border patrols or customs between them. The French side has a more genteel ambience, more fashionable shopping, and a Continental flair. The Dutch tends to be less expensive, has casino hotels, and more nightlife.

The best way to explore St. Maarten/St. Martin is by car. Though often congested, especially around Philipsburg and Marigot, the roads are fairly good, though narrow and winding, with some speed bumps, potholes, roundabouts, and an occasional wandering goat herd.

We were on the island from Februari till May. The Heineken Regatta in early March brings sailors and partygoers from all over the world. Carnival follows Easter with parades, great food, and music for all.

Things you need to see:

- MAHO beach: The island is served by many major airlines that daily bring in large jet aircraft, including Boeing 747s and Airbus A340s carrying tourists from across the world. The short main runway at Princess Juliana International Airport, and its position between a large hill and a beach, causes some spectacular approaches. Aviation photographers flock to the airport to capture pictures of large jets just a few metres above sunbathers on Maho Beach.

- Marigot: Capital of the French Side. The border momument is a very polupar spot.

- Paradise Pic: The highest spot of Saint-Martin with a beautiful view of the island.

- Fort Amsterdam (Philipsburg) & Fort Louis (Marigot)

- The others islands of the caribbean. Neighbouring islands include Saint Barthélemy (French), Anguilla (British), Saba (Dutch), Sint Eustatius "Statia" (Dutch), Saint Kitts and Nevis (independent, formerly British). With the exception of Nevis, all of these islands are easily visible on a clear day from St. Martin.

And of course philipsburg, go to the boulevard and you will enjoy yourself. The sea is also wonderful.

Financial report

Every month:

- $510 rent

- $150 for groceries

Extra cost:

- $15 going out on friday

- $20 poolparty every last saturday of the month

- $500 if you want to rent a car for a month

- $90 visiting Anguilla

- $140 swimming with dolphins.

- $100 visiting St. Barth (including renting a car for a day)

Ticket to Saint-Martin

$935 including an extra suitcase

Mark Weda, Sint-Petrusschool, Suriname, Mobility For Internship, Kpz

Sint-Petrusschool

Arctonstraat 115

Paramaribo, Suriname

597-454920

The first time I had contact with the school was in January, this was by phone. We called a little while. We talked about the school, about me and when my internship will start. We arranged a first appointment for the first week I am in Suriname. So we can meet each other and she (the director) can introduce me to the children and teachers of the Sint-Petrusschool.

The Sint-Petrusschool houses in Paramaribo, the capitol of Suriname. The school is a primary school with children in the age of 4-12 years. The main language is Dutch. Each day of the week the school schedules are from 08:00 – 12:45. It’s simply too hot to stay in school after 12:45.

Each student has to do a research, but I got an exemption for this research. This gives me time to focus on other things in the school.

We arranged a house on the internet. After a bit of searching we found a good house on www.stagewonen.nl. This is the place where we will stay for three months. We didn’t need any preparations for the language, because the main language is Dutch in Suriname.

Internship

During the first week I was focused on the teaching of the Suriname' teachers. A lot of things are different when you compare it to the Netherlands. By example the schoolshedules. Each day of the week the school schedules are from 08:00 – 12:45. It’s simply too hot to stay in school after 12:45. The school has around the 400 students. The classes are full with children, 32 children per class is very normal. Comparing to the Netherlands, the school is very, very poor. In every classroom they have one chalkbaord. The children (their parents) have to pay for their own schoolequipment. Sometimes they don't even have pencils to write with..

Every morning we started with the flagparade. The children sing the national anthem in Sranan Tongo and Dutch while the headmaster is raising the flag. Then the classes will return to their classrooms. We then always sang a few songs like 'No wan sma no dele ki Jezus'. A happy song with some movement. After that the teacher or I started the lessons with 'Goodmorning class', the class said: Goodmorning master Mark. They work with the same methods as in the Netherlands.

I have positive and negative experiences. Positive: the children are willing to work! If I did something with materials or collaberating, they where just so studious. Fantastic to see that happen. But I have some negative expierences as well. I have seen that a few children be beaten. It was a shock.. But there was nothing I could do about it.

Culture and nature

Suriname is a country with a lot of culture. There are a lot of ethnic groups: Hindoes, Creoles, Javaneses, Indians an Marrons. It is beautiful to see that all of these groups have their own way of living. What is good to see, is that they can live amongst eachother without any problems. Something we can learn from. The Indians and Marrons who live in the rainforrest of Suriname, are hospitable. They explain how they live, what they eat and such other things. Very interesting.

Paramaribo is build out of wooden houses and you can see a lot of the history of Paramaribo. Looking back on the period with slaves. You can visit Fort Zeelandia and many formal plantations.

The nature of Suriname is beautiful as well. It's the amazone, and you can enter this amazone with a lot of tour guides. You travel by car and small boats. With apes, snakes, spiders, parrots, turtles and many more animals around you. Climb mountains with a view you've never seen.

Suriname has a lot to offer when it comes to culture and nature!

Costs

Suriname is not an expensive country if we look at the costs of living. But you can make it expensive. Me and the group I did my internship with, went a lot to the Tulip. A supermarket with Dutch products, but (offcourse) these products were much more expensive then the products you could buy on the markets and the local smaller supermarkets. So it is a choice you make.

A short summary of my costs during this three months internship:

Flight - 800 euros

Apartment - 900 euros

Bicycle - 90 euros

Live - 350/400 euros a month

Trips - 750 euros

Melissa Worst, Fatima College, Aruba, Mobility For Internship, Kpz

Contact Fatima College:

Patiastraat 21

Dakota

Aruba

Phone number: +297  5822037

Email: fatima45dakota@hotmail.com

About the school

Fatima College is a Roman Catholic primary school. The school is located in an area with a low socioeconomic status. It is a small and cosy school, with six classes. Every class has one teacher and on average there are 20 till 25 pupils in each group. The principal of the school is Franklin Richardson, he is a very open en friendly man.

Preparation

When you go to Aruba for an internship you don't need to apply for a visa, only when you stay longer than 90 days you need a visa. Before we went to Aruba we had a preparation day in Utrecht with other students from other schools. During this day we got very useful information about housing, renting a car and some practical inside tips. After this day we booked already our apartment online. We lived during our stay on Aruba in Blue Village.

Review of my stay on Aruba

Aruba is one happy island. The people are really friendly and helpful. I would recommend Aruba to other students because I felt very safe on the island. Our apartment was only a twenty minute drive away from the school. I was placed in the sixth grade (12-13 years) in the class were 20 pupils. Because it was a small class it was easy for me to connect with the children. The corporation with my mentor was very good. She really enjoyed my new ideas. There was also sufficient time for me to give lessons. For some subjects there were specialized teachers. These teachers gave English, Spanish, music and physical education. There are many differences between schools in the Netherlands and on Aruba. On Aruba the school system is in comparison to the Netherlands a little old fashioned. For example the teachers on Aruba are very strict and direct to the pupils. The school has also less materials than schools in the Netherlands. For example schools on Aruba do not have a digital school board or computers in the classroom. For mathematics and Dutch the school used very new methods, the same as in the Netherlands.

Tips

- Rent a car by Speed, Jay's car rental or Mipos. Do not rent a car by Dushi car rental.

- Get an Aruban phone number (we got Digicel), you can recharge each month.

- Take a credit card with you.

Budget

Retour plane ticker: €750,-

Residence/ Stay: €385,- (I shared an apartment with a friend we each paid this amount every month.)

Car rental: €245,- (I shared the car with a friend and we each paid this amount every month.)

Grocery: €100,- (Every week.)

Merel Tijink, University Of Oulu, Finland, Mobility For Study, Kpz

holland:

Contact University:

University of Oulu (Oulun Yliopisto)

Pentti Kaiteran katu 1,

90014 Oulu, Finland

http://www.oulu.fi/english/

international.office@oulu.fi

Contactperson University:

Jani Haapakoski

Faculty of Education, International Coördinator

jani.haapakoski@oulu.fi

During orientation days in the Netherlands I heard information about going abroad.

At first I tought about going outside of Europe, but then I figured out that it was very expensive.

Then I heard about going to college at Scandanavië, that's when everything started.

First I had to choose which country, eventually this became Finland.

I searched information about education in Finland and I found that the education in Finland is very good, especially in primary school. Finland is on top of the education ranking in Europe.

At school we got information about different opportunities to go abroad. At the presentation I saw the University of Oulu. At home I searched on the website and I became very excited.

Then I went to our international coördinator Harrie Poulssen, to tell him about my interest in Oulu. He was very excited too!

But he told me that I needed to write a motivation letter, so I wrote my motivation letter.

After that we had a conversation about my motivation. This went well and I received my temporary GO!

Then the kind of boring stuff started, filling in all the papers.

We had to think about a lot of stuff like:

- Financing (DUO)

- Temporary stop for the travelcard

- Insurance

- ID or Pasport

- Housing (PSOAS)

Housing is arranged trough PSOAS, you can look on the site of the school. www.psoas.fi

- Creditcard

- Learning Agreement (choosing courses, that's fun!)

- Contact the University (to apply, ask the international office at KPZ)

Going to school in Oulu, Finland

The first inpression of the school was that it was big. Way more bigger than the KPZ. There were all different departments in the school for each faculty. Our faculty, education, was at the end of the school so we had longs walk getting there. No problem, in that way, there's no need for the gym.

Our first meeting at the university was with Jani Haapakoski, the man which we had email contact with in Holland. He told us about the Exchange Student programma and all the courses we could follow. Before we came to Oulu we had to fill in our Learning Agreement, but Jani told us that there is a possibility that we need to change it. Luckily for us, there was no need to change all the courses. We had to change only one course. We changed it to something with Arts, which had to do with our Profile we chosed last semester back in Holland.

We could register ourselves for the courses in a website called Weboodi. On this website you could type in the course code and the site would find it. Jani also told us we had to register to the ITE classes, because only these ones were given in English. If you register for a course you could go to a website called Lukkari. On this website you could add all your courses and will make you a schedule of all you courses per week. It gave you the exact date and place of the course.

By looking in Lukkari I figured out that we did not have to spend that much time at the university. Most of the days we have only one course. During the lessons I figured out that it doesn't mean you can go relaxing all day long. After you're back from university you have to do homework and preperation for the next lessons, so there's a lot of self work at home. In the first 3 weeks we had 2 presentations and an essay we had to prepare.

We could send the essay to a certain teacher through a website called Urkund. On this website you upload your essay as a Word document so that the teacher can read it online. I think this is a very easy and good way to deliver papers or essays. You can do it from your own chair without taking a bus to the university. It can't be better!

Sometimes I have overlap with different courses because it are just seperate courses who are not included in progamma like on the KPZ. Every student on the university follows different courses, so there's no way you can satisfy every student. But when there's a case of overlap you can just send the teacher an email that you won't we in class because of overlap. It's up to you to choose with course you would go to. I choose to switch every week. One week to that class, and the other week to that class. The teachers are so flexibel and understand the situation you are in. They appreciate it very much when you let them know whether you be there or not.

During the lessons you figure out that Finnish people are different. They are way more down to earth, calm and peaceful. They talk very quitely and do not burst out or something. Sometimes that makes certain lessons a little bit boring. Of course, not all the Finnish people are like that. There are some very cool and nice people.

It's also very nice that the classes are mixed with Finnish students and exchange students. In that way you get to know Finnish people from Oulu and you can learn a little bit about the Finnish culture.

Today we had a gast teacher during a class of the course Early Learning in Childhood Education. The gast teacher was from Amsterdam, how nice! She was telling the class about the educational system in Holland and she was comparing it to the Finnish system and all the other educational systems from all the different countries. When we were talking to her in Dutch we figured out that she also teached at the KPZ. That was very nice to hear. Her name is Helma Brouwers.

Of course, we're not always at the university. We also do a lot of nice trips and traveling around the country. Finland in winter time, it has to be on your bucket list!

We already went to Svanstein in Sweden for a ski trip, skiing in -25 woehoe! Still 10 toes and 10 fingers! Last weekend we went to Levi in Lapland. It was a very nice trip and at the first day we saw the Northern Lights, wauw!! It was an amazing experience.

Also the parties here are very good! We are members of ESN, Exchange Student Nation. They organize very nice trips (like the ski trip to Sweden) and parties! All the student from the University of Oulu are having an overall. That is their student uniform. We also got one from ESN. There are parties where you have to wear the overall. You can decorade the overall with different patches and it will look very nice!

April and May

It has been so cool the last couple of months. We are living the good life and I feel like never going home. The last time we did awesome trips and had a lot of schools work today. We have been following 5 courses at the same time now and it has been busy. At the end of april we had to submit 5 essays. Hard work. But of course we made a good planning so we made it work. Till now we passed every course and I think we will pass everything. Everyone here in Finland is always saying that the education in Finland is the best, but at the university, it is a lot more easy than back in the Netherlands.

On the sixth of May we visited a primary schools here in Oulu. We met de school head and he was telling us that he had very close friends/colleague in Emmen, near the place in the Netherlands we study. So that was very nice to hear. He was telling so many good things about the education system in the Netherlands. And he did not agree with what the media says about the education system in the Netherlands. He said the media is always so critical and they don't even know where they are talking about. He saw a lot of similarities with the Finnish education system. And when we looked into the schools, you can see the Finnish government spent so much more money on education compared to the Netherlands. We just save money for education. But the way teachers educate the children, it's not a big difference. They just have more money to spend on stuff they need to make it a worldclass lesson.

On the sixth of May we also had our last book exam. Actually it was the only exam we had. The rest was only writing essays. We also got a letter of confirmation from the head of the Faculty of Education. In case we need for our home university.

Now i have free time to finish reports for my home University in Zwolle. I have one week time now to be busy with school stuff because than we are going to travel for 1,5 week. On the 14th of May we are heading to Helsinki, on the 15th of May we are going to travel to Tallinn, Estonia and on the 16th of May we are going to Reykjavik, IJsland! So cool, I am so excited for that trip. We'll be there for one week and travel from Reykjavik to other places in the country. We'll return to Helsinki on the 23rd of May and then back to Oulu with the bus. And then one week left in Oulu. Time flies so fast when you have fun, so so much fun.

I had a crazy amazing time, so many people we met and new friends we met (new travel destinations ;p), improved our English, learned to cook, got to know the Finnish school system, got to see a big university, crazy parties we had, beautiful places we saw. It was the best time of my entire life till now! Thank you Oulu

At the end of this E-book you will find my financial summary of the last 5 months I've staid in Oulu.

Best regards,

Merel Tijink

Before leaving to Oulu

Plane tickets                                                                                             380,-

Deposit + administration costs                                                                   400,-

Total                                                                                            €        780,-

January

Apartment rent                                                                                       229,45

Buscard                                                                                                  42,50

Student registration                                                                                 50,-

WiFi box                                                                                                  35,-

ESN membership                                                                                      5,-

Groceries                                                                                                  70,-

Ski trip to Svanstein, sweden                                                                     150,-

Totale                                                                                        €        591,95

February

Apartment rent                                                                                       229,45

Buscard                                                                                                  39,50

Groceries                                                                                                 70,-

Lapland trip to Levi, Finnish Lapland                                                          140,-

Total                                                                                         €        478,95

March

Apartment rent                                                                                      229,45

Buscard                                                                                                 39,50

Groceries                                                                                               70,-

Pirates of the Baltic Sea trip to Stockholm, Sweden                                    135,-

Total                                                                                       €        473,95

April

Apartment rent                                                                                     229,45

Buscard                                                                                                39,50

Groceries                                                                                              80,-

Total                                                                                      €        348,95

May

Aparment rent                                                                                      229,45

Groceries                                                                                              70,-

Trip Helsinki-Tallin                                                                                 110,-

Trip Iceland                                                                                           590,-

Totaal                                                                                     €        999,45

Total of everything                                                                €         3673,25

Michelle Huisjes, Cheka School, Tanzania, Mobility For Internship, Kpz

The School

Cheka School is located in Arusha, Tanzania. It's a pre-primary school and has around 60 childeren. In the morning there's the morning group, those childeren are three and four years old. In the afternoon there's the afternoongroup and those childeren are five and six years old. There are two classrooms, a kitchen, a diningroom, an office and a playroom. The lessons start at 8:00 in the morning and they end at 15:30 in the afternoon.

There are two teachers at Cheka School. Teacher Thabea and teacher Happy. Thabea speaks English very well, Happy speaks mostly Swahili all the time. Happy is teaching the youngest childeren of the morning and afternoon group and Thabea the oldest childeren. They are very friendly and they helped us with all our questions.

It's hard to teach the childeren at Cheka School, because they don't speak English very well. It was a challenge to teach them and that made it interesting. We were aloud to give a lot of lessons but teacher Thabea had to translate everything for us and the childeren. We used a lot of pictures and songs to make things clear.

In April we made a curriculum for the teachers to show them how we teach in the Netherlands. We made goals for every single subject that they had to score. We teached them how to give the lessons in a fun way with for example toys, blocks, singing and dancing. The teachers were very enthousiastic to use those stuff in there own lessons. So we made ourselfs very useful.

Living

Marije and I lived in the volunteer house and it was located at the schoolground, so we didn't have to travel to come to the school. It was a small house and we didn't have an refrigerator, washing machine and hot water. But for three months, it really felt like our home. The childeren where not allowed to enter the house. At the playground we had two guards. A dayguard and a nightguard. There was always someone there to watch us and the childeren. We had to cook our own food and we did groceries ourselves.

The Country

Arusha is a big city with 271.000 inhabitants. The people in Arusha are friendly and hospitable. There are a lot of shops and restaurants. The first week we were there our supervisor showed us the city. After that week we did almost everything ourselves. We had our own taxidriver who we could call every minute of the day and there were scooters which served as taxi. In the daytime we called them if we wanted to go somewhere.  We have met many people in those three months and we made a lot of friends.

Excursions

The 13th, 14th and 15th of March we did a Safari. It was amazing. We went to three Safaria parks, which where called: Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro and Tarangire. We almost saw the whole big five except for the leopard.

Three weeks after that we went to Moshi for the weekend. The famous mountain Kilimanjaro is located at Moshi. We saw it from the roof of our hotel. In Moshi we went hiking, saw a beautiful waterfall and we did a coffeetour. Our guide showed us how they make coffee. It was amazing.

On April 16th we went to Zanzibar for one week, it's a small island.The first day we were in Stonetown. It was 40 degrees and way to hot. The next day we went to Kendwa beach and we layed on the beach for 4 days. It was great and the view was amazaing. It was very interesting to see the difference between the city (Arusha) and the people from Zanzibar.

On May 2th our family came to Tanzania. We showed them where we lived for three months and offcourse the school, the teachers and the childeren. With our familys together we did a safari again. With twelve people in two safari cars, it was great and we had so much fun.

Before Marije and I went to Tanzania we didn't know what to expect. But those three months were more than we ever expected. The Tanzanian people are so friendly, it's feels really like home. The time with Marije was great, it was nice to have a friend with you on a life experience. I would definitely recommend Cheka School and Arusha, Tanzania, I hope I will be back one day!

Nadja Vaartjes, Ascham School, Australia, Mobility For Internship

If You Want To Know More About The Internship Or About The Costs I’ve Made, Feel Free To Ask Me.

My Emailaddress Is N.vaartjes@Kpz.nl This Consideration Is Made Because Of Privacy Reasons.

Internship

Contact:

Ascham School

188 New South Head Rd,

Edgecliff NSW 2027,

Australia

Phonenumber: +61 2 8356 7000

Website: http://www.ascham.nsw.edu.au/

Return ticket Amsterdam-Adelaide.

€ 1200,-

Booked by a travel organization.

Visa

+- €300

Work-holiday visa

House

Room 1: €116,70 per week p.p.               (shared room, 3 persons)

Room 2: € 70,00 per week p.p.                 (shared room, 3 persons)

We looked on the internet and found www.furnishedproperty.comWe also looked on several sites like www.gumtree.com and www.roommates.com. The second house we stayed in was a recommendation of one of the teachers.

Before we get our own place we stayed in a hostel for a week.

A smart thing to do is ask around, the people are very friendly and will help you!

Train and bus

+- €200 in total.

We get an opal card from the beginning. It’s a free card and you can add money on it. You have to tap on and off. From Monday it start counting, when you travelled 8 times you can travel the rest of the week for free. Look on tripview (App) how you have to travel.

Phone

If you use you’re own sim card, you will make a lot extra costs with you phone. We bought a prepaid card from Telstra, this is an Australian provider. This gave us data and credits, to use internet, sms and made phone calls. You have to ad money at it every month.

Traveling

We did lots of traveling before the internship, during the holiday and after the internship. We travelled by campervan and a rental car. A good company to hire you’re campervan is: www.totallycampers.nl  This is a Dutch organization. We also traveled by plane, because of the big distances between places.

Grocery

+- €100

The cheapest supermarket is Aldi! You can also go to the Coles or Wholeworths.

Australia is a great country for you internship! The people are very helpfull and the nature is amazing.

Remco Schakelaar, Kidsgear, Uganda, Mobility For Internship, Kpz

Contact KidsGear Primary School

To contact them, contact UP4S foundation in Deventer. They are very happy to welcome new Dutch students.

phone

+31 570 51 36 73

e-mail

info@up4s.nl

About the foundation

UP4S Foundation provides shelter and education to underprivileged children in Uganda.

This makes for the chances of a good future for these children to be significantly increased. UP4S has a primary school and a secondary school in the village Bukomansimbi, where many of the children come from.

In 2003 the UP4S foundation was created by Sylvia Mbabazi and her husband Frank Rus. Sylvia grew up in Bukomansimbi and her parents still live there. Sylvia was in the fortunate position to receive proper primary and secondary education, but for many of her fellow villagers this was not a possibility.

In 1997, Sylvia moved to the Netherlands and in 2000 she married there. Together with her husband they decided to give underprivileged children in the Bukomansimbi area a chance at good education. Thus arose foundation UP4S (read out: up for us).

Foundation UP4S has a Christian base. The foundation was founded in the belief that as a Christian you have a responsibility to your poor neighbor. On the project in Uganda, however, all children, regardless of race or creed, are welcome.

About the school

The KidsGear primary school is built on a hill in the area of Bukomansimbi. Last year the school won a prize for having the best results in the area. Education is provided in terms. Each year consists of three terms, in which the children stay at the school for approximately 12 weeks. As a boarding school, the school provides a place to sleep and food for the children.

About teaching at KidsGear

The chilldren at KidsGear speak English. If your English is good and you can manage communicating in the African-English style, then you'll be fine. Use simple words and small sentences so the children understand. Only the youngest children sometimes do not yet speak English. The first language in Bukomansimbi is Luganda.

The classes are divided in 7 primary classes and 2 baby classes. Every class has a different lesson from a different teacher at different hours. So the school has several teachers who are specialized in for example English and math. Those teachers teach English or math in all of the classes.

About the accomodation

The school has an accomodation further up the hill in which guest-teachers, volunteers and students can stay for €300 a month. That €300 provides you with a place to sleep, wash, eat and a housekeeper who will do the laundry and make breakfast (hot water and an egg) and dinner (mostly rice and/or bananas). There is no hot water for a shower, only cold. Also electricity will fail lots of times, so be prepared for that. Lots of times you won't be able to have internet or electricity.

Life in Bukomansibi

People in Uganda are very friendly. If you need help or have a question, most of the people will be happy to help with a smile. Don't be mad if people keep calling you 'Muzungu', which means 'White-one'. It is normal for Ugandans to call eachother by the way you look. It is even common for Ugandans to call or describe eachother as 'the-fat-one' or 'the-little-one'. They don't mean anything bad by it. Especially the smaller children will keep shouting 'Muzungu'. It's just a way to greet you.

Show initiative when you want to get something done in your time in Uganda. No one is going to do it for you or show you how to do something. In Uganda it is difficult to make an appointment with someone, as it is normal for people to be late, do their job only halfdone or never even show up at all after making an appointment. It is important to be patient and be assertive. If you want to have something done in Uganda, you best do it yourself. It's no use to get mad or frustrated at the mentality of the people in Uganda, as they will not understand why you are making such a fuss. "Why worry? Tomorrow is another day."

About transport in Uganda

Traffic is crazy in Uganda. If you are brave enough you can drive a bike or car yourself, but it is advisable to take taxi's or public traffic to get to your destination. The main roads are pretty good for African standards, but if you go off the main roads, it's all puddles and holes in the road, with a lot of roads that are completely dirt. People drive on the left side of the road in Uganda. 95% of the cars are Toyota's, cheap imports from Japan. There are traffic rules, but nobody pays attention to them. The biggest car is the one who goes first. Traffic is not expensive, especially if you take public transport. Be ready to sit with 10+ people in a car that would normally fit only 5. In Uganda, there is always room for one more.

And...

Last, but certainly not least, Uganda is a beautiful country and absolutely an amazing experience to see. Make sure you visit some national parks when in Uganda. Uganda is one of few countries that has the ability to have you see all of the big 5.

Kind regards,

Remco Schakelaar

Rosan Heite, Kids Gear, Uganda, Mobility For Intership, Kpz

Contacts school

Kids Gear Primary School

Dutch address

Contactgegevens Stichting UP4S

Lijster 13 7423 EG Deventer

Phone

0570-51 36 73

e-mail

info@up4s.nl

ING

NL61INGB0009514816

KvK

08 11 37 32

Ugandan address

P.O. BOX 1078 Masaka

Coordinators:

Kinene Martin

Kids Gear primary school

P.O BOX 1078

Masaka

About the school:

The Kids Gear Primary School in Bukomansimbi (Uganda) is a primary school, which is set up by UP4S Foundation, an Dutch organisation. The UP4S Foundation (pronounced as: ‘up-for-us’) gives orphan- and disadvantaged children the opportunity to go to school and get a warm home. The idea is that children will be raised to young people who are proud of their country and are willing to build up a better future.

Unlike most schools in Uganda, the focus at the Kids Gear Primary School is development-oriented education. The child is the priority. Of course they have to work from the Ugandan culture and this will clearly marks on subjects such as drama, music and dance. With help from volunteers and interns, local teachers are coached and helped where needed. Usually Ugandan schools only teach the bright kids. This way the slow children get behind even more because they get no attention from the teacher. At the Kids Gear Primary School, they want all pupils have a chance. This reflects in the motto of the school which is: "ALL CHILDREN COUNT".

When you want to do your internship in Uganda, remember that there is an different way of teaching in Uganda. The teacher is in front of the class almost the whole lesson. The children listen to the teacher, they don’t ask a lot of questions, they don’t even talk in the lessons. Be open-minded and know that you have to change to the Ugandan culture. In the school there are chalkboards, chalk, a lot of sports equipment and there is paper available. If there are more things you want to use you have to take with you for The Netherlands.

Food, house and workspace:

The project provides you every morning with an egg and hot water for breakfast, additional things have to be bought yourself. There is lunch at school (rice and beans, and each Friday there is special meal: Matoke with beef), in the evening there is a full diner cooked for you.

When you stay Up4S provides a house help who cleans the house, does the dishes and the laundry (except underwear).

Your accommodation is on the project compound. There is place for 4-6 people in a room. When there are enough rooms available, you can ask for a room of your own.

If you want to work with Wi-Fi, there is limited Wi-Fi connection available at Hoys College (Secondary School) that is on the same compound.

How can I apply?

When you want to do your internship in Kids Gear Primary School you can contact the organisation via email or phone. They will make sure to provide you with contact details of their project manager in Uganda. He/she will send you useful information for your stay at the project and will answer all your remaining questions.

Before I got to Bukomansimbi (Uganda):

Before I got to Uganda, I got a lot of information about our stay in Uganda. For example the costs of the stay (information about the house, food etc.). I have written a lot of emails and had to do a few things before we got here, for example I have to get an mosquito net, all my vaccinations and skirts. You have to be formally dressed when you teach in front of the class.

Vaccinations:

Before you go to Uganda you have to get some (expensive) vaccinations.

Examples of vaccinations are:

Malaria

Typhoid fever

DTP

Yellow fever

Hepatitis A

Hepatitis B

Cholera statement

Bukomansimbi:

Bukomansimbi Town is a village in de Bukomansimbi district. The next big city is Masaka. Bukomansimbi has around 1500 residents and it is the only village in the surrounding with electricity. The houses are small and made of locally made stones. In the surrounding of Bukomansimbi there are some smaller houses made of clay. A lot of people live from their farm.

Shopping:

There are some small shops in Bukomansimbi. Mama Kalule is an example of a good supermarket. She has some sweet bread and other small stuff like rice, water and soda’s. When you need salted bread, peanut butter, jam or something like that. You have to go to Masaka which is 45 minutes by public means.

Transport:

In Uganda there is a good public transport system and it is nog very expensive. When you go with public transport you need to remember that in Uganda there is always room for one more person in the taxi/matatu or bus. The matatu is the most common mean of public transport. This mini bus, which normally would have room for 10/12 people, carries up to 16 people. You can also choose for private transport. You can find private taxi’s everywhere and they will bring you anywhere you like.

Also for the smaller trips there are boda boda’s. Boda boda’s are motor taxi’s. In Kampala (capital of Uganda) boda boda’s are allowed to carry one passenger, in Bukomansimbi and other parts of the country you can also sit with two or three passengers on the boda boda if you’d like.

Life in Uganda:

Ugandan people are very friendly. People shake hands and and you how you are every time you see them. Ugandans call all white people Mzungu (white person) when they see them. The word Muzungu is not meant in a discriminating way unlike how we might interpret it in The Netherlands. When you walk around in Bukomansimbi and Masaka you’ll hear it a lot. In the beginning it’s strange, but the longer you are in Uganda the more normal it will be.

In Uganda there is a dominant man culture. This means that the woman is subordinate to the man. Traditionally a woman cooks, cleans the house and takes care of the children.

As women you have to cover your knees and shoulders during your stay in Bukomansimbi. It’s not done for men or women to wear no shirt in public.

Activities after the internship (when you have time left)

When you are finished with your internship, you can travel through Uganda. It’s a beautiful country with a lot to see. Uganda has a lot of things to do. You can go on safari, but it’s also possible to go rafting on the river Nile in Jinja. In Bwindi impenetrable it’s possible to see gorilla’s. In Queen Elizabeth national park you can see lions, hippo’s and elephants. In lake Mburo national park you can see a lot of zebra’s, warthog’s and buffalo’s. When you love nature and waterfalls you can go to see the Murchison Falls. It’s possible to boat trips in Muchison national park and Queen Elizabeth national park.

Reflection

I had a great time in Uganda. It’s a beautiful country and there is a lot to see. The people are very friendly and want to help you when they can. I’ve been travelling through Uganda for two weeks and I saw  a lot. My internship was good. The children were friendly and want to learn a lot of thing from you. I went with a group of children to the village. Some of the children never saw Bukomansimbi, so that was their first time. It was good for them to see the village and learn new things. When there is a chance, I want to go back to see more of Uganda or maybe another African country.

Rukiye Betül Gültekin, Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, Mobility For Study, Istanbul Universty, Istanbul , Turkey

Contacts University

University of Applied Science, Teacher Training Institute Primary Education

Hogeschool Katholieke PABO Zwolle

Ten Oeverstraat 68,

8012 EW Zwolle,

The Netherlands

Tel.: +31 (0)384217425

Fax: +31(0)384210914

webaddress:www.kpz.nl

Erasmus code: NL ZWOLLE06

Harrie Poulssen (international Officer)

Email: h.poulssen@kpz.nl

Bert Thole (Coordinator IM)

Email: b.thole@kpz.nl

About the University:

The Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, also known as KPZ, is an independent Interactum University of Applied Sciences (Dutch "hogeschool"). There are over 650 students and a staff of about 70. This means that the KPZ is one of the many small- to medium-sized institutes for higher professional education in the Netherlands.

The International Minor Program(IM) is a five month course in English for 30 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System). The website contains all the necessary information about our teacher training course in which we combine theory and practice and offer a varied study programme with a clear structure using the module system and ECTS. For the IM you need a required level of English like TOEFL or IELTS.

How can I apply?

Each year we have an international minor in spring semester from 1st of February until 1st of July.

Deadline for application is: 1 November (previous calendar year)

For application you need to fill in this student application form and mail it to us.

[application form on the website]

Please note: When we have received your complete application form an overview on admission will be held by means of Skype.

Before we got here:

Before we got to the Netherlands, we got a lot of information about our next semester. We have written a lot of emails and had to do a few things before we got here.

To attend the Pabo we have had a conversation via Skype, where the English teacher asked me a few things (in English - so they can see our level), for example what I am expecting, why I want to go to the Netherlands, and so on.

Furthermore we had to get some information about how fractions are tought in Turkey, we had to copy the schoolbooks, made a short clip about a mathlesson, made a foto of the classroom, ect.

The Pabo organised a very good accomodation, so we didn´t have to look for something - which was really a pleasentness!

Then Ria Posthumus asked us when and how we will get to Zwolle and if we wanted to have a welcome guide, who wouls pick us up from the railway station and bring us to our houses.

Info about the general things and the first weeks:

We are in a "seperate class" - The international Minor/class. All in all we are 15 people (6 Spanish girls,1 girl from Turkey,  1 boy from Nepal, 2 Czech girls and 5 people from Austria). All our xouses we have together - we do not have any courses with the students from the PABO.

The first week was a welcome week to get aquaint with each other:

The first day most of our teachers and the headmaster were here to welcome us and to introduce themselves.

We also had to introduce ouselves to the other ones and to speak about our expectations.

The welcome week was really a good experiences, we were ice skating and played traditional Dutch games.

My courses:

1) English language (1 ECTS)

The objective of this course revolves around writing and presenting an academic paper in English in which your own written work will play a pivotal role. This very short course of 4 lessons focuses both on development of academic writing skills and strenghtening presentation skills.

2) Culture and Society ( 4 ECTS)

The students ude their ecperience and the kknowledge theyhave mastered of Dutch history, culture, art and society as a tool to understand and explore their own and other societies. Moreover students are confronted witht the questoins in which way history, culture and society shape our cultural identity, our wy of being.

3) Pedagogics (5 ECTS)

We will examine reform pedagogy in all its aspects. We will see which concepts are still used today.

We wonder what a present day and future child need. We explore the new didactics and explore existing concepts which have caught on in the Netherlands.

4) Dutch language (3 ECTS)

This is a Dutch course for our class. We learn the basics of the language, for example to introduce ourselves, talk about our hobbies, colors, show someone the way, ect.

5) Coaching/Counselling and tutorship (CCT / 3 ECTS)

The CCT is different from other modules, since most of the content is not definite yet.

There will be time for teambuilding activities and for personal coaching. Moreover students will be prepared for the practical training.

6) DRAMU (Drama and Music) (2 ECTS)

Starting with rhythm activities, movement and finishing with songd for children we learn to understand the meaning of rhythm, melody and harmony. All native songs will be produces on seet music and recorded ona CD.

7) Project week "Randstad" (2 ECTS)

During the semester we will take part in a prject week and a number of cultural activities. In this week (in Amsterdam and Den Haag) we will visit a number of cultural and social institutions.

8) Research (5 ECTS)

The research modules offer a good method to examime educational reform. During practical training we will be at school where we will do our research.

9) Teaching practise (4 ECTS)

This is the main and for me the most important part of the whole semester. I am in Heerde (small village next to Zwolle) in a Jenaplan school. I have to teach at least 26 lessons. I will see the idea of Jenaplan in a practical way.

10) Teacher in Europe student conference (1 ECTS)

Students learn in an international environment how to design a project under Erasmus + and to complete a final proposal.

Zwolle:

Accomodation

We stay in camping place outside of the centrum. we have a kitchen in our chalets for three people. each person has their own room. rooms are not so big but they are enough for five months. If you are lucky, and weather is good, you can sit outside .  We pay about 375,- Euros per month for the rent.

Transport

to go to school, station, city center etc. you have to use bicycle. there are suitable ways for riding bicycle, so you can go somewhere with bicycle easily. Buses are a little bit experience If you dont have Ov chip card (transportation card. it can be bought from machines in front of the station). to go other cities can be experience also. but group tickets are useful for this. for example ,  Amsterdam return ticket costs 40 euros but If you buy group ticket with  ten people , you just pay 7 euros.

Life in the Netherlands

nature is part of life here. weather is rainy most of time but without using umbrealla you can go. people are so kind and they can help you whenever you need. Almost everbody know English very well. to communicate people is not difficult.

there are many nice places , museums for visiting.LIke ice skating, fishing, swimming,salinig etc you can find many opportunities to enjoy.

About the teaching practice:

I go to teaching practice with my partner from Austria. first for observation and then one day in a week. in the middle of the semester about two whole week. I am lucky, my group can speak english with. During teachign practice, we prepare portfolio. At the end of the teachign practice our tutuor from Kpz check it and talk about it. In  two time, the tutor visits me and evaluate my performance during lessons.

Mairehau Primary School, New-Zealand, Mobility For Internship, Kpz

The School

The Mairehau Primary School is located in Mairehau (A suburb of Christchurch). Around 500 children. Staff is very friendly and helpful. There are around 30 children in each classroom.

It’s not very hard to teach in New-Zealand. As long as your English is fine, you are fine. Most of the kids are very neat and they want to help you with everything. So don’t worry about the kids, they’re awesome!

As I was saying, the staff is very friendly. My mentor helped me with all my questions. She didn’t mind that I wanted to teach as well.

Living

I was very lucky with the people I stayed with. The principle (John Bangma) arranged my living. I lived in Rangiora (about 25k from Christchurch) with one of his staff members. Going to school and home was very easy, because we could drive together.

Most of the time they cooked and we could eat together. Sometimes when I had a day off: I cooked. Sometimes I did their cleaning. They really appreciated that so I would definitely recommend that. I had to pay like 120 dollars a week. That’s quite cheap to live in NZ because the prices for groceries are pretty high.

Doing my laundry and stuff was not a problem. I washed my own clothes and towels. Sometimes their stuff as well. The last thing I could do to thank them.

The Country

NZ is a beautiful country and I certainly would go out and see something. Renting a car is pretty cheap: about 35 dollars a day (and then you’ve got a nice car). Apex car rental: very good.

They drive at the left side of the road, once you’ve done that for 10 minutes you’re used to it. It’s not that hard as it looks.

If you want to see al the highlight from NZ, here they are:

Auckland – Rotorua, Waitomo caves, Napier, Tongariro crossing – Wellington – Abel Tasman National Park – Westcoast – Kaikoura – Akaroa – Queenstown – Milford Sound.

Tip: use tripadvisor for everything. We used that website a lot and it was very useful. We used the lonely planet as wel: great book, you have to buy that.

Bookme.co.nz has got very nice specials for great activities: use it.

Sanne Meester, Bal Prabhat School, Nepal. Mobility For Internship, Kpz

Contact Bal Prabhat Boarding School

New Road, Pokhara-9

Contact person: Prem Kunwar

premknwr@gmail.com

Discription of the school

Bal Prabhat Boarding School is a private school. Nepal is one of the porest countrys, so don't expect much. You have a withboard and the children wearing a uniform. The teachers hit the childeren. It happens pretty much; when they haven't made there homework, when they aren't listening or not wearing the right cloths.

The principal is a really nice man. He wants the best for us and he takes good care for you.

Our stay

We've rent an appartment in Lakeside, the tourist side of Pokhara. First we had a small appartment. Jut one room and we lived on our beds. After a month we've moved to a bigger one. Now we had two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a good kitchen with livingroom. We also had a balcony. The houseowner was a really kind man. He was willing to help with everything.

- Review of your stay abroad in academic terms

We arrived the 26th of february in Pokhara. We started our internship the 27th. We arrived at the Bal Prabhat Boarding School at 10:00 am. The children were standing in line waiting for the teacher to give comments. In the mean time, we were introduced to the prinicipal. A really nice man and he was very proud of his school. There was a whole ceremonie planned for us. We got a scarf and a red point on our face with paint. It was a sign of respect. They were very greatfull. We also got the oppertunity to choose our own class. I choose grade 5.

After the weekend we came back to the school. We were observing the first few days. The children were very curious. They asked questions about me and the Netherlands. So i decided to teach them some Dutch words. I also saw the teachers hitting the childeren. They got beaten when they didn't know an answer or just disobate the teacher. It was really hard to see, but I did't know what to do. I was just a volunteer and, it sounds weird, but it's normal for them. The children even said that i had to beat, but I would never do that.

I had much time to teach, because sometimes teachers just didn't show up. I experienced it positive but also negative. The positive thing is that I was free to do anything I wanted. I could teach them things they never heard of like the second world war. The children were very supportive and enthousiastic. The negativ thing was that I never got feedback and most of the time I didn't get a chance to prepare my lessons.

Another nice experience during my internship was parentsday. The children were learning a dance. Every grade another traditional dance. They were practicing for weeks for that one special day. Parentsday was at the end of the school year and the children got the chance to show their dance to their parents. It was also a day were prices were rewarded. It was a long day for us, but it's nice to see so many happy faces on the stage.

- Review of the stay abroad in cultural terms

Before I even went to Nepal, people were warning me for a culture shock. I knew Nepal is way different from the Netherlands, but I thing you can't prevent a culture shock. The only thing that's important is to be open-minded. Don't judge other cultures. There will be negative things, but try to see the positive things. For example the Nepali people never have stress. They are so relaxed. The negative thing is that they're always late, but the positve thing is that they're always wanting to help you.

I didn't have a real culture shock. There were things that i was fascinated about, but not real shocked or anything. The fact that children got beaten was really hard to see, but you get used to it. I tried to enjoy everything a saw like cows on the street and the fact that the traffic was horrible. It's also nice that we meet Nepali people. At that moment you learn the real Nepali culture. They took us to restaurants we would never go to.

I also wanted to go to Nepal because of the religion. I'm fascinated about the life style of the Budhism and Hindoeism. We visited a few temples and stupa's. It is hard to understand those religions, but the way they see things is something we western people can learn a lot from. I thing my culture shock came when I arrived back in the Netherlands.

- Housing and food & drinks:

We've rented an appartment in Pokhara, Lakeside. We did this with the help of our teacher and Prem.

We payed around 450 dollars with the three of us for one month.

There are also a lot of guesthouses were you can stay. But we wanted a place for ourself.

Our appartment was very nice, we had 2 bedrooms, a livingroom with a kitchen, 2 bathrooms and a balcony.

If you want to rent an appartment its a good idea to have a person in Nepal who can help you with it. Renting an appartment from your home country can be difficult.

We did our groceries at the local store. There was a big supermarket, where you can buy almost everything.

You can make a supper for less then 5 dollar. Also its a possibility to go out for supper, we've paid around 20 dollars with the three of us.

- Social terms:

The people in Nepal are very kind and hospitable. The first time we meet our Nepalese mentor he was directly very kind to us. He even called us his family, and inivited us to his home for supper.

Also the people on the street are very kind. They are always willing to help.

Yael Hensbergen, Thi Lakin School, Malta. Mobility For Internship. Kpz

ESE, European School of English

St. Julians, Malta.

Contact person, Simon Agius.

Preparation

When we decided to go to Malta for our international minor, the first thing we did was trying to find a primary school where we could do our internship. We soon found out this was difficult, because we had to do it all by mail and internet. We couldn't find primary schools easy at the internet, and the ones we did found didn't response to our e-mails. After that we e-mailed students who also went to Malta for their international minor to ask how they managed to get an internship school at Malta. They gave us the contact information of an english language school at Malta who also can provide workplacements. This school is named ESE, European School of English. We e-mailed them and we immediatly got a response from the contact person of ESE. The ESE took care of everything, including a place for us at a primary school.

Thi Lakin School

Head of the school: Tami Mifsud

About the internship school

The Thi Lakin school is a private school, but not only for rich people. They have a very old systeem to teach the childeren and pedagogic isn't the best thing of the school. The systems in the classrooms are a little bit strange. The teacher has no controle and most of the time the childeren behave like 'little monsters'. For me, as student, it was a big challenge to give my lessons (activity) in this class, but it was very intructive.

During my internship i had a very nice relation whit the childeren in my class. I had prep 1 (5-6 years old) a class with 31 childeren and a lot of childeren where there to learn the English language, even me. It was a class whit a lot of different levels.

The teachers from the Thi Lakin school are very kind for you as student. They are very interesting in you and they will help you with everything. For the childeren they want to be very strict, but most of the time it doesn't work. Shouting en screaming is normal, but also that doensn't work.

Review of my stay

My time at Malta was fantastic. I felt very save at (internship)school and also in the place (sliema) where we lived. We lived in Sliema, the place for tourists. There were a lot of restaurants and the shoppingmall was near our appartment. We lives in Lands´end and had to share our appartment with three other boys. Leanne and I slept in the same bedroom. In the appartment are two bathrooms (one for Leanne and me and one for the boys). You have to share the kitchen and the livingroom.

For our internship we had to go to Attard. A place 30min. from Sliema. Whit a small schoolbus we went to that place. For the English lessons we had to go to St. Julian. In St. Julians was the ESE (European School of Englisch), this place was also a place for the tourist.

Finance

Placement fee : 200 euro

Flight: 213 euro

Transfers: 50 euro ( from the airport to the appartment and back and for the bus to the ESE)

Tutoring and supporting: 227 euro

Accomodation: 2145 euro (14 weeks)

Food and drinks: 60 euro for one week

Bustickets: 1,50 for one day.

Yoica Van 'T Slot, École Ruette, Belgium, Mobility For Internship, Kpz

École Ruette

Rue de Longuyon 64

6760 Ruette

Directrice: Brigitte Lallemand

Mentor: Stany Maitrejean

My address in Belgium:

Rue du bon dieu Gilles 24

6760 Virton

Financial report

Room                                                €300,- monthly

Groceries                                         €100,- monthly

Train to Belgium                             €50,- one way

Bus to school                                   €3,- one way

In the second year of my education we had the choice to go abroad in the third year. I choose for a country where the speak French. This choice is because I love the language and I hope I can learn more French speaking. I speak about it with Harrie Poulssen and he was very enthusiastic because there was never a person who liked to learn that language. Together with Harrie I looked for a school  that would like to help me. Harrie knows a high school in Arlon/Virton and he contacted that school (Haute École Robert Schuman. It had a good result because Patrick Galliez send a response back. He would look for a primary school for my intership. After a few weeks he found two schools for me. I had a choise between a very small school with only two classes or a school with 5 classes. I chose the ‘big’ school because two classes is very little. This was the school Ruette and it is located in Virton/Ruette.

I contacted that primary school and they told me that I was placed in the class of Stany. That’s a class with children from 8-11 years. After contacted the school I had to fill in a lot of papers. I have to make complete the placement agreement between the KPZ, École Ruette and me. I filled in the placement agreement and send them to Patrick Galliez and he signed it. Also the KPZ and I signed it to make it complete.

For my intership, my first intention is to learn the language. I would speak more and more French and I would also understand what they say to me. The second thing is to give some lessons in French over there. I would also introducing working in groups because they give classroom lessons.

The last thing I had to do was find a place to sleep for three months. I asked Patrick to help me because contacted the tourist information had no success. Patrick asked the primary school and there was an teacher who would give me a place to sleep for the first week. I send that teacher an email to ask her i fit was possible for sleep over there for three months. She was agree with it and I rent a room in her house for three months.

At home I practice with my language a lot, but it is very hard…

The first week in Virton

I arrived here at Sunday 1 March 2015. I say goodbye to my mother and my boyfriend at home and my father drives me to Virton. We arrived at 15:30 hour and we had a warm welcome from Emilie. First I brought al of the stuff to my room. After it I looked for a place for everything in the room. My father left and I was alone… For the first time of my life was I all alone in a place I didn’t know. The next day the internship started. The class is big (30 children) and the tables are placed in rows.  It is a class with the third and the fourth year on this school (it is different from the Netherlands). Sometimes the class is together en sometimes it are two classes. When the class is together they get the same lessons and the same exercises. There is no differentiation. Another difference with the Netherlands is that they have no other work to do when they finished the work. They wait, they talk a bit, they bored.. When it is time to have a break the children stand behind the chairs and wait for a sign from the teacher to move out. Also when they come back in school (after the break), and when they come back in class they stand in a row, quiet and peaceful, until the teacher gives a sign to come in. There are almost no methods used I school

and the teacher invents some sentences and calculates pour the lessons.

I gave 3 lessons this week. My mentor asked me to learn the children some Dutch words, so I did. The first lesson I learn them some useful words and the next day the children arrived with: ‘goedendag’ and no more bonjour to me. At the end of the week they can say: ‘Goedendag, mijn naam is… Ik woon in… en ik ben.. jaar.’

The culture is also different from the Netherlands, while it is close to the Netherlands. Every moring the teachers give 1 kiss to each other to say good morning. In France they give 2 kisses, in the Netherlands 3 and here they give 1. The second different thing is that most of the children lunch at school and then they eat a warm meal.

For myself was the first week very hard and I was very tired. To understand the language and to talk back is hard. The first week (and probably also the second week) I am more an student in the class. I follow the lessons and listen good to the language.

Also to be here alone is good for me. I find it difficult to miss home, but Skype is an good resolution. On Friday I missed the bus because there was a market and I went to school with an person I didn’t knew before.

The second week

Tuesday morning I planned all of my lessons for the next 4 weeks. After 4 weeks it is holiday. I am going to give a few lessons of Dutch words and sentences, lessons about the Netherlands, lessons mathematic and lessons artistic.

Tuesday evening Lucien asked me to help him with the test for Friday. Lucien is the child of Emilie, where I live with and Lucien is in my class at school. So I read the test and he write down the sentences. I checked it and he had 2 faults. After it I asked him to do the same for me, so that’s good for my language. He was shocked, but surprised and he did it. After it he checked my test of sentences and I had also 2 faults. It was very good for my language and it was also very nice to do it together with a child of my class.

Wednesday morning I gave my first lesson of mathematics. It is difficult in French, but it was nice. That evening I went to the doctor here because I cough for 5 weeks. The doctor was very helpful and give me some medicines. The doctor here is open all the evening, it’s different with the Netherlands. Over here you paid the doctor cash after your visit.

Thursday I had baked some waffles with a part of my class and with the head mistress of the school.

Friday was my last Friday I went to school, because from next week the Frida is my off day. This week went very quickly!

Het third week

This week was a busy week for me. I gave more lessons than last week. I started this week with working in groups. This is new for the kids, because they worked most of the time on their own. In the beginning it was hard for the kids to work with another, but it is getting better. It is nice to try something news in class. Every week I will try something new for the kids.

We also visit a show for kids. It was a show of one man, in the gym. The show was intended for the ages 3 to 12, and we went to the show with the whole school. It was good for me to watched that show, because I found out that I understand more of the language now. I understand what he was doing in his show.

This Friday my parents arrived for a visit. I cooked something for them en showed them my room. It was good to see them after a few weeks. After dinner we went to Luxembourg for the hotel. It was a nice weekend and I have a lot of fun.

Now just too more weeks till the holiday.

Het fourth week

This week I also gave some lessons. I feel more comfortable in French now and I can speak better. Tuesday morning is very easy for me, because the class get some religion from another teacher. I decided to work at school on my reports. Because I needed some internet, I worked on the computer at school. After 2 minutes the computer stopped working… It is an old computer and it works very slow. After 45 minutes the computer works again, but too late for me. Next week I take my own laptop to school.

Tuesday evening I babysit of the children where I live with. We had eaten some bread and soup, because they eat warm during the lunch. After eating we watched the voice of Belgium.

Wednesday I gave a mathematics and I tried another cooperative game, ‘genummerde hoofden’. I have created groups of 4 and gave every child a number. It was good to see the enthusiasm of the children. It was a new way of working during the lessons mathematic, but they had a lot of fun.

Saturday I went to Arlon, it is an city near to Virton. I visited a friend there. We bowled and have some dinner in a very nice restaurant. Now it’s Sunday again and it’s a rainy Sunday… This afternoon I have the birthday party of Lucien, one of the children who I live with.

Only one more week for I go back to the Netherlands for two weeks.

The fifth week

This week was the last week before my holiday. It was a good week. I learned the children some new words and they gave a presentation in the Netherlands. It is a bit funny to let them speak in Dutch because they have totally another sound and voice. But they did it very well. This week is the birthday of the boy where I live now. It was on Tuesday and two girls asked me for the birthday song in Dutch. I typed out the birthday song en gave it to them. Before I learned the children some new Dutch words, these two girls sang the birthday song for him in Dutch. Great to see the enthusiasm of the group and me also! Wednesday was the first of April. In the Netherlands it is a day with funny jokes, but here they called it ‘poisson d’avril’. It means day of the fish. The children made some fishes with paper and put it on my back and the back of the other teachers. They wrote also ‘piosson d’avril’ on the blackboard and hid the chair of the teachers. Another class was all in pyjama at school to make a funny joke. Fur the lunch I was invited with by mother of Emilie. It was a nice meal, we ate a sort of cheese fondue.

The sixth week

This week is the first week after my holiday. It was a normal week, but only two special things were happened. The first is an fire exercise.  My mentor wasn’t there that moment, so it was all mine… The children moved out in a long row. I checked the toilets and closed the windows. Outside I counted the children en no one was missing J. The exercise was organized by the fire-brigade and they controlled the school and checked of it was fast enough. After the control all the teachers and children walked to the gym for waiting. The fireman came for a control.

Wednesday the whole school had a project. Every class gets his own area around the school to search trash and cleaned up the nature. With my class we walked through the nature en to the near village there. We’ve found a lot of trash.

I gave also my own lessons and I started with the first lesson of the project Netherlands-Belgium. I will teach the children the differences between these countries. Is was an good lesson. We talked about the flag, the language and most of it about the traditions and party’s in both countries, because this was the subject for the first week of the project. The children made some pictures and little texts for the big poster. They worked with two together and there was more noise than normally. My mentor doesn’t like that noise and asked the children for more silence. That was sadly because they really talked about the subject and they worked hard. Maybe better next time.

The children in my group learn a lot of words in Dutch. One of them told me he spoke Dutch with another man and he liked it so much. He used the words I had taught him and that makes me proud. Another boy told me that my French was very good and he was proud of me!

The seventh week

This week I saw for the first time an adaption for some children. They sitting on a fitness ball now because the move to much when they use the chair. Monday the children write a poetry for mom’s day. My mentor wasn’t there at the beginning of the day so I started on my own. When he came in, he was glad to see me doing my thing. A lot of children knows that it is Queensday in the Netherlands now because I told them about it last week. But it was also a little party in the class, because we had a birthday of a boy. He brought three pies with him and drinks for all the children. It is a sort tradition here that you bring some food and drinks for your birthday. For me it is more like a party at home, than a little thing for the class. But for here it was quite normal. During the break the children stay inside for celebrate the birthday.

Wednesday my mentor and I placed three tables near to the place of the teacher. These children need another place and some more control. Also we talked about a new theme for the class. That will be gardening. They make an own garden with tomatoes, potatoes and some other food.

The eighth week

Last weekend the manageress went to my house for inviting me for dinner, but unfortunately I missed her visit. Monday a girl gave me a cupcake, made by herself and especially for me. This girl is very helpful and spend a lot of time with me, par example during the break. Wednesday the group started with the new theme, garden. The first group started with prepare the ground for planting, but that takes a lot of time so during the first two hours there were groups working in the garden for preparing. The children had carried a shovel and boots for working in the garden.

After they had worked in the garden, I had my lesson of mathematics. I played a game with the children. I asked them a table and passed the ball to one of the children. The one who catch the ball must give the answer. It was very nice to play the game, all of the children were motivated and had a lot of fun. I can also differentiate during the game. The easy ones for the weakest en the hard ones for the better children.

Thursday was the last time for me to work with a group for finishing the card for mother day. I made a card with Dutch tulips and every week another groups worked with me. Because there was a lot of work to do for finishing all the presents, I also went to school on Friday. I helped with finishing everything and the result was great!

The ninth week

Almost the last week and also a very short week. Last Saturday my boyfriend came here and stay until Wednesday. Monday and Tuesday I went home for lunch together. Monday the children had a no prepared dictate. My mentor asked me to made it for practice my language. I made the dictate and scored a 7, a good mark I thought. Tuesday I learned the class ‘Vader Jacob’ in Dutch. They had the same song in French so it was nice to have the same song in Dutch. There were also some children who knows the song in another language!

Wednesday I first had my stage at morning and after that I visited Luxemburg with my boyfriend. The weather was very good and I had enjoyed it. After visiting Luxemburg we drives back to The Netherlands. It is a long weekend and my mom celebrates her birthday on Saturday. The weekend was nice and it was good to be at home. I saw my family and some friends.

The last week!

The last week of my wonderful stage is a little bit complicated. Saturday I baked a pie at home so I had to give it on Monday. All of the teachers and children liked it very much. There were a lot of them who asked me the recipe, so I translate it in French for them. The children in my class loves the pie and ate all the pie, even the little crumbs. The first day of my last week there was again a no prepare dictate and this time I had 10!

Tuesday morning I prepared the children for the presentation on Wednesday. It is a presentation about all the differences the Netherlands and Belgium, it’s a kind of a summary of all my lessons the last period. Tuesday afternoon I made some ‘Pepernoten’ with the children. I made three groups and every group made the same recipe.

Wednesday the children gave the presentation in the different classes. They were a little bit nervous, but it was a good end of all my lessons.

Thursday was my last day at school and this afternoon we went outside for a walk. With all the 33 children. We have suffered the little mountain towards the French border. It was a good walk, with lots of sun, humor and lovely children. After one hour, the manageres brought us some pie of the anniversary of one of the children.  At the end of the walk there were a few children that cried. I asked them about it and it was because I had to leave the school. It was very sweet and special and all of this makes it hard to say goodbye. At my first two weeks I thought it was not a good decision, but now I missed the children….

And I reached my goal, I spreak better French now!

Afterwards

You must dare to spreak the language. I gave lessons from the firts week, the first day, but I learned also a lot of participate the other lessons.

Creative Commons License (Cc By 3.0)

Erasmus+ Journal. (CC BY 3.0) by Heiko Vogl is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Human-Readable Summary

You are free:

to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work

to Remix — to adapt the work

to make commercial use of the work

Under the following conditions:

Attribution — You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).

With the understanding that:

Waiver — Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.

Public Domain — Where the work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.

Other Rights — In no way are any of the following rights affected by the license:

Your fair dealing or fair use rights, or other applicable copyright exceptions and limitations;

The author's moral rights;

Rights other persons may have either in the work itself or in how the work is used, such as publicity or privacy rights.

Written Mention

"This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein."

The written mention in avaiable online in diverent languages: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/publ/graphics/beneficiaries_all.pdf

Table of Contents

Publishing Information

Preface by Heiko Vogl

Preface by Harrie Poulssen

University College of Teacher Education Styria

Alba Serra Ginestà, University of Barcelona, Spain, Mobility for Study, PHST - Incoming

Alexandra Kresser, University of Karlstad, Sweden, Mobility for Study, PHST

Bettina Jaindl, Saxion University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands, Mobility for Study, PHST

Bianca Dobner, University of Huelva, Mobility for Study, PHSt

Birgit Ehrenhöfer, University of Iceland, Iceland, Mobility for Study, PHST

Chiara Cicchese Università degli Studi del Molise, Italy, Mobility for Study, PHSt - incoming

Daniel Illmeier, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, Mobility for Study, PHST

Daniel Rössler, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Mobility for Study, PHSt

Elias Groß, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, Mobility for Study, PHST

Johanna Rácz, University of West Hungary, Hungary, Mobility for Study, PHST - Incoming

Julia Gamperl, Saxion University of Applied Sciences, Mobility for Study, NL/Hengelo

Julia Lisa Grill, Örebro Univeristy, Sweden, Mobility for Study, PHST

Katrin Auer, University of Zagreb, Croatia, Mobility for Study, PHST

Kathrin Hoffelner, Miriam Krammer, Windesheim University, The Netherlands, Mobility for Study, PHST

Kevin Winter, University of Barcelona, Spain, Mobility of Study, PHST

Mara Forstenlechner, Örebro University, Sweden, Mobility for Study, PHST

Michaela Schwarz, Saxion University of Applied Sciences, Mobility for Study, NL/Hengelo

Michelle Goossens, Pädagogische Hochschule Steiermark, Austria, Mobility for Study, PHST - Incoming

Nicole Skoberne, Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, The Netherlands, Mobility for Study, PHST

Nicole Skoberne, Viktoria Mosbacher, Lisa Koller, Daniel Scharf und Jacob Stössl, Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, the Netherlands, Mobility for Study, PHST

Nicole Zelzer, University of Huelva, Spain, Mobility for Study, PHSt

Petra Schablas, University of Huelva, Spain, Mobility for Study, PHST

Ramona Weiskopf, University of Iceland, Iceland, Mobility for Study, PHST

Sabrina Noichl, University of Karlstad, Mobility for Study, PHST

Sandra Schögler, krakow 05, Mobility for Study. PHST

Stefanie Wonisch, Università degli Studi del Molise, Italy, Mobility for Study, PHST

Theresa Außerlechner & Katharina Schüler, Odisee, Belgium, Mobility for Study, PHST

Thomas Dzuban, University of Barcelona, Spain, Mobility for Study, PHSt

Victoria Neubauer, University of Huelva, Spain, Mobility for Study, PHST

Yuliya Pavlyuk, University of Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic, Mobility for Study, PHSt - Incoming

Katholieke Pabo Zwolle

KPZ International Office - General Information

Adéla Faltýnková, Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, The Netherlands, Mobility for Study, University Hradec Králové, Czech Republic

Alice Kucirkova, Katholieke pabo Zwolle, Neterland, Mobility for Study, UHK

Ana Vila, Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, The Netherlands, Mobility for Study, University of Valencia, Spain

Andrea Alborch Adam, Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, The Netherlands, Mobility for Study, University of Valencia, Spain

Ane Diaz de Sarralde, Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, The Netherlands, Mobility for Study, BAM Bilbao Basque Country

Annemiek Withaar, The international school of Cape Town, South-Africa, Mobility for Internship, KPZ

Bart van Langen, KidsGear, Uganda, Mobility for Internship, KPZ

Bert Thole; KPZ, Zwolle, Nawaraz, Nepal, Mobility for Study

Carmen Saurín, Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, The Netherlands from Spain, Mobility for Study

Danielle Smeding, Bal Prabhat School, Nepal, Mobility for Internship, KPZ

Dinise Schimmel, Ascham School, Australië, Mobility for Internship, KPZ

Eline Geschiere, Petrus Donderschool, Suriname, Mobility for Internship, KPZ

Eline Koiter, Ascham school, Sydney, Mobility for Internship, KPZ

Else van der Wal, University of Oulu, Finland, Mobility for Study, KPZ

Emilie van Arendonk, Bal Prahat School, Nepal, Mobility for Internship, KPZ

Esther Mekelenkamp, Mairehau Primary School, New-Zealand, Mobility for Internship, KPZ

Femke Scholten, Petrusdonderschool, Suriname, Mobility for Internship, KPZ

Geanne van de Belt, Kathedrale Koorschool Suriname, Mobility for Internship, KPZ

Iris van Dijk, Sister Borgia elementary school, Sint-Maarten, Mobility for Internship, KPZ

Karla Haandrikman, Fatima College, Aruba, Mobility for Internship, KPZ

Kasper van den Hoorn, The International School of Cape Town, South-Africa, Mobility for Internship, KPZ

Keimpe Wierstra, Mairehau Primary School, New-Zealand, Mobility for Internship, KPZ

Kevin Ferwerda, Sisters Middle School, USA, Mobility for Internship, KPZ

Laudy den Hollander, Ascham School, Australia, Mobility for Internship, KPZ.

Leanne Peeters, Thi Lakin School, Malta, Mobility for Internship, KPZ

Lorea Cubilledo, Katholieke Pabo Zwolle University, Netherlands. Mobility for Study, BAM Bilbao.

Lynde Hans and Maaike Spijkerman, Linköpings University, Sweden, Mobility for Study, KPZ

Marije Wolbink, Cheka School, Tanzania, Mobility for Internship, KPZ

Marina Pérez Clemente, Katholieke PABO Zwolle, Mobility for Study, University of Valencia, Spain

Marjolein Leemhuis, Ascham School, Australië, Mobility for Internship, KPZ

Marloes Tutert, Sister Borgia School, Sint Martin, Mobility for Internship, KPZ

Mark Weda, Sint-Petrusschool, Suriname, Mobility for Internship, KPZ

Melissa Worst, Fatima College, Aruba, Mobility for Internship, KPZ

Merel Tijink, University of Oulu, Finland, Mobility for Study, KPZ

Michelle Huisjes, Tanzania, Mobility for Internship, KPZ

Nadja Vaartjes, Ascham School, Australia, Mobility for Internship

Remco Schakelaar, KidsGear, Uganda, Mobility for Internship, KPZ

Rosan Heite, Kids Gear, Uganda, Mobility for Intership, KPZ

Rukiye Betül Gültekin, Katholieke Pabo Zwolle, Mobility for Study, Istanbul Universty, Istanbul, Turkey; KPZ

San Kroezen, Mairehau Primary School, New-Zealand, Mobility for Internship, KPZ

Sanne Meester, Bal Prabhat School, Nepal. Mobility for Internship, KPZ

Yael Hensbergen, Thi Lakin School, Malta. Mobility for Internship. KPZ

Yoica van 't Slot, School of Ruette, Belgium, Mobility for Intership, KPZ

Appendix

Creative Commons License (CC BY 3.0)

Written mention