Engelsk, Friday 27th February

Today we (our Czech unit:Eliska, Vasek and me:-) spent the whole morning in English lesson. It was so enriching and nice time for me, the Danish way of teaching English is I think better and more contributing than the Czech way, because here, the future teachers are trained in a more practical way whereas we have to study all the history and all the literature, didactic and methodology...and then there isn't so much space for more practical things like how to specify the exact problems that the student has concerning English, like we saw today. It inspired me a lot and I think I am gonna use this in my future if I teach:-) I was also wondnering how is it that Danish people have such a good accent, like almost everybody in today's lesson..I hope I will find this secret out before I leave..:)

School visit at Haderslev Kristne friskole, Wednesday 25th February

On Wednesday we (Anja, Eliska and me) went to visit the Christian school called Haderslev Kristne friskole that is right next to our college. It is quite a small school that has about 160 pupils, but also very nice inside (halls are predominately pink, classes it depends), there are very nice pictures everywhere and the staff room where we were invited and introduced to all the teachers is also cosy:-) I really liked the fact that during the breaks all the teachers meet there, sit around 1 table and talk to each other and have breakfast together.

After the first lesson all the pupils and teachers meet on the ground and sing songs from the Bible because it is a Christian school as I have already mentioned. (I mustadmit that I am not attracted to Christianity at all, but on the other hand I quite liked this moment when the whole school gathered together and spent some time with singing religious songs, because there was kinf of special atmosphere and bond everywhere in that moment:-). After this one of the teachers introduced us to all the pupils so that was really nice:) We visited 4lessons there:

1)Engelsk i 6klasse med Grethe Jepsen

2) Engelsk i 5.klasse med Grethe Jepsen again

3) Musik i 4.klasse med Maren Andersen

4) Engelsk i 7.klasse med Lise Jeppesen

Grethe told us that in English they try to put the emphasize predominately on speaking (I really agree with this, because in the Czech Republic the focus is rather on grammar and then the pupils are afraid of speaking, because they are afraid of mistakes..and in my opinion speaking is the most important at elementary school so that the pupils would be more confident in a foreign language).

What I found out about this school: from 6th class they start a little grammar during English, there is always 1 supportive teacher for each subject who helps weaker pupils, when reading a text they don't translate everything, only some words, no checking of group work at the end of the lesson(teacher walks around all the groups and helps them if there is some problem), it is the private school, I didn't see any interactive blackboards, each pupil has his own box with his books and his stuff he needs during the lessons, lay-out of pupils' desks is quite free (somebody sits alone, somebody is in line with other 2pupils,...), strong integration of pupils with various dissabilities, 1 girl was vacuuming the main hall during a break (I don't know why, because I didn't ask:), young teachers seemed to me very innovative with a different approach to pupils, a music room was just great!! And I really liked the music lesson where the teacher let the pupils to be very free while listening Vivaldi and they liked it and were active and enthusiastic after listening.

We had a good time the whole morning there:-)

Sport activities-I have finally started to do stg.:-)

First two weeks I was so tired everyday after school (I am not used to have so many lessons in a row for such a long time from my uni..:-) that I was happy to come home and just relax, read or watch movies. Now I feel I got used to this this everyday regime and I started to have energy even for some sport even after schooltime..:) So first I decided to go to local school swimming pool that I have to describe a little bit-it is quite a small and very nice pool with surprisingly warm and salty water and Finnish dry sauna. It is open only twice a week, so first I guessed that the whole Hadreslev will be there this time, but nono..only few people:) And what is important for me-as I always speak about lack of sun and need of sun, this pool really helps me to imagine that I am somewhere at the seaside (because of that warm and salty water) and so hot sauna that makes me feel like sunbathing when I close my eyes:-) So no I feel a little bit better.
And what about fitness centre? I can go there whenever I want for free, 24hours a day, because some nice teacher from P.E.department arranged it!:) I only wonder that whenever I go there, nobody is inside although it is a very well-equipped fitness, so I hope that I will meet there my Erasmus friends:-)

Language and identity, 23th February, Monday

On Monday we had a very interesting lesson called "Language and identity" with Karen Aarøe that was quite a big change for us, but in a good way:-) After the introduction of ourselves we were given an ampty shape of human body and our task was to create own language portraits, it means to express our feelings about various languages with lots of crayons:) First I was like..Å min Gud!..because I wasn't sure what to do exactly, but then I just started to think about all the languages I know or I have ever heard and how do I feel when I speak them or listen to them and used the colours that I like and don't like so much to express my attitude towards these languages. So this is the result:-) :

• Czech (green): my mother tongue that will always be the language I will know most of all, that is the reason why I used the green colour, because I imagine safeness connected with this colour and I feel very safe and sure with myself when I use my mother tongue.
• English (red): almost half of my picture is red, because I use English very often, especially now..:) And I put this colour also around my heart, because I love travelling and when I travel I speak English, so it is very close to my heart. And red is very live colour and wild, therefore I used it with English, because being abroad is always exciting!:-)
• German (black): I draw German almost into the bottom of me, because I used to learn it from kindergarten till my 18years and since that time I refuse to speak German, because I really don't like how it sounds and also the history has probably a lot to do with that. On the other hand I know very nice people from Germany and I have a friend from Hamburg and I am gonna visit her these months:) I only have some "block" with the language, not with the people from Germany:)
• Icelandic (yellow): I was working for two last summers in the north of Iceland, that is why I have yellow in my hands. Yellow is a very positive colour for me and Icelandic people are the same, I have never met so positive and so much open people before, they are just great and very nice people, nothing is problem in Iceland:-)
• Spanish (orange-yelow-red): I really like Spanish, I used to attended some courses so I can speak a little bit and I understand a little bit. Spanish language sounds so nice and easy-going like the people from the South so therefore the Sun above me and I also used this colour for my body, because for a longer time I have a very strong feeling that I need sun, lots of sun and I need to go to the south:-) (Maybe because of two summers spent near the Polar circle and now Denmark..:)
• Polish (purple): I draw dimples on my face with this colour, because when I hear Polish language it sounds very nice and somehow funny, but in a good way:) I also studied Polish for 1 term at uni and we had lots of fun there, because it is similar to Czech in a special way:) I can't explain well why this colour, I don't know exactly, I just grabbed purple crayon and that's it.
• Latin (violet): I used to learn Latin at grammar school and I liked it. It is above my legs, because it is a long time ago.
• Vietnamese (light blue): We have lots of Vietnamese people (selling their clothes in lots of shops) in my hometown and they are very close people and the language is somehow cut into syllables and separated, there is no bound for me when I hear it so it sounds cold for me->light blue is cold colour for me.
• Danish (dark blue): Dark blue is warmer than light blue, that is because I have met nice people here so far, but the language is very far away from my language and I have problems with pronounciation that is why I draw a spiral into my neck. When I see some Danish word, I can hardly estimate how it is pronounced..:) But except for pronounciation Danish doesn't seem to me as the 2nd most difficult language in the world..but I am not a specialist and I know only a little bit now, so I will see later:-)

Then we were supposed to write "Colour poem with the language portrait": Line 1- one word (a thou´ght, an object..) Line 2- two words (a person or an object that has the colour) Line 3- three words (where and how is the word from 1) Line 4- Four words( What do you think?) Line 5- one concluding word.

So here is my poem: yelloworange

the Sun

warmth is everywhere

I like the sunny places

South

Trip to the Baltic sea-finally succeeded:)

Today we decided to take a bus (for a change, 2nd try to reach this place) to the end of the fjord=to the beginning of the sea and went to Årosund(as our Erasmus friends recommended to us:-) and then by ferry to a small island called Årø. The weather was very windy so it created a special atmosphere there. It was good relax for me and I made quite nice pictures of the seashore and of some special big black hairy cows I have never seen before..:)

Carneval: Friday 20th February

On Friday the Carneval for all the students took place. So we decided to go-of course..:) Our friend Magda, who is an Erasmus student in Viborg now, came with another Czech people to visit us right on Friday evening, so after a short make-up for carneval and some little hair changes they could join us without any problems and we had a fun:-) I must only criticise the music, it really wasn't my cup of tea...so we spent the whole time in the room nearby and that was much more better:-) And what is more, it was the first time when some Danish students came to talk to us, because they were probably curious about new "strangers":-) Until this moment my opinion of the Danish students was that they are very close concerning their attitude to foreign students and really not so open as I thought, but I hope that these people weren't only the exceptions..
This carneval party was really great!:)

Week 8: from 16th till 20th February

We could call this week with a special title "the week of presentations", because of a considerable amount of varied presentations about: Hungary, Spain, Poland, Turkey, Belgium and the Czech Republic. It was an enriching time and I learned interesting facts about these countries:-)

me-the training partner:)-14th February-Saturday

From today I am Vasek's training partner for his Prague marathon. I am supposed to ride on my city bike in front of him, offer him drinks and Bounty biscuits and of course to encourage him:-) So today we went for more than 20kms, it means more than 10kms away from Haderslev. I must say that although I wasn't very happy about this at the beginning, I enjoyed it and what is more-knew the Danish countryside and lovely small villages a little bit. If you go by train, by bus or by car somewhere, you cannot experience the atmosfere of the place so much, this is much more better for future memories on Denmark..

Danish night life 12th February

On Thursday evening we went out to some pub, I don't know the name,it was fine, we gram w kostky:) according to Vasek rules, which nobody could fully understand for more than half of our game..:)The thing that really shocked me was the price of Danish beer,1 danish beer = 7,almost 8 Czech beers!!! jaja...after one beer we wanted to go to Crazy Daisy, the local disco, where we were asked for 50 Danish kronas, so all of us went home..but next time it's free:)Be sure, Crazy Daisy, that we will come!:)

Danish lesson-shopping - 12th February

On thursday we had a very practical lesson of Danish language:-) Our Danish teachers, Christina and Signe, were first trying to teach us the numbers, then the names of various fruit and vegetable and just of everything we need when we do the shopping. I wrote "trying", because Danish language is so difficult for us to learn...the only exception is Anja who has a good presumption to learn this language because she speaks Dutch and there are some similarities as she said, lucky her:-) Ja, the pronounciation is so difficult that I cannot find any rules for that!:) But now I feel a little bit better when I go shopping, because I understand a litlle bit more what is written on the products. Oh, and what I have to mention is another nice thing about the Danish teachers-they will invite you home and you can make the typical Danish lunch as we did:)

"Excursion" to the end of the fjord=to the beginning of the sea:-) -11th February

The next day we (Anja, carlos, Vasek and me) made our own trip to the sea. We had a pretty good weather, only the terraine wasn't what we had expected, so afhter 3 hours of quite quick walking we turned and went back, because we still couldn't see the sea and acoording to some Danish woman we would have to continue with 10more kilometres!!! Ok, doesn't mind, next time we will take a boat, or canoe!:)

Århus excursion-10th February

Hey, after a longer pause I am gonna add some new information I have about my stay here:) On Tuesday all of us made a trip to Arhus, the second biggest city in Denmark. We visited the Old town with its 75 historical houses, gardens, special exhibitions, shops and workshops. This museum is a living and breathing experience of what it was like to live and work in a Danish market town at the time of Hans Christian Andersen. And I (together with Marlenka, Gosia, Canan, Noemi and Mate) became a guide for a while there...ok, only at the entrance, but still!:) And my impressions from the Old town? Just great, amazing, unbelievable-I am gonna visit this place once again:)
The next place of interest was the cathedral, where we could be only for a while, because of the funeral..
And the last but the most interesting place we went into was Art museum called "Aros", really really shocking museum:) I am gonna also visit it once more, because a man could spend there I would say the whole day, because there is so many things to see and so many attractions to try!

First week in Haderslev

First week in Haderslev was surprising for me in many ways and I really enjoyed it..:) I found out that Danish teachers are great, always positively mooded, full of energy that never goes down and also very attentive (often making coffee and even cinamon cakes for us!:) So I have a feeling of being kind of special here.
I think that we are gonna develop our potential here in various fileds. For example Wednesday 4th February was focused on music the whole afternoon. I haven't had this subject for so many years!:) We did lots of activities and during this lessonI also found inspiration for my future teaching English, so now I have a good idea how to link Music with English:)
Thursday 5th February was also full of new experiences and impressions, because we were sent for a morning observation to a Danish basic school called Hertug Hans. First two hours we(Vasek and me) spent with 8th grade pupils who had German lesson. At the beginning of the lesson the teacher together with one girl lighted two candles in a lantern standing on a teacher's table that made really cosy and positive atmosphere in the class. Conserning the school equipment the school has: lots of computer rooms where pupils can spend their breaks, a nice and colourful library, a room with a TV for breaks, big kitchen for "Food technology" full of cookers with ovens, dish washers, washing machines and kitchen equipment. The school has two interactive boards that the pupils really like (one was in that 8th class) and teachers use a lot during their lessons. The only thing that a little bit schocked me were extra old books that were used for German lesson (printed 1960!), one point for the Czech schools:) The other two hours we spent with three 5th grade girls that had problems with English, so once a week they have a kind of supportive lesson that was very interesting-Charlotte, Jenny and Blinera were talkative and curious pupils and we had a fun with them during reading the story "Bloody finger". Half a time we became teachers although we weren't able to check their translation of Bloody finger's story into Danish..:)
I must also mention our discovering of Haderslev. Once we went on bikes far away from our flat without a map and I was so impressed by the surrounding and mainly the brickhouses of this town, they are just great. And I also must admit that I am not afraid of being out in the dark in an anknown area here (normally I am a lot, especially in the dark forests!!!:), because there are street lightning everywhere around Haderslev..:) On Thursday we were cycling in the downtown, because of trying to win Haderslew quiz at school:) I love the narrow historical streets in the downtown, I think I am gonna make a special slide show about them.
And today's (Saturday 7th) discovering of Haderslev was also interesting. Our plan was to go to the end of Haderslev fjord=to the beginning of the sea. But when reaching the Haderslev harbour, we saw lots of people going into some old building so the couriosity won and the result? No reaching the beginning of the sea, but two old but working lamps for reading for an unbelievable price-very good bargain:)) We can recommend this "flea market" called LOPPETANKEN to you (for more information just contact us:)