Sweet Kayla, I've been a terrible writer the last weeks. I've got a lot to do, I've done a lot, and I just couldn't get myself to writing in my blog. I'll better my life and try to put some lines down asap. But not now, too tired. The boys are home again, school will start again, and I'll find my routine (I hope). My England trip was superb, tiresome and not (my guesthouse lady made me go to bed at 9pm...) and international class was okay (topic was war and peace, and because I didn't do the trips to Ieper and the Westhoek, it was hard to get into the mood...)
But tomorrow is a fresh start, about diversity. Batteries fully loaded, and there I go..
PS I am a little bit jealous of Karen, being in my beloved Spain, already looking forward to the time back in Belgium to go to the Reflex... while all I really want right now is to walk through the springtime smells of la peninsula iberica...
Hola Kayla, Hemos visitado la libreria de juegos en la universidad de Brujas. This library contains over 10.000 board games with an educational purpose. It's ranking is 3 in Europe, after Switzerland and Germany. Truly worth a visit! You can order a seminar made to measure your wishes. Very interesting for our teacher carreer. The boardgame-librarians find games for your targetgroup. And explain the rules, the learning goals attached to the Flemish curriculum. But the fun factor ofcourse is playing the game! And that's what we did! We played Merlin, a search-the-five-differences-in-the-pictures game, we playes Ghostcastle (Geister Trappe), a memory game where you can loose track of your own pawn. A handyman game is with wooden blocks and instruction cards, where you have to build the instruction (Circus Blockx & Castle Logix by Smart Games).
My favourite game is Blokus 2D (3D makes me frenzy and nervous), a mathematical board game that remains challenging. It resembles Katamino, but Blokus 2D is played by four, with different colours. And the interaction prevents the possibilities of knowing the solution by heart (as in Katamino)
As final game, we played a class game, Word Whiz, which is played with a sheet of paper, and cards with letters. You can play it in any language you like, and is challenging for all levels. We had a fun day.
Hi Kayla, I've worked for presentations that we'll do later next week. So I'll write about that when we get there. This evening was the pre-party of the England trip I'm going to be part of in two weeks. It'll mean I won't be in International Class at that time, and miss out that week. But it'll be filled with other experiences, and maybe I can pass it on the ones of IC that are interested in visiting England. We'll see.
The preparations had taken a lot of time, but it was worthwile. Almost everyone showed up, we had some tea and toast with gingermarmelade, the files were ready, the list with who's sleeping with whom in which guest family was given to the students, a couple of power points as appetizer and above all, students talking to each other and happy to see each other again. A good start for a busy week.
After the pre-party I rushed to secondary school to parental contact with teachers. I managed to speak to 5 of the 6 teachers I had made an appointment with. We talked about the positive evolution of my boys in their school year. We talked about the risks of getting into a less favourable group of friends who use their hands instead of words during a discussion at the play ground (1st of secondary, always a huge change in a child's life). And we talked about the boredom of regular schooling for highly gifted pupils (5th grade, = all new teachers because of difference in training). I think I've made good progress, and look forward to the results of my conversation with the math's teacher. He is going to talk to my boy, and adapt some of his lessons to his needs. This teacher also teaches 6th grade, and has his preparations at hand, so it won't be too hard I hope, to make mathematics challenging again.
I'm starting to feel very tired. We had a lousy month of February, with definitely lack of sunshine, and my solar charged batteries of life are getting exhausted...
Hi Kayla, Our international group has been invited at the offices of Klasse in Brussels. They're housed in a building of the Flemish Government, a fancy big modern complex with a lot of glass and the 1st floor is covered with letters and numbers. They're an indication of the sympbolism of the floor: we use letters and numbers to inform the public.
At Klasse, editors and secretaries work hard to publish 4 magazines, to inform the Flemish public about all that could be interesting for pupils, parents and teachers. This means there is a magazine Klasse for parents, Klasse for teachers, Yeti (for pupils aged 10-12) and Maks! (for 14-18). The Yeti is a bit of an ADHD magazine when you look it through, but that is alright: the lay-out and topics are given by 10-12 year olds, and via this magazine, we can look into their minds... scary business!
Maks! can provoke controversy, depending on its topics. Ordinary topics are normal, but once in a while, a topic stands out, like suicide amongst young people, or sex, all you wanted to know about it. In a lot of our traditional catholic schools, principals are shocked by the item, and don't want that month's edition spread in their school. No problem for the pupils, because Klasse can also be found online.
The work space and office of Klasse is one big room, with desks opposite each other, where people can see and talk to each other. The editors work together with a lot of different information sources, and the dead lines are very short. The different sections in the office are linked together by music symbols. Everybody plays a role in the concert of creating these magazines with governmental information, given to the public in a modern coating. The articles are not individually signed by their authors, everybody works towards the goal, the concert, the magazine. Eye catchers are the old piano, and a funky Chinese doorway.
Dear Kayla, I am astonished, for 25.000 /year a child can get an education in this school. I've observed a class with 20 pupils of 13-14, second language English. I'd love to be a pupil here; an international setting, a personal note book for daily use, motivated teachers, daily physical education and differentiation till you drop! Incredible! 70 different countries are present in this school, special programmes are developed for special needs, and teachers are selected from all over the world. My teacher was a Californian lady, married to a Belgian. She has taught in Norway and France, and was surprised by our visit. She clearly didn't know we were going to observe her class. The pupils were reviewing a website they had made, and oh boy, my blog is boring! An Icelandic boy of 13 has also made a blog, with talking icons... They had a test, and believe me or not, but the pupils were facing each other and none cheated by peeping! The ones that were ready, handed in their paper, and started to read a book, make a drawing or wrote vocabulary words on lists at the wall. 2 went to the library to get a book, and 1 went out and came back without books (toilet visit?). Everything was wall-to-wall carpeted, so not good for dust allergies, but no hard noises of chairs scraping over the floor. Walls of the class room were decorated with artefacts created by the pupils. The class room was the teacher's, the pupils come and go. And no national curriculum to meet, but one made by the school. The school also acts as a comunity compound, where parents and children have barbecues, work outs, gatherings... children don't have to go outside the schoolyard, and that could be looked upon as negative: they could be in Brussels for 3 year, and not experience that. But I am impressed. It's a pity it costs me 3 hours in every direction by public transport, for only 70 km... because I'd really like to be part of this. Pictures follow, as soon as this tecno turkey remembers how to downsize her pictures, because they're too heavy.
Hi Kayla, due to a misunderstanding, some of us, me included, were late in class today. But no worries, we got all the information in a nutshell. There're some tasks ahead, that we will be credited for, and as usual, international groups, please. Interesting topics, pedagogical similarities and differences, and how to start an Erasmus project yourself. To get in the mood, we present our national education systems, and the Irish girls will do it by tomorrow. Way to go, girls!
Dearest Kayla, our group has presented the hippies. As was expected, we used more time than was allowed. But how to present an interesting topic that you've worked on with several nationalities in an interactive way, within 10 to 15 minutes? We had questions for the group, information and a sing-along song. And we had FUN. The other presentations used more time as well, so we were all satisfied. Lovely outfits, well thought information and I forgot to bring my camera. I'll try to get pictures from the other students, and blog them later.
Dear Kayla, it has been a while since I wrote in my blog. A lot has happened, but I'll divide it into bitible chunks. Today we went to visit Ghent. A beautiful city in Oost-Vlaanderen (East-Flanders?), 1 of the 4 Flemish provinces in the north of Belgium. There're 10 in total, of which 4 in the French speaking southern part of Belgium. The remaining 2 are Brabant, in the center of the country, divided into a Wallon and Flemish province. About Ghent. The sun was shining, and that makes everything look bright. Ancient buildings, Gothic style, city of towers, because there are so many. St Bavo, St Michael and St Nicholas, the famous Belfry (Belfort), the Friday Market... We ate cuberdones (neuzen) on the bridge over the river Leie (or was it Schelde?). It could have been Lieve as well (cunning, he? now I've mentioned the 3 rivers...) Highlight of the visit was the torture room with the guillotine, where Monique interacted with the past, and made us feel as if we were really villains, ready to be beheaded. Pictures follow.
Dear Kayla, Thursday & Friday were teachers in training days. An excellent opportunity to see a Belgian school from the inside. For European students a unique moment; there are a lot of countries that have locks on their school gates. So visiting a school without this extra security was a treat. I didn't get a lot of information, because we were all split up in small groups, and the Belgian students didn't have to go... I wanted to work on my "Afstudeerproject", but I cleaned my house one day, and slept the other. I am very tired! It must be the winter blues... The grey sky, the cold temperatures, lack of sun, lots to do... I am allowing myself to feel tired, and sleep when I can. I'll do some proper work when I've recovered. Friday evening was our taste and eat dinner at KdG. Almost everything was tasty, the room was warm, the surprising mix of culinar goodies were a festivity for my tongue. Conversation was lively, people relaxed because next week is Krokusholiday. Some friends will visit London during a couple of days, others have boy friends to meet. My Polish colleague with three children is travelling home for the week. And when we start again, we go to Ghent, and later that week we will present our youth sub culture project. I'm trying to find hippie clothing...
Hello Kayla, Tuesday was a calm International Class day for me: the administration had to be arranged, and because I'm a local, I didn't have to go to Antwerp. I went to Vorselaar instead, where I had a meeting to work on the English Extra Trip to England, later in March. After a couple of hours, I found some time to work on my diary, that has to be presented coming Friday. I think I did a good job, taking into consideration that I am a talker, not a creationist (pardon the pun, I like Darwin better...) Wednesday was a subculture day in Karel de Grote Hogeschool. We worked together in different groups to find out what groups there are and what they stand for. We went home with a task: present in group, in an interactive way, a subculture. My group will present the hippies. Because all the adults have gathered in this group, I think it will be a funny mix of young and older hippies... I'm looking forward to this. I have already found my guitar, it'll come in handy. I've just read the other student's blogs, and I still wish I could have gone to Madrid as well. The Spanish girls in my class are very friendly, and I love the language, but they couldn't bring the sun in their bags. I am fighting my winter depri moment, but I must admit I hate all the shades of grey around me. I'm looking forward to spring. Oh, something cheerful, the first yellow crocuses have popped up in the grey grass in front of my house. Courageous little lights for my soul.
Hello Kayla, today was a class day. Ludo gave an interactive lecture by power point presentation about our tasks, which included preparing and presenting countries of participants of the International Class, without their assistance. A puppet show as a warming up, a travel agency visit to get to know the country better, and feedback from the inhabitants to finish it off. This is a way of getting to know the stereotype views about countries. By Wednesday, we have to create a proper presentation about some elements in different countries. I'll do manners in Belgium, group members will prepare art, rituals and language. It'll be a challenge to bring it together, because all the members live in another area... On the way home, the bus had to slow down because an accident had happened. It wasn't far from my house, and the biker that had collided with a car was lying still at the side of the road. I cannot get this image out of my head. How different the evening must be for these people's family tonight and tomorrow. When my oldest son arrived at home, he talked about the motorcycle and the car he had seen on the way home, lying in the middle of the busy road, and I was glad all my boys were safely at home. Life can change in blink of an eye.
Hello Kayla, It was cold in Castle Ronchinne, very cold, but we learnt how to protect us against it... We gathered in the Antwerp Central Station and found our way to Yvoir. We walked through an old, out-of-use train tunnel (+/- 1 km) and conquered our fear of darkness. We went cross-country through the forest, up the hill, down the hill, over the water, under the trees... and found castle Ronchinne. We cooked in groups and ate a lot. We sang near the open fire, we shivered in our sleeping bags. We pictured each other a la Picasso, we danced to get warm. We went into the cave (-45m) via the river and were cold to the bone. The children of the local schools loved us, especially the ones who didn't have to do mathematics because of us! We made creative diaries to reflect about our personal functioning in a group, and what this means for us as teachers. And we got to know each other. What a dynamic way to start our 3 months' journey in International Class.
this is a picture before we went into the cave. I didn't take my camera inside, because I still want to use it after the cave... It was wet, cold but beautiful, with stalagtites and stalagmites, a letter box we had to glide through and a big curtain in calcium
Hoi Kayla, mijn introductiedag is voorbijgevlogen. Voor de eerste keer in jaren heb ik het openbaar vervoer gebruikt op een onmenselijk druk moment in de ochtend. De bus was overvol voordat we halverwege waren, de decibels vlogen rond mijn oren, mensen zaten opeengepakt in dikke jassen en ongewassen lijven... en 2 klassen 6de jaars die gingen schaatsen, maakten het plaatje compleet. Ik twijfel of ik het openbaar vervoer zal blijven gebruiken, ik ben gewend aan de stilte van het interieur van mijn auto, of aan de frisse wind rond mijn oren op mijn cabrio fiets. Maar dat milieu bewustzijn blijft in mijn hoofd rondspoken, dus probeer ik het morgen nog maar eens. In de voormiddag hebben we een powerpoint presentatie gekregen over Antwerpen en Karel de Grote Hogeschool. We zaten in een aula, en hadden weinig contact met elkaar. Tijdens de lunch kwam daar al verandering in, een 30-tal studenten uit 8 landen zaten rond grote tafels, met soep, belegde broodjes en mini-koffiekoekjes en koffie en thee. Gezellig, en het kennismaken was begonnen. Na de fotosessie voor nieuwe studentenkaarten, zijn we naar een andere campus gegaan. Ik denk dat we meer straatjes hebben bewandeld dan strikt nodig was, maar ik lette niet echt op de weg, en liep achteraan in de groep met het groepje Spaanse meisjes. Ongelofelijk tof taaltje, rap, zuiders, warm en zo vertrouwd. Mijn IC kan al niet meer stuk, ik ben dan niet naar Spanje gegaan, Spanje zit in Antwerpen! De namiddagsessie was voornamelijk voorbereiden op de 4-daagse in de Walen. We hebben gedanst om het warm te krijgen, een kruiswoordpuzzel gemaakt met al onze namen (= leuk om elkaars namen te leren kennen op een ongedwongen manier), groepen verdeeld en verantwoordelijkheden opgenomen en het kompas ontleed, want we zullen enkele tijdloze dagen in een oud kasteel midden in de bossen doorbrengen, met een grotexploratie op het programma, en samen lesgeven aan kinderen tussen 3 en 12 jaar. Het doel van deze dagen is jezelf vinden. Je eigen denken en voelen komen op het voorplan, waardoor je in interactie kan gaan met anderen. We zullen ook leren om onszelf te beschermen. Als leerkracht ben je beter geholpen als je echt kan zijn. En daar gaan deze dagen om: wie ben je, wat wil je, waar sta je voor, hoe eerlijk ben je tegenover jezelf en tegenover anderen. Durf je opkomen voor jezelf, of trek je een masker aan? Onze groep reageerde heel tof. Ik heb niemand zien wegdraaien met de ogen, of niet meedoen met wat voorgesteld werd. Sommige handjes waren slapper dan anderen tijdens het dansen, maar ik vond het heel losmakend. Net wat je nodig hebt na de examenperiode. Ik kijk al uit om morgenvroeg om half zeven gepakt en gezakt de bus te nemen. Hopelijk houdt mijn kroost woord, en zullen ze elkaar niet te veel op de lip zitten, en het huis in zijn onafgewerkte staat in ere houden. Tot de volgende.
Goedemiddag, Welkom in mijn elektronisch dagboek. Een grote stap voor mij, want ik geef niet graag mijn gegevens vrij op internet. En nu ga ik mijn ervaringen, activiteiten en hersenspinsels toevertrouwen aan iedereen die het wil lezen... Ik beschouw deze blog als dagboek, en daarom vind ik het gemakkelijker als ik kan schrijven aan 1 fictief personage. Dat zal Kayla zijn, een kleine, zwarte Labrador puppyknuffel die ik afgelopen weekend op de overzet vanuit Engeland heb gekocht. Kayla zal mij vergezellen op mijn omzwervingen doorheen ons Belgische land. Ze heeft haar echtheidstest doorstaan toen ik gisteren mijn inkopen heb gedaan in een lokale supermarkt. De kassierster dacht dat ik een echt hondje bijhad in mijn tas.. grappig, en exact de reactie waar ik op hoopte.
Volgende week begint namelijk mijn internationale klas. Maandag introductie, en dinsdag al gelijk weg voor een vierdaagse naar de Walen. Een dertigtal studenten gaan elkaar daar beter leren kennen, samen koken en samen op stap gaan, ik vermoed een soort overlevingstocht?, en we gaan lesgeven aan Franstalige kindjes tussen 6 en 12. Kayla zal van pas komen, want ik studeer Engels, biologie en aardrijkskunde, en heb enkele jaren in Catalunya (Spanje) gewoond, dus mijn Frans, daar staat Vlaams haar op... een afleidingsmanoeuvre kan dan geen kwaad...
Ik hoop veel op te steken van de andere deelnemers aan de internationale klas. Hoe het onderwijs geregeld is in hun land, hoe leerkrachten daar opgeleid en behandeld worden, wat de opvoedingswaarden zijn in verschillende Europese landen, en ik hoop ook heel wat te weten te komen over hun taal. Want als er iets is dat Europa speciaal maakt, is het die unie, met al die verschillende talen.
Tot schrijfs, want je weet, wie schrijft, die blijft.
Hello Kayla, 
