Vecka Femton

This week I will continue with the professional blog from last week, reflecting on my week on placement. As this is the last term of primary school for the children. The children have very few classes as they are allowed ‘to relax’ before beginning life in secondary education. Because of this, I have seen very few lessons being taught over the past week. The children appear to have a lot of free time, or are working on projects which are already meant to be finished. During anytime where they have nothing to do, the pupils should take out their Ireland projects and work on them, however, I feel that I was asked to do this project as a ‘time-filler’, that the teacher didn’t have anything for them to do and so he asked me to carry out this project with the children. They can spend up to three hours throughout the course of the day working on the projects. I feel that this ‘time to relax’ is a very bad way to prepare children for secondary school. They will never get this in secondary school and shouldn’t get into the habit of becoming lazy. I know for certain in Ireland, pupils would barely get a week of this not to mention a whole term of few lessons. I know when I was in the last week of primary school, we did some fun lessons, art, music, P.E etc.. but only for one week, not a whole term. I think this is a bad habit for the children.

I have noticed that children here in Sweden are very respectful of each other and of adults. Discipline doesn’t seem to be an issue for teachers to deal with at all. In both schools I worked in, I have never heard the teachers raise their voices once. I have spoken to the teachers regarding this and they have all said that children will do their work with little or no talking, and also without any debate which I have had to deal with before. I feel that children in Ireland lack the respect for others, whether this has to do with culture or they way we were brought up, I don’t know. On many occasions I have also seen the teacher leave the room for various reasons and the children remain in their seats continuing with their project work, I know for a fact, if this was done in Ireland, pupils would be up moving around the room messing with each other. This is definitely one of the things that has amazed me most during placement, the respect pupils have for each other and the teacher. How the pupils take responsibility for their work and need little or no instruction to do so.

If only our classrooms were so quiet and full of hard workers, I feel that teaching would be so much easier without the constant battle to get pupils to work.

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...

Vecka treton

This week as I am still home, I will continue with a culture blog, comparing Vȁxjӧ to home. After spending some days in Sligo, Jackie and I went to Belfast before our return to Sweden. When we arrived I showed her the city of Belfast; City Hall, Queens University and of course, the shopping centres. I have never actually walked in around queens and so I guess I learned a little of our culture. We compared the huge Queens, to the tiny Linneuniversitet where we study here in Vȁxjӧ.

The next day Jackie and I went to see the new Titanic museum. It was quite busy and so we just looked at it from the outside. Although a tragic event, it’s great to have the Titanic linked with Ireland; that it was built there. People from all across the world can come to and visit the birth-place of this historical ship.

I also brought Jackie to see some murals; to see some of Ireland’s history. I told her about some events that I have learned about, and of course there are many with I don’t know of. I spoke about sectarianism and how it still exists in many parts of Ireland. She was fascinated to learn of our cultural background and about the history of our country. We went to visit both communities involved and compared all the different art-pieces, something which was very interesting for me too. As Sweden is such a clean country, I doubt we would see any such pieces around the streets and neighbourhoods. It is well kept and always looks clean. I realise that some murals in Belfast are not art-work as such but are out to scrutinise the differences between communities. Again, Jackie was able to learn of some historical events which occurred in our country, and sadly which still does in some cases. Jackie then spoke about the aboriginal community in Australia, and how they are also often mistreated because of cultural differences. It’s clear that everywhere we are there will be cultural differences however, some of us have trouble accepting these.

Vecka tolv

This week I will complete a culture blog, comparing Vȁxjӧ to home. I went home this week for some appointments I had to attend. Luckily I was finished class, and colleges at home were closed for Easter holidays and so I got to meet up with and spend some time with my friends and family.  I also have a friend who I’ve met here in Sweden, Jackie from Australia, who always wanted to visit Ireland but never had the opportunity to, and so I invited her to along on my trip home. We were both so excited, I was excited to get to show off the lovely Ireland to my visitor and she couldn’t wait to meet my family, see some sights, the green grass, and of course the lephrachans!

When landing in Belfast, we were greeted with a familiar downpour of rain, rain which we never quite experience in Sweden, immediately I knew we were home. The familiar accent at the airport and the use of English was nice. Coming from a non-English speaking country to this feels great!

My sister picked us up at the airport and we drove to Sligo. Along the way I was giving Jackie a grand tour of our beautiful country. She had her camera out taking photographs of the green, green farmlands, the colourful mountains, and anything else out of the ordinary she spotted on the way, she couldn’t wait to show her family in Australia the ‘green-ness’ of Ireland. I quickly realised how beautiful Ireland looks through the eyes of an outsider.

Luckily Tuesday turned out to be a lovely sunny day so we headed to the mountain of Knocknarea which is in Sligo. From the top we had some beautiful views of the coast, and of the whole of Sligo. Walking up through crowds of sheep we spoke about the differences between Sligo, Vȁxjӧ and Melbourne.

We also made a trip to the beach on Tuesday. It was great to be near the coast again as Vȁxjӧ is about an hour from the coast and so it’s difficult to visit the beaches. From living in Australia, Jackie is also used to sunny weather and being at the beach and so she loved seeing what an ‘Irish’ beach looks like in comparison to theirs.

We will be in Ireland for a few more days and so I will continue a culture blog into week 13.

Vecka Elva

As I am still waiting to receive information regarding my placement I will do a personal reflection on my time here since the beginning eleven weeks ago.

Before coming here I was nervous, about classes, incase I didn’t make many friends and incase I didn’t like it here. Eleven weeks on I have completed my classes, which although difficult at times, I really enjoyed. I enjoyed exploring other cultures and learning about other international students in my classes. Even though it was difficult, I managed to grasp a little Swedish, enough to pass my exams!!  I found this course very grammatical however I loved learning the spoken language through conversation activities.

The friends I have made here have deeply enhanced this whole experience for me. I am so lucky to have met so many people from all over the world and created such close relationships with them. It’s just a pity I can’t take them back to Stranmillis with me. My friend family have been so good to me, taking me in as one of their own, cooking for me and inviting me to excursions with them, hopefully I will get to spend much more time with them before returning home. The ‘buddy’ system here in Vȁxjӧ is brilliant too. Each Erasmus student is befriended by a Swedish student. I was lucky to get a really nice Swede who is always happy to meet me for coffee and a chat.

I have really loved this experience. I have definitely become more independent and have learned to appreciate everything that I have and all that is done for me at home.

The weather is coming and going, hopefully for our last few weeks here, we will see lots of sunshine.

That’s all for this week!

Vecka Tio

                                  

The sun is out, and we can see spring is here and summer is near! I think this week temperatures are up in the high-teens. I am currently waiting to be given a school for my placement, my classes have finished and so I am off for the week enjoying the sunshine. Luckily some of the others are also off this week and so we are all off relaxing in the sun together. I am however, in major need of a shopping trip, I don’t have any clothes for this weather, I only have my winter woollies; great excuse for some retail therapy!

We have had a nice chilled out, activity based week. Michael and I played some pool, needless to say I didn't win. Everyday we went with some friends up to a large green area for some sunbathing only to find half the student population was there. It was like Stran open day except it was for the week, a lot of banter was had!

Time to get the frisbee’s out! We joined a huge game of ultimate frisbee where I got to show off my lack of frisbee catching skills! Still this far into the semester we have so many opportunities to meet new people and make new friends. We also played some outdoor basketball with our Dutch friends, brought me back to the good ol’ days of QUB basketball.

 

We bought a barbeque this week and had some awesome barbeques cooked by non-other then or very own chef Michael Nelson. We toasted some marshmallows and relaxed; enjoying the weather with not a care in the world.

THIS is the life....

Vecka Nio

Today I will make a short personal reflection based on the weekend I have spent with my friend family.

As I was late to receive a friend family I haven’t known them for very long. I have been placed with a Swedish/American family. The father is Swedish and the mother is American. They have four beautiful kids, two boys and two girls, whom I have been able to spend lots of time with. They are four, six, nine and eleven years old. Luckily for me, they all speak excellent English because of their American heritage. They tend to speak English most of the time I am there, but sometimes will use Swedish with their father. It’s amazing the way all the children, even the four year old, can change between the two languages so easily.

I went out to them on Saturday afternoon. It was really sunny and so I borrowed the mother’s bike and brought the kids for a cycle. It was really fun to get to know the kids and allow them to spend some time getting to know me. They also really enjoyed it as they we could all go together.

We then had a barbeque with different Swedish meats which was delicious! We sat outside and got to know each other a little better. The parents were then going out that night and so I stayed and babysat the kids. They were so excited to have me sleeping over!

The next day we went for a drive through the countryside, admiring the Swedish scenery. We also went to see Kronoberg Castle which is located just outside Vȁxjӧ. The castle is located on a lake with the most beautiful scenery, luckily the sun was shining making it all the better. It was built in the 1440’s and has been her since the war between Sweden and Denmark in the 1540’s. I hope to make another trip to the castle when it opens in the beginning of summer.

I have had a great weekend with my friend family. I loved spending time with the children and telling them about life in Ireland. It was great to see a family being a family, and being allowed to be part of this. They are such lovely people who went out of their way to make me feel welcome. They make me feel like part of the family, like a big sister. Their love and hospitality has really enhanced this experience for me. I can’t wait to call again!