Week 6: Professional (19/03/12 - 25/03/12)

I am now into the full swing of placement at the International School of Poznan (ISOP). I have been placed in a Grade 4 class which would be the equivalent of Primary 6 back home. The school itself is very nice and all the teachers are extremely welcoming. I should add however, that this school does not reflect on the rest of polish primary teaching as our school is an international school, and unlike other Polish schools, it follows the curriculum set by the IBO.

The ethos of the school generally resembles that of the schools I have been on placement on in Belfast with there being a strong focus on individual pupil development and preparing for lifelong learning. This is mentioned in the school mission statement which is displayed for all to see;

“The International School of Poznan is committed to provide international education of high academic standards and prepare students to become valuable world citizens.”  (www.isop.pl)

The teachers try and implement this ethos into all areas of learning. It was interesting to research what teaching in an IB school would entail, and I found that some of the areas were similar to those covered in our own NI curriculum.

“The IB Primary Years Programme, for students aged 3 to 12, focuses on the development of the whole child as an inquirer, both in the classroom and in the world outside.
The six Trans disciplinary areas that teachers should follow are;

·  Who we are

·  Where we are in place and time

·  How we express ourselves

·  How the world works

·  How we organize ourselves

·  Sharing the planet”                  (www.IBO.org)

Our 'Energy' wall

At present, my class are learning about ‘energy’ and the effect it has on our environment. I must admit that I have been taken back by some of the levels of work that the pupils have been set, as they are the levels I would expect for high school pupils. This is not to say that all the pupils are able to complete this work as there are those who struggle. There doesn’t seem to be much differentiation in the classroom as all the pupils are expected to complete the same work during the same time frame.

Hard at work

 Both the teachers and the pupils have welcomed be into their classroom with no hesitation and they were keen to take advantage of English being my native tongue. I have been involved in many reading activities which I am enjoying, and even got persuaded into dressing up and giving a St Patricks day presentation!

The great 'Face paint' ambush

   This week, I was told that it would be the first day of Spring, and to celebrate this with the end of Winter, we would be burning the Marzanna. This ‘Marzanna’ is a large paper doll which represents winter and is burned as a symbol of Winter passing. It seemed a strange ritual, but the teachers and pupils really enjoyed it, and also celebrated this custom with a large (and by that, I mean HUGE) picnic and had special games organised. We were all told to wear bright clothes for this day, however, the pupils felt I wasn’t bright enough and they then proceeded to attack my face with colourful face paints!

After being in the school for several days, I can see some clear similarities with the different teaching strategies used back home, but I can also sense some differences, even if they have not appeared too obvious to me so far. I am really looking forward to finding out more about both these similarities and differences……. And of course, writing about them on my blog!

The Marzanna

References:
www.isop.pl
www.ibo.org

Week 5: Cultural (12/03/12 - 18/03/12)

Old Town hall

After living in Poznan for over a month now, I have developed a healthy routine. This involves going to classes, meeting with friends for drinks or coffee and playing football, basketball and volleyball several times a week. I am truly beginning to feel at home. This changed this week with the arrival of my girlfriend who was staying for a few days. I packed my bag and moved into a hotel and transformed myself into the ‘perfect tourist.’

Living like this for several days gave me the opportunity to view Poznan and its people from a different angle. Having someone by my side that had never been to Poland before certainly helped with this as my girlfriend was asking questions about things I had maybe not paid attention to in recent weeks. The most frequently question she asked was “How much would this be in sterling?” Upon answering these questions, it made me realise that I am very lucky to be based in a city which offers so many wonderful things like food, drink and tourist attractions all for an incredibly cheap price. For example, the two of us were able to enjoy two courses of food and two rounds of drink at a nice restaurant for the equivalent of £15.

Inside St. Stanislaus church

As well as appreciating the food and drink, this week also gave me the opportunity to take different walking tours. This is probably the first time that I have noticed a big difference between Poznan and Belfast. Although Belfast has an incredible history, it is not always visible from the architecture of the buildings, especially now with so many modern structures being put in place. If you want to find the history of Belfast as a tourist, you need to go to certain places and ask the correct questions to the right people. However, here in Poznan, the history is etched into almost all of the buildings, especially in Stary Reynek (the old square). Here, you will find museums, churches, and other fascinating buildings where you can freely enter and get lost in the city’s history.

Enjoying the sunshine in Stary Reynek

In doing this, I feel that I understand the Poznan citizens a lot better. At first, I believed them to be very ‘closed’ people, in a way that they keep to themselves and would not interat with tourists. Now, I know that this is the stigma following the end of communism only two decades ago, and that in this sense, the Poznan I see today is a relatively ‘new’ city. It would be impossible to describe all the beautiful sights Poznan has to offer, so if you get the chance, then please follow this link to have a closer look; Poznan: a beautiful city.

I would like to think that as well as understanding Polish culture, I should also introduce some culture from Ireland. It so happened that I chose to do this on St. Patricks day, which also happened to fall on a beautiful day boasting temperatures of 22 degrees.

Happy St. Patricks day

I gathered a crowd of eager Erasmus students who were instructed to wear green clothes. Since there were no St. Patricks day parades, we skipped to the next chapter of the celebrations of enjoying some pints of Guinness. We sat out in the sun trying to catch a sun tan and when night came, we moved to the local Irish pub where everyone (or so they told me) had a great night listening and dancing to traditional Irish music.

When my girlfriend had to leave to go home, it also meant that I had to leave my hotel and heap room service and return to my dormitory. I was sad in seeing my girlfriend leave, however, it was great to be able to show off my new home to someone from Belfast. It also gave me the chance to reflect and realise how much I am enjoying living in this city, especially now I have a better understanding of its history.

Week 4: Personal (05/03/12 - 11/03/12)

I’ve bought countless amounts of lottery tickets, placed football bets, and even entered silly television competitions. I’ve done them all, and I never win!!! So you can imagine my surprise when I won a bottle of vodka in a raffle at a nightclub this week! So personally, this week has been epic! Having said this, I feel I should write more than this regarding my personal experiences this week, so here goes…..

Struggling with my Polish book

With this being our 4^th week in Poznan, I am slightly disappointed with our lack of progress in communicating with the locals. I would like to think of myself as a fairly quick learner, so I am becoming more and more frustrated with our futile attempts to learn the language. By this stage, I would like to have been able to begin understanding different conversations that the Polish people address us with, but I still have that blank look on my face and it is getting embarrassing. Because of this, I have made it my goal to study hard at the language and seeing as we have been told that we have TWO Polish exams next week, I don’t think I really have a choice but to study! Luckily, there are quite a lot of Erasmus students who are struggling, so we try and gather safety in numbers when we enter shops or restaurants.

“Communication is a skill that you can learn. It's like riding a bicycle or typing. If you're willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of every part of your life.”  Brian Tracy

International School of Poznan

This week, I have felt more at home in Poznan. With our classes in full swing, a good bunch of friends made, all that was left to do was organise our placement. This can now be ‘checked’ off the list, as on Thursday, we travelled to the ‘International School of Poznan.’

From the moment we entered the building, I got a fantastic vibe from the school. The teachers seem fun; the classrooms are colourful and welcoming and compared to schools back home in Northern Ireland, there are plenty of male teachers I can talk to. This means I can get a good male perspective of teaching and living in Poznan rather than the usual female talk I would get in the staffrooms back in Belfast!

Deliciouly thick hot chocolate

As I have mentioned, we have made a good group of friends. I feel that with every passing day spent with these people, I am becoming more culturally aware of different things ranging from their personal beliefs to what type of food they eat! I am confident that this experience will grow stronger and will benefit me professionally as well as personally. Meeting our new friends also gives us a chance to visit the many cafés Poznan has to offer, and this week, we came across a delicious ‘chocolate’ café, which needless to say, raised our calorie count by a significant margin!

Traditional polish food

I got to play my first game of football this week, and although I began a bit ‘rusty,’ I finished the game strongly and have not given up hope of being called up to the Ireland football squad for this summer’s tournament (pause for laughter). As well as this, I have also been asked to take part in the Erasmus Olympic team and represent Poznan. I naively agreed to this without asking any questions, and only found out after, that as well as playing football, I also have to compete in volleyball, running events and swimming, which I am not looking forward to. I only hope I remembered to pack my Speedos!

Next week, as well as beginning our placement, I will have my first visitor as my girlfriend is staying for the weekend. This coincides with St. Patrick’s Day, so I think it’s about time I brought some Irish culture to Poznan!

Week 3: Professional (27/02/12 - 04/03/12)

It feels strange finally writing about my ‘Professional experience’ in Poznan as it seems like we have been here forever without actually doing any work! This all changed this week as we began our full timetable of classes, including a Saturday class!!!

The old Mental hospital!

Most of our classes are held in an old mental hospital just outside the city centre. I thought this was funny as I have been told in the past that I must be ‘crazy’ to become a primary school teacher! We have enrolled in several classes including; ‘Developing teacher’s critical thinking through educational designing,’ ‘Teaching strategies in early childhood education,’ ‘Education in Poland,’ and an ‘Intercultural workshop.’ I feel that the classes are very different from the ones we experience in Stranmillis as there is a more relaxed classroom atmosphere in Poznan. The lecturers insist on being called by their first name and there seems to be more flexibility in the class schedules. For example, during our first meeting in our ‘teaching strategies’ class, the teacher was going through the syllabus (after she had given us tea and coffee)  and when she was done, she looked at us and said, “No! I’ve changed my mind; there will be no exams or essays for you….. Is that ok?” Needless to say, every pupil in the class nodded their head in agreement. What she wants instead is 100% participation, whether it is in completing tasks or asking questions.

In our class, there are student teachers from all around Europe and it is intriguing to hear about the way their children are taught and the different strategies that are used. Some of these strategies I will definitely be taking home with me and implementing them in my classroom, while others; let’s just say they will not be getting through airport security with me when I go home! We were told by a Turkish student that in her country, if a pupil was talking too much, the teacher would actually take money off them as a punishment. I can’t deny that I didn’t ponder this idea for a split second, but you will happy to hear Laurence that I dismissed the idea just as fast. I don’t feel it would reflect well in my SBW file next year if my evaluation of lessons read; “Lesson went well today, I made a profit of £5.50 from my P.7 class!”

Sharing our teaching strategies!

During one class, we were discussing the advantages and disadvantages of ‘Group work.’ From being taught from the NI curriculum, we are told in the ‘Thinking skills and personal capabilities framework’ that we should encourage the pupils to work together as it in turn leads to problem solving, decision making and being creative. (NI Curriculum, 2007)

However, we were told that in some countries, children are discouraged from working together as they are taught to be more competitive with each other, and that in fact the teachers do not share work or resources with their colleagues as they too are really competitive with each other. This is just one concept that I find strange to comprehend, but I’m sure as the weeks go by, I will learn how take these different opinions (good and bad), and learn how to channel them into effective teaching when I get back home.

We have yet to experience a school first hand, but have been told that we have a meeting with our school teacher this week, so hopefully it won’t be too long before ‘Mr Magee’ enters the building! After doing some research, I have found out that there have been recent reforms in education, and it will be interesting to see first-hand how they work in the classroom.

 The foundations of the National Curriculum reform include the following:

• Compulsory pre-school education for 5-year-olds introduced,

• Pre-school education swiftly followed by school education,

• Lowered schooling age (6-year-olds start primary education),

• 6-year post-primary education combined into one system,

• Minimum 4 years of post-primary school for a complete general education,

• Wide selection of advanced subjects for High School students,      (Herodot.net 2009)

Intercultural workshop...... shame it's on a Saturday though!

Hopefully, the next time I write my professional blog, I will have a lot more information and comparisons to tell you about!

But until then ……. Pá!!!

REFERENCES:

·        www.nicurriculum.org

·        http://www.herodot.net

Week 2: Cultural (20/02/12 - 26/02/12)

Mam na imie ......

After spending nearly two weeks in Poznan, I am only now beginning to grasp how different the culture is compared to back home in Belfast.

I will begin by getting the difficult one out of the way…… LANGUAGE!!!

The Polish language is slowly becoming my nemesis. We have enrolled for two seperate three hour classes a week, and after completing six hours so far, we are still struggling to say “My name is.” I kid you not, this language is crazy!

This struggle to adapt to the language is only magnified by the fact that very little people in Poznan speak English. Even the people who work at reception in our dormitory cannot speak English. We have been managing to communicate with the age old classic of ‘pointing’ if we want something and the trusty ‘shrug of the shoulders’ when we don’t understand (which is quite often). With this being the case, we really appreciate the fact that the other Erasmus students are in the same situation and we try to help each other out.  However, I am determined to try and master the language and hopefully in a few weeks you will be reading about the fact that I can speak fluent Polish….. slightly optimistic I know, but I hope to at least be able to order my food in Polish!    

Tasty, but don't ask me what it is!

     Polish food is very different than back home with a lot of cabbage, coleslaw, cabbage, potatoes and cabbage being served. It has been  interesting and mostly enjoyable experimenting with these different plates. When I order in a restaurant, the menus are in Polish so I have devised a crafty trick of randomly pointing out to something on the menu and waiting anxiously and hoping that I have ordered something tasty. As well as Polish food, we are also being introduced to different recipes from around the world. We have planned to get our Erasmus friends to cook meals from their countries. Aina (from Catalonia) made us a delicious dish of Spanish Tortillas and tomato bread, and I think we are planning to make some Irish stew if we ever get around to buying the ingredients.

View from our hostel in Wroclaw

We had an opportunity this week to experience the Polish culture outside Poznan. We took a trip south to the city of Wroclaw (I think it’s pronounced Vrrocwov – see what I mean about the language!).

Wroclaw is a beautiful city with a stunning mix of modern and old architecture. I was asked by another Erasmus student if Belfast was a beautiful city, and I could only say “Yes, some parts of Belfast are.” It made me think about the fact that I don’t really appreciate my home city, as the more I thought about it, our city is one with a fascinating history and deserves to be given more respect and appreciation by its inhabitants.

Enjoying the view

Padlocks on 'Lock Bridge'

We only stayed in Wroclaw for one night, and it was a shame as there was still so much we had to see. 

Having said this, we still managed to see some beautiful churches, buildings, the university and the ‘Lock Bridge,’ which is a small bridge which is covered in padlocks. This tradition comes about when a couple get married and they would go to the bridge and place a padlock on to secure their love.

The people in Wroclaw are pretty similar to those in Poznan. They seem to always be focusing on getting somewhere rather than taking a step back and relaxing. A good example is when we are getting on and off the trams. It doesn’t really matter if you were there in the line first, the people will push past you to get on first. We have slowly been getting used to this and have realised that if we hesitate, we will be brushed aside without a second thought.

Apart from our trip, we have FINALLY got our classes sorted and our timetable doesn’t look too bad as we do not have to start at 8am like most other students. 

The week ahead looks to be less interesting as our first two in Poznan as we don’t have any trips planned and will be concentrating on our studies. I feel that this could be a good thing though, as maybe by the end of the week we will feel more like citizens of Poznan rather than tourists.
Till next week,
Czesc!

               

Week 1: Personal (14/02/12 - 19-02-12)

Witamy W Poznan!!

Valentine’s Day is a time that should be spent with loved ones. However, in an ironic twist, it was the day that I had to leave the people I love and start out on my new adventure in Poland.

We arrived in Poznan at 9pm and were met by our mentor and president of Erasmus in our university, Natalia. Natalia is very bubbly and talkative to say the least. She made us feel extremely welcome and relaxed within minutes of our arrival. We were taken to our dormitory which we were told is one of the better ones in Poznan and given our room keys.

Before we arrived, I was told that I would have a single room, so you can imagine my surprise/shock when I walked into my room to find a 6 foot polish guy named Piotr enjoying what can only be described as a romantic Valentines embrace with his girlfriend. I never had time to let this shock sink in as Natalia insisted that I, Anna and DarÓma attend an Erasmus party. We only stayed at the party for a short while as we were tired; however we still met several people from different countries who all managed to make us feel welcome.

Before bed, I received great news in the form that there was a mistake and I actually do have my own room, so after 30 minutes of trying to put a sheet on my bed, I finally fell asleep in my own bed.

Statue of Adam Mickiewicz

The next morning, we met with Natalia who brought us to our university (Adam Mickiewicz University). We received our welcome pack and when we asked for our timetable, we were met with a blank expression. Apparently we have to go through every module, decide which one we want to do and email each individual tutor to seek permission to attend their class. We currently have only been accepted to one class, which is slightly concerning, but I’m sure it will be sorted shortly. We also received our student cards and travel card which allows us to travel around all the trams and buses (both are quite frequent and efficient) for one month.

Erasmus friends

That night, we attended the famous ‘Erasmus Tram party’, which was really fun as it gave us an opportunity to meet more Erasmus students such as the Turkish, German, Italian, Spanish and Dutch students who we have become good friends with.

On Friday, we went shopping with Aina, a Catalonia student staying in our dormitory (Do not call her Spanish or there will be trouble!). We picked up some essential items and slowly but surely, our rooms are beginning to feel more like home. We then decided it was time to cook our own dinner, however, we were restricted by the lack of an oven, grill and microwave. After some discussion, we made an extremely exciting meal of…….. Pasta! (I hope that my sarcasm is easy enough to understand while reading this)

Ice Skating.... Badly!

On Saturday, DarÓma, Anna and I took a tour of the city and visited the ‘Old town.’ This showed us how beautiful the city is, with its old multi-coloured buildings, restaurants and monuments. Our tour was cut short as we had agreed to meet other Erasmus students and dabble in a bit of ice-skating. After spending 20 minutes on the ice, I can say that I have a new found respect for figure skaters! I’m proud that I managed not to fall, however, I think it would be impossible to fall while tightly gripping the wall and skating at 2 miles per hour. I managed to get home safely and fitted in some Skype time with my girlfriend back home.

So, that was my first week in Poznan and to sum up in 3 words, it’s been Snowy, strange and exciting!

Till next week, Do widzenia!