Nice w-e...

My practice is finished now... ;-( It was really nice during these 3 weeks! I also learned a lot! This w-e will be busy: Craizy Daisy tonight?, dinner tomorrow in the evening with Jette, Carsten, Monica, Lasse (+ girlfriend?) and the 7 Erasmus students of course! Thora's birthday on Saturday evening and football match on Sunday afternoon!!! Nice w-e, isn't it? ;-)

Lunch in Kolding

Last Saturday we went to Kolding to eat together at Hanne's place. We went there by car with Tim' brother and Sylvie's boyfriend. So we ate with Hanne and her family (her husband and her daughter). It was the first time we ate in a typical Danish house. It was really nice! We also talked a lot about different topics such as school, Denmark, our countries, food, ... Then we went to the city for a small walk and a "sightseeing tour". We came back to Haderslev at about 5 o'clock. Thanks a lot Hanne for inviting and welcoming us!!! :-)

Practice

On Monday 31st March, Tim and I started our 3 weeks of practice in Over Jerstal. We go there by bus (but there aren't a lot of busses to go there so sometimes we have to wait a long time or we're at school quite early...) I'm happy to be there with Tim: we laugh a lot together! We also observed a lot of lessons and we teach 2 French hours every Wednesday. We introduced some vocabulary about "clothes", "colours" and "the way" in French to "our" 5 pupils. It was really nice! We also give P.E. on Monday and Thursday. That´s quite funny! Teachers are very friendly, too. Karin and Jenny are the 2 teachers I'm following during my practice. I'm sometimes their assistant. I learned a lot by observing them. The school accomodations are perfect: computers, rooms, space, materials, library, ... But I can say that the biggest problem in Denmark is the "obvious lack" of DISCIPLINE!!! Teachers can't use consequences to "punish" pupils... That's a pity I think. They don't have "power" or a lot of influence on their pupils. These are too free and I'm sure there will be more and more problems in the next years if nobody can improve the situation and find a solution for this problem. I really believe that every school needs some rules and a diary in which teachers can write some notes down. After 4 notes for instance, the pupil must stay at school during 2 hours when the lessons are finished to make some extra work. This will make pupils think about their behaviour. I'm sure they prefer being at home to staying at school when their friends are free... What do you think about discipline in Denmark? Do you have solutions to sort this problem out?

Visit of Sonderborg

Well, today we went to Sonderborg (a town near the sea in the south of Denmark)to visit a museum in a castle and then we went 20km further to a "scientific park" where we tested several experiences through games. It was really great! :-)Lasse also came with us! He was a nice guide for us in the castle!!! ;-)

School visit

Today I went on a school visit with Tim in Over Jerstal School. We made a visit of the school, drank a tea during the break and then we observed 2 English lessons and 2 French lessons. The four lessons were for pupils from the 9th grade. The aim of each lesson was to make them speak as much as possible. The lessons were "organised", which is not always the case in Denamrk if I can say it like that... ;-) Pupils were really good, spoke a lot, gave their advice, ... The teacher, Karin, was really nice and welcomed us very well! :-) I'm looking forward to doing my practice there! :D

My come back in Belgium!

During the Easter break I went back to Belgium to visit my family and some friends. It was great! :-) But the journey by train was difficult: I was tired because I didn't sleep a lot... :-( I visited my 2 new cousins... They're really cute! I went out some times with my friends. We dance, talked and ... drink Jupiler, too! ;-) We went to the "Cavalcade" in Herve on Easter Monday. Wonderful!I also played football with my team. We won 4-2 and I scored the 4th goal! My favourite football team (Standard de Liège) won a match and is first in the championship with 7 points more than the second team. We'll be champion this year!!! :D Well, my week was really exciting! Now, I'm back in Denmark and I'm looking forward to having teaching practice for 3 weeks. I hope I'll learn a lot and meet nice people! :p

The international week

This week was the international week. So we met students from other countries: João and José from Portugal, Marije from the Netherlands, Bianca and Yasmin from Austria and Sabrina, Sarah and Melanie from Germany but also girls from Denmark.

On Monday we learned to know each other first before having a course about body language and a Danish lesson. Then we ate together at school in the evening. We talked about many topics such as ourselves, our hobbies, the school system in our countries, ... Daniel, Tim and I also went to our football practice with João and José from 8.45 pm to 10 pm. It was really funny! ;-)

On Tuesday we had a lesson about a few stereotypes linked to the countries we're from. My group had to represent Portugal as you can see. It was really nice! Then we had a lesson about rhymes and songs. We sang and played together. In the afternoon we went to Ribe in order to visit a museum, see the sea and walk into town. It was cool except for the weather... :-(

On Wednesday I had to go on a school visit with Tim but the teacher's child was ill. So we stayed at school relaxing a bit. ;-) We ahd then a discussion with the other students about what we observed during the morning. It was rewarding! The hip hop lesson was also cancelled because the teacher was ill, too. So we finished earlier. In the evening I went to the football practice with Daniel and Tim. We had good time playing in the rain. :D

On Thursday we followed a lecture about "Vienna" and books and sounds landscapes. It was quite interesting. The afternoon was devoted to the "International Day". We (erasmus students and other students from Europe) showed to Danish students and teachers what we are doing here in denmark: portfolio, lessons, weblogs, visits, ... We also let people taste some typical food from our countries. Delicious! ;-) We also drank 2 strong alcohols (one was 54% and the other one about 40%).

In the evening, we went to the "Friday Café" to eat pizza's and sing for the Eurovision contest. Tim and I loved a lot the 2 Portuguese guys (João and José) and their rap! We made flags to support them. But the 3 girls from the Czech Republic had a good song with a nice choreography. Congratulations! Kate, you're the best one! ;-) Then we went to "Tribunen" and the "Craizy Daisy"... It was perfect! There were a lot of people, we danced and laughed (and drank?) a lot. :D

Today we are going to finish our portfolio, discuss about the whole week and have a lunch together. :-) Then, I'll leave tonight for a few days to Belgium... ;-( But as a conclusion, I can say that the week was really exciting: I made new friends, met people from other countries and cultures, had fun, learned a lot (differences between Belgium and other countries: school system, culture, way of life, ...), ... I hope we'll keep contact! If you want to come to Belgium, you're the most welcome!!! :-)

Karaoke party at the Friday Café

Yesterday evening, we went to the Friday Café for a "karaoke party". Daniel, Charlotte and Iva sang together just for fun. It was very nice! Then Charlotte, Iva and Kate sang "skater boy" from Avril Lavigne. They were... euh... ok! :-) I believe that Kate likes singing! It's in her blood. ;-) Daniel also won the competition. Congratulations, Daniel! He received flowers and drinks. ;-) I didn't sing because I'm a poor singer and I didn't want the weather to be bad because of my "beautiful voice"... :D

School visit and concert

Today we went on school visit in the morning. I went with Kate, Sylvie and Tim to the biggest public school in Haderslev called St Severin School (or something like that :D). We made a visit of the school, drank a tea during the break and then we observed 2 English lessons. The first one was a 6th grade: they play a game called "the gift game" the whole lesson (see the picture I made with one group, they were very kind!). The aim was to make them speak as much as possible. The second one was a 7th grade: it was the first "organised" lesson I had ever seen in Denmark. Pupils learned some grammar, spoke a lot, gave their advice, ... The teacher also used a "special" blackboard if I can call it like this. You can project pictures on it and you can also write on these pictures. That's quite modern and nice! We don't have this in Belgium yet... (and probably will never have this... :-( )

In the afternoon, we attended a concert called "concert across borders". It lasted for about 30 minutes. There were people (debutants and professionals) who created music with all kind of instruments: drums, mouth, triangle, ... That was quite amazing!

Our 2 dances

Today we had a dance lesson with Danish students in the morning and also another one in the afternoon but jut for the Erasmus students where we had to create a dance in group. So we created two dances. We laughed a lot today! Here are the movies about our two dances from today. If you want to learn them, you can... ;-)

From the left to the right: Tim, Manu (that's me!), Charlotte, Kate, Iva and Daniel.

School visit

Last Monday afternoon we went to a boarding school (at about 10km from Haderslev) with pupils from the 9th and 10th grades. We started with a short visit of the shool organised by 2 pupils from the school. Then, we attended an English lesson where the pupils had to mime in pairs some actions they had written on small pieces of paper, ask us questions about ourselves and make a sort of brainstorming about a topic they had talk about the week before: South Africa. After that we observed 2 dance lessons where the pupils had to repeat some exercises and create some choreographies. It was a nice experience: we learned and laughed a lot! ;-)

Creating a story on music

Today we had a music lesson just after a lecture about "Aesthetics and Learning" given by Flemming Rasmussen who told us Art was very important at school to help pupils develop their fantasy, imagination, creative spirit, ... in order to make them achieve a high level of bloom. During the music lesson, we performed a little "play" in front of the other groups. I was in the same group than Charlotte and Tim. We created a story about a beautiful princess who wanted to marry a handsome prince. But the princess' father, the King, refused because he wanted her daughter to marry another prince in order to get more money. The princess begged her father and, when she realised she would never been exauced, she started crying... ;-( We also repeated some songs we had learned last time in order to sing them during the "International week".

The 3 birthdays

Last Saturday we celebrated 3 birthdays: Tim's, Daniel's and Charlotte's. We ate together a delicious buffet at Charlotte and Iva's flat. We also laugh a lot during the whole evening. I was very happy to see Gérard (Charlotte's boyfriend) again! This evening will probably be one of the best moments I'll spend in Denmark!

PS: We also went to the Craizy Daisy on Thursday night to celebrate these events... ;-)

Art and cooking

Yesterday, we had art in the morning and cooking in the afternoon.

The art lesson was really nice! We were like

children drawing and painting. We also painted on mirrors. I had never done that before. It was quite strange but funny! I learned how to draw a face with some details. I also draw Daniel as you can see... I find my picture funny even if it isn't so realistic. I'm sorry Daniel... ;-)

The cooking lesson was exciting: we cooked different meals in groups for 1 hour 1/2 before tasting all of them! I made the Belgian chocolate mousse.

Ingredients for 4 people:

- 4 eggs

- 100 gr chocolate (black chocolate, 70% if possible)

- 4 tablespoons sugar Steps: - separate the egg whites from the yolks

- put the chocolate on a plate and make it melt above boiling water

- whip the egg whites in a bowl

- whip the yolks and sugar together for 1 or 2 minutes

- add the chocolate to the yolks and sugar and whip the whole

- add the egg whites and whip the whole

- put the whole in the fridge for 6 to 8 hours

=> then, enjoy your dessert!!!

PS: the chocolate mousse is easy to prepare, cheap and delicious...

;-)

3 days in Copenhagen

From Tuesday to Thursday we took a trip to Copenhagen with 2 students from the CVU University: Monica and Carsten. It was great! We saw and visited a lot of places such as the design centre, the Parliament, the Little Mermaid, the National Museum, the Black Diamond, the harbour, ... We also saw the guards and ate a buffet at the RizRaz. It was delicious! We had a free day on Thursday. I went to the "big" shopping centre and I bought 2 caps and a tie for a "very good" price. We also took a boat cab and it was really pleasant! The sun was shining that day. Our hotel was located in H.C. Andersen Boulevard. I also took a lot of pictures about differents things (names of streets, statues, restaurants, pubs, ...) connected with H.C. Andersen in order to feed my resources for my thesis about the famous Danish author. According to me, Copenhagen is a very big city where you can do a lot of things. We had only 3 days to visit it but we saw the most important places in the capital city. Thank you everybody for this trip!

PS: Carsten to Tim: "If you touch me, I'll kill you!" ;-)

Presentation of 'a secret' in the school

This is a short video made at school with Charlotte. We went walking in the town for 3 hours this Sunday morning in order to make video movies and pictures of Haderslev to show the city to our teachers and other students during the oral presentation of our thesis in June.

Hertug Hans Skole

Last Thursday morning I went to Hertug Hans Skole with Kate, Sylvia and Daniel. It was a nice school visit! I learnt a lot and noticed some differences about schools, pupils' behaviour, education, ... between Denmark and Belgium.

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Here are some examples:

-schools are well-equipped: computers, library school, table tennis tables, ...

-a lesson lasts for 45 minutes and not for 50 minutes like in Belgium

-when pupils have a listening comprehension, there also have the text so they can listen to it and read it at the same time

-the rules about discipline are not the same: in Denmark, pupils can put their feet on the chair, wear a hood in the class, get up to put their waste in the rubbish bin without asking for it, ...

-pupils call their teacher by his/her first name

-pupils are really good at English: reading, speaking, pronounciation, ...

-...

The Erasmus programme in Haderslev

During our Erasmus stay in Haderslev at the CVU Sønderjylland University, we're going to follow a special programme called "Living and Learning Together". The programme is very varied and proposes a lot of things such as excursions, lectures, school visits, training sessions, ... Thus, we're going to win experience and knowledge about the Danish culture and the culture from the countries we all come from. In order to achieve this mission, we're going to create a weblog and a portfolio. The different courses we're going to attend are the following ones:

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- Module 1: Comparative Studies

=> This module seems to be particularly interesting because I'll be able to compare the educational system in schools in Denmark and in Belgium. And I'll point out some similarities and differences. This will bring me a lot for my future career as a language teacher.

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- Module 2: Aesthetic Learning Processes

=> In this module, I'm going to learn new ways of teaching such as music and art (painting, drawing, ...). During these childish activities, I'll have fun with the other Erasmus students. It will be a new experience I've never known before in Belgium.

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- Module 3: Citizenship and Globalisation

=> Citizenship is central in the education in Denmark. Children are taught how to behave correctly in the society. I'll be able to make comparaisons between Denmark and Belgium. This will probably give me another view of the obvious link between citizenship and education. I'll learn new cultural elements about denmark.

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- Module 4: International week

=> The international week will give me the opportunity to meet students from many countries in Europe and I hope it will be a rich experience. I'll learn new things about their culture, way of living, ...

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- Module 5: School Experience

=> This module will bring me a new experience about teaching. It mustn't be the same in Denmark than in Belgium. I firmly believe I'll learn a lot of things (school experience, ways of teaching, materials to use, ...) when I'm in contact with teachers and pupils. Discussions with the other Erasmus students and the teachers from the CVU University will also give me another view and other ways of teaching, oblige me to think about it and allow me to adapt my own teaching methods.

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- Module 6: / (see Module 1 and 2)

=> /

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- Module 7: Physical Education (optional subject)

=> I've chosen this subject because I like sport very much. The theory is in Danish and I hope I'll learn some interesting things. I'm looking forward to practising several sports with other Danish students. It's also a way of evacuating stress and doing sport to stay fit.

Tim and me telling a story

For the course "Danish storytellers", we´ve been asked to work on a story and tell it to the other members of the class. I made the exercise with Tim and we hed the story "Little Claus and Big Claus". It was a nice exercise which I will probably use during with our pupils when I´m a teacher.

Brainstorming about Denmark

These are our productions from the course "the Danish school system and cultural dimensions" with Jette Laursen. We made a brainstorming in group about Denmark. We´re going to do the same exercise with the countries we come from. If you want to help me, answer this question, please: "What do you know about Belgium?" Thanks! :-)

Me cleaning the toilet... :-(

This is me cleaning the toilet from our dirty bathroom while Daniel was cleaning the sink and the mirror. It must absolutely be done... Now, it´s really clean! We form a good team Daniel, don´t we? :D

Erasmus group 2008

Here is the Erasmus group 2008 in Haderslev! Let me introduce every member to you: Tim and Charlotte from Belgium, Daniel from Germany, Sylvia, Kate and Iva from the Czech Republic and me from Belgium, too. This was the first evening we spent together at Charlotte and Iva´s flat. We ate pasta and drank some wine. We´ll do that again during our stay in Denmark, won´t we? ;-)

My class in Belgium

This is my class in Belgium : Cha, Ge, Vero, Deb, Zap, Drey, M-P, kimou, Chri, Nath, M-L, Seb, Marie, Caro, Mr. Brossel, Manu, Mela, Juju and Vaness. (Carole is on Erasmus for the whole year...)

Haderslev

The red part you can see on the map is the region where Haderslev is located in Denmark. Haderslev is situated in a valley, leading from Vojens to Haderslev Fjord and the Baltic Sea. It´s a small city with moreless 33,000 inhabitants. Haderslev was presumably founded by Vikings. Then, it had become one of the main trading centres in Southern Jutland. In 1327, Haderslevhus, the royal castle, was mentioned for the first time. In the following centuries the city prospered, building both the Gothic Cathedral and the second castle of Hansborg. Due to the plague in Copenhagen, King Christian IV was married there. In the 16th century, the city became one of the first Scandinavian places to embrace the Lutheran reformation. From 1864 it was part of Prussia, and as such part of the North German Confederation, and from 1871 onwards, part of the German Empire. In the 1920 Schleswig Plebiscite that brought Northern Schleswig to Denmark, 38.6 % of Haderslev's inhabitants voted for remaining part of Germany and 61.4 % voted for the cession to Denmark.

My new school

This is the place where I go to school with the other Erasmus students in Haderslev. It´s a university called CVU Sonderjylland. It´s very different from my school in Belgium! Everything is modern here and the school has got a lot of facilities such as new computers, big buildings, ... When will we have this in Liege?

Denmark

I´m in Denmark (in Haderslev) during 3 months for an Erasmus stay. Have you ever been to Denmark?