last day@ Sct. Severin Skole

Når tiden går baglæns

Vil jeg gør’ det hele igen

= When time goes backward

I will do it all again... 

2 nationalities in one...

On Friday, it was my last day at Sct. Severin.

I had my last lesson in the 2nd period. It was an English lesson in 7B.

I thought it was time that they learnt something more about Belgium.

I made a quiz about Belgium (which was really easy thanks to the smart board software). They scored really well! Then it was time for some Dutch. I had 2 sets of cards. Yellow and red ones. The yellow ones were English words and phrases and the red ones were the Dutch ones.

I gave everyone a yellow one and they had to try to match it with a red one. I didn't expect it, but it went quite well. When everyone had 2 cards, I let them read the English word/phrase and I translated. They thought it was quite funny.

The last thing I wanted to teach these pupils was a Belgian dance. So I let them watch "De kabouterdans" and everyone danced along. I also have a group photo of this class because I taught them so many times.

At the end of the lesson, Carsten suddenly said that they had something for me. They had made a small book and everyone had written something in it. (Now I discovered where the paper was from, I found yesterday). It was so nice of them. I also gave them a box of Belgian chocolate and they were very happy with it.

7B

After the break I went to the 8th graders to let them write their names on my flag because I didn't have the chance to do it yesterday.

When it was time to go to my last lesson, it started to be a bit tough. When I arrived in the hallway, 4 or 5 pupils came running to me to hug me. That was so nice, but I wasn't allowed in the classroom yet. After some minutes I was and we started with the presentation of the family again.

I did with the 5th graders the same activities as with the 7th graders. First a quiz about Belgium. The result: they need a lot of practice but I think they already learnt quite a lot from this. Then I taught them some Dutch, the same way as I did with the 7th graders. "Ik hou van jou" seems to be quite easy but don't let them say ' bedankt' because that's just hilarious. 5A thought that " Gelukkige verjaardag" was way too weird ;). We also did the plopdans and they enjoyed it so much. When the lesson was over they kept playing it.

So the end of the lesson... I got a very nice poster where all the pupils had written something down. I also got a present from Karin: a nice postcard and 2 shot glasses to drink the Danish schnapps. :) Some of the pupils kept hugging me and it was really touching when some of them said: please don't go. It was so hard to hide my tears and even Karin and some pupils were crying along. But still, it was time to say goodbye.

5A

When I came in the teacher's lounge, I could see a lot of cakes and pie. I remembered that Rikke once promised me a table with 7 different cakes (typical Danish tradition) and she quite managed. I also had some waffles and speculaas for the teachers. First we all ate something and it was very nice. Then, the adjunct-principal made a speech. The principal himself wasn't in school today.

The speech was very nice. They wanted to thank me for all the things I had done for the school. I had made a large contribution to the school but also to the pupils. It was quite touching and again tears were there. Then it was my time. I started off quite well, that I wanted to say something as well, if I managed because it was all so emotional. I was crying all the time but I still knew I had to finish my speech. I thanked the school and all the teachers for being so nice, friendly and caring. I also thanked some of the teachers, especially the once who had taken me in their classes but also Lasse and Rikke. I also got a present from the school: it's a very cool thermos bottle which has the logo and name of the city on the top.

When the break was over, I got a hug from so many teachers saying they would miss me and that it has been a pleasure meeting me and so on. I will really miss it here.

After cleaning up, Rikke asked me if I was ready to go home. I said no but I knew I had no choice. We went to do some shopping and then we went home. I was a bit nervous because my parents arrived today. It was nice to see them back but it was also so hard to say goodbye to the family I lived with for 3 months. Michael was the first to leave because he went on a scout’s weekend. Then I had to say goodbye to the small children. They kept saying: Vi ses i morgen (See you tomorrow) and it was so incredibly hard. Klaus had to leave for a meeting.

But the hardest was saying goodbye to Rikke. She was crying just like me saying my bed and room will always be there for me. I am always welcome. It was so hard but it was time to come home.

I learnt so much these last couple of months. I learnt things about my teaching, who I am as I teacher but I also learnt some things about myself. Difference doesn't matter (it doesn’t matter here what colour your hair is) and most important: the person matters. Pupils are seen here as persons and the individual guidance here is amazing.

I want to thank everyone who believed in me during these 3 months and also the ones who encouraged me to this chance. Time flies when you're having fun but I know that this is not the end. I learnt so much from this experience and I have so many good memories.

One of the teachers told me: you have 2 homes: one where your heart is and one where your bed is. True and false. I've got a bed in Belgium and Denmark and both places will have a place in my heart forever.

I can go home and say that I've visit the 4 biggest cities in Denmark, I can speak Danish ( not really fluent but still..), I made friends all over the world, but the most important thing : I can say that I grew. I have grown in my teaching, being me, being confident, having patience, being independent, ....

This is my last blog entry and it feels so strange. I will miss it in one way but I will miss Haderslev and its people the most! I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I loved telling you about my experiences here. This is something no one can ever take from me.

Memories are forever!

last week =(

On Tuesday it was back to school: it feels so weird walking around in school, knowing that this is my last week.

I started the first 2 hours with preparing some things.
Then I had a lesson with the 7th graders. Carsten didn't know if I had prepared something so he wanted to do a quiz. Fine with me: It was some kind of pub-quiz. There were 10 questions and the pupils were divided into 5 groups. Each group had 2 pages where they had to write the answers on. First they had to come up with a name for their group: the winners - The smoothies - Rainbow suckers - Grillpower and Flower Power.
The second question was one about Belgium! Kriek beer is made of which fruit? Cherries of course!! :)
When the quiz was over, we had still 10 minutes left. I told the pupils that this was my last week and that I had 2 requests for them. One is a group picture on Friday and the other one, was that they had to write their names on my Danish flag. They all did (except the ones who were ill).
I also had a lesson with the 5th graders today. We continued where we stopped before the Easter holiday: introducing your family to the rest of the class, using pictures. There are still 5 pupils who have to do it on Friday but very short because I have other plans with them: I also introduced my family and they thought it was so cute! They were also very enthusiastic about writing their names on my flag.

On Wednesday, I only had 2 hours. Two periods in the morning with 9y. This was my last lesson with them. They had to continue working on their exam preparation because they are having exams next week.
At the end of the lesson, I asked them if they wanted to write all the names on my flag. A picture was quite impossible because a lot of them weren't in. But I have all their names ;). I also gave them a box of Belgian chocolates as a goodbye gift. Carsten asked my afterwards why I didn't tell him earlier that it was my last lesson in that class. I just said: well, you were busy and it's not a big deal. He answered back; we'll make a big deal on it on Friday.
When I came into the teacher's lounge, one of the teachers came to me and she said that she probably didn't have enough time on Friday, so she wanted to give me my present now. I was like: what? Present?
She gave me a box of Danish chocolates and a nice card. She said she enjoyed talking to me. She is so nice! Her son is doing his Confirmation (= receive Holy Communion) and she asked me a while ago of I wanted to make a short video message congratulating him in Dutch.
In the afternoon I went to Dampark to meet Anna; I met Anna the first week I was here in Denmark. She's German and she lives in Flensburg, right across the Danish border. Anna helped me out the first week. I had some problems with my Belgian phone so she gave me a new phone (one she had at home), she ordered the charger for me and she drove me around to find a new cheap sim-card. She was so friendly, it was really touching. We said back then to meet again and so we did yesterday. We drank hot chocolate and ate a great chocolate cake. It was so nice seeing her again. She brought a classmate because she had to drop him off at home. First she dropped me off after our chocolate and I gave her a box of chocolate and a card to thank her. In the evening I received a message on Facebook from her, that she was so pleased with it. I spend most of my evening in the kitchen, baking things as a goodbye gift for the teachers at Sct. Severin. I also went to a cafe with Anke and some Erasmus students. It's also for them the last week, so they all meet quite often. Today, I had cooking class but not a regular one. The pupils had to search on the internet what they want to make next week. I just walked around until Bente showed me some tricks on the smartboard. I spend some time trying things out and wow, it's just amazing. All these things you can do, so easy and with just 2 clicks.
I want it!!

Well, it's already Thursday, so tomorrow will probably one of my last blog messages. Time flies when you're having fun..

Easter Monday

On Easter Monday, we went to Aabenraa. It's a town, around 25 kilometres from Haderslev. 
There lives Rikke's mother. We were invited for an Easter lunch. 
A lot of people were there. Rikke's sister and her boyfriend. Her brother with his wife and kids and we. 
We had a lot of fun. 
We had a typical Easter lunch with smørrebrød with fish. I also tasted the Danish schnapps. It was a bit too strong for me :D. We sat outside a lot. Played badminton,...  We also went to a nearby field where we threw the frisbee and where we played baseball with a football. Another version but still a lot of fun. When we came back to the house it was coffee time. There was cake and coffee and chocolate. Yes, even Belgian chocolate!!! :D
After that, the children could go and find the chocolate in the garden. 
It was a very nice Easter Monday but also quite exhausting. 
The difficult part was saying goodbye. I haven't seen these people a lot except for Rikke's mother a few times and her sister 2 times. Still, it was hard knowing that I won't see them again unless I visit them again. They told me I was more than welcome and they would like to see me back one day. 

I'm not good at saying goodbye and if this is already hard, what will it be the following days then?!
Well, one thing is for sure, Danish people are so friendly and open!!

Ribe - Esbjerg - Crazy Daisy - Rømø

We (Lasse, Anke and me) left around 9 o'clock in the morning for our trip to Ribe. First stop was the Viking Museum. For those who have read my blog thoroughly, know that I've already been there but only in the children's museum. Now I wanted to see the real thing. 
It wasn't as big as I expected it to be and it wasn't really related to Vikings. A bit of a disappointment but still I'm glad that I finally saw it. 
After the museum visit, we went downtown. Today was Good Friday and they also 'celebrate' it here. A lot of the shops were closed but we didn't mind because we weren't here to shop. We had lunch and then we went to the cathedral. 
As almost every church here in Denmark, it's a Protestants one. I liked it very much. After a few minutes walking around in the church, we went to the tower. I counted 238 stairs (Anke counted 245 on the way back and some children said there were 240 stairs) Well; I counted them once and that more than enough. I couldn't feel my legs anymore when I reached the top (Yes, I know, I have to start working on it). The view on the other hand was amazing. We could see Ribe, the oldest city of Denmark from above and it was so nice. When we were back with our 2 feet on the ground, we bought ourselves a real Belgian waffle, because we did so well. Although we already had had "Belgian" waffles yesterday, Lasse wanted to try this one as well. 
After that, we left Ribe and went more up north, to the West coast to Esbjerg. Esbjerg is according to Wikipedia the fourth largest city of Denmark.

We went to the beach. A beach where 4 giant sitting men are watching over the sea. We paddled a bit and Anke found 2 oysters. She wanted to see if there was maybe a pearl inside but no luck. So what did we do? We ate the fish. :)
I never thought that I would eat an oyster and then one that comes right from the sea. Well, I did: p. it didn't taste that bad actually.
After our oyster adventure we posed in front of our 4 giant friends.
Then we drove more back north again to a town called Ho. In Esbjerg, you can find a museum that you can compare with sea life. You can see seals and so on but it was rather expensive. Lasse said that you can sometimes see seals in Ho so that's where we went. Pity that we didn't see any.
We rode back to Esbjerg, but this time we went into town. We found a very nice Greek restaurant. The food was delicious.
Around 9o'clock we were back in Haderslev. It has been a great day!!

 

finished ! ;)

On Saturday, we had friends over here for brunch. It was very hygge.
In the afternoon, I went with Anke downtown. There was a lot going on and Lasse was going to play the guitar and sing. He especially sung the song Grenade by Bruno Mars. After the concert I went with my family to the Dampark. There we took a boat trip on the lake. It was not really a boat, but such yellow things where 2 persons have to do like their on a bicycle.

In the evening it was party time!!!
Anke and I went for the last time to the disco, Crazy Daisy. We had so much fun and we danced until the next day.  It hurt a bit when the alarm clock went off at 9 o'clock but that's the thing if you're going on a trip. We ate breakfast, dropped Anke off at her place and we went to Rømø. It's a small island on the west coast. You can only take 1 road to get there. :)
First we just did some (window)-shopping. Then it was lunchtime and we were right in time for the show of Rasmus Klump. (Pol, Pel en Pingo in Dutch) The children just love them. After the show, we went to the beach. The Belgian coast is nothing compared to this one. You can drive your car all the way up to the water. The beach is gigantic because you can't even see the sea. There a lot of tourists here, especially Germans. There are no life-guards (every year, German tourists die because they are not used to the sea). I just loved it. I went paddling, lying on the beach, looking for shells.
Too bad that if you're having a great time, it goes by so fast...

Easter holiday :Fredericia - Belgian dinner

Easter Holiday in Denmark is only one week, but to be honest I don't mind. I'm having the time of my life at Sct. Severin Skole so vacation is welcome but it doesn't have to take too long.

On Monday, we just relaxed because we were still a bit tired from our trip to Legoland. We spent most of the day outside and I went downtown for a while, just to walk around and so on.

On Tuesday it was Michael's birthday ( fødselsdag). We started the day with singing the traditional birthday song and waving the flag.
Then it was time for breakfast and presents. After breakfast we left immediately to Frederica. It's a nearby town and we would met the grandparents for a cosy day. The weather was great and so we went to a giant park where children can play in the playground, there's a little farm with goats, horses,... and you can barbeque there, if you bring your own meat. When we arrived, we ate breakfast (again), now with special bread. After that, the children went playing. We also went to take  a look at the animals : the goats and the horses. Then it was lunchtime. We brought our own meat, so it was barbeque time. It tasted really good. The children played some more and then we took a ride in a train. It went round the park and it was quite relaxing. After the train, I played with the children and we ate an ice-cream. I even fed a duck :p. It was a really nice day but I was glad to be home again.


 

On Wednesday, we relaxed again. In the morning, I went shopping with Anke for groceries. We are planning a Belgian dinner night for our host families and why not do it together then. Lasse and his girlfriend will come to my place and Anke and I will cook dinner for 9 people (including ourselves). we bought a lot of food and the dinner will take place tomorrow. In the afternoon I went downtown to do some shopping and bring some books back to the library.  It was really warm again but that made it even nicer to be outside.
In the evening I made the dough for tomorrow's dessert and then I went to Anke's place. We watched a film ( Eat, pray, love) and I stayed over.

On Thursday, Anke and I walked from Starup to Haderslev. It's about 4-5 km. It was a nice walk but a bit warm. Around 2 o'clock, Anke and I started to prepare the food. We had a lot of fun in the kitchen but also some curious noses (especially the children). Around 6 o'clock arrived Lasse and his girlfriend. Anke and I were ready. Rikke had helped us setting the table. We made a menu card, with of course the Belgian flag on it and everything in Dutch and English. Our starter was tomato with shrimp. Then we had French Fries with stoofvlees and some salad. In Denmark, not all families have a fryer so most French fries are baked in the oven. It doesn't taste the same, so Anke and I cut almost 5 kg potatoes in the shape of French Fries and we borrowed a fryer from one of Rikke's friends. The result was super ! Everyone liked it !!
The dessert was waffles with sugar on it. They all liked it ! It was just a hygge evening. After the dinner, Anke and I did the dishes and I went home with them. Tomorrow we're going on a trip and it's easier if we leave from 1 house. :) 

Legoland !!!

Sunday, it was  D-day. We went to Legoland in Billund. 

For those who really know me, know I'm not very fond about lego. When I was little I fell on lego with my face so that you could see the shape of a legobrick in my nose. It was even bleeding back then.
From that moment on, I promised to myself never to come near Lego again.
Well, Sunday, I conquered my fear :).

We left early in the morning. The weather was really nice and it wasn' t too crowded. I thought the entrance would be bigger but it was still nice.
We started with a small tour in a train. I was impressed sometimes about the things they made. Really great !!

We had a lot of fun. We went into spinning barrels, a ship that just sailed around, ...
We also went into a boat and we could shoot water to the people who were just watching or passing by. Something funny: they could also shoot back. We had a lot of fun but we were a bit wet.
We also went into an Egyptian temple. There you had to sit in a car with 2 persons and shoot the coloured diamonds. We did it 2 times and that was good because I didn't quite know the first time what I was doing. I also went with Michael in a very cool attraction. It was a robotarm. When you entered, you got a card and you had to insert this one in a computer.  Then you had to choose how fast you wanted to go (from 1 to 5). Then you had to choose 6 things you wanted the robot to do with you. Spin you around, hang upside down,... So we choose 6 things and we got our card back. When it was our turn, one of the people inserted our card and we had to take place in the seats. Then the robotarm would do what we asked it to do.
I also went with Michael in a water attraction. In Belgium we always refer to the "boomstammetjes" or here the canoes. We got a really nice picture ! :D Actually I duck a bit so he got all the water :p.
I also went with Rikke in a really cool attraction. It was called extreme racers. It was some kind of rollercoaster but it didn't go upside down but it was still very nice. The picture was hilarious.

We also took a small walk into mini lego land. It's actually a small area of countries (the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark) and everything is made of lego. The windmills of the Netherlands as well as Amalienborg, the royal palace in Copenhagen ( which I didn't see live but now I've seen the legoversion)
Special and new from this year was Star Wars. Everything was made out of Lego.

Even when we went to take a look in the aquarium, in the water you could see a submarine, made out of Lego. Amazing !There was also a great activity for those who love to play fireman. You play in teams. When a bell rings, you have to push open the door and jump into a firetruck.
There's a pump and 2 people have to control it as fast as possible so that the truck goes forward. Then you have to jump out the car and start pumping water, also with 2 people and a third one controls the water and tries to extinguish the fire. When the fire is gone, you have to jump back in the truck and drive back by pumping. The one who gets back first, wins. I can tell you this, you have to be in good shape to do this, because it can be quite exhausting.

In the evening we had dinner in legoland and we went home. Tired but we had so much fun. And actually I was kind of proud of myself. I spend a whole day in the neighbourhood of lego and  I didn't fell on it !! =D I was a happy girl.

Proof that I've been to Legoland: =D

Star Wars

Aquarium

Mount Rushmore

Ghostwalk in Gram

Friday was a great day. After school we went for lunch downtown which was very good.  We spent most of the afternoon outside and I made macaroni with ham and cheese. J

In the evening we went for a “ghostwalk”. We left Haderslev around 20h25 and we drove to a nearby city called Gram. Of course the little children stayed at home. We arrived at the castle at 21h05 (a bit too late but it didn’t matter). In total there were 10 persons for the ghostwalk including the guide. It was unfortunately in Danish but Rikke tried to translate most of it for me. It’s a good thing; my Danish is improving so that I understood small pieces of it.
Gram Slot is an old castle, but still alive thanks to the legend of the White Lady. The legend goes that there was a man who owned the castle died and his widow stayed behind. Her name was Anne Sophie Shack. She stayed alone for over 41 years. In the meanwhile, she did have some lovers who came to her room once in a while. One day she got pregnant and she stayed in her room for the whole period, 9 months. When the baby was born, she told one of the maids to throw the baby into the water that surrounded the castle. The maid did this. But that’s not the only thing that happened. Anne Sophie Shack also killed 2 of her maids. One on purpose. One of the maids was bound up the oven while Anne Sophie went to church. The reason for it: the girl was sitting on a window shield while she actually needed to clean the room When she came back the maid was dead, burnt to dead.
The other maid who was killed was probably an accident. One of the maids was undressing Anne Sophie when the last one suddenly saw that she would get a visitor. She pulled her dress out the hands of the maids and gave the maid a hard punch. The girl fell backwards and hit her head on the oven. Bloodstains were found on the wooden floor.
I found it very interesting. The legend says that you can see the White Lady (Anne Sophie) sometimes. The guide also said that there have been psychics in the castle and they don’t like to be/stay in the kitchen in the basement.

When we walked to the castle around 9 o’clock, we actually parked at the wrong side. So we went to a little gate and over a small bridge, to get to the castle. The small bridge was a way over the water. When we wanted to go back to the car, we went round the castle because it was in that water that Anne Sophie had thrown the baby.
When we wanted to leave Gram again, there was a problem with our car. I made a joke that Anne Sophie didn’t want us to go home anymore. In the end, I ended up pushing the car together with Michael so that we could leave.
Rikke told me in the car that she was reading a brochure at the end, while the guide was talking with the other visitors. She saw the name of the guide in the brochure and he has the same name as Anne Sophie. Coincidence?
Well, she asked the guide afterwards if he was family and he claimed not to be. She said to me that she felt like being in a film at that moment. Who knows, the guide might be a ghost as well. We’ll never know…
Anyway I had a good night sleep afterwards J

Here you can take a look at the website of Gram Slot ( in Danish)
Gram Slot

Kolding - Grenade - quiz - goodbye

On Wednesday Carsten was back and we had 2 hours in the 9^th grade. He asked me how it went in the 7^th grade. I looked at him and I said well I think they have a problem with me or so. I explained what happened and he looked a bit surprised. I told him that I thought that I might be the problem or so but he immediately said that I was doing a great job and so on. That was nice to hear but still. I told him my idea for Friday and he agreed. So let’s see if they still behave like this.
I left school around 9h50 and Anke and I took the bus to Kolding where there’s a big mall. It was shopping time. We had a lot of fun!!!

On Thursday, I had 3 hours of cooking class. This is actually the same class as I have for English so I was a bit concerned about how they would act today. All the pupils were there so there wasn’t a group who really needed my help. While I was walking around, 2 pupils came to me and asked if I wanted to join them for the “dinner”. I was a bit surprised but it was very nice. So I said yes and I also helped them with the preparations. We made a vegetarian meal and a pineapple cake. The ones, who know me, know that I don’t eat pineapple. But I tried it because I didn’t want to be rude and I actually liked it!!
After cooking class I had one free period and then I had to teach the 8^th grade. It was a lesson about nouns, verbs and adjectives. Jørgen had given me a book with activities. It was an activity where they had to listen to the song “Another day in paradise by Phil Collins and they had to note down as many nouns, adjectives and verbs they could hear while listening. I changed the song but kept the activity. I wanted a more modern song so I chose Grenade by Bruno Mars. We first looked at the activity also to make sure the pupils know the difference between a noun, adjective and verb. We did that by asking them to give us some examples of nouns, adjectives and verbs. I let them listen to the song twice and we then corrected it. Then I had 2 activities of Madlibs for them. One was just a story and the other one was an Easter story, because it’s Easter holiday, next week. They really enjoyed this activity because they found it so funny. I also let some of them read their story out loud. At the end of the lesson, a girl from 8B (I teach 8A) came in and asked Jørgen why I couldn’t teach their class. I can tell you this was a bit touching. So I agreed with Jørgen that I will teach the same lesson in 8B after the Easter Holiday. In the afternoon I went to the hairdresser. =D new haircut, a new colour ;). 

On Friday morning I had to teach the 7^th graders again. First of all I asked their postcards but I only received 5 of them.
Then I told them I needed 2 teams. They could choose in which team they wanted to be. I also told them that if they wanted they could just play: boys vs. girls. That’s how it went. Boys vs. girls. I told them we were going to play a game, a game about the USA. It was also to check if they paid attention during my previous lessons. I saw some scary faces at that point.
I made a PowerPoint. The background was the American flag. I had made 5 categories: presidents, buildings, history, culture and miscellaneous. Every category was divided into 50,100, 200 or 500 DKK. So they could earn “money”. The rules were quite easy. One team chooses a category (e.g. presidents 500DKK = this was the more difficult one). They see the questions and they get some limited time to answer the question. If they answered correctly, I showed them the answer and gave them the money. If it wasn’t correct, I went to the other team and asked the answer. If the other team could answer it, they would get, half the money (250 DKK, in this case). They really enjoyed it. Also Carsten found it really great and he asked if I could send the PowerPoint to him as well.
Three free periods later, I had my last lesson of the day. English in 5A. They were late because it was also Singingday today. So the lesson started at 11h00 instead at 10h45. When the first one came in, she said to me: ooh you’ve cut and coloured your hair ! And then she ran out to tell the rest. That was quite funny because I’m not really used to that. They had to bring a picture of their family today and I think almost everyone did. The pupils though were  bit sad because one of the pupils changes school after Easter so this was her last day. Their presentations were really good but not everyone had the chance to present their family because we only had 30 minutes. At the end of the lesson, I asked the pupils if they wanted to pose for a group picture because now everyone was still in the class.  They absolutely didn’t mind but they also wanted some pictures of me. I also got a chocolate cupcake from the girl who’s leaving.
After this lesson, Easter holiday could begin !!

Yellow butter, purple jelly; reading comprehension and USA

Monday again. When I arrived in school I saw that Carsten was ill. I immediately volunteered to be his substitute for the 9^th and 7^th grade. That was no problem. The 9^th graders had to find texts for their exams and write something about it. Some of them went looking for a text, others were writing. One girl asked my help. She already had  2 texts but one of them was a bit too difficult for her, so together we found a new suitable text for her.
At ten o’clock, I had a lesson in the 5^th grade. They were really enthusiastic about me teaching them again. We started with a text from their textbook called Grace Darling. It’s a text, actually a legend, about a ship wreck. The pupils read it out loud, also because this is the way they work here. It doesn’t matter if you make mistakes, you have to try. The teacher corrects if they make mistakes. Afterwards we looked at the vocabulary. I said the English words and they said the Danish word. This was quite funny. Then I told them we were going to do 2 things. They were divided into 4 groups. Every group got a paper and they had to write their own story. The paper was divided into 3. First they had to think of a hero, then about the place and last but not least about a plot. I explained everything that was on the paper. Then I told them that I was going to take one pupil outside and tell her a sentence. She had to pass the sentence on to someone else and so on.  [The sentence: Yellow butter, purple jelly, red jam, black bread, spread it thick, say it quick.] It was a bit chaotic and I couldn’t check how the sentence sounded now because the lesson was over.
After my lesson in the 5th grade I had to hurry to be on time for my lesson in the 8th grade. I didn’t have to teach them myself because they had to do a reading comprehension. Jørgen challenged me to take the test myself. It was quite funny because the test was actually quite tricky. I made a few mistakes although I don’t think you can really call them mistakes. You had to find the right headline for a short piece of text. Jørgen thought that I had a few mistakes but I think it’s just the way you interprets the text.  J
Well, in the afternoon I had a lesson in the 7^th grade. Carsten was ill but t I had to teach this lesson anyway so I didn’t mind. We went on with the USA. I wrote 5 categories on the smart board: presidents/buildings/celebrities/sport/films. The pupils had to come up with 5 things for each item. When that was finished I told them they had to choose one 1 and try to speak about it as long as possible. There was one catch, when one item was chosen; no one could choose it again. Carsten gave me this idea and I thought they would be very eager to do this and to have an item that they know. But they didn’t. They didn’t really want to speak but I told them they had to do it now or tomorrow. We also made an extra category: food because this was a bit easier. At the end of the lesson everyone had talkedJ. I asked them if there was anything they wanted to learn about America, because then they could tell me know and I could try to fix that. They told me they wanted to learn about New York, buildings, people, culture, food and cars.
So their wish was my command.
On Tuesday, Carsten was still ill and they had chosen a substitute. I told Lasse that I had to teach that lesson anyway so I could easily substitute. When I came into the class, the pupils were a bit surprised about the fact that I was there and no the other teacher.
We started off with a listening comprehension. The pupils had a small map and they had to act like they were on a tour boat. I read a text and they had to follow the route I told them and complete the activity. They had some small pictures of the special things they passed and they had to say what it was. They didn’t look very enthusiastic but I thought it was just because it was the first hour of the day. (They had the first 2 hours off.)
Then I had a worksheet about buildings. I made small boxes with some information in it. It was written in the I-person so that it looked if the building was speaking. They also had boxes with the names of the buildings/statues/… and then they also had the pictures. They had to match the 3 things together. In the meanwhile, outside was a music class but the pupils were playing music in the hallway which made a lot of noise. The pupils did what I asked but again without the enthusiasm. After we corrected the exercise I showed them a website. It was the website of post crossing. There you can make an account and then you receive an address of someone in the world who’s also a member. The meaning was that you write postcards to each other.
I had printed out some postcards and I told them they had to write a postcard. They could choose to write a postcard to a good friend or to me or to someone else. On the other side, they had to draw something or they could print something out and paste it on the paper. I thought this was a nice activity because it was a free activity. But at the end, one or two postcards were flying through the class and so on. They didn’t really care about it. After that lesson I was so mad. I put a lot of effort to make fun activities and to make boring things interesting but apparently they just don’t care. I started doubting if I was the problem. Did I do something wrong? I was quite down and I thought that I wanted to make one last effort for that class.
In the afternoon I had the 5^th graders again and that’s no problem.
I asked the 2 pupils if they could still remember the sentence. They could but it was not completely correct. Only the girl who was the first one to pass the sentence through could remember. This way I could explain them what a legend was. Then every group had to read the story they had written. Some were really funny! J
I also told them a legend about my region in Belgium, the legend of “het alvermannetje”. They liked it a lot and they were listening with a lot of attention.
Then I told them that we saw a family yesterday in the text of Grace Darling. I asked who the family members were and they still remembered. I gave them a worksheet with a family tree on. Only one name was filled in. They had to fill in the rest by reading a very short text. They liked this a lot. Then they had a small vocabulary exercise. They had the English words and they had to translate it into Danish.
It was also the end of the lesson when they finished their exercise. I told them that I had some homework for them for Friday. They were like: Nooo. I laughed and said: well if you do your homework, I’ll do mine as well. I told them to bring a picture or more than one of their own family. If they did, I would also bring some pictures of my family. When I said this, they were really enthusiastic. Some of them even came to me on my way out to ask if it was okay if it was on USB or if it was a picture with their parents and so on. J

Århus - Aarøsund

On Saturday I went to Århus. It’s the second largest city in Denmark. We left quite early in the morning.

First we went shopping J. Then we went to see the Cathedral of Århus and we did some sightseeing.  The Cathedral was also very pretty. It’s a protestants church like almost every church here. Very special is that every church has a ship hanging from the ceiling, with Danish flags. The meaning is a bit difficult to explain because it’s a bit unknown. Most people say it’s because the church was built in the shape of a ship but I also heard another explanation. If you’re a member of the Church, you will be on a ship. A ship that never goes down because God will protect you. I think this is quite a nice thought.

It was a warm day so it was really nice being outside and enjoying the sunshine.
Then we drove to “Den Gamle By”. This is the old town, the old Århuss. This was so beautiful. You could see all the old houses and you also could go inside.
Try the doors – they might be open
Look into the yards – behind the houses
Gaze up at the façades
Ask questions
Read the signs and Placards
Set your curiosity free

Quite simple : Enjoy !
This is what says at the backside of the small book: discovering Den Gamle By.
You could walk here for ages !

On Saturdays all the shops close at 14h in the smaller towns, like Haderslev but in the bigger towns they close at 16h. Except the giant mall. So that’s where we went after Den Gamle By. We went there for an ice-cream which tasted really good especially when it’s so hot outside.
I also saw a shop which is quite fun. It’s a shop and it sells “Hoptimists”. This is something typical Danish and it’s actually really cute. Here you have the website of the company.
Hoptimist
We took another way home and we stopped at the beach for a few minutes. Really nice to see but it wasn’t a real beach like the ones we know from Oostende, Blankenberge, … .
We also wanted to have dinner there but for some reason we couldn’t, so we ended up in McDonalds, which I didn’t mind ;).
But my long day wasn’t over yet. In the evening I went out. We went with some other Erasmus students to a concert in a café. It was a really good band called Notch and they sung a lot of covers so we could easily sing-a-long. We had a lot of fun.
       
On Sunday, it was really early. I went to bed late but the small children here, don’t really care ;). Well, you get used to it.
It was again a beautiful day so we went to the beach of Aarøsund. I laid down on the sand and enjoyed the sunshine. Too bad it was a bit windy there, but still very nice. We went home around 16h and while the children played outside, Sonja lay on the grass, while listening to some music. Just  relaxing ! This was really great. For dinner, we had a typical Danish dinner: potatoes with red cabbage, sweet potatoes and pork. It tasted good ! I really like the Danish food !!
Too bad the weekend is already over, but I had a great weekend and next week it’s Easter holiday so also a lot of fun guaranteed.
Pictures of Aarøsund :