God bless Music and Physical Education

I must say that this week I've enjoyed Music and Physical Education most. Both of these subjects were carefully prepeared, included a lot of motivation and we were really active and had no chance to get bored.
Although I'm not much into sport, I thoroughly enjoyed P.E., because Jakob - our teacher - prepared a great number of interesting games for us and he himself was really friendly and nice.
I was also keen on the music lesson as we learned one great song in English and learned some tricks how to use music in other classes. Also the music teacher Else was great and I'm looking forward to seeing her again.
What I did not enjoy at all was the Danish lesson. Our teacher probably wants us to learn a lot of phrases - but the problem is that we still do not know how to pronounce them and she repeats everything twice at most. She also wants us to read dialogues, although we are hopeless at reading in Danish. Less would be more in this case, some basic phrases would be perfectly sufficient for our purposes... I'm really getting under pressure during her lessons as I do not know how to pronounce anything and I'm feeling really stupid.
I quite liked the first part of Comparative Education with Tove Heidemann, as the first part of it was focused on social psychology. In the second part she wanted to tell us something about encyclopaedic approach in teaching. However, the information she was telling us were about 10 years old and the current situation is totally different. Moreover, Tove said she is not a teacher ad you can recognize it very easily as she wasn't able to answer some of our simple questions concerning education in Denmark...
I quite liked Globalisation and citizenship with Torbjorn as we discussed a lot. But 3 hours are too much, although there were some breaks. I also didn't like the idea, that after 45 minutes he let us go for lunch for 45 minutes and then we were to continue in studying. When you have lunch at home you are not feeling like going to school again. In my opinion, it's better to skip breaks and finish earlier than to have 3-4 breaks during the lesson.
Jorn Buch is a real historian - he's keen on everything he's telling us but we are not keen on it at all. Although he should tell us something about Danish history, he spends the most of the lesson telling us some information about Germany.

Unfortunate events in our kitchen

On Sunday evening me and Katka were sitting in the living room and drinking strong black tea. As midnight was approaching Katka got hungry and decided to heat some rolls in the microwave. She put them in and turned the microwave on. Two minutes later the kitchen was full of steam, black smoke and terrible smell of burned rolls. We opened the window and the front door but the smell is still there.
On Monday Zeliha tried to prepare some French fries but the oil in the frying pan caught fire and we had to put the pan out and wait until the fire went out. In the picture you can see the burning frying pan.:-)
I think that we must be staying in a haunted house because something strange happens every day. Maybe we can make a horror film here...

A Trip to Copenhagen

On Wednesday 17th we left for Copenhagen. We travelled by bus and by train and the journey took about 3 hours and 30 minutes. After our arrival we went to the Danhostel, got installed there and went sightseeing.
On the first day in Copenhagen we took the City Tour Bus and visited the Rundetaarn (built by Christian IV between 1637 and 1642, it used to be an observatory, a library and a library). There was a marvellous view of the whole city, although the weather was a bit cold and windy. We also walked along Stroget (a shopping street number 1 in Copenhaged and the longest shopping street in Europe, 1.1 km long). In the evening we had a delicious dinner in a Chinese restaurant. We paid 100 DKK and could eat anything we wanted. No wonder we spent the rest of the day lying in bed and doing nothing.
On Thursday, Feb 18th we started the day with a delicious breakwast and then went sightseeing. We could see the Royal Library (called The Black Diamond as it shines at night). We wanted to go on a boat trip but the boats didn't sail due to the frozen river. That's why we had to walk for about 40 minutes to see The Little Mermaid. But it was worth-doing as The Little Mermaid is probably the most famous symbol of Copenhagen and is really beautiful. You can also come to her and touch her.
We also went to Amalienborg Castle and watched changing of the guards accompanied by great music. Then we went to the oldest cafe in Copenhagen called Sommersko.
In the evening we went to the Mediterranean Restaurant Riz Raz. The buffet there was flavourful and we kept eating until we got extremely full. To get rid of the energy we gained we went out and searched for a disco. Unfortunately we didn't find the one we were looking for but we discovered an Australian Bar with extremely friendly prices - a bottle of bier for just 10 DKK. So walking back to the hostel was really funny!:-)
On Friday 19th we packed our suitcases and got ready for going back to Haderslev. Before that we wisited the National Museum which is enormous and has a great number of fascinating exhibitions. I especially liked the Children's museum with replicas of toys you could play with, and the Café where I ordered wonderful hot chocolate.
Everything in Copenhagen worked like clockwork except for catching the bus. The train was a little bit delayed and that's why we didn't catch the bus to Haderslev. As the result we had to wait for an hour for another bus. But we did shopping instead to kill the time.
To sum up: Copenhagen is a wonderful city and I really enjoyed staying there. I would like to go there again in spring when everything is green and weather is more suitable for sightseeing!

Happy Valentine's Day

Love is in the air - can you feel it? I sure can...:-)
Sunday was a funny day. Our friend Eliska Skalova came from the Czech Republic to visit her boyfriend and us, too. We were really happy to see her, although she didn't bring Rum we desperately needed.:-)
Then electricity in our house stoped working all of a sudden. Although we tried to exchange the fuses, there was still no light in the kitchen and the fridge, washing machine and freezer did not work. The funny thing was that we had some clothes in the washing machine. We had to get our landlord and meanwhile decided to take out the clothes of the washing machine, squeeze it by hands and put it on the cloatheshorse. We got a bit depressed so we decided to play the piano and sing some songs to release the pressure. No wonder the music band on Titanic played songs until the very end.:-))
Then we went to Vojta's and prepared Vienna's schnitzel with potatosmash. This was without a doubt the best part of the day!

Friday Night Fever

On Friday 12th we didn't stay long at school. We just discussed what we'd experienced so far and evalauated the lessons we'd had. I was quite to surprised to see that Jete is open to criticism. She took down some notes and I'm pretty convinced that she'll do her best to improve the things in the programme we weren't satisfied with. Than we planned our trip to Copenhagen.
After school we, Katka and Vojta went to a pizza restaurant. Then we bought some beer and went to Vojta's place. In the evening we went to Student's Cafe and had a really good time there. We were drank beer, danced, talked a lot and went to bed at 3.30 A.M.:-)) You can see some photos....

Danish and European stereotypes

Jete Lauren's classes are always very well prepared and interesting. And Jete is such a great teacher - always in a good mood, helpful and really interested in our problems and worries. We were talking about stereotypes - how they work, why people think in stereotypes and so on.
Before I came to Denmark, I thought that Denmark is quite an expensive countryk, Danish people are quite calm and reserved and that Danish school system is on a very high level. I would say that these ideas are quite true, although Danish people I've met so far were rather friendly and hearty. I didn't have any prejudices against Denmark and I really like this country. Maybe I thought that Danish people are more "green" and environmentally friendly. But I would say that the opposite is true. They seem not to recycle as there are no containers for recycled garbage /paper, glass, plastics. Also at school they waste paper - they use just one side of a paper sheet.
We played an interesting game with Jete. We were supposed to introduce ourselves in stereotypes. You can tell I'm Czech because...

• I drink beer a lot
• I love company and being with friends
• I am quite skilful
• I don't like rules and am quite good at breaking rules
• I often complain about things I do not like
  

Danish, Aesthetic learning processes, Globalisation and citizenship

First of all, I would like to say that here in Denmark there is a big difference in how each class is done. Some of them are lecture-like (Aesthetic learning processes, Globalisation and citizenship), some require our activity. I have to say that I prefer the latter because it's virtually impossible to pay attention to what teacher is saying for three hours, although there are some breaks.
Our Danish teacher tries to make her classes active - we worked in pairs, made circles and practised the Danish phrases, and played a game with a ball. It was all quite fine. But a big problem is that we do not know how to pronounce the phrases correctly. We repeat after the teacher, but the class is too big and I cannot hear her properly. We also repeat just twice, which is not enough. She also said that some activites we do are boring. In my opinion the teacher should never say anything like this because the moment he/she says it, the pupils lose their attention because they do not want to do anything that is boring. I also wish we learned some basic phrases like Good Morning, Thank you, etc... Because when I come to a supermarket, I really do not know what to say.

Aesthetic learning processes had a very promising begining. We played some ice-breaker games and we really got the right mood for studying. However, after the wonderful beggining an extremely boring lecture began. I don't even know how the matter of the lecture could be used in a classroom. If we had done only some useful games and activities like in the first part of the lesson, it would have been much better.

The first part of Globalisation and citizenship was also like a lecture. We learned why it is important to learn about citizenship. Then we worked in groups. We were given a sheet of paper with thoughts of different historians, philosophers and scholars. Our task was to discuss these ideas in groups and choose 3 statements we like and give some arguments and find 1 that we do not agree with. It was quite a good activity but the ideas were really complicated, written in very advanced English and I think that they weren't understandable for everybody. It was difficult even for me, although I study English. But the teacher was very nice and I quite liked this class.

I'm also getting used to Iben Jensen's teaching style. She's a little bit crazy (in a good way), funny and energetic. When she enters the class she's like a huricane and everybody has to pay attention to what she's saying. This time we discussed how to start classes and how to motivate students and we also worked in groups of 3 people and talked about different pictures and tried to find how they could be used at school.

Language and Identity & History

On Tuesday 9th we had Language and Indentity and History seminars. The aim of the first one was to make us aware of our perceiving languages. We drew our language portrait (we placed foreing languages into a picture of a human body and had to explain why we placed them like that). Then we worked in groups and discussed how different nations understand the meaning of different colours. We found out that for some people black colour is a symbol of death and darkness, for some it might be a positive colour. On the other hand, whereas white colour represents wedding and happiness, for someone it's a picture of the death. Also pink colour is perceived differently - some people love it, some cannot stand it. I enjoyed this seminar a lot. The only problem was that the teacher spoke too much, but she prepared her lesson carefully and we did a great number of different activities, such as drawing, creating a poem, reading, discussing, etc.
The History lesson was focused on some key events from Danish history and on the fact that European countries have a lot in common. Unfortunately, this lesson was a bit boring, although the teacher is very nice. In the end, the teacher livened it up because he asked us to sing our national anthems. So we did it and it was fun.

Studying in Denmarkfor more than a week I'm feeling that some teachers here make basic pedagogical mistakes - they speak too much, speak while they are facing the whiteboard and often aren't willing to lead a dialogue with students. They also do not use activating methods and there lessons seem to be scarcely prepared. They just enter the room, play a film or speak and speak and then go away. They do not want students to be active. Their aim seems to be just kill time they have for the class.

Storytellers - Danish literature and film

We had 2 seminars of this name - one on Friday 5th, one on Monday 8th. The first one was dedicated to Karen Blixen - a prominent Danish writer. We watched a documentary film on her life. Moreover, there is quite a famous film about her which is called "Out of Africa" with Meryl Strepp and Robert Redford starring. The film was interesting but too long and it was quite difficult to concentrate on it. In the second part of this lesson we divided into groups and prepared presentations which were supposed to introduce our country to others but we had to include a story in it.

On Monday we presented our presentations to other students. Some presentations were very well prepared but some students presented factual information, not a story. Our Czech group decided to tell others o tale of the Astronomical Clock in Prague. We used some extracts from "Goat Movie" and our presentation was quite successful.
It's interesting how different nations presented their countries in many different ways.

Spanish girls used just music, pictures and text and didn't say a word. Turkish girls had a nice presentation but they didn't know what some of pictures used in the presentation depict and their speech was sometimes a bit chaotic.
On Monday we also talked about Hans Christian Andersen and watched a film about his life. The film wasn't bad but it was too long - more than 3 hours. It would have been definitely a better idea if we had watched it at home. Watching films is not a really good idea because students got bored after a while and they do not pay attention!

Teaching Practice

On Thursday we visited Kristne Friskole in Haderslev. I and Katka took part in 3 lessons - a Math lesson, a Science lesson and an English lesson. Each of them was taught by a different female teacher.
What surprised me during Math was the fact that there was an assistent present during the class. He helped the children with their tasks and also kept an eye on them so that they should pay attention to the teacher. The teacher had a microphone, because of her weak voice and I think it's a bright idea. On the other hand, there was no motivation in the first part of the lesson and also no summary and greeting in the end. When the bell rang, the teacher just went away.
The Science lesson was a way interesting - the teacher wanted to explain how water is being purified. That's why she prepared 3 experiments for kids. However, it was mainly she who was active in the lesson. Children sometimes helped her, but that was all. In the end they had to cut out some pictures and stick them into a sheet with the water ring on it.
The last lesson was the best. The teacher was extremely friendly and helpful and she spoke just in English. She told us that the children are allowed to speak in Danish, but just when they ask or explanation. Otherwise, they need to speak in English. I, Katka, Margherita and Viki became participant in the lesson because we joined the groups of children and pupils were to ask us questions. Then they presented the information they discovered. After that we sang a childish song from our country and than we listened to an English prayer sang by the teacher and her pupils.
After the practice we had a seminar in which we discussed what we had experienced. The seminar teacher told us that they DO NOT TEST CHILDREN in Denmark and the main principal is that they let children do what they like to do. Teachers are also not limited in what they teach as there is no curriculum. All of these facts were quite surprising for me and I must say that I do not like them a lot. I'm used to the Czech system of education which is rather formal.

Impressions of Our Courses

First day at school we had a kind of introductory seminar. On Tuesday we had a computer lesson and we learned how to keep a weblog and how to update it. The afternoon lesson was canceled because the teacher couldn't arrive because of the snow.
On Wednesday we had a Danish lesson and I was really loking forward to it as I wanted to learn some basic phrases. Unfortunately, this lesson was a big disappointment. Although the teacher used a good excercise as motivation (we had to guess at the meaning of Danish words which are common in other languages, too), otherwise she broke nearly all didactic rules concerning language teaching.
Although we didn't know how to pronounce phrases correctly, we had to practice them and repeat 3 phrases them in circles. No matter that everybody pronounced it differently. Moreover, she shot questions at us afterwards and wanted us to answer in a flash.
She also refused to transcribe the phrases on the blackboard so that we could pronounce them correctly and didn't even know how to write the Czech Republic and Czech.
The art lesson in the afternoon was much better. We tried to draw ourselves and we've done a lot of different techniques. We drew ourselves without looking at the paper, we measured our faces with a pencil, we also tried drawing with a white crayon. The teacher was really nice and friendly and I'm looking forward to seeing her again. You can view my self-portrait and judge how successful I was.:-)

First Days At School

Our studying in Denmark is divided into a few modules. We are not asked to take tests and exams but to do homework we are given and specially keep this weblog that reflects our impressions of Danish educational system and their lifestyle.
Teachers seems to be kind and really helpful. We were even given coffee, tea and some refreshments during our first lesson. All information given to us was clear and concise and we received a file with schedule, maps and brochures about Denmark, which helped us a lot.
In my opinion, everything is organized perfectly at this university.

Me

Our house - our castle

On Sunday we moved house. Now we`re staying in a marvellous house, with an ultra modern kitchen. However, we as students from Eastern Europe had some problems operating these high-technologies but we made it in the end.

Everybody has his or her own room and we share the kitchen, living room and bathroom.

Esther, 3 Polish girls and one girl from Turkey live on the first floor and I and Katka have 2 rooms available on the ground floor plus the living room. Excellent.

Leaving for Denmark

Got up at 2 A.M.

Set off at 2.30.

Arrived at Ruzyne Airport at 4.30.

Having my luggage packed in the protective foil I self checked myself and got my boarding card.

Get on the plane with Vojta and Katka and arrived in Denmark at 8.25.

Searching for the right train in Copenhagen. Forgot to get off the train in Kolding - 1 extra hour for traveling = more Danish places seen. Then went back to Kolding, waited for the bus to Haderslev. Meanwhile practised our German, Polish, Russian and other languages. Finally arrived in Haderslev at 18.15. Brian picked us up and lead us to our temporary flat. Walking with heavy suitcases was extremely demanding.

Party with Spanish girls, Esther and Cedric from Belgium in the evening. Our slogan: Rum - rum - rum. However, just black Danish bier was available.

What SURPRISED US MOST on Saturday:

• Silent Compartments on the train - no speaking is allowed there
• Metro trains without the driver
• Rather expensive tickets for public transport