1/28/17:
Home Sweet Hague We have finally arrived at our home away from home! It is quiet, spacious and we are staying at the Roompot a vacationing spot for many locals. How did we get here in the first place, though... by plane, train, car, and foot. Once we landed in the Amsterdam airport the five of us girls had to take a train to Delft. We all bought tickets for the train but had no clue where to go from there. I found some much-needed assistance from the train information center. After being set on the right path we found ourselves between platforms 5 & 6. Our train had shortly arrived and we were on our way (a 30min train ride to Delft). With much anticipation I almost made us get off three stops too early but a local was kind enough to be a hero! Upon arriving Mr. Sigurd Rimmelzwaan greeted us and drove us to our living quarters. Mr. Sigurd Rimmelzwaan is very sweet and left us a ton of delicacies to try. One entails taking a piece of bread, adding butter, and then covering it with chocolate sprinkles. Usually, one to never shy away from food I hesitated to try it out. I did though have a hand full of the sprinkles and let me tell you I have never tasted sprinkles like this before. The sprinkles here make the ones back home seem amateur and the truth is they are. I fear that the European 15 will quickly become a reality...eeek! |
1/29/17:
Hage On Where Are We Saturday and Sunday were spent exploring our area. We are housed right next to the ocean...to bad it is cold out for a swim. Our location is a little outside the city so figuring out transit has been a fun task. Saturday night my adrenaline was rushing as it hit me that I was in Europe. Once my meal hit me though I was ready for bed. I fell asleep hard and this sleeping beauty did not awake until 1:00 p.m. on Sunday. I now know what it is like to be my brother since he usually sleeps in very late himself. The grocery store is about and hour and thirty minutes away so we got our exercise in by long strides and grocery bag lifts. On our walk home from the grocery store we stumbled upon a pop-up restaurant that looked amazing. After unpacking our groceries and resting our limp noodle bodies we all decide that we would walk back to the pop-up restaurant for dinner. At this point, we were all starving. When I walked into the restaurant my mouth was watering. The food smelled so good. We sat down and then discovered that Sunday nights were buffet only nights. That was not a problem for this group of girls. We were prepared to stack our plates high. Then we were informed that the buffet was running out and there might not be enough food for us. After hearing this our stomachs were in knots so we decided to dine at the restaurant at RoomPot. Of course, I ordered my go-to meal a cheeseburger and fries and it was not so bad but not so good either haha! After arriving home from dinner falling asleep seemed like an impossible task and it was. |
1/30/17:
Baby Steps... Step 1: Walk a mile to the bus station Step 2: Get on the right bus Step 2.5: Suprise right as you walk up to bus stop your bus leaves Step 3: Check posted times for designated bus and when one will be on its way Step 4: Finally bus arrives and you walk to it to go get on it. The time is 8:07 but that particular bus isn't scheduled to leave till 8:10 so when you try to get on the bus the driver says no. Step 4.5: Walk back to the bus stand and wait three minutes (side note we were the only people at this bus station/stop) Step 5: realize what could be a quick ride to the center of the city is actually very long because the bus is always being courteous and stopping Wow okay, too many steps to keep typing steps! Finally, we had arrived at the De Haagse Hogeschool. The architecture of the school is beyond beautiful. In the center of the school, there is a windmill design. The whole top of the school if you look up is glass shaped as pegs, wings, the spinny things on a windmill. When the weather is warm they open up the glass and let the fresh air in. It is hard to explain but so cool to see. After getting a little tour of the university we then got to have lunch at the food court. Let me tell you this food was amazing. TCU BLUU needs to take some notes. The food is just so fresh. After lunch, it was time to go to the schools we will be student teaching at for the next three weeks. I am at the Nutsschool Zorgvliet!!! |
1/31/17:
Nuts About Nutsschool Zorgvliet!!! Today was Emily and I's first official day at our new school. It is so quaint and cute. The school is in a renovated villa across from the Prime Minsters house (jaw dropped when I found that out). Emily and I showed up early so we found ourselves in the teacher's lounge drinking coffee and tea before the students arrived. While in the teacher's lounge the principal asked me where my jeans were. At the schools in Holland, the dress code is always casual Friday's. Most teachers wear jeans and proper on top attire. I will eventually bust out the jeans but I brought my red suit so I have to get some good use out of it first. Once the bell rang the teachers headed towards their classrooms but did not go inside them. The teachers stood outside their classrooms and greeted each student as they entered the room. Each student was expected to shake their teacher's hand. I was truly impressed and duly noted this as it is something I would love to implement with my students. Something else I took note of was the desks. Except for the pre-k and kindergarten, all the other grades desks were elevated so they were sitting up high. I liked this because I think it makes the students feel like they are just as important as the teacher and makes them feel older. While observing I also noticed the teachers are very relaxed with their students. An example of this would be at the beginning of the day when students were going into their classroom. While the teacher and I were standing outside the room two boys were playing rough with one another. the teacher noticed but did not say anything until one boy fell somewhat hard. She went to go speak with both boys but all I heard was foreign words. The teacher came back and told me that she told the boys if either of them gets really hurt it is on them and she went on to say that it is important for boys to wrestle and embrace such tendencies. So far I have been completely blown away by the school and I'm so excited for the following weeks. |
2/1/17:
Work/Play On Wednesday in the Netherlands teachers and students get half days. BEST. IDEA. EVER! Today Emily and I went to a few classes to share a PowerPoint about our lives, TCU, and Texas. The students got a kick out of it. I even got to serenade one of the classes and then they returned the favor. Also during the day, we found time to talk with our principal about some questions we had about the school and here is what we discovered. Our school is a private school in the fact parents pay for their children to attend but it is also funded by the government. The government pays the school 8000 euro a child. The principal was also telling us about a program the government has set up for teachers. Depending on a teacher's age they can choose a day off work each week but to do this they have to pay the government. For example our main teacher from the first day had her day off today so the school sub was there to fill in. At 12:15 the students were free from school and so were the teachers. Emily and I met up with Maria and Fallon to grab lunch and check out the museum right by Emily and I's school. The museum we explored was called Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. Emily and I did not end up leaving till it closed and we were asked to stop play an amazing museum iPad exploration game. The museum was small but had massive collections of fabulous artwork. Exhibits featured "Hubert De Givenchy- To Audrey With Love" and "Alice Neel-Schilder Van De Ziel". Also at this museum was the famous contemporary works of artist Piet Mondriaan. Now I will let the art do the rest of the blogging! |
2/2/17:
We Surrender!!! Today Emily and I decided to head down to the pre-k and kindergarten mixed class to observe for a little bit. The first thing I noticed is how spacious and tidy the room felt. The schedule for this little active ones is: 1. circle time 2. English lesson 3. Playtime for themselves 4. Snack time 5. More play 6. Lunch & Recess 7. Go home These young students really get to choose things to do in the classroom that satisfies their needs for the day which I love. The students have plenty time for free play. During the free playtime, they do have weekly assignments they need to complete. I was amazed to see not just among this young age group but all the students that they all keep themselves accountable for completing their work. So back to the highlight of my day... Emily and I started to play in the home center with some of the kids and completely got ambushed. We both got blindfolded with curtains in the home center and almost force fed plastic food! I was dying laughing and so were the students. If I ever need to get information out of anyone I'm employing these kids to help assist me. |
2/6/17:
Lets Talk In class today the teacher passed out special booklets. Student conferences are soon approaching and the booklets were a part of the upcoming conferencing. The first page of the booklet had the students draw themselves. Then the students would write out things they wanted to change or be different in the school/classroom. The next page had the children select two subjects they felt good about and one they thought needed improving. after selecting the subjects the student was expected to write a little about why they chose each subject. Following that page, the children were asked to draw the room in which they do their homework. I thought this section was interesting. The teacher has them do this because she believes the best work is done at a desk area and not on the floor or sofa. Essentially for this page, the teacher will talk with the student and their parents about the quality of work and the importance of completing work in an environment that will support the best outcome. As a future teacher, I will utilize this concept for my parent-teacher conferences because I think it brings up good talking points for the conference and helps students take ownership over their work. Some of the best booklet responses: 1. a students self-portrait strikingly showing resemblance to Abraham Lincoln 2. a student wanting Nike to sponsor the school for the suggestions on improving the school/classroom |
2/7/17:
Fitting In Our students had gym class today and I decided to make the walk to another school's gym to see what it was all about. Our school does not have a gym bug enough for the older grades so they use another school's. there were so similarities and differences from the gym I experienced in school when I was a young. The similarity is that one group of kids played basketball but the difference was the fun obstacle courses they had. Pictures explain this better but the gym teacher had raised bench half up in the air and students would practice their balance walking up to them. It looked like so much fun I wanted to join in and now have extreme nostalgia about my years of having gym class. In other news, I got a glam makeover by some of the girls in our class and we were all matching so I think it is safe to say I official in the social circle of our class (haha). Alos just noticed that I also look like a lower schooler myself which has me feeling mixed emotions (LOL). In my defense, the children are very tall here! |
2/17/17:
Goodbyes
I have finished my study abroad program and am sad to go. I had the best experiences working with these pupils and teachers. I am glad I got the opportunity to see how another countries education system is constructed and how it works. From i have discovered new ways to construct and lead my future classroom. I look forward to going back to the Netherlands as I would also love to teach abroad one day. I am trully greatful for the experience and friendships i have forged!
Goodbyes
I have finished my study abroad program and am sad to go. I had the best experiences working with these pupils and teachers. I am glad I got the opportunity to see how another countries education system is constructed and how it works. From i have discovered new ways to construct and lead my future classroom. I look forward to going back to the Netherlands as I would also love to teach abroad one day. I am trully greatful for the experience and friendships i have forged!