Week 16 6th-13th May (Professional)

I am enjoying my school placement more and more as the weeks move along as I have now settled into life in Ulenhof College. Both of the science lessons I took this week went really well and I got excellent feedback from my school tutor. I think I am starting to understand the Dutch style of teaching and surprisingly I like it. This week I also got to observe a bilingual math lesson. I found the style of teaching math was similar to home. Amazingly, I have even got used to the long two hour journey of getting to Ulenhof College. I actually find it quite peaceful having some ‘me time’ on the train journey. Living in students’ accommodation 24/7 means you are constantly with people and so I actually quite enjoy gazing out the window at the striking Dutch countryside and having the time to appreciate and reflect on the opportunities I have been given over the past months.

Pretty Dutch countryside

My school tutor being a ‘typical’ Dutch man will tells me exactly what he thinks for example, if the lesson was good or bad he will be sure to let me know. I have found that this is a very different style from home. At home we generally withhold exactly what we think to avoid hurting feelings. Even within some of my previous placements at home I have found that I have had to really question teachers to find out what they thought of my lesson. Well, I most certainly do not have this problem here in the Netherlands. My placement tutor is fantastic at giving feedback and will sit for at least an hour after every lesson to explain and help me to think about what went well and what didn’t. He is also very good at giving recommendations and explaining what he would do in certain scenarios. However, he encourages me to do what I want to do as ultimately every teacher is different and therefore it is important to develop my own style of teaching.When my tutor gave feedback this week he observed that I have been able to control the class really well and in some cases he has said he has never seen them behave so well. Perhaps, it is because they are concentrating so hard to make out my accent. I think both classes are beginning to really see me as their teacher. 

One thing I have noticed about most secondary schools in the Netherlands is that they don’t have sport facilities attached to their schools as they would do at home. Ulenhof College does not have any hockey or football pitches. Apparently it is normal in the Netherlands for young people to attend sports clubs outside of school instead of in school. I found this strange as it is opposite at home. Sports were a central part of my secondary school. I used to have hockey practice twice a week and match every Saturday morning whereas the boys would play rugby or football. I guess this is just the way they do things here.

In the module of ‘Social Responsibility’ we had a school visit this week whereby we helped out with a school project. The project was a three day long project and we were assigned to help out with one day of the project. The project goal was to help improve our world by delivering an introduction for pupils about 21^st century challenges and invite the students to search for solutions. The project was taking place in Canisius College which is located in Nijmegen about a thirty minute cycle away. I found it interesting taking part in this project as it gave me the opportunity to see what another secondary school is like in the Netherlands. It also gave me the opportunity to compare whether my own placement school is a ‘typical’ secondary school in the Netherlands.

Flat Photograph

This week we held a Tapas and wine night in our flat. I had a great night bonding with the rest of my flatmates. We tasted loots of delicious new tapas and wines that we haven’t tried before. Rachel and I have decided that we will make a recipe book to record all the delicious recipes we have tasted from all the different cultures since being on Erasmus. When I go home, I can’t wait to cook a meal for my family and show off my new culinary skills with all the marvellous recipes I have collected.

 Tapas and wine night