2014 Studying abroad- 5 months in the Netherlands Ines Ascher 1287473 30.06.2014 Ines Ascher Teaching across the boarders 1287473 Portfolio Meppel Meppel is a small city with 32.859 inhabitants. It’s located in the province of Drenthe, in the north-east of the Netherlands. In my opinion, Meppel offers everything you need for your daily life. There are a lot of supermarkets, restaurants, pubs, schools and also a theatre and a cinema. Meppel has a railway station and the train connections are very good in the Netherlands. Therefore, it’s easy and not complicated to travel to big cities,such as Rotterdam, Amsterdam and the Hague, but also to islands with lovely beaches at the sea. Also a doctor or the pharmacy are easy to reach. Meppel is a very cute place, where I could imagine living with a family. We lived 10 minutes by bike away from the centre. It’s not difficult to reach every place within 15 minutes. It’s not a very big city but it is very dutch and so it’s easy to get to know the culture and you feel very welcome and integrated. Almost everyone is friendly and helps you, in the supermarket, on the street, on the train station or in a pub or restaurant. Stenden University Stenden University is a small university with 200 to 300 students. Since the first day, I felt very welcome there. The teachers support you with everything and are always there for you. All of the courses were taught very practical with role plays, discussions, talks and group works. Some of the assessements were separated in the nationalities, so we had the chance to get a lot of information of each country. It was also part of our lessons to achieve an overview of International schools and also the International curriculum PYP. In the final assessement we had to create a virtual International school and present it to our teachers and the headmaster from an International school in the Hague. That was very helpful and it was also interesting for me to think about this topic. I never thought about international schools or curriculums that much before. In my point of view, as a teacher it’s the most important thing, to teach children the main aims of this curriculum like to believe in themselves. In my upcoming years as a teacher I take values, like tolerance and 2 Ines Ascher Teaching across the boarders 1287473 Portfolio respect for granted, but unfortunately our whole world is not that appreciative like it should be. During the lessons I achieved a lot of knowledge about different computer programs. In the University the facilities were very modern and so I got the experience to work with a white board. The whole program was well organized and helped us to gain experiences and informations which are useful as a teacher. Practice School: Every Tuesday I had a practice day and during the semester I also had two practice weeks. My school was in De Wijk, seven kilometers far away from Meppel. I had to drive with the bus around 15 minutes. I observed a group 8 with 12 year old girls and boys. It’s the first difference in comparison to Austria, because in the Netherlands children go to Primary School from the age of 3 to 12. Since the first day I saw many differences and only few similarities. Austria OBS De Wijk School starts at 8.00 School starts at 8.30 School ends at 12.00 or 13.00 School ends at 15.15 During the break the children are mostly There is a 15 minutes break outside. in the classroom/school building Mostly „normal“ blackboards. All of the classes have very modern blackboards. Every child has comfortable shoes. It’s Everyone goes with street shoes into the not allowed to go into a classroom with classroom. the shoes from the street. 3 Ines Ascher Teaching across the boarders 1287473 Portfolio The pupils can go inside the school The pupils have to wait outside the building in the morning. school building. It’s not allowed to go into the school without the teachers. 1-3 computers in a classroom. A lot of computers outside the classroom. The children are allowed to use them very often for self-study. Teachers don’t teach only with school Nearly every teacher only use school books. books. The most negative point for me was the way of teaching with the school books. Nearly every minute the child has to work on his/her book. They sat in front of their books and worked page by page. Hardly ever the children had time to be creative or got the chance to be a child like they are in austrian schools. I think it is not good that a child has so many hours per day lessons without lessons where they can be active. On the other hand the pupils were disciplined and worked very autonomous. The teacher was more in the background and a supporter. In my opinion it’s necessary to teach the children to be self-dependent, but in my mind I would not prefer to be there only as a supporter. I also want to teach the children some topics in front of the class, in a circle or make different ways of group works. At the beginning, it was not very easy for me to communicate with the children because I couldn’t speak dutch. I was very lucky that a lot of them spoke english, so after a few days it was possible to talk with them and also to give lessons. This year was a very good experience for subjects like Arts and Craft. I am very proud, that I did my lessons very well in a foreign country and within the language barriere. In my opinion, the teaching style is not the best in the Netherlands but I am very happy that I saw different lessons in another country. It’s necessary as a teacher to observe other classes and methods to be sure which one is the best for themselve. 4 Ines Ascher Teaching across the boarders 1287473 Portfolio Travelling in the Netherlands: Travelling was an important part for me. In my opinion it’s necessary to get to know a country, the people and their behaviours. I enjoyed all of my trips a lot. During the Erasmus program we had also the possibility to make some excursions. The country is manifold. There are a lot of big typical dutch cities but on the other hand Rotterdam is a very modern city, which differs from typical dutch places. Holland is famous for cities like Amsterdam with a lot of rivers, bridges and boats everywhere. It was always great to visit the canals, make a boat trip or drink a coffe next to the water. The country is also famous for the Ijsselmeer and the Wattenmeer. There you find beautiful sandy beaches and places for summer holidays. We always travelled with the train. The train connections are really good and nearly every single town or city is attainable with the train. Also the bike is a common way of transport. It was not difficult to drive the bike because the landscape is totally flat. The cars always takes care of you. This is totally different in comparison to Austria. There are also cycle pats everywhere. I saw a lot of cities in the Netherlands and loved every single city and place. In my opinion the brick building, which are totally different than the buildings in my country, and the fields with cows, sheeps and horses makes this country beautiful. There is only one thing I didn’t like that much.. the Dutch food! 5 Ines Ascher Teaching across the boarders 1287473 Portfolio The Hague with the IC-class Keukenhof Rotterdam Island Terschelling Bootstour with the IC-class 6 Ines Ascher Teaching across the boarders 1287473 Portfolio Personal Reflection: At the beginning I hoped that I improve my Englisch and that I can talk fluently after the five months. I hoped that I get to know the culture that much to feel a little bit like at home in the Netherlands. Furthermore I was very interested to meet other people from other countries and learn about there cultures and schools systems. It was important for me to get an insight of the school system in the Netherlands and to teach in a foreign country in a foreign language. After five months, I can say that my descision to study abroad was the best descision in my life. I enjoyed my time in Meppel so much and I am very proud of myself that I lived five months far away from Austria. For me it was the best time in my life and I can advise everyone to do an Erasmus year. When I look back, I have so many good memories in my mind. It was a time with so many positive experiences. Of course there were also negative experiences but the good ones are definitely more. For me it was a perfect period to improve my english skills and to get to know the culture in the Netherlands. I felt so comfortable there and I didn’t feel like a tourist. It was bit like my second home and also the days with my collegueas from my class where so useful for my whole live. In my opinion I am more open minded now and I became a critical person. At the beginning, it was not that easy for me to think out of the box, but now I have more opinions to different topics.