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| Holocaust victims |
This
week provided me with numerous opportunities to learn about and experience the
cultures of other countries. At the beginning of the week, I spent several days
in Berlin with Anna and my friend, Carrie, who was visiting. While in Berlin,
we paid a visit to the Holocaust memorial and museum. It was this museum which
gave me more understanding of the impact which World War Two had on Poland. For
example, I had forgotten that almost half of the victims of the Holocaust were
Polish, meaning that three million Polish people died. The enormity of the
number of deaths was really reinforced by this visit and left me feeling a bit
shocked. I think the fact that it affected where I have been living for the
past two months made it seem more real to me, whereas before I had simply just
read it from textbooks.
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| At the Holocaust memorial |
I
also enjoyed getting to see the Berlin wall as it was something I had to study
about when learning German in school, so it was very interesting to actually
see this in person and it gave me more understanding of what life at the time
would have been like. This made me think about the divide in Northern Ireland
and the barriers that still exist today, something which is reinforced by the
ongoing use of Peace Walls in Belfast. This is something which most people we
meet here want to ask us about. For example, this week, when some Polish people
heard we were from Northern Ireland they proceeded to pretend to shoot each
other with machine guns, while shouting ‘bomb’ and ‘IRA’ at us... It’s always
interesting to see how your country is viewed by others!
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| The Berlin wall |
As
this week was Easter week, I was able to experience the celebrations in the
International School. Hearing the children share the Easter traditions of
countries such as Korea, Mexico, Australia, Poland and Spain was something I
was very pleased to be able to take part in. I have found myself really
enjoying the multicultural environment in this school, particularly as I have
been able to observe how the children from different cultures interact and
behave differently. The GTCNI competency number fourteen states that teachers
should develop, ‘a knowledge and understanding of the need to take account of
the significant features of pupils’ cultures, languages and faiths and to
address the implications for learning arising from these.’ I feel that even
after a brief period of time in this school, I have further developed this
competence and hopefully will continue to as my time here goes on. The Easter
celebrations in school included an Easter egg hunt, making cookies, an Easter
buffet with mainly typically Polish food and an Easter show with Easter
bunnies, which was definitely my favourite part! Every week there seems to be
some sort of celebration or event going on in the school, definitely much more
than I have ever seen at home. As
I spend more time in school each week I have found myself thinking that I would
like to try and get a job in an international school when I graduate and this
is something which I plan to investigate more.
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| Easter bunnies! |
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| Making Easter cookies |
Reference:
General
Teaching Council for Northern Ireland (2006) Teaching: The Reflective Profession: Belfast.
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