Beyond Copenhagen Part 3

Week 10 (28/03/16) – Cultural and Personal

Our adventures continued this week in true Scandinavian style as we boarded our first ever SAS flight which took us from Stockholm to Bergen on the west coast of Norway. Checking into our hostel, we quickly took advantage of the free coffee and cookies that were on offer and sat overlooking the city of Bergen; compared to Stockholm, we were living in absolute luxury!

The harbour in Bergen

 

Snow on the plateaux

View over Bergen from Ulriken

With none of the four of us being city girls, Bergen was a haven of relaxation and refreshment as, despite still being in the city, we were enclosed by the stunning backdrop of the mountains and surrounded by the natural beauty of untouched landscape; this was a welcome change from the business of city life (and also the flat terrain) that we had been used to in Copenhagen. Ham et al. (2008, p. 16) write that “Norway is, by any standards, one of the most beautiful countries on earth…” and, eager to explore this for ourselves, we spent two out of the three full days we had soaking up the exquisite scenery and picturesque countryside. Our hostel was located at the foot of Bergen’s highest mountain, Ulriken, which reaches 643m above ground level. On Wednesday, we packed our picnics and started our hike up the mountain, every so often pausing to appreciate the view of the city that lay beneath us. When we got to the summit, I was completely blown away by what lay before my eyes; I had never seen anything like it and was left speechless at the blankets of untouched snow that covered the plateaux. The sun shone on our faces as we sat on the rocks and enjoyed our picnic; this was one of the most memorable moments of the entire trip and definitely worth the tricky descent and aching legs that ensued the next day!

 

On Friday we had the opportunity to appreciate more of the natural beauty of Norway as we arose at 7:15am to embark on a day trip around the fjords, which have been included on UNESCO’s (2005) World Heritage List. As expected, they did not disappoint and again, I was speechless as I stood in awe of the sheer mountains, majestic waterfalls and picturesque hamlets that were enclosed by rugged cliffs on either side. A few hours of the day were spent on railway lines that hugged the mountainside and the final train journey back to Bergen was particularly spectacular as we drove through the snow-covered mountains. Reflecting on our time in Norway, I am extremely thankful for the beauty of creation that we saw; as it says in Ecclesiastes 3:11, “He has made everything beautiful in its time.”



A small hamlet in the middle of the fjords





At Gudvangen

 

The Sognefjord

Snowy mountains close to the railway

 

It was lovely to be back in Copenhagen for Easter Sunday and, whilst we all missed our home churches, we were thankful for the opportunity to worship in the Baptist church we attend here each week. When we arrived back from church, Emma’s culinary skills proved to be as fantastic as ever and we sat down to a tasty roast dinner followed by Waffleberry pie. Despite missing home, we were able to celebrate the joyousness of the day together and continue some much needed relaxation after our jam-packed holiday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upon completing this tenth blog, it is scary to think that we are beyond our half-way point! I am so thankful for all of the adventures we have already had and excited for what is yet to come. But, for now, farvel!

Reference List

Ham, A., Roddis, M. and Lundgren, K. (2008) Norway, London, Lonely Planet Publications, Pty Ltd.

UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) (2005) West Norwegian Fjords – Geirangerfjord and Nærøyfjord, available at http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1195 (accessed 28/03/16).

Beyond Copenhagen Part 2

Week 9 (28/03/16) – Professional and Cultural

It is hard to believe that this week saw the end of the first half of our semester at UCC Zahle. With St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, group presentations and preparations for our Easter travels, it has been a very busy week and the sense of finality that came with finishing classes for Easter made me realise how quickly time is moving on!

St. Patrick's Day in Copenhagen

The week began with a trip to the Danish Learning Festival. This annual event boasts an exhibition area with a wide range of educational materials and is open to all those involved in the education of children and young people in Denmark. I thought it was particularly interesting to talk to a range of experts and discover different teaching techniques connected to children with SEN, the use of ICT in the classroom and the teaching of phonics. The General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland (2011) encourage the development of creative and innovative approaches to teaching and, in competence 20, outline the expectation that is upon teachers to effectively use a range of strategies, approaches and resources to promote high levels of learning and achievement. The festival was beneficial, therefore, in providing me with ideas and inspiration and, when I return home, I will attempt to integrate some of the techniques I have acquired into my lessons.

Learning about the use of ICT in the classroom

Sensory equipment for children with autism

Gamla Stan (the Old Town)

Traditional Swedish 'Fika'

Danish author Anderson (1868, p. 434) makes a bold statement, noting that, “To travel is to live.” Whilst there is definitely more to life than travelling, having a week off university and the whole of Scandinavia at our doorstep, we wanted to embrace the opportunity to explore new territory. So, on Friday, we packed up our rucksacks and suitcases and boarded the first of three flights that would take us on an 8-day tour around Scandinavia. Our first stop was the beautiful city of Stockholm, or rather Skavsta, a minute airport in the middle of a Swedish forest which was a 90 minute bus journey away from Stockholm…I suppose this catch was reasonable considering the fact that our flights only cost us £4 each in the first place! The bus journey had its advantages, however, as we enjoyed a relaxing drive through the Swedish countryside and saw fields for the first time since leaving Northern Ireland; whilst this scenery was very picturesque, it served to make me realise how much I truly appreciate (and miss) the “Green green grass of home”! Stockholm itself was beautiful and we enjoyed visiting Gamla Stan, the historic part of the city, learning about the infamous ‘Pippy Longstocking’ in true primary teacher style at Junibacken and belting out some classics as we danced on the stage with Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid at the ABBA museum. One of the highlights was a boat journey around the Stockholm archipelago, a cluster of small islands which make up the second-largest archipelago in the Baltic Sea. A trip to Sweden would not be complete, however, without experiencing ‘Fika’; an important practice in Swedish culture, protected by law, that is dedicated to drinking coffee and taking a break (Visit Sweden, 2016). The nature of ‘Fika’ is characterised by ‘slowing down’; it is very distinguishable from the rushed coffee breaks that we are used to in Northern Ireland and re-iterates the relaxed Scandinavian way of life that we have also observed in Denmark. I have to admit that I could very quickly get used to a cappuccino and a cinnamon bun a couple of times a day; perhaps it is best that it remains a Swedish tradition!

Story time at Junibacken

An island in the Stockholm archipelago

Auditioning for ABBA

More about our Scandinavian adventures in the next blog but, for now, farvel!

Reference List

Anderson, H.C. (1868) The Fairy Tale of My Life: An Autobiography, Copenhagen, C.A. Reitzel Publishers.

General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland (2011) Teaching: the Reflective Profession, Belfast, General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland.

Visit Sweden (2016), available at http://www.visitsweden.com/sweden/Search-Results/?q=fika (accessed 28/03/16).

 

Becoming a Dane

 

Week 8 (16/03/16) – Cultural and Professional

Before leaving Northern Ireland to come to Copenhagen, I received cards and letters from friends and family, intended to offer words of encouragement and hope as I spent the next four months of my life in a foreign country. One particularly memorable phrase that stood out to me was “Enjoy being a Dane!” Having never imagined myself as anything other than Northern Irish through and through, I laughed when I read this at first. However, this week we have had several new opportunities to immerse ourselves in the Danish way of life; as can only be expected, this has been both exciting and challenging.

Token non-Danish speakers

Having attended an international church for the past few months and studied alongside students from almost every country in Europe aside from Denmark, we had been frustrated up until this week that we had not had the opportunity to meet any Danish people. Thus, when we were invited to a Christian mission week in Copenhagen University, we decided to go along for a few nights. We immediately had severe regrets over our decision not to take up Danish lessons as we were bombarded with a series of meaningless words and PowerPoint slides; this triggered a laughing fit as we began to exchange concerned glances with each other. However, we were quickly rescued by Helené who very kindly translated for us and we proceeded to sit in the corner as the token non-Danish speakers with earpieces in our ears. One of the highlights of the mission was getting to meet a few Danish people and after attending another Christian event organised by the same university a few nights later, we had the opportunity to meet more Danish students and chat with them about different aspects of the Christian faith. The week ended with a cup of coffee and a catch-up with a few friends from our class; it was lovely to spend some time with them outside of lectures and we also had the opportunity to meet another Danish student who came along with them.

Coffee with our international friends

In ‘The Nordic Model of Education’ this week, we studied a teaching approach that is very prevalent and highly sought after in Danish schools; the concept of Cooperative Learning. This is defined by Li and Lam (2013, p. 1) as   “…a student-centred, instructor-facilitated instructional strategy in which a small group of students is responsible for its own learning and the learning of all group members.” It was interesting to explore the strengths and weaknesses of this approach and to discover that, according to Li and Lam (2013, p. 2), it is underpinned by Vygotsky’s (1896-1934) theory of social constructivism and, in particular, his 'Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)'. We were able to relate this to one of our other modules this week where we discussed the use of ‘scaffolding’ in the classroom in relation to the ZPD; this is identified as the help given to learners to enable them to accomplish a task that they would not have been able to do on their own (Long et al., 2011). The themes of scaffolding and Cooperative Learning are particularly relevant to my teaching at home and I hope that, during my placement in a Danish school, I will be able to observe the latter in practice and perhaps have the opportunity to implement it myself.

Again, it has been another quiet week and so we are relishing the thought of our upcoming Scandinavian adventures as we leave on Friday to tour Sweden and Norway. For now, farvel!

Reference List

Li, M.P. and Lam, B. H. (2013) Cooperative Learning, available at https://www.ied.edu.hk/aclass/Theories/cooperativelearningcoursewriting_LBH%2024June.pdf (accessed 16/03/16).

Long, M., Wood, C., Littleton, K., Passenger, T. and Sheey, K. (2011) The Psychology of Education, Abingdon, Routledge.

A few tasters from home

Week 7 (07/03/16) – Personal and Professional

Following an extremely busy few days touring Budapest last weekend, we have had a relatively uneventful week in comparison. We took advantage of the extra time on our hands and immersed ourselves in some home baking; I never thought that I would have appreciated a simple taster from home, in the form of Waffleberry pie, as much as I did! This was accompanied by a few Danish treats during the past week as well; we relaxed with coffee and chocolate cake in Vesterbro on Saturday and tried a new café for brunch before church on Sunday; I will definitely be back here for some more blueberry pancakes before returning home to Northern Ireland!

Home of the blueberry pancakes

Home of the coffee and chocolate cake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aside from eating pancakes and deserts, we attended university this week as normal and our class on Thursday, during which we usually study different aspects of the Nordic Model of education, entailed discussions and debates about what we as students believed to be the core values in education that should be communicated to children throughout their time at school. In groups, we were asked to discuss and choose five core values and then present our reasoning to the rest of the class. The four of us were in a group together which meant that we had the opportunity to reflect on our curriculum and education system in Northern Ireland and extract what we believed to be the most important values from this prior to comparing them with those selected by students from other countries. The General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland (2011) believe that competence is developed through reflection on practice and advocate the importance of the reflective and activist teacher in whom reflective practice is internalised as part of his/her professional identity.  The Education and Training Inspectorate (2005, p. 1) also emphasise the significance of reflection and self-evaluation, noting that. “As an individual teacher…you have a major part to play in promoting the improvement of the learning of your pupils.” Hence, I found it interesting to present the values that we had selected, based on our own experiences of teaching, to reflect upon these and then to consider alternative values presented by other students. It was useful to contemplate how these alternative values could be incorporated into our schools at home in order to better meet the needs of our children and ensure that they are provided with the best possible outcomes in preparation for life beyond their education.

Last Wednesday saw a spectacular display of Stranmillis University College at UCC Zahle as our whole class were involved in organising the International Café as the culmination of the events of International Week. Each country was given a table and, being the usual ‘keen beans’ that we are, we relished the opportunity to showcase our home country and university. We spoke to various lecturers from countries such as Ireland, England, Belgium and Spain as well as students from Denmark who are hoping to study at Stranmillis in the future; it was very interesting to hear about their different perspectives and compare their institutions to our own. I have to say that it also made me extremely thankful for the unique place that Stranmillis is and the warm, community feel that so evidently exists amongst the staff and students there. I will definitely appreciate it a lot more when I return in September!

 

But, for now, farvel!

Reference List

Education and Training Inspectorate (2005) The Reflective Teacher, Bangor, DENI.

General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland (2011) Teaching: the Reflective Profession, Belfast, General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland.

 

Beyond Copenhagen Part 1

Week 6 (02/03/16) – Cultural

Szia!

This week, our most daring adventure entailed a 3-night trip to what is considered by Steves and Hewitt (2015, p. 8) to be “Europe’s most underrated big city…”. Straddling the Danube River with the Buda Hills on one side and the Great Plain on the other, the city of Budapest is a remarkably beautiful place, steeped in the history of communism and boasting radiant twilight views that make those offered by Cave Hill seem dull in comparison.

View from Gellert Hill

Parliament buildings

It wouldn’t be normal for the four of us not to have some sort of disaster whilst trying to negotiate the transportation system in a foreign country. After touching down on Hungarian soil at approximately twenty past eleven on Friday night, getting off the bus at the wrong stop, wandering aimlessly around a desolate metro station and eventually finding a taxi on the side of the road that could take us to our hostel, we laid our heads on our pillows at two o’clock on Saturday morning; these were quite an eventful first few hours to say the least. Re-energised the next day, we ‘enjoyed’ breakfast at the hostel, packed our bags and began exploring the hills on the western side of the Danube. Lust for the World (2016, np.) note that “Budapest is the world’s melting pot of Architectural styles. From Roman amphitheatres and Gothic-styled cathedrals to traditional Turkish baths, Budapest has it all.” We can certainly identify with this statement for as we walked around the cobbled streets surrounding Buda Castle and Fisherman’s Bastion, we were blown away by the buildings themselves as well as the views overlooking Parliament on the eastern side of the river. Other iconic buildings including St Stephen’s Basilica and Dohány Street Synagogue also enabled us to immerse ourselves in Hungarian culture and made for some excellent photographs. Our long weekend was topped off on Sunday evening by a trip to the thermal baths, where we were surrounded by opulent Baroque domes as we relaxed in 38⁰C water and sat watching the world go by; this was definitely one of my favourite activities!

Fisherman's Bastion

Hungarian baths

Views overlooking the Danube

I think the four of us would agree, however, that the highlight of our entire trip was having the opportunity to catch up with friends from home who are currently studying in Hungary. We agreed to meet for tea on Saturday evening and hearing the all too familiar roars of Jason as he ran up the street from behind to greet us simply made my day. Dickens (1843, p. 42) notes that “There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour…” and as we were shown around different tourist attractions by Jason and Peter, we found that we simply could not help ourselves from laughing so much to the extent that we were crying. Two of my friends from primary school, Emily and Amy, were also visiting Peter and Jason at the same time and having the opportunity to catch up with them was another highlight of the trip; who would have thought that as we sat together in Primary 1 all those years ago we would one day be reminiscing about our schooldays in Budapest?

Hardy Memorial Primary School reunion!

Sampling traditional Hungarian 'Kedvezmény'

Despite being evidently different to Copenhagen, in terms of its history, culture and a range of other aspects, I can safely say that I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Budapest. It is a very unique city and one that I would certainly love to visit again in the future. But, for now, viszontlátásra!

Reference List

Dickens, C. (1843) A Christmas Carol, London, Chapman and Hall.

Lust for the World (2016) available at http://www.lustfortheworld.com/budapest-quotes-the-best-quotes-about-budapest/ (accessed 02/03/16).

Steves, R. and Hewitt, C. (2015) Budapest (4^th edn), Berkeley, Avalon Travel Publishing.