Introduction to Denmark and the Danish language

It was hard to think back of thing’s we did again about ‘Introduction to Denmark and the Danish language’ because we discussed and talked about this in the first couple of weeks of our Erasmus stay. I remember it was one of the most interesting lessons at that time. Because we were (and some still are) really curious about how is Denmark like? How are the people who live here? Is it so much different then were we come from? What habits do they have? And what could make them special?
In the lessons we learned more about Danish storytellers like Karen Blixen and Hans Christian Andersen. And it was really nice because their story was told by a video that was more interesting then when you would just discuss them by word, now we really got to see pictures and movie clips. At first you thought this is it? Aren’t there more important things to talk about but no it is like that. Karen and Hans Christian are the most famous Danish authors.
History was a bit boring to be honest, it was just always about the war and about Germany and it was really hard to find your interest in to what the teacher was saying, but he really tried to make it interesting but it wasns’t always that good.
A really cool thing he did was, he searched for pictures of all the important places or building from the different country’s were we come from and he showed them to us. and then you could react to that like ‘ O that’s in Belgium’ and you could give an explanation about it.
Learning about Danish stereotypes was interesting because we had to talk about the Danish and other cultures. We had to talk about our country, our stereotypes, … but not in a dull way we did it in a game. That was also like that with learning Danish. The teachers made up some games to make sure we learned Danish. Introducing ourselves by a talk round, ‘throwing’ number to each other, shopping for a recipe in advertising leaves, …
And much more but the most interesting was the power point in the beginning of our stay? we all had to make a power point about our home country and I still have the most memories about that.. Like the Norwegian mountains, the Czech Clock, the crazy buildings in Valencia in the video commercial, …
And did my questions get answered? Yes they have been, more then I thought they were.. because at first I thought what do I know about denkmark: hygge, smorrebrod and the jante law. Those are all stereotypes and not really knowledge about a country because you can find this information in a book. But when my family came I was really surprised of all the things I could tell them about Denmark. About their way of living and cultural habits. So yes I personally am glad with the knowledge I have about Denmark. You only realize what you know once you’ve talked about it.
(Module 1: Comparative Studies)

Comparing Danish - Belgian schoolsystem

Differences between the Danish and Belgium pre-school-schoolsystem

Denmark
- Kindergarten starts at 06.30 AM – 5.00 PM
- Parents can bring or come and get their children whenever they like
- Children play most of the time, they are free in everything what they do
- Schoolgroup = preparing the eldest children for normal school
- They eat in the classroom and they all stay in school
- They go outside a lot to play
- They don’t have religion and gymnastics

Belgium
- School starts at 8.30 AM
- All the children have to be in school at 8.30 AM
- Children are free to play aswell, but they have 3 - 4 group activity’s a day
- The group activity’s are for all ages and are a preparation for their own knowledge, yes this is also for children who are 3 years old.
- They eat in one big group in the canteen, they can go home to eat, can bring their lunchboxes or eat a warm meal.
- We only go outside when it is REALLY good weather
- Every morning we have e religion ritual, moment or activity + two times the children have gym class

Practice time at St. Georgs Bornehuset

All of us are having a two week practice time… some are helping in the class, some are observating, others are actually teaching, … We are doing some practice time at the St. Georgs Bornehuset, that is a kindergarten. Children from 3 tot 6 years old come here as a preparation for primary school. The children are divided in groups of +/-20 pupils. So the children are together in a group of different ages and it is nice to see that there is no gap between them because of the age difference.
The kindergarten starts it’s day at 6.30 AM and they finish at 5.00 PM. The parents of the children can bring of or collect their child whenever they like. In the kindergarten the day starts with playing, when the children are hungry the can take something out of their lunchboxes a have a quick snack, around 10.30 AM we go outside to play (at least if the weather Gods agree on that). Between 11.30 AM and 12.00 AM the children are having their lunch in the class. Four to six children sitting together with the teacher on a table. After lunch the children go outside (again) and play. At 2.00 PM they come in to eat a piece of fruit and then they stay inside until their parents come to go home.
This is what a normal day look’s like in the St. Georgs kindergarten. At first you would just think it’s children’s day care and for the youngest children it is a day care, where they can just play and enjoy their day. But in each class there is a ‘schoolgroup’ and that means that this group is being prepared for the school life in primary school. They do some exercises, activity’s were they learn the numbers, letters and important concepts…
They also have a ‘group –moment’ before lunch break, where they get and sit together in a group and were the ‘teacher’ talks about some subjects or things that the children find impotent. It’s really nice to see that each child get’s the chance to say something.

Our impression of the kindergarten is that is everything is very open-ended, they just go with atmosphere that is in the group, they do what they feel like doing and there are no rules. This experience is really nice and diverting for me. Certainly because we come from a country where rules and structure is very important in schools. It’s good to see that it can work in another way. But then the Danes also have another culture! We really admire the Danes of the way they are living their life.

Citizenschip and Globalisation

When we think back of this module we have to admit we don’t remember that much of it because it was a very theoretical subject. And although the subjects we’ve discussed during the lessons were quit interesting we would really recommend to make these lessons shorter because you loose your concentration after a while.
But know we are thinking back of all the things we remember that we have seen in citizenship and globalisation.
We remember that we had to sit together in these small groups and make our own government. We had to rule a land and make a stat plan. And so we made this kind op pyramid were we decide what is the most important and what is less important when you are a king, president or prime minister. We really struggled while we were searching for the right solution: heath, money, education, work, …
In another lesson we discussed individualism, collectivism, egoism and atheism.
We talked about what it was and how it could be connected, like atheism + collectivism = socialism. We discussed these words, how we understood them, etc. and then we had to try to fit in some educational situations, habits or rules.
For example the combination egoism + collectivism = nationalism (thinking only about yourself) and it can remind you of a group of bullies in a school.
This was interesting but very difficult because several school situations or facts could go in several groups.
We also learned a lot more about citizenship and globalisation, but it is to much and to complicated to explain it all to you.
(Module 3: Citizenschip and Globalisation)

Special Needs in a European prospect

A few weeks ago we had to prepare a presentation about how the special needs education system is in Belgium. Also the other students had to make a presentation about how they take in children with special needs in schools in the country were they live.
In Belgium we have special (need)schools for pupils who are mentally and physically weaker or disabled, who are blind or deaf, who have problems with learning or in their social behaviour, etc. But now these days we try to reduce the amount of students that are going to these schools, because we feel these students are segregated from the students who have a ‘normal’ (school)life. So now we are trying to include these students with special needs in the ‘normal’ education system. And we can do that by giving these ‘normal’ schools special help and adjustments. But we have to say we are still far away of including all the pupils with special needs in the ordinary school. Inclusion is still growing, it’s processing and we are hoping that it will succeed but therefore we personally think the government will to put more effort in this to make sure that the pressure doesn’t get to big for the teacher and the pupil.
We can also concluded from things we have seen and heard in the presentations of the others (other country’s) that they also have special schools and that they are also working on inclusion. And that we all deal with the same problems: pressure on the teacher, pressure on the child/pupil, will there be enough additional help and do we have the right tools the help the pupils with special needs. Conclusion: do we have the money and the right plan to succeed?
(Module 6: Special Needs)

'Drama' in Aabenraa

Drama day’s, what are the first things that pop up when you think about ‘drama’?
Theatre, acting and word. And that it was. But still it was also different. Sometimes it was really nice, sometimes it was a bit dull. A lot of the things we had to do we already had done those once before. If it was not here in Denmark then we had done them in the drama sessions in Belgium. So it wasn’t always that refreshing but it was nice. On Tuesday the main guideline we had to follow was the mystery behind ‘the photo’ (photography). The teacher showed us all a picture of a girl, only her face. We had to imagine a story with the picture and the background music. Then we had to make our own kind of picture (statue-wise) and poem based on the story we had made up. On Friday we had to work with music and masks. The first thing we needed to do was walking on music and while we were walking we had to feel the music. It had to set the tone. Afterwards we beheld the music but added the masks. And it is really crazy what a mask can do with a person. It hides you identity and you become this sort of ‘other’ person. A person that dares, that dares to do things it would not do without the mask.. it gave this kind of protection and certainty. We were all laying down and when the music started we had to move, move on the rhythm and the melody of the music. After warming up we had to divide ourselves into 3 groups. Each group got a CD and had to make a choreography for a song. Some had a song were they felt violence, others felt sadness and we had found joy. It was really intensive and nice, also good to be creative and working together in groups. It was a very good experience for the group, because it showed that we respect each other and it felt like it was right.
(Module 2: Aesthetic Learning Processes)

Climate friendly cooking

A few weeks ago we got together with some Danish students who study Health and Nutrition and they were going to help us make a Climate Friendly Meal. So we parted in little groups and discussed what was typical Danish food and food from our country, we also talked about how we can understand the term Climate Friendly Cooking. We came to the conclusion that using season vegetables, fresh products and products that don’t need to be imported or be transported from another country can also help keeping the environment healthy.
Then we had to split up in groups of four, twee foreign students and two Danish students. We had to talk about what we would like prepare for our group and we decided to make a vegetable lasagne.
Last tuesday our little cooking group got back together and we made a shopping list. Then we went to Fakta to got everything we needed: sun dried tomato’s, milk, butter, onions, …
Wednesday was the big day, THE cooking day. We got together discussed who was going to make what… In less then one hour our vegetable lasagne with spinach sauce, tomato sauce and cheese sauce was in the oven. Because we had so much spare time until our lasagne would be ready we decided to make some pancakes with the leftovers.
After 2 hours of cooking the buffet was ready and we could start eating. It was really delicious, there was so much diversity. We had tagine, vegetable lasagne, Spanish omelette and red berry with cream + pancake dessert. Mmmmmm.. it was a really nice meal and it was nice to get together with some Danish students as well!