3 weeks at HJORTEBROSKOLEN...

Our Erasmus stay is coming to its end. I feel sad when I realize that in 5 days I have to leave our great flat, this magnificent town, Denmark.....but that`s life and we cannot do much about it:)



The most significant event of past weeks were our visits at HJORTEBRONSKOLEN, where we were observing and also teaching....last week. So my last blog`s reports is going to be about this experience.



The school building itself is quite modern and spacious. It is situated in the southern part of Haderslev, at the edge of the town...



In the building the swimming pool is available and nice playground which seems to be an essential part of every danish elementary school- a perfect place for pupils to spend their breaks there.


Following things worth being mentioned:

- all teachers usually spend their breaks together in the large stuffroom with tea and coffee available X in the CZ teachers usually have their own cabinets( usually for 2-3 persons).

- the atmosphere at the danish elementary school is more peaceful in comparison to the Czech one, teachers are not shouting at the pupils all the time as it is typical for the CZ schools.

- Danish pupils are better disciplined.

- " Learning for the life" - danish pupils usually know that they are taught things they can use in their real lives X in the CZ unfortunately pupils have to learn many facts by heart that are often useless, but it is getting better nowadays....

- the danish school system is very decentralized, we could say that every teacher prepares his/her code of conduct for each individiual class.

- it was really surprising when we realized they didnt have enough money for buying textbooks for the pupils. And those ones they had are really old, eg. 20 years so I think they cannnot be actuel in many aspects.

- we taught 6 lessons at all and in my opinion 5 of them were really successful:) We were two teachers in the lesson-me and misa- and it helped us a lot...:) We taught 6th,7th and 8th grade!

- at the end we received a certifacete that we spent 3 week at hjertebroskolen, observing and teaching...( I hope it will impress our future employer- a headmaster...:)

At last but not least I would like to thank Hanne Theilgaard- the coordinator who helped us a lot and was always ready to answer our questions:)

Danish students trained to be teachers of English....

On Friday 27 we - me, Misa and Eliska- were allowed to see how typical lesson for Danish students who are trained to be teacher of English looks like.....and we were quite impressed!According to what we saw I think that in school they are dealing with things which they are going to deal with also during their career. They analysed many textbooks- their advanteges and disadvantages, but what I appreciated the most was the part in which they analysed essay written by some teenage girl,types of mistakes she made,etc.

Practical Visits

On Wednesday 25, we had again practical visits and I went to HJORTENBROSKOLEN, which is situated in southern part of hadesrlev, quite away from the place where I live and that`s why I had some difficulties with finding the school but finally I managed to get there, almost in time:)The school itself is placed in quite new and a very spacious building, but the amount of the pupils is only about 400...it means that every pupil has plenty of place for himself/herself:)I was allowed to observe three history lessons and two english ones...at the very beggining I observed history class for the pupils with learning difficulties, I was said that there can`t be more than nine pupils in classes like these and I also appreciated the textbooks, which are organized "thematically" - not chronologically- until the 5th grade. In one of the english lessons the pupils were practising English on school notebooks where special learning program is installed, I even tried some of these activities and I think that for the children it must be much more interesting than ordinary lessons....On the other hand, I was also surprised- but this time in a bad way - when another english teacher told me that they don`t have enough money for buying textbooks for each pupil. So I enjoyd this visit very much and it is probable that I will teach some lessons in this school and I am looking forward to it very much, because I have no doubt that it will be unforgettable experience....:)

Hertug Hanse Skole Visit

Today we visited the typical Danish elementary school named "Hertug Hans Skole". Local teachers were very nice and allowed us to become the part of the class. At the beginning we observed the german lesson and then we worked with three girls who have some learning troubles. I was surprised by several facts: the candles that are very popular here in Denmark were also in the class, the lessons were longer than in the Czech republic( two 45 min. lessons instead of one) and the pupils when being left alone, even without teacher´s presence, work very well....I am afraid that this wouldn`t work in the Czech rep....We are going to teach several lessons at some danish school and I really look forward to it.