Vecka fjorton

After a bit of difficulty, I have finally been placed in a local primary school for my placement. I am working with a grade 6 class where the children are between 12-13 years old. The children have been learning English for almost three years and were all extremely shy and didn’t like to speak incase they made a mistake. However, after much persuasion and with the help of an English lesson, the children felt more secure and began to speak more confidently. Towards the end of the week the pupils would come and speak English which was great. I was happy they had overcome the shyness and I could see how excited they were to be able to do this. The pupils have their national tests coming up where their knowledge of English is also examined and so I felt it was important that they practise this with me.

The class teacher wanted the children to learn about our culture and so he was happy for me to work as much as I could with the children about Ireland. He asked me to do a presentation on Ireland for the class which they enjoyed. I then asked the pupils to, over the next few weeks, do their own presentation on Ireland. I gave them some topics to choose from: food, music, famous people, famous places, sport, and the Titanic. In pairs the pupils would have to work together to make a presentation which they must present to the class during my final week. Most of the pupils really enjoyed this task and have been putting a lot of effort into their work. I immediately noticed that pair-work is no problem for these children. From my previous placements in Ireland, I know if I were to give this assignment to children in Ireland, where they go off and work together in the library or on the computers, children in Ireland would be messing and not working on what they are supposed to be doing. I feel that Swedish children really take responsibility for their work and will do it without constant supervision, which I feel many children require in Ireland.

I also took an art lesson where I told the pupils about a shamrock, and it’s meaning to Ireland. They then had to paint a shamrock or a leprechaun to put in the Ireland corner. Again the pupils were keen to learn about this, a symbol linked closely with Ireland, and enjoyed the painting activity.

The children are interested and happy to learn about our culture, and I am proud to be able to teach them about it.

Some more on placement will follow next week...