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...

Trip to Jels and Christiansfeld and Wedding/Vylet do Jelsu a Christiansfeldu a Svatba

Weekend and free time to go for a trip...we´ve planned to visit a near small town Jels by car (Finnja is driving)..we set off around 9a.m. and are in the destination in 20 minutes..the information center is open from 10, so we shorten the time walking to a local cemetary... a bit morbid but we agree it´s a nice graveyard, projected like a maze from neatly shorn hedges...in the tourist center we take some info brochures and pay for visit of an old mill... afterwards we walk to the Orion Planetarium (that is open only on Sundays) and to Viking Pageant- open-air theater...we´ve got still enough time so we decide to go to another town Christiansfeld- "The Town of Moravian Brethern"...small, hostiorical, very nice...and special from many reasons. Its treets are straight and meet in right angles (took an inspiration from American cities?:-)). Another speciality is Christiansfelder honeycake(gingerbread)! We can´t resist and have to taste it!:-) It´s delicious but we actually know it from CR, the town Pardubice is well known for it too...Then we take a walk through an old Brethern Churchyard Gudsageren...the atmosphere is quite unique, peace everywhere...and all the gravestones are identical as a symbol of equality of all people after the death.... See: http://www.sydjylland.com/

In the afternoon we´ve got the opportunity to experience a special occasion- the Danish wedding! Coincidentally it´s the wedding of our two schoolmates from English lesson(Sinne and Sören)! It takes place in one of the Haderslev churches...it´s a real experience...the beautiful bride in a white dress walking slowly with her father towards an altar where the man of her life is waiting for her...then both of them are sitting down on chairs opposite each other together with their parents and siblings...The priest starts talking (of course in Danish:-), the words are often interrupted by singing...at a certain moment when the woman-priest is talking, people start smiling, unfortunately we don´t know why, but afterwards we get to know that the priest said sth about the characters of the bride and bridegroom and she also mentioned sth about the "history" of their relationship (it must have been sth. "spicy" that it made the people laugh;-))...that was nice and made the ceremony more personal...we were a bit surprised we couldn´t see any "newlywed kiss" but we were assured that this was rather an exception and normally also Danish newly-weds kiss:-) The whole ceremony took about half an hour, then the newly-weds came out of the church and it was the time for family, friends and others to congratulate them ... Wow, really nice...

In the evening a small "beforeparty" with a lot of unhealthy food (the only healthy stuff were slices of cucumbers and carrots:-)..and then just going downstairs to a concert (in a pub Ras that is just in the same house where we´re staying...)..unfortunatelly there was so many people in such a small place and I was so tired from previous days that even the band was playing very well and I liked the music a lot I couldn´t help myself and had to go to bed....:-(

Vikend je tady a tudiz i cas na nejaky ten vejletek..planovali jsme ho uz dost dlouho, tak dneska ho konecne podnikneme...Plan je nedaleky mestecko Jels...frcime autem- je tady Finnja z Nemecka...mistni info centrum otevira az v 10h, takze si cas zratime prochazkou na mistni hrbitov..:-) je moc peknej, i kdyz to zni morbidne, ale je hezky udrzovanej z zivych plotu, ani si clovek nepripada, ze je na hrbitove...v info centru nabereme brozury, zaplatime 10DK za prohlidku stareho mlynu a vyrazime do Vikingske vesnice...je to tam ale mrtvy,sezona a vsechny predstaveni zacinaji az v cervenci, takze je to tam takovy smutny v tyhle dobe...je tady taky planetarium, to je ale otevreny jen v nedeli....mame jeste dost casu, tak se rozhodneme popojet dal a navstivit nedaleky Christiansfeld- Mesto Moravskych Bratri...je maly, utulny a ma hned nekoli zvlastnosti...ulice jsou pravouhly (snad po vzoru nejakych americkych velkomest) a taky se tu vyrabi jedna dobrota- medovy pernik(v podstate n eco jako nas pardubicky)..neodolame, musime ochutnat..je mekkouckej, dobrej...nadlably se jeste projdeme po meste, zavitame i na hrbitov moravskych bratri (vsechny nahrobky jsou stejny, symbolizuje to rovnost vsechn lidi po srmti)... a razime domu...ceka nas mimoradna udalost- danska svatba! a kdo ze se bere? shodou okolnosti jsou to nasi spoluzaci z anglictiny- Sinne a Sören! Je to fakt zazitek mit tuhle prilezitost, pro me vubec je to teprve asi druha svatba, na ktery jsme byla...Nevesta v klasickych bilych satech, zenich v obleku...zvlastnosti..u oltare nestoji, ale sedi na zidlich spolu s rodici- nevesta a jeji rodina na jedne strane a zenichova strana naproti...Oddavajici- zena ma proslov- v danstine:-) , mezitim se nekolikrat zpiva a na konci par poklekne pred oddavajici a rekne sve "ano"...novomanzelskoho polibku se ale nedockame..:-((jak potom zjistime, normalne se Danove libaji, tohle byla pry snad nejaka vyjimka, nevim proc..:-)), venku se pak manzelum blahopreje (nevesta chudak drkotala zubama, byla priserna zima)...napadlo nas se taky zeptat , proc se lidi behem proslovu parkrat pousmali, co tak vtipnyho knezi rekla...prej mluvila o povaze nevesty a zenicha (znala je osobne) a zminila i jakysi vyvoj toho jejich vztahu...to bylo hezky, takovy osobnejsi...moc peknej zazitek...

vecer jsme se sesli u nas na byte na mensi "predparty" plnou nezdravyho jidla (jediny zdravy byly platky mrkve a okurky:-)) a v danou dobu jsme se presunuli jen o dve patra niz do hospody Ras, kde mel koncert nas kamarad dan Lasse...skoda, ze tam bylo tak strasne moc lidi, nedalo se hnout... a ja byla silene utahana..takze jsem to uz pred pulnoci byla nucena zabalit, i kdyz me to docela mrzelo...mohl to bejt peknej vecer...nekdy priste...

Karaoke!

The last lesson of citizenship is concerned with inductive way of learning (problem-solving based tasks)- we go on in the philosophical topic from the previous lesson (P1- TT- EE-P2; P1= the first problem, TT= theory of solution of the problem, EE= elimination or confirmation of the theory, P2= another problem; "All life is solving problems":-)) We have a task to make up an exercise for children in which they could use above mentioned "formula" and as teachers to connect this exercise somehow with the theme of "citizenship"...we come up with an idea to ask children to make up a theory how people in prehistoric times hunted mammoths and check it subsequently in books or on net to confirm or eliminate their theory.. and how can children profit from this task in relation to "citizenship"? Well, quite a difficult question, but what about the fact that through hunting men had to cooperate, relied on each other that means to live in peace, be tolerant..and that´s actually the same also nowadays..when people want to achieve something big, where more people are needed, the sense of mentioned qualities is necessary and children should realize that. Well, that was connected with my major History but Daniel has to do the same task in his subject Chemistry and to make up the usage of his exercise in connection with citizenship seemed to me quite illogical. We finish a bit earlier and we use the time to plan our tomorrow trip and to draw posters for international week...Afterwards Jette comes for a while just to discuss a bit the plan for following week that will be quite busy because of coming inernational students...After the school we stop for an hour at Friday Café for a cup of tea, then a small shopping in Lidl...
In the evening we set off to Friday Café- tonight there is Karaoke Show!!! Shortly after 8p.m. the show begins! Daniel is going to represent our Erasmus group..that´s great...but the suddenly Charlotte decides to participate to and she manages to persuade us (with Kate) to join her!!! I can´t believe it! Me standing on the stage and singing publicly... we need a shot to breathe it out...-) It´s already here..we can here our names to start our performance...we decide to sing Avril Lavigne´s song "Sk8er boy"...well, what a fun, even if we don´t manage to follow the lyrics, it´s so fast...in the end I can´t catch my breath...:-) great experience...and Daniel- he sings much better than we, even so well that he becomes the winner!!!! Congratulations, Daniel!;-) We enjoyed this evening a lot...:-)


Posledni hodina "obcanstvi"...navazujeme na minulou hodku- induktivni uceni (reseni problemu)...mam ve dvojicich vymyslet pro zaky nejaky takovy ukol, kde by musely pouzit vzorec (P1- problem, TT- vymyslet vlastni teorii reseni problemu, EE- potvrzeni nabo vyvraceni teorie, P2- dalsi problem)...z dejaku prijdeme s tim, ze by slo zadat detem, aby popremejslely o tom, jak lovili v praveku muzi mamuty...pak by si to potvrdily nebo naopak vyvratily vyhledanim potrebnejch info nekde v knize nebo na netu...no strucne receno, tahle hodina neprinesla nic novyho, obecne je docela bezny, ze se od ucitelu ceka, ze budou detem zadavta takovy typy ukolu, u kterych budou muset premejslet a ne se jen srotit...
skoncime driv, cas vyuzijeme na planovani zejtrejsiho vyletu a kresleni poutacu na pristi mezinarodni tyden...
Vecer do Friday Café, je tam Karaoke show! neco malo po 20h to zacne...i nas Daneil se zapsal...odvaznej...:-) jenze pak prijde i Charlotte s tim, ze bysme do toho taky mely jit..no a kdyz vidime, jak to ostatni berou ze srandy a s nadhledem, hecneme se a taky se zapiseme! Pak tomus Katou nemuzeme uverit, ze jsme se nechaly do toho ukecat a musime jit aspon na panaka Fisku, abysme to rozdejchaly...:-)Uz je to tady, slysime nase jmena, rychle na podium..:-) Vybraly jsme song od Avril Lavigne " Sk8er boy"...ty vado, to je rychlost, nestacime sledovat slova, tlemime se, lidi zpivaj s nama, tleskaj do rytmu, je to bozi pocit, sranda...nakonci mam co delat abych popadla dech...:-) jsem rady, ze jsme se prekonaly, i kdyz porota se k nasemu peveckemu vykonu moc nevyjadrovala a radsi to stocila na nase tanecni schopnosti...:-))super vecer...;-)

German school and Quiz Night/Nemecka skola a Vecerni Kviz

Usual Thursday school visit- this time a German school- "Deutsche Schule Hadersleben"...Today it´s raining a lot...Fortunately the school is not so far away....It is a small school with ap. 180 pupils from the German minority living in Denmark...Because of its "special status"(being a German sschool ) it must follow the rules of not only the Danish school system, but also the concepts of German educational system and then it creates its own plans...Pupils are taught in German, otherwise they can speak Danish, so in the final school year they´re supposed to speak fluently in both of these languages... In the 5th grade children start learning English (the first year three times a week, later on four times a week)...The school puts the main stress on following three fileds of interest: languages, creativity (music, drama, etc) and IT. We also get ot know that the school cooperate with other "partner schools" in Germany and also in the Czech Republic (Liberec)- that´s a nice surprise (every mention about our country pleases;-)) (by the way, the headmaster Phillipp Rogge could say "hello" in Czech:-))...after a short introduction of the school by its headmaster we were allowed to have a look into the class of 7-year olds (they had just Maths- counting up to 100:-)) and afterwards an English lesson in the 5th grade (role-plays, singing songs: Head and shoulders,.. and a new one: "One finger, one thumb, keep moving"- quite funny, children divided in groups had to learn the song and train a "performance" for the class...)..We spent there only about two hours so one can hardly judge the school then, but generally spoken I like the idea of bilingualism very much and it was really nice to see how natural it was for the children to speak both languages, Danish and German (we "witnessed" a situation when there was a girl talking with another girl in Danish and the other one was answering in German.:-))See also: www.deutsche-schule-hadersleben.dk
In the afternoon we met other others in an assembly hall for a concert! And not just an ordinary one, but the musicians actually played the work composed by children! Who would imagine a traditional music, would be really surprised..by the way as we were...:-)the music was based on using different types of sounds (not only produced by musical instruments but also by various "tools" and even by your body...) a real unusual experience...
Afterwards we had an English lesson that started with a warm-up activity- in groups we played a short game to practise vocabulary (a pile of cards with words, dice and each number on the dice was connected with a certain type of task)...we went on working on our HW for today (interpratation of a song- ours was Wiil Smith "Tell me why") and then we were supposed to present it to others and make up some vocab activities based on the lyrics as if we were teaching at school..I really enjoy these English lessons and I´m always surprised how quickly they are over...They seem to be very useful and practical for us future teachers...

In the evening we agreed with others to go to Tribunen for a "Quiz Night"...Young Danes sitting at tables and competing in quiz! I liked this idea of entertainment and at the same time one always gets to know sth new thanks to the asked questions ( a pleasant way of "education".-))- e.g. Who is the Danish Minister of Transport nowadays, or another sort of questions: Which musical instrument can Madonna play? etc...:-)

Ctvrtek je jako vzdy vyhrazenej navstevam skol...tentokrat se vypravujeme do nedaleky nemecky skoly...dneska docela dost prsi, bojuju celou cestu s destnikem, prece jen asi nejni stavenej na vetrny dansky pocasko...oddechneme si, ze jsme na miste...jdeme nejdriv za reditelem, kterej nas seznami s chodem skoly, mluvi nemecky, docela se chytam...je to mensi skola, asi jen 180 zaku, kteri pochazi z nemecky mensiny zijici tady v Dansku..."zvlastni status" skoly ( to ze je nemecka), ma vliv na jeji fungovani ve smyslu, ze se musi ridit nejen danskym skolskym systemem, ale i nemeckym a nakonec si tvori sve vlastni plany...O skolu je v poslednich letech dost velky zajem, jak rika reditel, holt trend umet jazyky je cim dal vic aktualnejsi...na skole se vyucuje v nemcine, jinak deti mluvi, jak chteji...po absolvovani teto skoly by pak deti mely umet plynule mluvit obema jazyky....program skoly teda klade hlavni duraz na jazyky, pak na tvorivost (hudba, drama atd.) a na informacni technologie(pocitace)...Skola taky spolupracuje s dalsima partnerskyma skolama v Nemecku, i v Cesku (v Liberci)- to je ale mily zjisteni (kazda zminka o nasi maly zemicce prece potesi:-), no a kdyz jeste slysim, jak reditel rika cesky "ahoj", nemam slov...:-))) Ale jsme tady, abysme poznali, jak to tu chodi, takze nejdriv zajdeme do 2. tridy- maji zrovna matematiku...zeptam se ucitelky, jestli si tu tridu muzu vyfotit, ona dulezite, ze se musime zeptat nejdriv deti, jestli s tim budou souhlasit..zadny z tech 7-letejch spuntu nevypada, ze by vubec vedel o cem je rec, natoz aby jim vadilo, ze si je vyfotim...ale dobre, respektujme osobnost deti...pak do 5. trid na hodinu anglictiny- docela klasicky vyucovani, uci se novou pisnicku, jedina docela prekvapujici je chvile, kdy ucitelka rozdeli deti do dvou skupin, aby si nacvicily pisnicku, a tu jednu skupinu vysle ven ze tridy...u nas si neco takovyho nedovedu moc dobre predstavit...osobne bych umrela hruzou, co ty nase pubertaky napadne a kde co vyvedou...ale tady jsou ocividne zvykli na praci "bez dozoru"..takze vse probehne hladce...jinak zadny velky prekvapko se nekona, byli jsme tam jen asi 2 hodky, takze clovek nemel zas tak moc casu poznat tu skolu vic, ale jinak se mi libi ta myslenka dvojjazycnosti- zazili jsme i situaci, kdy se ve tride pri tom nacviku pisnicky, bavily mezi sebou dve holciny, jedna mluvila dansky a ta druha ji uplne prirozene odpovidala nemecky...ty dva jazyky jsou pro ne proste prirozeny...zavidim...:-) Jeste nez jsme skolu opustili, zahrala jsem si na "prekladatelku"- reditel me poprosil, jestli bych mu neprelozila do cestiny takovej mensi pozdrav nejaky ucitelce z te partnerske skoly v Liberci....:-)

V poledne jsme se sesli s ostatnima u nas ve skole v aule...poradal se koncert, ale ne tak ledajakej...hraly se skladby, ktery slozily deti! bylo to docela netradicni, zezacatku kazdej prekvapenej, protoze hudebnici nehrali jen na "obycejny" nastroje, ale pouzivali k vyprodukovani zvuku treba i kostata a dokonce i vlastni telo...:-) zajimavej zazitek..
Pak hodina anglictiny- na zacatek motivacni hra na slovicka, pak interpretace pisnicky od Willa Smithe (kritika Ameriky, terorismus, rasismus atd.), vymysleni ukolu pro deti na zaklade jednotlivych songu...tyhle hodky me bavi, jsou uzitecny a vzdycky rychle utecou...

Vecer razime do Tribunen na Kviz...mlady Danove sedi u stolu, rozdeleny do tymu a naka holcina cte jednotlivy otazky a oni odpovidaji na papir..otazky typu : kdo je soucasnym ministrem dopravy? Na jaky hudebni nastroj umi hrat Madonna?.-)..docela dobrej napad, jak spojit prijemny s uzitecnym.dozvis se zajimavy info:-)) a nakonec tym s nejvetsim poctem spravne zodpovezenejch otazek vyhraje deset piv...dobra motivace...:-)

America in the centre of attention/V hlavni roli Amerika

Reflections on our school visit in Hoptrup on Monday with Torbjörn start off Thursday lessons. We also get to know sth from theory, namely three ways of planning the curriculum (1. concerns mainly with subject and content within the lesson, 2. called "objectives and utilitarian way" stresses usage/utility of the learned in practise, 3. "process and progressive" concentrating on the personality of the student himself who learns not only to gain knowledge necessary for his future job but also for himself, his own development)- and all these three approaches overlap and are more or less involved in the teaching process..that´s in short what the lesson was about today...In the English lesson we work in pairs and go on in the topic America doing various activities (gap info, "check questions about a text", play-roles) and we try to name the most important values of the American society and put them in the context of today´s perceptions of America from the European point of view...here are some of these values: freedom, individualism (in contrast to Danish "Jante law"- no one is better than others, humbleness), patriotism, volunteerism, democracy, American dream etc. And also thanks to our homework I know now some other interesting info about America, e.g. that the national bird is a bald eagle, the American national anthem is called The Star-Spangled Banner or that American motto is: "In God We Trust"...
Another lesson of citizenship with Birgitte...At the beginning we do presentations which we started working on in groups the last lesson...Our "Czech three" informs the others about the way how our national education system tries to include the subject of citizenship in lessons (we state that this "subject" is quite usual in our schools and pupils learn about it already from their first school year (at first at primary schools there is a subject called "homeland study" that includes info both from national history and geography, at lower secondary school pupils have a special subject called "civics" that covers various themes- from nation and state symbols to religion, family, environment etc., at secondary school there is the subject " social studies" that talks about previous themes more in details and finally one can choose "social studies" as his/her major at university.. ) We also get to the topic of immigrants and national minorities (we mention the problems with "gipsies" in our country)- Birgitte describes the situation in Denmark like that: actually Danish people act like one big family using the same language, having the same culture.. and from this point of view it´s then quite difficult for them to integrate all those minorities (who speak different languages, were brought up in different cultural environment etc.) coming to Denmark in search for better life (it´s said that there are 10% pupils who are immigrants in Denmark). The problem might be connected with the fact that Denmark is a small country and therefore Danes might be afraid of foreigners due to them they could lose their own national culture. I suppose these are quite usual worries of many nations in these days when migration becomes a natural part of our lives. And to find the right balance how to keep own national identity and in the same time not to oppress culture of other people seems to be a big challange for the future...Multi-cultural education that starts running in Danish schools is definitely a very good way how to learn people to be more tolerant towards other cultures. The topic of migration shifts suddenly to discussions about Mohammed cartoons and a sort of philosophical thinking about a question into which extent it is possible to fight for democracy, for which price,...The lesson of Danish lightens our minds after this and at 2p.m. we´re heading for a gym...in the evening we appear for a while in Friday Café to enjoy a bottle of beer and also to lose in "table football" against the Belgian "team":-)))
Saturday morning is devoted to shopping in Germany..Thora, our buddy, takes us right behind borders to buy some cheap food in German supermarkets (and I confirm the prices are notably lower than in Denmark!)...then I spent my afternoon doing somehow nothing but watching one of the greatest movies in recent days : "The Holiday" with Cameron Diaz and Jude Law...amazing...That movie got me into the right mood...which I don´t lose even in the evening when other "Erasmuses" come to watch another movie "The Pursuit of Happiness" with Will Smith...- moving but happy ended..:-)and a sort of "afterparty" with Lasse(a Danish student) playing guitar and singing Danish folk songs when we eat fresh made wafles with melted chocolate can´t end the day better...:-)
The Sunday "running" to the gym to atone for my "wafles sins" from yesterday calms my remorses..:-)

Tak jsem se konecne donutila a zasedla k zapsani zazitku z uplynulejch ctyr dnu, nez se mi vykouri z hlavy... bude to takova rychlejsi jizda, ale snad se udrzite:-)
Ve ctvrtek jsme zase meli hodinu s Torbjörnem a rozebirali nase postrehy z pondelni navstevy zakladky, jak jsem tady uz o ni psala...pak neco malo z teorie a odpoledne hodina anglictiny...pokracovali jsme v tematu Amerika, pracovali tentokrat ve dvojicich, jednak s mapou, pak s textem, hrali "role-play"(jeden zastava jednu roli, druhej jinou, neco resi)... a diskutovali o tom, jaky hodnoty vyznava americka spolecnost...dosli jsme k nasledujicimu zaveru: svoboda, individualismus (narozdil od danskeho "Jante law", ktery spociva v tom, ze danska spolecnost je zalozena spise na tom, ze jedinec se nepovysuje nad ostatni, je pro nej nepripustitelny rikat, ze on je lepsi nez druzi, proste ne takova dravost a ambice, kterejma "vynika" Amerika:-))..i z dcv. jsem se dozvedeal docela zajimavy info..viz. treba jak se jmenuje americka hymna, jaky je narodni ptak(holohlavy orel:-)) nebo jaky maji Americani heslo ("Verime v boha")...
Patek je pak trochu narocnejsi na nasi mozkovou kapacitu- je totiz hodina obcanstvi s Briggite a po uvodnich prezentacich toho, jak se nas skolsky system podili na vychove zaku, aby byli pravymi obcany sve zeme, se tema stoci na diskuzi o karikaturach Mohameda, ktery se v techto dnech zase dostaly do zajmu medii...filozofovani nad tim, do jaky miry bysme meli bojovat za demokraticky idealy, jestli je vic cirkev/vira (viz. islam) nez statni ideologie a tak dale...pred polednem uz se nam z toho vari mozek..:-) jeste ze nasleduje oddechova hodka danstiny, tentokrat jen s Lajfem, vystrihavame slova, ze kterejch pak sestavujeme jednoduchy vety (v danstine maji slovesa stejny tvar pro vsechny osoby, aspon teda v pritomnym case, k jinymu jsme zatim nedosli..:-))...nakonec jsme rychlosti blesku prelouskali jeden danskej textik a hura...konec skoly...na chvili do posilky, vecer do Friday Café- leje jak z konve...dame pivko, stolni fotbalek (Belgicani nas porazej, sakra:-)) a supem dom...
V sobotu vyraziem s Thorou, nasi buddy/opatrovnici:-) do Nemecka na nakupy...je to jen kousek za hranice, asi hodka cesty autem smer Flennsburg...Danove sem jezdi nakupovat v kvantech hlavne alkohol (pivo, vino), sladkosti...je to tu fakt o hodne levnejsi..tak si naky zasoby taky udelame(ja teda spis toho sladkyho, abych byla uprimna:-))...odpolko mam pro sebe...koukame na romantiku nejvetsiho kalibru- film "Prazdniny" s Cameron Diaz a Judem Law.....tak skvelej film uz jsem dlouho nevidela...no proste americka sladarna, ale moc hezka...:-) vecer je taky zasvecen filmu, tentokrat s ostatnima koukam na film "Hledani stesti" s Willem Smithem...dojemny, o americkym snu (jaka to symbolika- viz. hodiny anglictiny tento tejden:-))...prijde i Lasse(danskej student), tak hraje na kytaru, zpiva dansky folkovy songy, popijime a pri tom uzdibujeme cerstve udelany wafle, ktery borime do rozpusteny cokolady...juuu...
Druhej den zenu do posilky, abych aspon trochu uklidnila svy spatny svedomi....:-)

"As you wish, honey"/"Jak si prejes, milacku"

I like this week...lessons start usually around 10a.m., so no hurry in the morning...:-) On Wednesday there is a lecture called "How can Art and Aesthetics influence learning processes?- Do we see children as "becomings" or "beings"?"...in almost two hours we get to know how important for the development of the children is to be able to express themselves in artistic form and we as teachers should all the time try to find effective methods that would support and develop children´s creative skills (to think, speak, write, act and feel; use phantasy; find new solutions)...these are wanted by today´s society and that´s why we should not concentrate only on acquirement of knowledge...( "When I investigate myslef and my way of thinking, I conclude, that gifts from fantasy and imagination has meant more to me than my ability to acquire knowledge."- A.Einstein)
And afterwards we put in practise what we´ve just got to know...so let´s show how we were able to use our imagination and wake up our "exhibicionist spirit" in us! The homework for today was to make up a story/dialogue that would fit into a piece of music and pantomime it! I´ve been working on this project with Daniel and must say we had a lot of fun not only thinking it up but also practising it! Well, quite ashamed we´re going onto the "stage" to perform...our "speciality" is that we´ve recorded our dialogue so now we can "concentrate" only on acting- what a help!:-)))but yeah, we manage it somehow...my personal feeling? I don´t wanna be an actress!!!!:-))) let´s have a look on our dialogue:

A married couple is going shopping. The woman is about 25 years old, and very interested in fashion and shopping. She really loves luxury and knows nothing else than latest fashion fads...her husband- en elderly man- is very rich and doesn´t like shopping at all, prefers intelectual hobbies(art, music etc.)- now they´re in the shopping street, the woman jumping happily from one shop-window to another....

Woman (W): Oh, dear. Look at this amazing dress! Oh, and look at this one. This is even more beautiful! That one is really perfect. Do you think it will fit me?

Man (M)- quite bored: Well, I Don´t think it´s really special.

W: Oh, how can you say sth like that?!

M: Because I just don´t think it´s special.

W: You don´t care about the dresses I wear?

M: I just don´t wanna spend my whole afternoon running through the street.

W(hysterically): You don´t, you don´t , you don´t!!!???

M: I rather go to the theatre.

W: (hysterically): You do, you doooooo??!!

You´re so meaaaaaan!!!

M: I´m not mean. I just need some intellectual challange from time to time.

W: I hate you!

M: Calm down, calm down. (talking to himself): I must admit I´m an idiot too. How could I have been so foolish to marry an airhead like her. I wouldn´t even notice if I swapped her for a dummy from one of these windows. She wouldn´t be able to reach my intellectual level even if she stood on a ladder.

W: (realizing that she "overshot" starts pleading while he´s talking to himself): Turn to me, look at me, talk to me, listen to me. (4 times)

M: (ending his thinking with words:) But on the other hand, look at her!...As you wish, honey!

Later on we sing and revise all known songs from the previous lesson... as well as dance ( don´t we, Sylvi?!;))

That was the school.. at 6 p.m. me, Sylva and Kate are invited for a dinner by our buddy Thora to her place...it´s a pleasant evening and we can´t stop praising the delicious meal (pasta salad and chicken fillet and a wonderful chocolate cake as a dessert!)- thank you, Thora, for nice time...:-)

Ju, tenhle tejden se mi hodne libi...hadejte proc...skola nam zacina az kolem 10h, takze si muzu v klidku prispat a nehonim minuty tak jako kazdy rano...Dneska mame prednasku s nazvem "Jak muze umeni ovlivnit ucebni proces?", s podtitulem: "Bereme deti jako "neco, co se teprve utvari", nebo jako "hotove bytosti"?" Prednasejici je chlapek kolem padesatky, studoval v Anglii, uci na nejaky umelecky skole a skoro dve hodky nam vypravi o tom, jak je nutny vest deti k umeni, podporovat jejich tvorivost a originalitu....to jsou pry nyni zadane schopnosti ve spolecnosti, takze my jako ucitele bysme meli dbat na to, abysme v detech tento smysl pro "krasno" a umeni rozvijeli...ostatne tyto predpoklady jsou pry v kazdem z nas, jde jen o to, jaky pristup k tomu zaujmem (budeme-li sebe sami presvedcovat, ze treba neumime kreslit, hrat atd., tak v sobe vytvorime blok a opravdu to pak pro nas bude tezsi..ale obecne vzato, pro deti je naprosto prirozeny si hrat, predvadet se atd.)...

no a to, co jsme ted pouze poslouchali teoreticky, za chvili vyzkousime primo v praxi...na dnesni "umeleckou hodinu" (tak jako kazdou stredu) jsme si meli pripravit nejaky dialog k dane hudbe a doprovodit ho obrazkem, kolazi, popr. pantomimou...ja jsem na tom delala s Danielem (myslim, ze uz jsem se o tom tady zminovala) a byla to docela sjanda...:-)kdyz je rada na nas, ponekud "neherecky" napochoduju na "jeviste" a hra jede...nasi specialitkou je to, ze jsme ten dialog predem nahrali na pocitaci, skloubili s hudbou a ted uz teda mame prostor jen ke hrani...fajn, nemuzu se dockat...:-) ale jo, nejak to zvladnem...a moje pocity? hereckou bejt opravdu nechci!:-)

Pak jeste zpivame, tancujeme (vid, Sylvi;-))

Vecer jsme pozvany k nasi buddy Thore na veceri, nemuzeme si vynachvalit vyborny testovinovy salat s kurecim zavitkem a jako dezert cokoladovy dortik...bylo to prijemny...diky, Thoro, za peknej vecer...:-)

Bilingualism and Crazy Daisy:-)/Dvojjazycnost a Crazy Daisy:-)

The morning exercise in the school gym starts our body and mind for the rest of the day (in the morning we had no lessons) and we go to school only for two hours, namely the lecture of Prof. Dr. Thorsten Piske from the German University of Education in Gmünd, with the title "Bilingual Language Acquisition"...that was most interesting two hours filled with a topical theme- the earlier you start learning a foreign language the better...We got to know that there are nursery schools in Germany, which follow the "one person- one language approach"(i.e. there are two teachers, one speaks only English the whole time and the other the native language), so the "bilingual environment" is settled from the very young age of children and quite spontaneously...this approach goes on through higher levels of Northern German education at primary and secondary schools, of course with certain changes...(at primary schools children are taught, except for German language, all subjects in English; at secondary schools in most cases, two subjects are taught in a foreign language, mostly in English or in French). We also discussed some frequently asked questions in connection with bilingualism,e.g. "Do parents have to speak the foreign language when they interact with their children?"(No, they should support their children´s native language), "Do all students benefit from bilingual programs?"(At first parents should make sure that their children´s first language can develop in an age-appropriate way)..and finally the whole lecture confirmed the opinion that students in bilingual programs are then better learners in other subjects and can express their subject knowledge in their first language even better than those who study only in their native language...everything sounded amazingly, the "only" problem may be to find enough teachers who are able to conduct lessons in the subjects such as geography, biology or mathematics in a foreign language...:-)In the evening we met to visit the local disco Crazy Daisy(there is free admission on Thursdays:-))..at 23:30 and almost nobody in the club...well, doesn´t matter we came to enjoy ourselves, so immediately on the dancefloor and dancing, dancing till fatigue!;-) Not bad, but the music could have been a bit different(my "blood group" is r´n´b and stuff like this and the Dj didn´t seem to know such a kind of music at all!:-)) but fine, we lost the "redundant energy" through dancing and that´s what we wanted!;-)

Po dlouhe dobe nemame rano skolu, tak si s Katou skocime na chvili do posilky zaslapat na rotopedu...pak nas ceka jedina prednaska toho dne s prof.Dr. Piske z Univerzity z Gmündu s nazvem" Dvojjazycnost"...cely dve hodiny jsou uzasne zajimavy a cele se to toci kolem diskutovaneho tematu, ze cim driv se dite zacne ucit cizi jazyk, tim samozrejme pro nej lip...proto se rozbihaji, nekde uz jsou dal, dvojjazycne programy, ktere prave vychazi z tohoto nazoru a zacinaji uz malym detem v materskych skolach vytvaret dvojjazycne prostredi... konkretne jsme mluvili o severnim Nemecku(kde prof. uci) a dozvedeli jsme se, ze v materskych skolach jsou vzdycky dve ucitelky, z nichz jedna mluvi jen anglicky(cizim jazykem), pak je tam druha, ktera rodnym jazykem...dite si tak pomalu a nenasilne zvyka komunikovat v cizim jazyce, i kdyz v tehle fazi spis jen prijima info, nez by samo produkovalo...na zakladni skole se pak vyucuji vsechny predmety, krome rodneho jazyka, v anglictine....dite si tak osvojuje i odborne terminy v cizim jazyce a je pro nej pak naprosto prirozene bavit se i o odbornejsich vecech prave treba v anglictine...diskutovali jsme i o casto kladenych otazkach, treba jestli deti, kdyz se uci dane predmety jen v cizim jazyce, jsou pak schopni o veskere naucene latce hovorit i ve sve materstine...(odpoved: urcite, a co vic, dosahuji lepsich vysledku nez jejich vrstevnici, kteri nejsou zapojeni v techto dvojjazycnych programech...duvod: kdyz se uci v cizim jazyce, nuti je to obecne vice premyslet o danem problemu, tim padem pak naucene latce lepe rozumi atd.)...dalsi otazky se tocily i kolem mensich deti...jestli treba rodice musi pak na sve dite i doma mluvit danym cizim jazykem..(odpoved: ne, naopak by se meli soustredit na to, aby diteti poskytli pevne jazykove zazemi co se tyce jeho rodneho jazyka, protoze cim lepe dite ovlada svuj matersky jazyk, tim snadneji se uci ten cizi)...no kazdopadne bylo to moc moc zajimave...

vecer jsme pak vyrazili vsichni na mistni diskoteku Crazy Daisy...i kdyz uz bylo kolem 23:30, byli jsme v klubu skoro sami...ale neva, prisli jsme se pobavit a to jsme taky delali:-)...vritili jsme se hned na parket a poradne si zatancovali...i kdyz teda hudba nic moc(ja fanda r´n´b..niceho takovyho jsem se nedockala)..ale chtela jsem se vytancovat, a to jsem splnila:-)

Our First Day At School

Our school is about 10 minutes far away from our flat by walk and it´s a large complex of many buildings. See: http://www.cvusonderjylland.com/
During the day we were told some basic information about the course we are just taking part in and afterwards we were supposed to show how good at dancing we are! No, it was not taken so seriously...;-)we met other foreign students at a gym and were learning some easy dance steps...it was fun...we ended the day in a student club Friday Café enjoying the performance of a magician, playing table football and tasting Danish beer(in Danish "öl"-I can´t find the proper letter for Danish "o" on my keyboard, sorry:-)) for a reasonable price (1 bottle about 9DK). When to drink outside Friday Café is the obvious choice!

Nase skola je asi 10 minut pesky od naseho bytu a je to rozsahly areal s nekolika budovami. Behem dne jsme se dozvedeli zakladni info o kurzu, ve kterem tady budeme studovat a potom jsme meli ukazat, jak jsme dobri v tancovani! Ne, nebralo se to zas tak vazne...;-) Sesli jsme se v telocvicne s ostatnimi zahranic. studenty a ucili se jednoduche tanecni kroky... byla to zabava... Den jsme ukoncili ve studentskem klubu Friday Café, bavili se u kouzelnickeho vystoupeni, fotbalku a ochutnavani danskoho piva (v danstine "öl"- nemuzu na klavesnici najit to prave pismeno pro dansko "o", sorry:-)). Kdyz pit nekde v klubu, Friday Café je jasna volba!