Today was the first 'real' day at the university. On one hand, we talked about the Danish school system, on the other hand, we read two articles by a Dane (Grundtvig: The School for Life; Folkeskole;)
Then we were divided into groups. I was with the three girls from Vienna and we had to give a presentation about our school system and compare what is similar between the Austrian and Danish school system. The task was to make the presentation creative and also include the Erasmus students. We decided on a role play. There were two Danish students and two Austrian students. The Erasmus students had to guess who was Danish and who was Austrian. In addition, each group had to create a poster.
Tuesday, 06.02.2018:
Today was our first visit to the 'Faellesskolen Favrdal Fjelstrup' school. The school is soooo different from schools in Austria - hardly comparable. There are no doors in the classrooms, there is almost only group work, the children have a lot of freedom, the children cannot 'fail' in school. In addition, there are no rules, only expectations (behave appropriately, treat others as you would like to be treated). The teachers have 40 hours of presence in the school, which means they don't have to work a minute at home, but plan their hours in the school and leave everything behind as soon as they leave the school building.
LibraryMusic roomGymnasiumPhysics classroomKitchenMaterial room for Art/Craft
Wednesday, 07.02.2018:
Today we got to know the Danish students of the 'Health and Nutrition' program and worked with them. They talked to us about Danish food and groceries and then showed us a few supermarkets and healthy/cheap food.
After the tour of the supermarkets, all students prepared lunch together. In Denmark, they don't eat warm food for lunch, only cold. Bread with hummus, cheese, sausage, wraps, vegetables, fruit..
Thursday, 08.02.2018
The next school visit: today we were at 'St. Severin Skole'. This school is actually completely different from the Favrdal school on Tuesday. It is more similar to the ones we have in Austria. First, the principal and a former history teacher told us about the school, then we were given a tour of the school. Then we were allowed to see a second grade class for an hour. I was very shocked by this hour. It was a beautiful sunny day outside, but the teacher had the curtains closed for the whole hour. In addition, the children had three different activities, all related to the huge smartboard in the classroom. A dark room and 50 minutes of bright blue Smartboard light is not a good idea. In addition, there was a short 'power break' between the activities, of which we have heard a lot. Unfortunately, this break was only a YouTube video telling the children what to do. (Jump, crawl, gallop, be like a car..). The teacher didn't have a teacher's desk, so she prepared her things on a student's desk. She even used the child's glue. Anyway, I was really more shocked, but it's also good to see not so good examples :-) Otherwise, the school was really cool with its time capsule and all (-:
Friday, 09.02.2018
Today we worked again with the students of the 'Health and Nutrition' program. They prepared a typical Danish breakfast for us and it was soooo good! Since today I LOVE porridge!! (but only with sugar, cinnamon and apples :-P)
So we had breakfast together with the Danish students and talked about typical eating habits. Afterwards, Christine (Belgium/French) and I talked about our own food cultures and eating habits. I realized that almost all typical Austrian dishes are sweet in some way. (Kaiserschmarren, apricot dumplings, poppy seed noodles, pancakes..)
After our lunch, we had a few more hours with Iben. First, we shared our opinions about the two school visits and then we watched the movie Drømmen , which is about a school principal who beats the children. (very worth seeing!)
