04.02.2014
Well hello.. University is still going well. I am well ahead on a assignment in Curriculum Studies. I am writing about the whole mentally of the school system and why I think that teachers should have a lot of freedom when teaching the kids.
University only takes up quite a small percentage of my time here in the Republik of Mancunia. I have got myself a little nice local pub with a lot of local beers on - something I enjoy! The guy working there, Francis is trying to learn a bit of Danish so we have some funny conversations. In general I meet many different funny and interesting characters around Manchester. Somehow ended up chatting with three old guys for a couple of hours the other day!
The people I live with are really entertaining too. Christine who owns the flat and are in her fifties have got quite a bit of knowledge on a lot of different topics. She used to be a journalist for a big national newspaper, have since owned various businesses and is now sort of in between and trying to find something new to do. She is really interested in mindfulness, the power of attraction and meditation - topics I've never personally given a second thought. This means that we have many interesting conversations and I must admit that I actually find myself being very fascinated in parts of mindfulness and the power of attraction now. There are many ways of defining those topics but basically if you really believe in something you will automatically sent out vibes to the world, and the chance of it happening is increasing. It sounds really simple but a lot of people could probably do with thinking more about it. There are many ways of defining it though and a large part of it is nonsense. "Wish something and the universe will sent it back", nah wish something and work for it would probably be better, mate. Some of the experiments made on the subjects are quite interesting though.
I even went along to one of her meditation classes today. Special experience that! I was expecting a load of people dressed up as monks but it turned out everyone seemed quite "normal". Because I was new in the class I even had a few special talks with some of the people arranging the whole thing. Some of it is too much for me but some of their points are definitely valid I think. "Don't think too much about getting this job, cause another better opportunity might be around the corner if you don't get it" "Think too much about getting ill and you will surely get ill". Its just a nice positive look at life really and I actually really enjoyed it. Very different to drinking Guinness in the pub last night anyway!
tirsdag den 4. februar 2014
søndag den 26. januar 2014
26.01.2014
Seems i forgot that I was writing a blog, oh well..
Since last time I have had my first day in placement. Special experience that was! First problem was to dress up to the occasion. In Britain you won't be allowed to just wear casual clothes at work, so I had to find myself a boring shirt and a tie (which i didn't use). If you ask me they should try to improve the school instead of focusing on age old traditions such as dress codes. If you can't gain the respect from the kids by wearing normal clothes then teaching is probably not for you.
Anyway all the teachers here are really keen to talk about the Danish school system seeing as according to them "it just works the way you guys do it". That is probably true to some extent but there is certainly room for improvements in Denmark too. I hope the Brits can learn a bit from our laid back style though. A teacher here is looking more formal than a prime minister in Denmark..
My day at the school started of with me being introduced to some of the teachers. The school I am at is based in an area of Manchester that is quite dominated by Manchester city fans which meant that I had to start the day off by looking at muppets drinking there tea out of sky blue city mugs..
We then all met up in the assembly hall to sing a little song about some guy called Jesus, who apparently is to thank for the well being of the kids in this school. I really find it weird to mix religion with the education system!
The teacher I spent the day with was a friendly guy called Mr Briggs. He seemed to have quite a bit of sense too, and secretly told me that he wasn't a Christian and was strongly against the way the school seemed to be more and more involved in religious matters.
The lessons were an experience.. Quite different to the way we do it in Denmark. The kids here seemed very focussed when they were told to work and the level of discipline was pretty impressive. When told what to do they all seem very clever. They don't seem to posses the same level of individuality as Danish kids though. The kids were all about 10 years old but weren't allowed any form of group work which I personally think is a shame. To be able to work in groups is a really important skill for their future work life.
I will be in placement at this school every Wednesday till April so maybe I will have the chance to learn them a few things..
This Thursday we went to a large beer festival in town. What a lovely selection of beers they had!
Last thing on my mind for this post is that United have finally managed to land a new signing.. Mr Juan Mata for a record fee of 37 million pounds. Hopefully he'll turn our season around!
Seems i forgot that I was writing a blog, oh well..
Since last time I have had my first day in placement. Special experience that was! First problem was to dress up to the occasion. In Britain you won't be allowed to just wear casual clothes at work, so I had to find myself a boring shirt and a tie (which i didn't use). If you ask me they should try to improve the school instead of focusing on age old traditions such as dress codes. If you can't gain the respect from the kids by wearing normal clothes then teaching is probably not for you.
Anyway all the teachers here are really keen to talk about the Danish school system seeing as according to them "it just works the way you guys do it". That is probably true to some extent but there is certainly room for improvements in Denmark too. I hope the Brits can learn a bit from our laid back style though. A teacher here is looking more formal than a prime minister in Denmark..
My day at the school started of with me being introduced to some of the teachers. The school I am at is based in an area of Manchester that is quite dominated by Manchester city fans which meant that I had to start the day off by looking at muppets drinking there tea out of sky blue city mugs..
We then all met up in the assembly hall to sing a little song about some guy called Jesus, who apparently is to thank for the well being of the kids in this school. I really find it weird to mix religion with the education system!
The teacher I spent the day with was a friendly guy called Mr Briggs. He seemed to have quite a bit of sense too, and secretly told me that he wasn't a Christian and was strongly against the way the school seemed to be more and more involved in religious matters.
The lessons were an experience.. Quite different to the way we do it in Denmark. The kids here seemed very focussed when they were told to work and the level of discipline was pretty impressive. When told what to do they all seem very clever. They don't seem to posses the same level of individuality as Danish kids though. The kids were all about 10 years old but weren't allowed any form of group work which I personally think is a shame. To be able to work in groups is a really important skill for their future work life.
I will be in placement at this school every Wednesday till April so maybe I will have the chance to learn them a few things..
This Thursday we went to a large beer festival in town. What a lovely selection of beers they had!
Last thing on my mind for this post is that United have finally managed to land a new signing.. Mr Juan Mata for a record fee of 37 million pounds. Hopefully he'll turn our season around!
tirsdag den 14. januar 2014
14.01.2014
Had my first lesson in Humanities today. Very interesting actually! In small groups we were discussing how you could create a theme week based on an important topic. Topics such as racism and self esteem were mentioned. While discussing self esteem we ended up comparing the Danish system to the British system. In many ways the British system just seems so outdated to me. It is how I imagine the Danish system would have been like 50 years ago. From pretty much day one at the age of 4 the kids are split into three different groups in the class: clever kids, normal kids and "not so clever" kids. That is unheard of in Denmark. The kids are assessed from a really early age too.
This made us discuss why the Danish system is so much better - at least when talking about self esteem. It is so hard to get rid of that "not so clever kid" label so its no wonder that a lot of people lack self esteem.
I imagined that it would be quite hard to discuss with the fellow students as they have obviously got a lot more experience in Humanities than I have got. All the students were on their final year too so really they should be quite a lot ahead of me you would think.
Turns out that once again I could quite easily discuss on the same level as the rest of the class so maybe the Danish school system doesn't deserved all that criticisms after all!
To me it seems like that the English students have a great knowledge but within a very narrow spectrum. They might very well be much better off in a math test than me but when it comes to general knowledge I think the Danish system has given me a much better background. A great example is that our teacher today (who was great btw) asked us what we knew about Nelson Mandela before showing us a short documentary about his life. Turns out that only one person could answer that - and not even with the right answer.
It is still very early days but at least until now it doesn't seem like I need to be worried about keeping up with the local students on quite a few topics.
Had my first lesson in Humanities today. Very interesting actually! In small groups we were discussing how you could create a theme week based on an important topic. Topics such as racism and self esteem were mentioned. While discussing self esteem we ended up comparing the Danish system to the British system. In many ways the British system just seems so outdated to me. It is how I imagine the Danish system would have been like 50 years ago. From pretty much day one at the age of 4 the kids are split into three different groups in the class: clever kids, normal kids and "not so clever" kids. That is unheard of in Denmark. The kids are assessed from a really early age too.
This made us discuss why the Danish system is so much better - at least when talking about self esteem. It is so hard to get rid of that "not so clever kid" label so its no wonder that a lot of people lack self esteem.
I imagined that it would be quite hard to discuss with the fellow students as they have obviously got a lot more experience in Humanities than I have got. All the students were on their final year too so really they should be quite a lot ahead of me you would think.
Turns out that once again I could quite easily discuss on the same level as the rest of the class so maybe the Danish school system doesn't deserved all that criticisms after all!
To me it seems like that the English students have a great knowledge but within a very narrow spectrum. They might very well be much better off in a math test than me but when it comes to general knowledge I think the Danish system has given me a much better background. A great example is that our teacher today (who was great btw) asked us what we knew about Nelson Mandela before showing us a short documentary about his life. Turns out that only one person could answer that - and not even with the right answer.
It is still very early days but at least until now it doesn't seem like I need to be worried about keeping up with the local students on quite a few topics.
mandag den 13. januar 2014
13.01.2014
Thursday we had our first day at the university. Our campus - the Faculty of Education is located in Didsbury, South Manchester. We were introduced to our fellow Erasmus students as well as receiving some "useful" information about Manchester. To be honest the information would have been alright if it was aimed towards 16 year old youths on their first trip abroad on their own. In this context it seemed slightly weird though. "Remember to lock the door, be on time, take care around town". Oh well I guess they are only trying to be friendly..
Our fellow students are oddly enough all either Belgian or Finnish and most of them have completed several years of their education already.
Friday we were getting information about the upcoming school placements. We will be going to a Primary School every Wednesday, something I am looking very much forward to.
My placement school is a Christian school in Didsbury. Shall be interesting!
Today we have just had our first real lesson of this term in Curriculum Studies. I had no idea what the level would be like and what the course it self would include. It all turned out nicely though. We were taught in a small class room along side English students who also had Curriculum Studies in the autumn. The teacher was really friendly and I felt that I could make more than a strong contribution to the discussions in the class. Very satisfying! We have to hand in one assignment during the term, so hopefully that wont be a major problem.
Thursday we had our first day at the university. Our campus - the Faculty of Education is located in Didsbury, South Manchester. We were introduced to our fellow Erasmus students as well as receiving some "useful" information about Manchester. To be honest the information would have been alright if it was aimed towards 16 year old youths on their first trip abroad on their own. In this context it seemed slightly weird though. "Remember to lock the door, be on time, take care around town". Oh well I guess they are only trying to be friendly..
Our fellow students are oddly enough all either Belgian or Finnish and most of them have completed several years of their education already.
Friday we were getting information about the upcoming school placements. We will be going to a Primary School every Wednesday, something I am looking very much forward to.
My placement school is a Christian school in Didsbury. Shall be interesting!
Today we have just had our first real lesson of this term in Curriculum Studies. I had no idea what the level would be like and what the course it self would include. It all turned out nicely though. We were taught in a small class room along side English students who also had Curriculum Studies in the autumn. The teacher was really friendly and I felt that I could make more than a strong contribution to the discussions in the class. Very satisfying! We have to hand in one assignment during the term, so hopefully that wont be a major problem.
tirsdag den 7. januar 2014
07.01.2014
A few days have gone and I feel pretty settled. My room is decent and the people I stay with are friendly - although rather special! A lady who looks at herself as some sort of business lady and an Asian lad who works in a local garage and barely speaks a word of English. Oh well!
We don't start at the university before Thursday so we've had plenty of time to discover some of the pubs around town - with great pleasure! If you like a good ale or a pint of Guinness then Manchester is the place to be.
Manchester is quite a funny place in the way the city is build up. The city centre it self is quite small but if you include all the suburbs it is a very large city. Manchester was the first industrialized city in the world and grew from being a tiny market town to a huge metropolis within a few years during the industrialization. It can probably boost more "worlds firsts" than any other city in Europe and for anyone going here I can recommend going to the Museum of science and industry in the city centre if you have any interest in history. The history of the city is clear when you walk around. Everywhere you are greeted with a mix of old warehouses, ugly tower blocks and fancy new glass buildings. This mix makes a walk around Manchester rather interesting.
Sunday was spent at Old Trafford. We (Manchester United) are having our worst season since before I was born - at least things can only improve! Anyway it is always great to be there and cheer the lads on. I've bought myself a season ticket so there will be plenty of trips to watch United in the upcoming months. Next up is Saturday!
My old boss at Starbucks has just confirmed that I'll be working a few shifts too. Obviously it won't be that much as I need time to study but it'll still be a good break from university and I'm looking forward to see all the old Starbucks tossers again.
A few days have gone and I feel pretty settled. My room is decent and the people I stay with are friendly - although rather special! A lady who looks at herself as some sort of business lady and an Asian lad who works in a local garage and barely speaks a word of English. Oh well!
We don't start at the university before Thursday so we've had plenty of time to discover some of the pubs around town - with great pleasure! If you like a good ale or a pint of Guinness then Manchester is the place to be.
Manchester is quite a funny place in the way the city is build up. The city centre it self is quite small but if you include all the suburbs it is a very large city. Manchester was the first industrialized city in the world and grew from being a tiny market town to a huge metropolis within a few years during the industrialization. It can probably boost more "worlds firsts" than any other city in Europe and for anyone going here I can recommend going to the Museum of science and industry in the city centre if you have any interest in history. The history of the city is clear when you walk around. Everywhere you are greeted with a mix of old warehouses, ugly tower blocks and fancy new glass buildings. This mix makes a walk around Manchester rather interesting.
Sunday was spent at Old Trafford. We (Manchester United) are having our worst season since before I was born - at least things can only improve! Anyway it is always great to be there and cheer the lads on. I've bought myself a season ticket so there will be plenty of trips to watch United in the upcoming months. Next up is Saturday!
My old boss at Starbucks has just confirmed that I'll be working a few shifts too. Obviously it won't be that much as I need time to study but it'll still be a good break from university and I'm looking forward to see all the old Starbucks tossers again.
fredag den 3. januar 2014
Manchester!
03.01.2014
Right.. I haven't really got any clue as to what this blog is going to be about. I'm not sure what to expect for a three months stay at Manchester Metropolitan University. It might be a very serious stay or it could just be three months of enjoying myself in this cracking town. Nobody knows.. The whole preparation period for this stay has been weird. I am sure we will gain some useful knowledge from this stay anyway though!
I hope to be able to tell you more about what studying here is about in a few days, but this blog is just as much going to be a piece about my life here in this rainy town. My plan is to show a few pictures of Manchester and the surrounding area as well as maybe telling some historic facts about the place.
I will be staying in a room with a couple in what looks to be a rather nice Victorian house in the suburb called Chorlton. Chorlton is located about 5 kilometers south west of the city centre, and has a bit of a bohemian reputation with its rather fancy pubs, cafés and restaurants. As I have lived in Manchester before I am quite happy to be able to live in a nice area. Manchester does have quite a few scruffy areas and I feel like I have been there and done that the last time I was here!
I move in to my home this afternoon so yesterday had to be spent in a hostel in the city centre. As I arrived in the morning I had all day to explore all my old favorite sights (plus drink a few pints with an old colleague).
I used to work in a coffee shop in Manchester and yesterday I went to see my old boss. She seemed rather happy to see me back in town and offered me to work a few shifts a week. That would suit me perfectly as working really gives you a good connection to the local area. - plus I could do with a few extra quid.
03.01.2014
Right.. I haven't really got any clue as to what this blog is going to be about. I'm not sure what to expect for a three months stay at Manchester Metropolitan University. It might be a very serious stay or it could just be three months of enjoying myself in this cracking town. Nobody knows.. The whole preparation period for this stay has been weird. I am sure we will gain some useful knowledge from this stay anyway though!
I hope to be able to tell you more about what studying here is about in a few days, but this blog is just as much going to be a piece about my life here in this rainy town. My plan is to show a few pictures of Manchester and the surrounding area as well as maybe telling some historic facts about the place.
I will be staying in a room with a couple in what looks to be a rather nice Victorian house in the suburb called Chorlton. Chorlton is located about 5 kilometers south west of the city centre, and has a bit of a bohemian reputation with its rather fancy pubs, cafés and restaurants. As I have lived in Manchester before I am quite happy to be able to live in a nice area. Manchester does have quite a few scruffy areas and I feel like I have been there and done that the last time I was here!
I move in to my home this afternoon so yesterday had to be spent in a hostel in the city centre. As I arrived in the morning I had all day to explore all my old favorite sights (plus drink a few pints with an old colleague).
I used to work in a coffee shop in Manchester and yesterday I went to see my old boss. She seemed rather happy to see me back in town and offered me to work a few shifts a week. That would suit me perfectly as working really gives you a good connection to the local area. - plus I could do with a few extra quid.
Abonner på:
Opslag (Atom)