Extremely Funny and Incredibly Pleasant!;-)/ Extremne zabavne a neuveritelne prijemne!;-)

Wednesday and the first school day after the Easter holiday- this time music lesson with Else Marie...what´s in the programme? presenting our "Dwarf mime", working with musical instruments - accompanying stories with our own music!, learning rythm (DanielDanielDanielDaniel, Iva, Sylvie, Chaaar....lot,Kate.....:-)- quite confusing but funny). Dinner at Thora´s place also with her boyfriend and Mette- delicious pitta bread with various ingredients we could put into it!(lovely garlic) and ice-cream!;-) Watching football match on Tv- Denmark against Tjekkiet! The result? The game ended in a draw! But Danes admired our Czech guy "Dino" (Koller)..:-)

Thursday- English lesson with Jette- we were supposeed to finish reading the book "Extremely loud and Incredibly Close" by J.S.Foer by that time and now the discussions about it follows...We´re divided into groups and we talk together about crucial points of the book...I must admit that in the beginning it was quite a hard reading for me, because it´s actually a post modernist work and there are more stories told by different characters in the book, each of them concerns with different period of time...but when you hold on and get to the end of the book you gradually disentangle the interwinded stories...and after all I took a liking of the book!:-)

Friday and meeting Thorbjörn- preparation our teaching practice for the following three weeks, but to be honest there wasn´t much to discuss yet because in that time neither of us knew what (s)he would be teaching, which classroom etc. so we tried to use the time to search some info in internet about the Danish curriculum, what the difference between Danish public and private schools is...And in the midday we set off on our excursion to Sonderborg to visit local castle and afterwards to Danfoss Universe. So at first a bit of history lesson followed by scientific explorations! We really enjoyed it...who wouldn´t actually?!;-) Exploring what lightenings are, reading about glaciers and experiments of all kinds! a real world of wisdom! See: http://uk.danfossuniverse.com/

http://www.world66.com/europe/denmark/sonderborg

Short visit of Friday Café and Tribunen ended the fine day...

Saturday trip to Kolding and visit one of our Danish teachers Hanne (Danish literature teacher- we had her lesson in the very first week here in Denmark), who invited us for lunch in her house! Oh, how lovely the visit was! Hanne´s house was really charming and it completely fit with its inhabitants´characters! The atmosphere was filled with warmth and hospitality of our hosts and we felt there very relaxed...besides all it was really unique experience to see how Danish people live...We had also the chance to taste some Danish specialities (fish in curry sauce, dark bread, Danish cheese etc.) ...We spent wonderful time together..THANK YOU, Hanne and your family! Then we got to know a bit the town centre too...that day was by chance the day of 200th anniversary of the local castle that was put into fire 200 years ago... and on this occasion the Crown Prince was supposed to come and take part in planned celebrations in the evening! The town seemed to be nice and it would be surely worth of another visit one day!

Sunday and relax in the gym and work on our presentation of the book for our English lesson on Tuesday...

Streda a prvni den ve skole po velikonocnich prazdninach...moc se nam nechtelo, neni divu, ze, kdyz prazky byly jednim slovem fajn...:-)celej den mame hodiny s Else Marii a predvadime nas dcv.- pantomimu o trpaslicich (dostali jsme cd s hudbou a meli na ni vymyslet odpovidajici pribeh o trpaslicich:-))- s holcinama jsme sehraly neco jako "trpasliciho Hamleta"...:-) zbytek hodiny (az do 14h!) experimentujeme s hudebnima nastrojema, mame vymyslet "hudebni doprovod" k ruznejm pribehum atd...uz nas to celkem unavuje, prece jen je to porad dokola a prvotni nadseni z uplne prvni hodiny tohohle typu uz nas preslo...Vecer mame domluvenou veceri u Thory, sejdeme se tam vsichni Erasmaci (az na Tima a Manuho- ti maji fotbal), prijde i Mette a Thory pritel...S Katou dorazime na misto o neco driv, abysme Thore pomohly s pripravou, ale moc nam to nezabere, pze k vece jsou pripraveny pitta chleby a my k tomu nakrjaime ruznou zeleninu, sunku atd. a pak si kazdej sam tvori svoje vlastni pitty...nemuzu si vynachvalit nalozenej cesnek...mnam...jako dezertik nanukovy dortiky...nj, uz zase mluvim o tom jidle...:-) pak sledujeme vsichni tv- prenos fotbal. utkani mezi Danskem a CR(jaka to nahoda!;-))...znaji naseho Kollera..:-)...hra skonci nerozhodne, aspon se vyhneme trapne situaci, ze by se jedni radovali a druhy byli zpruzeny, ze...:-)

Ctvrtek si muzeme prispat, anglictina nam zacina az ve 12:30, mame diskutovat o knizce, kterou jsme meli na dnesek precist (Extremely Loudly and Incredibly Close)..ve skupinkach se o tom bavime, co se nam na knizce libilo, cim je zvlastni atd. musim rict, ze ze zacatku to byla docela fuska se tim prokousavat, clovek se v tom pribehu nemohl moc vyznat, vypravelo ho vic lidi, v ruznjech casovejch odstupech (co bysme taky chteli od postmoderniho dila, ze), ale vydrzela jsem, do konce a vyplatilo se, clk zacal postupne chapat....:-)

Patek dopol jsme nejak ve skole prezili, cekaly nas docela nudny hodky s Thorbjörnem, kdy jsme meli mluvit o nasi nadchazejici praxi na mistnich skolach, ale bylo to jaksi k nicemu, pze nikdo v tu dobu jeste nevedel, jaky tridy bude ucit, tudiz jsme zadny pripravy nemohli jeste delat...cas jsme zabili na internetu, kde jsme hledali neco o danskym vzdelavacim systemu...odpol nas cekalo dobrodruzo- exkurze do Sonderborgu- vetsi mesto na vychode (na ostrove), navstivili jsme tamni zamek (spis muzeum, vse se tam vesmes tocilo kolem vztahu k Nemecku, pze tohle mesto driv bylo jeho soucasti)-Lasse nam delal pruvodce..pak vyprava do Danfoss Universe (experimentalni centrum vedy a techniky)- tady jsme se vyblbli...meli jsme tam jen dve hodky casu, tak jsme litali po celym arealu a snazili se prozkoumat co nejvic...clk se tady dozvi zajimavy veci (trebas co jsou blesky, jak vznikaji ledovce, teplo atd.) a sam si tu muze spoustu veci vyzkouset...nektery veci jsou i o logice (sestavovani ruznejch kostek), zkouseni nasi odvahy (polozit se pod metrakovej kamen zavesenej ze stropu..)..jsme tam byli jak maly deti, fakt... a jsme vdecny skole, to za nas cely zacvakala...( a ze to nebylo malo...vstupny pro skupinku nad 10 lidi vyslo pro kazdyho na 75DK)..vecer i kdyz utahany jeste jsme vyrazili na chvili do FC a Tribunen....

V sobotu nas cekal dalsi vylet...tentokrat do Koldingu, kam nas pozvala Hanne (ucitelka literatury, kteoru jsme meli hned prvni tejden) na obed primo k ni domu...musela pripravit obed pro celkem 12 lidi i s jejim manzelem a dcerou, tak jsme ji za to aspon koupili bonbosku a tulipany..bylo to fajn mit prilezitost videt, jak bydli normalni danska rodinka...dum meli moc utulnej, takovej, kterej presne odpovidal jejich charakteru, nic moderniho, ale clk se tam cejtil dobre...k obedu jsme meli naco jak "bufet"- ruzny zeleninovy salaty (zvlastni nazvy- neco na zpusob kuskus s pomerancem), dansky speciality- ryby v kari omacce, tmavej chlebik (ten nesmi nikdy chybet), syry, cokolada...pak s plnejma brichama na prochazku do mesta...hezounky nakupni ulice, cisty, pak na hrad...ale dneska byl zavrenej, pze se tam chystali na privitani korunniho prince, kterej mel vecer dorazit u prilezitosti 200. vyroci zachrany hradu od pozaru. Chteli jsme tam puvodne vydrzet az do vecera, abysme kralovskyho clena pozdravili:-), ale okolnosti nas jaksi donutily vyrazit smerem domu...(usoudili jsme, ze 4 hodiny bezcilneho bloumani po meste by nebylo asi nejzabavnejsi)...vecer spolecnej (po jistych peripetiich se shanenim jidla na spolecnou veceri se nam nakonec podarilo ukuchtit testovinky a ryzi s tofu a parkovou smesi ( ála co dum dal:-))..

Nedele leharko, odpol posilovna a prace s Kate, Danielem a Cha na prezentaci knizky na hodinu aj...

International week

The first day of the international week. We meet our new "schoolmates" around 9 a.m. and after some organizational infos, we start getting to know each other. Then we teach the others our "line dances" and have a good time all together. An interesting lesson with Jette follows. It concerns with body language and its significance in communication. We also try to practise our body language. In groups we´re given a pile of cards with a picture depicting a person in a certain position/with a certain expression in his-her face etc. and we´re supposed to mime it and others in the groups have to guess/discuss what the concrete expression indicates etc. I find BL very interesting and decide to get to know more about this "topic" later on...(Jette recommends me a book with a title:"The DefinitiveBook of Body Language" written by Allan and Barbara Pease)..Afterwards the first Danish lesson for the IS comes..The Danish students who participate in all our lessons this week are our teachers!:-) Well, we Erasmus students are already a bit more knowledgeable in Danish after a few Danish lessons we had in previous weeks but it doesn´t matter because today we also learn some new phrases (Hvor gammel er du? Hvad er klokken?)..In the evening we meet at school again to have dinner in the canteen and to sing some Danish songs too. However the day doesn´t end for me yet. Me and my Czech "collegues" prepare some children´s rhymes and songs for tomorrow´s lesson.Tuesday lessons in the morning are led by Ole, Daniel and Karsten who have prepared a plan for us. The title is"intercultural competence and stereotypes", we discuss how foreigners percieve Denmark and how Danes can see themselves. The results are quite interesting. Foreigners talk about rather practical things, e.g. expensive way of life in DK, cold weather, design, "special" coins etc.), unlike the "natives" who pick up rather the Danish character -e.g. open-minded (porn, gay weddings), eager to learn foreign languages but scared of foreigners, keep distance, liberty of speech (Muhammed drawings), Jante law, "Hugge" etc. This was Denmark but what stereotypes do we keep about other European countries which we come from... ?Work in groups and each is given one country to think about ( we have to write down "typical characteristics" of Belgium and to draw a "typical representative" of that country)- Afterwards each group presents their "product". All countries are depicted in a more or less positive way (except for one remark made by a Danish boy who describes a "typical Austrian girl" to have a small mustache:-))..only our country- the Czech republic comes from this "activity" as a total loser..:-( In the picture we can see the figure of a boy wearing a Nike- T-shirt, holding a glass of beer in one hand and a bottle of vodka in the other, the package of cigarettes lying at his legs...The "interpretation" of this drawing is given by a Danish girl: People in CR wear false- brand clothes sold by Chinese, we drink a lot of beer and vodka ("never drink vodka with a Czech guy") and many people go to our country just to buy cheap cigarettes...that´s all! This means Czech Republic for the others??? Quite sad, I would say..We are quite struck by these stereotypes and feel quite sorry for those who made the drawing because they managed to prove in this way how limited knowledge they have... and I was also quite disappointed that these people didn´t show a slightest sign of empathy or "etics" (what one can afford to say not to offend the others). Democracy/freedom of speech is a nice thing but it should have its "moral limits" otherwise I would call it rather ignoracy...However the day goes on and we remember our childhood playing some "traditional" games, singing "national"songs and saying "national" rhymes...more or less we find out that in many countries the songs/games/chants/rhymes are similar and that these are sth that "connect" us regardless of which part of Europe one comes from...It´s raining and we´re setting off on a trip to Ribe..in the mini buses we´re "praying" for better weather till we arrive at the destination but we aren´t lucky..At first we visit a Vikings museum with a very rich exposition..we also come back to our childish years when dressing up the Vikings clothes and "fighting" with swords as real Vikings..:-)A short walk through the town, visit of some beautiful design shops and hurrying to "warmth of our mini buses"...It´s a pouring rain and we are all cold and wet but we can´t miss to see the sea! Way back home doesn´t take so much time and quickly home to change the soaken clothes. In the evening our "Czech Three" is cooking! Easter cakes for Thursday! We have to acknowledge we´ve done a good job;-) and are falling to our beds completely tired...
We spent the Wednesday morning at basic schools as every week just to observe and get "a taste" of the Danish school system... This time we´re going to visit "Realskolen" along with Sarah from Germany and Saskia from Denmark...At first we´re welcomed by the headmaster and told the basic infos about the school- it´s a smaller private school and what is quite special about it there are 11 classes including the class 0 and 10 ( additional voluntary school year)..The school also tries to focus on the development of good relationship between the school and parents...The school is also involved in a social programme that should trace this relationship and it´s given grants for it from EU..Then we are allowed to have a look into an English lesson in the 7th grade..afterwards the two lessons of religion in the 9th grade...At the beginning we Erasmus students are asked to introduce ourselves in English to the pupils and say sth about our national school system...We also make the children familiar a bit with the Erasmus programme..We get ot know that our country is not so "foreign" for the children in this classroom because every year the nineth graders go for a trip to CR for a few days..nice..:-) The lessons are however led in Danish so we don´t understand much but still, it´s quite interesting just to sit there, observe pupils´behaviour and percieve the frinedly and relaxed atmosphere in the classroom...I like it..Then it´s time to go back to school and discuss our school experience with other schoolmates... Unfortunatelly the planned hip hop dance lessons are canceled because of the teacher´s illness so we use the free time to go to the gym...
Thursday and morning lecture about "Soundscape" with an Austrian teacher from Wien Jutta Kleedorfer- we listen to a record of sounds that follow the trip of a fictional American girl Rosie that is for the first time in Wien..It´s a kind of experiment made by the pedagogical institute in Wien how one can imagine a completely foreign city, one has never been to, just according to sounds...Then the teacher reads us some children´s stories with morals in the end ( a symbolic story called "Zack bumm" and "Esel"..quite "educative"..:-) However the long expected event comes afterwards- the international afternoon! There are some stands for us Erasmus students, international students(who have come here just for this week), Danish students who experienced a school practice in Nepal for 6 weeks, Euro prof students, Inter health stand..The idea of this event is to present visitors all these interantional programmes and in the same time also their own country...We´ve got our own "Czech stand" where everyone can have a look on our presentations form our stay hete in Denmark, on the brochures promoting our country and to taste our Czech Easter bread ("mazanec").. in the evening there is another plan for us- pizza with others and "Eurovision song contest"...Our "Czech Trio" chose a Czech song "Kdyz se nacancam" and we accompanied it with a small "pantomime" just to depict the story of the song so that the audience could at least a bit imagine what the song is about...and we were successful;-), got to the final three best singers and in the end we won the contest! Wow, that was great and we had a lot of fun practising it and also were happy that the audience enjoyed it with us..Dancing at Crazy Daisy till two a.m. was another perfect event..;-)
And how would I summarize the past week? I really enjoyed it even it was so busy that we went to bed quite exhausted around midnight every day, but the experience was worth of it! The international students brought a kind of "fresh air" into our Erasmus group... thanks to them we had the possibility to get to know other cultures (Portugal, Austria, the Netherlands) and it seemed to me as if I travelled the whole week long through above mentioned countries on my own...I realized that European countries are of course different in many ways but still we can find some similarities (the "national" songs and rhymes, even the food!- the Portuguese guys brought for the international afternoon a kind of Easter sweet bread that was quite similar with our Czech "mazanec"- that was a bit surprise for me:-))...I´m really happy that we could experience this "journey through Europe" and thank to all of its participants!;-)

Jante Law and "All life is problem solving"/Zakon Jante a "Cely zivot je resenim problemu"

The aim of Monday´s module Comparative studies is to make us familiar with various types of learning approaches throughout Europe...according to the teacher there are three such approaches: 1)the Encyclopedic A. (typical of France, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Belgium)- claims uniformity (the same opportunities for all children), rationality (logical way of thinking), elitism (competition instead of cooperation, special type of schools- grand ecoles- parallel with universities, access through competition); 2) the Humanistic A. (GB)- the ideal: gentleman, individualism (close realtionship between a student and his teacher), specialisation (at the age of 16 students choose only few subjects they´re most interested in); 3) the Naturalistic A. (Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavia)- structure in the educational system (everybody ha s a function in the system), shared values: Work hard, do not waste money, and fear God; learning by imitating; skills oriented. Quite interesting, but this division seems to me already a bit out of date...In my opinion nowadays there aren´t such big differences in various educational systems all over Europe anymore, since it is more or less directed by EU...( a common trend in EU school systems is the development of important competences =combinations of knowledge, skills and experience- and students should be led to be able to use these learned competences in practise.)...but it doesn´t mean that I think one finds completely same school systems all over Europe just because of EU... I believe that above mentioned division has its historical roots from which a certain school system comes out and as history is a part of each nation and is then reflected somehow in its presence, I do believe that this is also the case of these learning approaches...the own history of the country makes also its educational system more or less specific...
What was a kind of shocking information for me during this lesson was the fact that Danish school system doesn´t pay so much attention to education of special talented children since the Danish society goes out of the idea of the "Jante law":
The ten rules of this Jante law are:
Don't think that you are special.
Don't think that you are of the same standing as us.
Don't think that you are smarter than us.
Don't fancy yourself as being better than us.
Don't think that you know more than us.
Don't think that you are more important than us.
Don't think that you are good at anything.
Don't laugh at us.
Don't think that anyone cares about you.
Don't think that you can teach us anything.
see also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janteloven
After reading these rules one can see that Danes appreciate uniformity, all the members of the society should be in the same level and this is also applied at schools...that´s why potentiality of talented children aren´t fully supported....what a pity, don´t you think?!
The next lesson of Citizenship with Torbjörn concerns with the philosophy of Karl Popper ("All life is problem solving") - an Austrian and British philosopher and a professor at the London School of Economics. He is counted among the most influential philosophers of science of the 20th century. Popper is known for repudiating the classical observationalist / inductivist account of scientific method by advancing empirical falsification instead; for his opposition to the classical justificationist account of knowledge which he replaced with critical rationalism, "the first non justificational philosophy of criticism in the history of philosophy" and for his vigorous defense of liberal democracy and the principles of social criticism. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Popper). We start talking about ancient philosophers (Plato, Aristotle)- ideas of ideal society, we draw a diagram of a "democratic circle" (Egoism+Individualism= Free Market; Altruism+Individualism= Conservatives; Egoism+Collectivism= Nationalists; Altruism+Collectivism=Socialism) and after we´re a bit confused what this stuff has to do with "citizenship" we are told that citizenship should train people to try to stay in this "democratic circle".. Wow, it was much philosophy for today (it reminds me of my school days at grammar school:-))...

Tak tu mame dalsi tejden, leti nam to, leti.... dneska nas ceka modul "Srovnavaci studia"- s novou ucitelkou, stredni vek, ma tu na starosti nejaky zahranicni zalezitosti, uz neuci, ale jak nas ujisti na zacatku, je strasne rada, ze ma dneska tu moznost...na zacatku se bavime vicemene o historickym rozdeleni sveta podle Limes Romanus (staroveke hranicni linie)- a odvozujeme odtud rozdily v kulture narodu zijicich na sever od teto hranice a tech jiznich kultur...pro kazdou je typicky neco jinyho (napr.vira- S: protestanti- J:katolici; S: prirodni, J: kulturni, S: pivo, J: vino atd.), pak se tema stoci konkretne na skolstvi- vyklada nam o trech ruznych pristupech k uceni podle jednotlivych zemi: 1) encyklopedicky pristup (typickej pro Francii, Italii, Portugalsko, Spanelsko, Belgii)- zalozenej na jednotnosti (vsechny deti maji mit stejne prilezitosti), rozumovost (logicek mysleni), elitarstvi (nejlepsi vyhrava); 2) humanisticky p. (Velka Britanie)- zakladem je vychova "dzentlmena"; individualni pristup k zakum; specializace (co se tyka predmetu, v 16 letech si deti vybiraji jen par predmetu, na ktery se soustredi v dlasim studiu); 3) naturalisticky p. (Nemecko, Holandsko, Skandinavie)- struktura ve skolstvi (kazdej ma ve spolecnosti svou ulohu, kazda prace ma svou dustojnost), vyznavane hodnoty: Pilne pracuj, neutracej a boj se boha; duraz na imitaci v ucebnim procesu a na dovednosti. Tak nejak mi prijde, ze tohle rozdeleni uz je trochu zastaraly, nerekla bych, ze by se to v dnesni dobe jeste dalo takhle striktne definovat...prece jen EU udava trend skoro ve vsem, nevyjimaje skolstvi, takze dneska uz ty tendence ve skolstvi budou vicemene podobny po cely Evrope- rozvoj zakladnich kompetenci (viz. nase hodiny pedagogiky a psychologie na UHK, ze:-)), cilem je, aby student byl schopen pouzit naucene v praxi atd. Na jedny strane vliv EU, kterej to cely jaksi sjednocuje, ale na druhou stranu je jasny, ze nelze rict, vsechny skolsky systemy jsou stejny po cely Evrope...tady bych dala prostor vyse zminenymu rozdeleni:-), ale spis z historickyho hlediska..vsechny ty popsany rysy v jednotlivejch pristupech se asi urcite odrazi i do soucasnyho skolstvi, coz je dela specifickym pro kazdou zemi...dikybohu za ruznorodost, ze..:-) Docela sokuici ale byla informace, ze dansky skolstvi se nijak nezameruje na zvlast nadane deti, neexistuje moc specialnich skol, kde by se rozvijel jejich talent...vychazi to z danske myslenky "Jante zakona", kterej tvori deset pravidel:
1. Nemysli si, ze jsi neco vyjimecneho.
2. Nemysli si, ze mas stejne postaveni jako my.
3. Nemysli si, ze jsi chytrejsi nez my.
4. Nemysli si, ze jsi lepsi nez my.
5. Nemysli si, ze vis vic nez my.
6. Nemysli si, ze jsi dulezitejsi nez my.
7. Nemysli si, ze jsi v cemkoli dobry.
8. Nesmej se nam.
9. Nemysli si, ze kohokoli zajimas.
10. Nemysli si, ze nas muzes neco naucit.
Docela drsny, ze...pak neni divu, ze se danska spolecnost nesnazi podporovat talenty a vyjimecny lidi..na jedny strane mozna dobra myslenka toho celyho s tim, ze nikdo se nema povysovat nad druhy, jsme si jakoby vsichni rovni, ale na druhy strane, kdyz se to dodrzuje dogmaticky, tak mi to naopak prijde nefer, treba zrovna vuci tem nadanejsim, ktery tak diky tomuhle nahledu spolecnosti musi zustat mezi masou a neodlisovat se...ale to je prece proti prirozenosti, kde bysme pak byli s timhle postojem, nekde zamrzly kdesi v historii...?! Pokrok prece delaji ti, co maji schopnosti a jsou v necem skutecne dobry, ne...v tomhle me dansky skolstvi docela zklamalo...
Dalsi hodku zase filozofujeme s Torbjörnem...meli jsme si na dnesek precist silene dlouhej text od Karla Poppera (rakousko-britskej filozof a nejvlivnejsi filozof vedy 20.st., jeho filozofie zpochybneni namisto obrany za pouziti kritickeho racionalismu, obhajce liberalni demokracie a sociailniho kriticismu), mimojine autorem vyroku, kterej se mi libi: "Cely zivot je resenim problemu" (je snad nekdo, kdo nesouhlasi?;-))....dostaneme se i k Platonovi a dalsim (dost mi to pripomene moje gymplacky leta:-))...tak pro dnesek uz te filozofie bylo dost...hura dom a cist "Dabel nosi Pradu"...

Breath of originality and creativity/ Zavan originality a tvorivosti

The morning lessons with Jette, when we are talking about intercultural competences ( such an up-to-dated topic in the days of globalization...;-)), run fast and it´s noon and our planned departure to Hoptrup boarding school is here... It´s actually a small "Efterskole", i.e. there are only two classes for children of the age of 15 and 16, who don´t only learn there but also stay at school all weeks long instead of going home...The school is then special in the way that it puts stress on teaching dance, music and drama...and this "specialization" is recognizable in many different aspects... ;-)
At first we´re taken for a small "tour" around the school to have a look what the school looks like...Our guides are two students from there (the boy´s appearance already indicates a certain "smell of originality":-)), who show us almost every single room from the place where pupils eat together with their teachers (at the same table:-)), up to "ordinary" classrooms, then specially furnished classrooms (we were astonished by the recording studio!) and finally to the part of the building where pupils live during their stay at school...one can feel the "bohemian" spirit on almost every step there ( especially during breaks pupils sitting on couches in corridors watching Tv, playing table football or just hanging around and singing and playing guitar...)..and what even teachers themselves! All of them we meet are young people and some of them, let´s say, a bit strange:-) (one wouldn´t recognize the vice-principal from students, what´s more from a kind of a free artist you can meet e.g. on Charles Bridge in Prague:-))..one can also quite easily notice really friendly relationships between the pupils and their teachers (given probably by the young age of teachers as well as by the type of school), which still doesn´t miss the necessary respect for "educators"... then we´re invited to take part in an English lesson...The pupils are asked to play pantomime based on situations that pupils made up themselves before (e.g.two boys riding motorbikes in the mountains, two teenagers arguing about their favourite kind of music etc.)...majority of children aren´t ashamed doing this at all (well, we have to still be aware of the type of school we are in, which means that these pupils are actually here because of their interest in performing etc., but to be honest personally I feet a bit hopeless in this time:-))..and their unshy characters show also in the following interviews that they are supposed to do with us, Erasmus students (we answer their questions such as e.g. why did you go for Erasmus, why to Denmark, what do you like about our country,... and we are really surprised about their level of English that was really great- they can speak quite easily without any hesitation almost as if they express themselves in their native language...!)...and finally the lesson ends with short presentations on the topic: South Africa( first pupils divided into three groups are supposed to make a mindmap on the blackboard on this theme and then to present it for the rest of the class)... one of the three presentations was highly originally when one of the pupils started singing a self-written song connected with this topic and another accompanied him playing the guitar...these pupils are just born to perform and are such exhibitionists that they use every opportunity to show themselves and that´s fine...:-)
And now sth for me...dancing lessons...:-)the first one is kind of a drill exercising (can´t say boring at all!) but the other is more exciting...the girls are instructed to make up and subsequently train their own choreographies to a given piece of music and afterwards they present it...and must say some of the "results" were quite unusual and very funny...
We spent the whole afternoon at this place and came back home not earlier than at 6p.m.

V pondeli dopol si s Jette rekneme neco malo o mezikulturnich kompetencich, jako ze ve smyslu nutnosti ucit zaky respektovat ostatni narody, coz je ted v dobe globalizace docela aktualni a ze vsech stran probirane tema, ze...:-) a v poledne uz jsme na nadrazi, abysme mohli vyrazit navstivit nedalekou internatni skolu v Hoptrup....nejdriv si jdeme prohlidnout celej areal, pruvodce nam delaji dva zdejsi zaci- ten klucina fakt stal za videni- kostkovany kalhoty strih ala mrkve, v uchu nausnice ve tvaru papouska, nebo co to bylo, a na hlave piratskou pasku...podotykam, ten den nehrali zadny predstaveni, proste bezny ohoz do skoly...:-)no, abyste byli v obraze, tohle byla skola tak trochu zvlastni nejen tim, ze deti tady i nocuji (neco jako intr, ale pokoje maji ve stejne budove jako tridy, vlastne z chodby s pokoji vchazi rovnou do vyuky..:-)), ale hlavne co se tyka zamereni- se specializaci na hudbu, tanec a drama...umeleckej duch byl cejtit na kazdym rohu..od ucitelu (dost mlady, a perlicka zastupce reditele by clovek nerozpoznal od zaka, natoz pak od nakyho mladyho "free" umelce nekde z Karlova mostu:-), po zaky (jak uz jsme zminila jista individua, viz.nas pruvodce:-)), tak i celkovy vybaveni skoly- deti o prestavkach na chodbach, rozvalujou se v gaucich, koukaji na TV, hrajou si na kytaru, jen tak zpivaji, hrajou stolni fotbalek...na chodbach zadny dozor, kterej by je hlidal a peskoval ( a kupodivu ty teenageri toho nezneuzivaji! )...celkove ta skola pusobila jako takovej vetsi rodinnej barak- vlastne dany i tim, ze tam jsou jen 2 rocniky- pro 15 a 16-lety(takze fakt mala to skola),ale taky tou celkovou atmosferou- deti jedi v jidelnach s uciteli u jednoho stolu, vztah ucitel zak je docela volnej, kamaradskej a zaci toho zase kupodivu nezneuzivaji (aspon ceho jsme byli svedky my...), oslovuji ucitele krestnimi jmeny (coz je ostatne zvykem na vsech danskych skolach!)..

prohlidneme si nejen tridy ( docela nas prekvapi normalni nahravaci studio, ktery maji zaci k dispozici), i tu ubytovaci cast (kluci, holky zvlast, v tomhle se Dansko do CR nelisi:-)..a pak jdeme primo do vyucovaciho procesu -na hodinu anglictiny...nejdriv maji zaci sehravat ve dvojicich pantomimu na zadany tema (predem kazdej musel vymyslet nakou situaci, ktera se bude predvadet, ucitelka pak vybirala a cetla a deti podle toho predvadely, pak rekla "freeze"/zmrznete a vystridala je dalsi dvojice, ktera musela zaujmout uplne stejnou pozici jako ti pred nima a pokracovat v pantomime)....vetsina se nestydi a je u toho sranda...(ostatne jsme na umelecky skole, tak se predpoklada, ze tady budou sami exibicionisti, ze...ale me to docela vyvede z miry, priznavam....-))...nestydlivost se pak projevi i u dalsi aktivity, kdy nas maji deti "zpovidat", delat s nama Erasmakama interview na bezny otazky...docela zirame, jak deti vali anglictinu, na to kolik jim je, tak pusobi suverenne a nemaji vetsi problem vyjadrit se v cizim jazyce....klobouk dolu...:-) posledni aktivitou je "mindmap"( neco jako brainstorming/co te napadne, kdyz se rekne...)- tematem je Jizni Afrika...jsou rozdeleny do 3 skupin a pak svoje napady prezentuji...vystup jedny skupiny nas docela dostane..."opepri" totiz svoji prezentaci umeleckym vystoupenim- jeden klucina zacne hrat na kytaru, druhej k tomu zacne zpivat svuj vlastni song (tematickej.-)) a vsichni se bavi...

konec anglictiny a ted neco pro me...hodiny tance...:-)ta prvni je spis o drilu ruznejch tanecnich prvku/kroku, i tak me to bavi (hlavne ta music, bych se k nim hned pridala.-))...ta druha hodka je o necem jinym...tady maji holky prostor pro svou vlastni fantazii a kreativitu- ucitelka jim vzdycky pusti nakou hudbu a oni na to maji podle zadanych instrukci vymyslet choreografii (jeden z ukolu je napr. aby ta choreografie obsahovala "slide"/sklouznuti, "spinning"/tocku, "lift"/zvedacku)..maji na to 20 min a pak pred ostatnimi predvadi, co vymyslely... a nektery veci jsou docela originalni...bezva...

ve skole stravime cely odpolko, domu se dopotacime kolem 18h.

Day full of experiments/Den plny experimentu

Every Wednesday we are shown a bit different ways of learning developing our creative skills, last time it was the lesson called "Use your body and voice...", this time we can read in our schedule "Mirrors and Portraits"... An incredibly friendly and open-minded woman Dorthe gives us a real warm welcome, something in her appearance and her way of spontaneous behaviour already reveal that the following three hours won´t be traditional, but on the contrary that we´re going to experience sth very new and unusual for us...and we´re not wrong when we think so...At first we are given few sheets of quarto papers and are supposed to draw portraits of three of our schoolmates, we´ve got only 2 minutes for each of these pictures...we´re assured that we don´t have to be worried about our art skills, everything that will happen in this lesson is said to be just a sort of our own exploration and achievement of new experience and perception... now I´m at real ease and just draw and draw and...this first task is just about getting the first knowledge of the basic "rules", what to pay attention to when making sb´s portrait...more experimental part comes after...each of us takes a mirror and sits in front of it and we are told to draw ourselves! ha, that´s fun...we don´t want to stop it, we enjoy portreying so much! However, we are here to explore some more ways of perception of ourselves... we start painting directly on the mirror!....then printing it on the paper...and in final stage we are instructed to remake this print so that it still resembles somehow our own portraits...we´re a bit lost in this task, but Dorthe helps us and shows us the rught way to do it...she is a real professional (studied some time in New York) and we can´t stop wondering when a completely realistic eyes start appearing under her skillful fingers...unfortunately the time is over and we have to saay goodbye, this lesson was simply amazing, I felt relaxed during the whole time spent in the workshop and was leaving the room absolutely happy and content, it was a sort of pleasant therapy for me...:-)
Now a cooking lesson along with Danish students of cooking...I´ve brought all necessary ingredients for my fruit dumplings (but it wasn´t an easy task at all to find our Czech "tvaroh" and the right kind of flour:-)) that I´m going to do today, but it needs to be said, for the first time without my mum´s help!:-) well, now I know there was no reason to be worried because when you´ve got the right ingredients there isn´t much you can spoil:-), but everytime you go into the "unknown" you feel a bit unsure...afterall it was a great fun for all of us and we did well so in the end we could please our taste-buds with different kinds of dishes from typical Danish hot dogs (served with pickles, roasted onion, ketchup, mustard, remoullaide), smörrebröd, chocolate mousse, potato pancakes, potato soup, sushi, Belgian potato salad etc. we really had a nice time, do you believe us?!;-)

Kazdou stredu mame na rozvrhu trochu nevsedni hodiny, ktery jsou zalozeny na rozvoji nasich tvurcich schopnosti- minule to byla hodina "Pouzij svoje telo a hlas", tentokrat hodina s nazvem "Zrcadla a portrety"...Privita nas neuveritelne pratelska a na prvni pohled tak trochu svobodomyslna Dorthe, uz trochu jeji vzhled a zpusob jednani napovidaly, ze nasledujici tri hodky stravime netradicne, a nemylili jsme se...nejdriv nam rozda ctvrtky s tim, ze si mame vybrat tri spoluzaky a nakreslit jejich portret, mame na kazdej 2 minuty...smrt v nasich ocich ji primeje nas ujistit, ze tady ted vubec nejde o nejaky realny zachyceni tvare dotycnyho, ale proste a jednoduse jen si zkusit, jak se takovy oblicej maluje...pak nase prace spolecne zhodnotime a rekneme si, na co pri portretovani davat pozor... ted zacina ta experimentalnejsi cast hodiny...mame si vzit kazdej zrcadlo, sednout si pred nej a namalovat sami sebe! zvlastni, koukam na sebe s tuzkou v ruce a moc nevim, jak zacit...divny, clovek se zna takovou dobu:-), ale hodit se na papir nedokaze:-) ale kazdopadne nas to vsechny hodne bavi...ani se mi moc od toho nechce prechazet k barvam...ted zase mame namalovat sami sebe a to primo na zrcadlo a vysledek pak obtisknout na papir...to cely se pak jeste dokresluje a pretvari voskovkama...nejak si s tim nevime moc rady, tak nam Dorthe predvede, co ma konkretneji na mysli..clovek se pri tom nestaci divit, jak se pod jejima rukama zacinaji na nas koukat z papiru zivi oci, je to holt profesionalka (studovala nejakou dobu v New Yorku)...ja se radsi vracim ke svymu kresleni tuzkou a dodelavam si svuj autoportret...:-) najednou je konec a my musime padit na hodinu vareni...vsichni jsme uplynulyma hodinama stravenyma v atelieru nadseny, me osobne to doclea dost pozitivne naladilo, takovej uzasnej relax...

ale ted uz hopem varit...vzala jsme s sebou vsechny nezbytny suroviny, ktery budu potrebovat na ty svoje ovocny knedliky, ktery se chystam dneska delat (varime narodni jidla..uznejte, ze knedlo, vepro bych asi jako skoro uplnej antikuchar nezvladla, tak jsem se vrhla na tenhle receptik:-)..i tak jsem z toho docela vybzikla, prece jen to bude poprve, co budu takovouhle vec varit uplne sama, doted to aspon bylo pod mamcinym vedenim:-) ale tak jako ve finale se to myslim povedlo, nebo aspon mne ty knedle chutnaly a pripomnely domaci:-) vse jsme zvladli a pak uz jen ochutnavali...na vyber byly typicke danske hot dogy (s okurkama, smazenou cibuli, kecupem, horcici, remuladou), smörrebröd, coko mousse(pena), nase cesky bramboraky, bramboracka(delaly holky), sushi, belgickej bramborovej salat...uff, dokazete si asi predstavit, jak jsme se zas najedli... a jeste neco malo zbylo, tak vzali domu...:-) celej den jsme se nehnuli a travili..vecerni pilatesove cviceni nebyl v teto situaci v mem pripade nejlepsi napad...:-)

Presentation of our countries/ Prezentace nasich zemi

Tuesday, 19th February, and the Module 1(=Comparative studies) with Jette Laursen...our homework for today was to prepare presentations about our countries and tell the others what we suppose to be special and typical of the place we come from... At first we set off the journey to Belgium and find out that it is not only the country of chocolate, waffles and beer, but that the country is nowadays going through a serious crisis that is concerned with the existence of the state itself ( there are two parts in Belgium- the Flemish part in the North and the French-speaking part in the South and politicians are discussing the possible division of these two parts which would lead in fact to the disappearance of Belgium from the map of Europe!)..sth not so serious...did you know that Belgium is the "cradle" of fries that are wrongly called French fries:-) and that Belgium is the country of birth of Jean Claude van Damme?!;-) Then it´s up to us, "or Czech Three" to familiarize our mates with our small republic...we made a nice Power-point presentation ( self-praise is not good, I know, but still it´s pity, you can´t see it:-)) presenting some basic facts, but also the less known infos about our country ( rich history, traditions, nature, culture and in the end we couldn´t forget mention about famous Czechs and what is typical of CR that is known all over the world- e.g. the beauty of our girls- Miss World 2007 etc.:-) And then Daniel and a quick tour through Germany (the system of traffic signs was really funny;-))...
Danish lesson follows and new phrases are attacking our brains (Hvordan gar det?-How are you?:-))..It´s also Tim´s birthday today so birthday songs can´t be missing...even one in Czech!;-)
Evening and film "Goya´s Ghosts" that we watch at girls´ place along with two German students that came here for 14 days for a school practice...and falling asleep with a bit worried mind about tomorrow...;-)

Utery 19. unora a hodina s Jette- modul 1(srovnavaci studia)...na dnesek jsme si meli pripravit prezentaci o nasi zemi a predstavit ji ostatnim....nejdriv napochodujou pred tabuli belgicti reprezentanti:-), dovidame se neco malo z historie, pikantnosti z zivota kralovske rodiny:-), ale prejdeme taky na vaznejsi tema- aktualni problemy v zemi, resi se tam ted mozne rozdeleni obou casti Belgie (Flandry a francouzsky mluvici cast), coz by vedlo v praxi k uplnemu zaniku Belgie, protoze Flandry by se staly soucati Holandska a ta druha cast by byla pripojena k Francii...zni to doclea nemozne, co...dalsi zajimave info- viz.napr. jsme netusila, ze hranolky pochazi z Belgie, stejne tak i Jean Claude van Damme!:-)))) potom jsme na rade my, nase "ceska trojka", abysme seznamily ostatni s nasi mealou zemickou...krome zakladnich info se jim snazime samozrejme ukazat, ze mame bejt na co pysni, takze se rozpovidame o nasi bohate historii, tradicich, ceskem sklu, Skodovce, ceske kuchyni, filmech a nesmi chybet ani slavni Cesi vcetne Miss World!:-)myslim, ze jsme to zvladly hezky...:-)nakonec jsme se s Danielem vydali na exkurzi do Nemecka...zminka o hledani narodni identity a s tim souvisejici Tv spot, kterej ma v mladejch Nemcich probudit pocit narodni hrdosti (docela posramocena vzhledem k pomerne nedavne nemecke historii) - byly pro nas novinkami stejne tak nas zaujal opravdu "dumyslny" system dopravnich znacek:-))...shrnuto, dozvedeli jsme se zas o neco vic, nez jsme si do ty doby pamatovali z hodin zemepisu:-)
Pak Sheila a Lejf a dalsi dansky fraze bombardujou nas mozek...co treba :"Hvordan ga det?"- "Jak se mas?":-) dneska ma taky Tim narozky, tak mu zpivame..nejen dansky, ale i cesky!:-)
Vecer se sejdeme zas na filmiku, tentokrat "Goyovy prizraky", prijdou jeste dva nemecky studenti, kteri tady jsou na praxi na 14 dni, tak to je docela zpestreni s nima...no a domu spat, trochu s obavama, jak dopadne zejtrek:-)

Beginning of the 3rd week in Denmark!/Zacatek tretiho tydne v Dansku!

Usual time- 8:15 and the beginnig of the first Monday lesson- "School and Education in Denmark" with Torbjörn Ydegard...He asked us about our observation experinces from our last school visits fourteen days ago- we agreed on some features typical of Danish school such as e.g. apparent freedom of pupils at school, cozy atmosphere of the school environment, usage of various teaching methods and seemingly no structure in lessons...we talked about pupils´discipline in the classes and we were "assured" there is almost no such thing in Danish schools anymore:-), so subsequently we came to the topic of possible punishments for children in case of their misbehaviour and in this time we were "corrected" there is no such word "punishment" in the Danish school system, but only a word- "consequences"- that made us laugh a bit...:-) then Torbjörn told us about the basis of the Danish school system- probably the most striking fact for us was the strong tradition of private education in Denmark in that way that Danish constitution allows establishment of private schools even by parents themselves (in practise it means that when you as a parent are not satisfied with the education of your child at the public school, you can take your child away and you can educate him/her on your own at home, but what´s more you can quite easily set up your own school...the only rules you have to follow are a certain number of pupils, solution of economical questions and fulfillment of teaching goals that must be compatible with those at public schools)- the state financially supports this kind of schools pretty much (parents pay only 15% of loads/e.g. 1,000DK/month, the rest is paid by government)... in general the state financial contribution to education system is efficient, also as far as public schools are concerned (we were told that almost everything at these schools is free, including e.g.all textbooks, trips with the exception of some week long excursions and stuff like this)...even there is special education of future teachers at private schools ( it lasts 5 years instead of usual 4 years for teachers at public schools and these private teachers also have a longer practise at schools during their studies). Wow, all this is quite different from our country, isn´t it?
Acquisition of interesting infos goes on when an energetic man Jörn Buch enters the room...We´re flooded with important events of the Danish history and we´re really impressed by Jörn´s historic knowledge (his very first question: where are from- and our reply: Hradec Kralove- and his prompt reaction: ooh, there was the battle of Austro-Prussian war!- this persuades us that this man "probably" knows his field pretty well...:-)) as well as by his amazing enthusiasm which make his lessons even more unforgetable... (and it does not matter that we talked the whole time mostly only about the 19th century in the Danish history:-))

Obvykly cas- 8:15 a prvni pondelni hodina: "Danske skolstvi a vzdelavani" s Torbjörnem Ydegardem (clovek by si na tech jmenech pomalu zlamal jazyk, co... a to po nas chteji, abysme je oslovovali krestnimi jmeny!:-)) Ptal se nas na nase postrehy z nasi navstevy skol pred ctrnacti dny a spolecne jsme pak vybrali par znaku typickych pro danske skolstvi, jako napr. znacna svoboda zaku ve skole, prijemne skolni prostredi, uzivani ruznych metod pri vyucovani, ale taky zdanlive zadna struktura pri vyuce...Mluvili jsme i o chovani a poslusnosti zaku a byli jsme "ujisteni", ze neco jako disciplina uz v danskem skolstvi u zaku nenajdeme:-) pak jsme presli k tematu pripadnych trestu, kdyz se zaci neumi chovat a zase celkem prekvapiva odpoved, ktera nas docela rozesmala, protoze Danove slovo "trest" jako takove ve skolach nepouzivaji a asi z jakychsi "humanitnich duvodu" ho nahradili slovem "nasledky":-)) potom nam Torbjörn vypravel o zakladnich rysech danskeho vzdelavani, tady nas docela zarazil fakt, ze Dansko ma dost silnou tradici soukromych skol a danska ustava povoluje zakladani takovych skol dokonce i samotnymi rodici! (v praxi to znamena, ze pokud je rodic nespokojenej s tim, jak jeho dite vzdelavaji ve skole, muze ho odtamtud vzit a ucit ho sam, ale co vic, muze si sam, kdyz chce, zalozit vlastni soukromou skolu...jedina omezeni, kterych se musi drzet je jednak dostatecnej pocet zaku, vyreseni nejakejch ekonomickejch otazek a taky splneni jistejch vzdelavacich cilu, ktere musi odpovidat tem, ktere jsou na verejnych skolach)- stat tyhle skoly financne dost podporuje (rodice plati pouze 15% nakladu/ asi 1000DK za mesic, zbytek stat)...dokonce v Dansku existuje i zvlastni system vzdelavani budoucich ucitelu na soukromych skolach (jejich studia trvaji 5 let, misto 4 let obvyklych pro ucitele verejnych skol a odlisne je to i s praxi- budouci ucitele na soukr. skolach maji rocni praxi, namisto asi jen 6 tydnu) ....obecne stat tady do skolstvi znacne investuje, a to i co se tyce verejnych skol ( rodice nemusi hradit skoro nic, napr. deti maji ucebnice zdarma, stejne tak i vylety, snad az na nejake tydenni exkurze, ktere uz stat nefinancuje)..docela rozdil oproti nam, ze..
Pak vpadne do tridy energii nabitej chlapek, asi petasedesatiletej, Jörn Buch a my jsme razem zahlceny informacema tykajici se historie Danska...postupne zjistujeme, ze tenhle Dan bude asi hodne sectelej a ve svym oboru se fakt vyzna (hned na zacatku se nas kazdyho pta, odkud ze jako jsme, tak my reknem CR, HK- a on hned briskne zareaguje, joo, tam se odehrala ta bitva prusko-rakousky valky 1866...jak nase srdicko zaplesa, ze nekdo zna taky nejaky jiny mesto nez Prahu..:-)...cely dve hodky vydrzi zaujate povidat o nejruznejsich historickejch udalostech (popravde misty je docela tezky se v tom neztracet:-))..je do toho neskutecne zapalenej, az se mi zda, ze i ten nejvetsi odpurce dejepisu musi behem tehle hodin uznat, ze "ucitelka zivota" nemusi bejt jen nudnym odrikanim letopoctu!;)..takze vubec nevadi, ze jsme se celou tu dobu bavili hlavne o 19.st. v danskejch dejinach a o zbytku se nedozvedeli prakticky nic..:-)...tahle hodka s nim byla fakt inspirujici, zvlast pro nas budouci ucitele dejepisu;-)

School visit

Today we´re supposed to visit a basic school just opposite our college to get to know how the Danish school system works in practise... It is a private Christian school called Kristne Friskole, has about 180 pupils and 16 teachers. The headmaster makes us familiar with the system of his school and enables us to visit a German lesson in the 7th class and an English one in the 4th class. Before we take part in a common prayer when pupils and teachers meet in a hall to sing from the Bible. I haven´t experienced anything like this before and I can feel a certain kind of comradeship among the youngest and their "educators"...
Then we go to see how the German lesson looks like. It seems to be more or less traditional, as we are used to it in our country. However teaching of English is a kind of surprise for me...it makes me think Danes are not stressed with any time schedules during the lesson, the atmosphere is relaxed, nobody cares if pupils are little noisy and talk with each other...pupils are obviously enjoying this time and feel free speaking in English...When talking about teachers I must say we´ve met really nice hospitable and friendly people who were willing to share their teaching experience with us and took us quite naturally as if we were a part of their staff (amazing:-))What I also like was the cosiness of the building, walls of the corridors covered with pictures and what I appreciated most?! Pink painted doors!!!:-)

Dnesek mame stravit na zakladni skole, ktera je primo naproti nasi univerzity. Dozvime se tak, jak funguje dansky skolni system v praxi...jedna se o soukromou krestanskou skolu, ktera ma asi jen 180 zaku a 16 ucitelu. Reditel je milej, povida nam o skole, jak funguje organizace danskych cirkevnich skol, jak funguji vztahy mezi uciteli a zaky (vse na urovni tolerance, kamaradstvi ale i repsketu), seznami nas s chodem skoly a nabidne nam, ze muzeme navstivit hodinu nemciny v 7. tride a anglictiny.ve 4. tride..Predtim se jeste zucastnime spolecne modlitby na chodbe skoly a spolu s ostatnimi zaky a uciteli zpivame z Bible- pro me zvlastni pocit Nikdy jsem doted neco podobneho nezazila a musim rict, ze to byl trochu zvlastni pocit videt teenagery oveseny retezy zpivat nabozenske pisne, ale jinak to bylo prijemny...cejtila jsem tam takovej do jisty miry pocit sounalezitosti...
Pak jsme tedy zavitali na hodinu NJ..ta byla vicemene tradicni, na jakou jsme zvykli u nas doma...prekvapila me ale nasledujici hodina aj.. vedl ji student, ktery byl na praxi, a planovani nejakeho casu, co by mel ucitel s detmi za hodinu stihnout atd (jak nas to nuti delat u nas na UHK:-))- to tady, zda se, vubec neexistuje...vsechno je takovy uvolneny, zadnej stres, deti to ocividne bavi, ucitel se nijak moc nestara, jestli je ve tride hluk a deti kecaji... a zasada- mluvi na ne celou dobu jen anglicky- i kdyz to jsou maly spunti, ktery se novy jazyk uci teprve 1. rok...jj, mame se jeste hodne co ucit...:-) Podobne jako s lidma kolem- ucitele tady byli vic nez prijemny, pohostinni, usmevavi, ochotni podelit se s nama o svy zkusenosti a brali nas uplne samozrejme, jako bysme byli soucast jejich sboru:-) Libila se mi i takova utulnost ty skoly, dana urcite tim, ze to byla fakt mensi skola, ale vsude na stenach taky obrazky, ale co me fakt dostalo!? Naruzovo natreny dvere!!!:-)

Let´s use our body and voice!;-)

In the previous three days there was lot to do, and everything was a bit unusual for us but better to say very interesting and what´s more enjoyable....! We tried to play the role of story-tellers re-telling some of H.Ch.Andersen´s fairy-tales (ours was "The Story Of A Mother", hey girls, can you remember the new vocabulary "blackthorn bush"?;-)) Learning Danish turned out to be a great fun when trying to repeat after Lejf and Sheila( our student teachers) some "strange" sounds and even worse was reading some Danish words because pronunciation differs from the written form a lot in this language (Just try: "Dav jeg hedder Iva" is pronounced as [dau jaj hile...]. now you can already say in Danish" Hello, my name is....":-)). We ended Tuesday with other European students drawing our "language portrait" and talking about different languages all over the world...
Wednesday lessons were pure enjoyment! Else Marie (a music teacher) instructed us not to be afraid of using our body and voice in different ways...singing songs, dancing ( like Africans do- I won´t forget "Makulela":-)), presentation of a machine just with sounds, later on with instruments, and using music as a source of our imagination- mime-play (Sylvi, our sitting on the bar chairs smoking a cigar pretending to be women of doubtful reputation;-)) and in the end painting the atmosphere of music in abstract pictures...how unusual and useful for developing children´s imagination and creativity, I think... Evening in-service lecture on the theme of using ICT in English lessons showed us that not only the Czech teachers are not used to involving ICT in their lessons yet but also their Danish colleagues cope with the same problem.

V uplynulych trech dnech jsme se nezastavili, porad bylo co delat. V utery jsme si zahrali na vypravece, nebot byla hodina o danske literature a filmu. Cele to ve finale bylo vlastne jen o H.Ch.Andersenovi a jeho pohadkach. Ve skupinkach jsme si meli "nastudovat" jeden z jeho pribehu a pak ho pred ostatnimi prevypravet...nase pohadka se jmenovala "Pribeh matky" a opravdu bych ji nedoporucovala cist detem jako krasny vypraveni s happy endem na dobrou noc:-) Zabavna pak byla vyuka danstiny...do tridy vpochodovala peroxidova blondyna a ponekud nesmely hosik:-) Neco jako Black and White, i co se tyce charakteru, mozna podle fotek posoudite sami, kdo mel jakou roli:-) Jsou to taky zatim jen studenti, kteri prej jinak uci imigranty, ale podle systemu, jinymi slovy nesystemu ve vyuce bysme ani nerekli, ze uz maji nejake ty hodiny za sebou...(prominte, Sheilo a Lejfe...). nakonec jsme je sami navedli, ze by bylo mozna dobry si nejdriv rict danskou abecedu a pak postupovat k tezsimu...celkove me to bavilo, i kdyz sranda to nebyla...danstina se jinak cte a jinak pise..tak si treba zkuste: "Jeg hegger Iva"(vyslovuje se [jaj hilla ...]. kdo by to byl rekl, ze:-)) Odpoledne bylo hodne zajimavy, i kdyz chvili trvalo, nez jsem pochopili, co se po nas vubec chce...ve finale z toho vzesel "language portrait"(portret jazyku)- do obrazku jsme meli zakreslit ruznymi barvami vsechny jazyky, se kterymi jsme nejakym zpusobem v kontaktu a pak jsem se o tom ve skupinkach bavili...vubec cela ta hodina s nazvem "Jazyk a identita" byla o uvedomeni si podobnosti/odlisnosti v jednotlivych jazycich...zajimavy...
Stredu jsem si pak uzili snad nejvic. Else Marie (ucitelka hudby) nam na zacatku sdelila, ze ve vyucovani je treba zapojovat nejen mozek a takovou tu rozumovou stranku, ale taky nase telo, hlas a vubec smysly...zacli jsme zpevem u klaviru, takovy pekny melodicky pisnicky( mne to uz docela chybelo jen si tak zazpivat, vzpominam na nase hrani u klaviru, Kamsko, lisko;-)), pak jsme pridali i pohyby- uzasna byla "makulela", jako kdybysme byli nekde mezi africkejma kmenama a nacvicovali jejich narodni tanec:-), jsme se narachali...neco z pantomimy- predvest jen za pomoci zvuku nejaky stroj, pak podle hudby sehrat pantomimu (to by se ti, Marti, libilo;-))- jj, Sylvi, nezapomenu, jak jsme si hraly na barovy lehky devy:-) a nakonec malovani podle hudby, obrazy pak mely vyjadrovat dve ruzne nalady, ktere v nas ta hudba probouzela...hodne zajimavy, i kdyz se toho clk nejdriv trochu bal...
Vecer jsem jeste padili na prednasku pro ucitele AJ- " Jak uzivat ICT/pocitace ve vyuce AJ"...nas docela presvedcilo, ze ani dansky ucitele nejsou jeste skamaradeni s technologii stejne jako ti nasi...

Monday first lessons

It´s Monday morning and we´re hasting to school to be on time at our first school lessons...In schedule stays: "weblogs"- well a bit scared of using technology we carefuly listen to the woman-teacher how to create our own "diary on net"(yeah, that´s exactly that one you are just visiting;-))...later on all of us are so absorbed in the work that we look a bit disappointed when this lesson is over...but now on we are supposed to work on our weblogs individually at home so I´ll try to do my best to feed you with the latest news I´ve experienced here...
Talking about our ideas of Denmark we had before we came to this country, putting them on paper and discussing them ( Did you e.g. know that Danes are "obssesed" with flags and they put them almost everywhere?, it´s also a tradition here to set a flag on a table when there´s somebody´s birthday), getting to know sth about the Danish school system( school attendance is compulsory for 9 years, there´s a voluntary 10th school year; pupils start learning English at the age of 9, German when they are 13)- these were the later activities we did in the afternoon...
Pretty tired and a bit unhappy about the rainy weather we overcame ourselves and went back to school in the evening to watch a Danish movie (with English subtitles of course:-)- in the end we didn´t feel sorry to come at all because as it turned out it was a good funny teenage comedy (three teenage girls decide to undergo certain rituals to prove others they´re already mature enough to enter the adult world). And we experienced another nice tradition here- pots with tea and coffee and plates of biscuits are prepared for every meeting like this- yes, Danish people are very hospitable;-)

Je pondeli rano a my chvatame do skoly, abysme neprisli pozde na prvni hodiny... v rozvrhu je napsano "weblogy"- fajn, trochu se strachem z technologii pozorne poslouchame ucitelku, jak vytvorit vlastni "diar na netu"( jj, to je presne ten, na kterym prave jste:-)) pozdejc jsme vsichni natolik pohlceny praci na nem, ze nakonec vypadame trochu zklamane, ze uz je konec hodiny...odted mame na svym weblogu pracovat sami doma, takze se budu snazit zasobovat vas nejzhavejsima novinkama, co tu zaziju...
Odpoledne jsme si povidali o nasich predstavach o Dansku, ktere jsme meli, nez jsme sem prijeli, pak je nejakym zpusobem dali na papir a diskutovali o nich (vedeli jste napr., ze jsou Danove posedly vlajkama a davaji je skoro vsude? je tu taky tradici davat vlajku na stul, kdyz jsou neci narozeniny). Dozvedeli jsme se neco o danskem vzdelavacim systemu (maji devitiletou povinnou skolni dochazku, mozny desaty nepovinny rok; deti se zacinaji ucit AJ v 9 letech, NJ ve 13)..
I kdyz jsme byli docela unaveni a bylo prsavo, prekonali jsme se a sli vecer zpet do skoly podivat se na dansky film (samozrejme s anglickymi titulky), nakonec jsme nelitovaly, ze jsme sly, protoze se ukazalo, ze je to dobra teenage komedie (tri holky se rozhodnou podstoupit jiste ritualy, aby dokazaly ostatnim, ze uz jsou dostatecne vyspely pro dopselacky svet). Poznaly jsme dalsi zdejsi hezkou tradici- konvice s cajem/kafem a susenky jsou vzdycky pripraveny na kazdym takovym setkani..ano, danove jsou fakt pohostinni...;-)