Tydzien Siedemnaście / Week Seventeen - Personal

At Stan's house

This week saw the conclusions of all our university classes as well as our final days of placement. At the end of each class we were given a certificate with our grades which was very nice to get, particularly as we all did very well. One lecturer even went so far as to invite our class to his house at the end of the week. This was a great opportunity for us to see what a Polish home is like, something we had not yet been able to do. I found the afternoon to be a particularly enjoyable experience as it was my first time inside a house in four months (!) and I hadn’t realised quite how much I missed it. Student halls definitely do not compare to a proper house! Stan’s invitation was a real example of how hospitable the Polish people can be and we all really appreciated it, especially all the buns his wife had baked.

At the Euro 2012 Fanzone

As the week continued, and we made our way through our list of things we wanted to do before leaving, I was able to compare how I feel about Poznan and being on Erasmus now, and how I felt while writing my first few blogs. I definitely found the first few weeks here quite hard and took a while to settle in. Although it took me a while, I did eventually settle in and I really enjoyed being on Erasmus. I am extremely glad that I decided to take this opportunity, particularly as I nearly didn’t and then ended up applying late. One of the reasons why I hadn’t originally applied for Erasmus was because none of my friends wanted to go and I didn’t want to go alone. I then decided to just apply alone and I was grouped with Anna and Michael, two people who I barely knew. After spending four months together the three of us are great friends and I know that I am really going to miss seeing them every day, particularly as we spend most of our time together constantly laughing. I think this is something which will take a bit of time to get used to, particularly as Anna and I are roommates here and so really have got to know each other very well. Had I not have applied for Erasmus I would have most likely gone through university without ever getting to know these two people due to not having had any classes together. I feel this would be a real shame and I am very thankfully to have made two great friends.

One of our final meals together

While I was sad that the three of us wouldn’t be able to spend as much time together any more, it will obviously be easier to meet up with Anna and Michael than with the other friends I have made during my time here. My two teachers from school, Kasia and Jo, arranged to meet up with me for lunch the day before I left which I really appreciated and it was nice to spend some more time with them before leaving. Towards the end of the week we also had several leaving parties with our Erasmus friends which meant that we were able to spend some quality time together before going our separate ways. Poznan was beginning to get particularly crazy as many of the Euro 2012 football matches are being held in Poland. This meant that the city was starting to fill up with football fans, including thousands of Ireland supporters. I feel that I left Poznan at a perfect time. I was still happy to be there, so I left with happy memories, rather than staying longer and becoming homesick and fed up.

As I finish my final blog, I am able to reflect on the past few months and know that I made the right decision to go on Erasmus and make the most of an opportunity that I am not likely to ever get again. 

With my class

Some goodbye cuddles

Do widzenia, 

DarÓma. 

Tydzien Szesnaście / Week Sixteen - Professional

Treasure hunt!

This week I was given the opportunity to take part in a sleepover in school with my placement class. This was a great opportunity for me to be involved in an aspect of school life which I have never even heard of before.

Every year each class goes on an end of year trip for at least two nights. Many of the children have never slept away from home before and so this school sleepover tradition began as a way of helping the children get used to sleeping somewhere that isn’t home, but as it is in school it is in a familiar and safe environment and is also close enough for their parents to come and get them if necessary. At first I was quite shocked to hear that every class in the school goes on these overnight trips, particularly the Kindergarten class in which the children are only four years old. Through participating in the sleepover I was able to see how beneficial an experience it was. 

Several of the children were extremely upset when their parents had to leave, even having to be restrained by a teacher to stop them running out of the school. After an hour or so these children had calmed down, relaxed and were beginning to enjoy the sleepover. It is clear that experiences like this will help them when it comes to going on overnight school trips.

I found many aspects of the sleepover to be quite strange, mainly as it is something that would never happen at home. For example, while transforming the classroom into a bedroom for the night, many children were asking me where I would be sleeping and if I would sleep with them and share their mattress. This was something which I felt quite uncomfortable with but the teachers assured me that it was fine and that they would be doing the same. It definitely was a very odd experience to wake up in the morning to lots of little faces staring at me and asking if I had slept well!

Experiences such as this are extremely beneficial for strengthening the bond between the students and the teacher, as it allows teachers to show a different side of their personality. Partin (2009:14) suggests that, ‘Positive teacher-student relationships provide the foundations for effective instruction and constructive classroom management.’ Allowing the children to spend time with the teacher in a non-formal way such as a sleepover is a very effective way to build positive teacher-pupil relationships, hopefully having a positive knock-on effect on classroom behaviour. Being able to be part of the sleepover has enabled me to see how experiences such as this can help me to develop competencies as stated by the GTCNI. For example, I feel it has helped me to further develop two competences. Competence six (2006:13) states that, ‘Teachers will have developed a knowledge and understanding of the factors that promote and hinder effective learning, and be aware of the need to provide for the holistic development of the child.’ Planning activities like this for the children will help to contribute to their complete education as well as being a great opportunity for further developing social skills. Competence seven (2006:13) states that, ‘Teachers will have developed a knowledge and understanding of a range of strategies to promote and maintain positive behaviour.’ This really came into play in this instance as the children had to work towards earning the sleepover as a reward for good behaviour. As well as developing these competences I have also developed a bit of an English accent when teaching as I have found that the children often struggle to understand my accent, particularly words such as ‘eight’, ‘late’ and ‘there’. This has encouraged me to always be aware of my pronunciation and pace and will no doubt be beneficial for me when teaching in the future.

Time for sleep!

References:

-General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland (2006) Teaching: The Reflective Profession :Belfast.

-Partin, R. (2009) The Classroom Teacher’s Survival Guide, 3^rd edition, Jossey-Bass: San Francisco. 

Tydzien Piętnaście / Week Fifteen - Cultural

Gathered in the main square for the finish line 

This week Anna and I went on our very last trip of our Erasmus semester. Although we had previously been making use of the excellent railway connections between Poland and many places throughout Europe, we decided to fly this time and spent a few days in Milan. On our first day we realised why it had been so hard to find a hotel to book as the city was full of fans for the cycling race that was taking place over the weekend – the San Remo race. This was an interesting part of Italian culture to be able to see, particularly as the city was full of very enthusiastic fans creating a great atmosphere.

Inside the cathedral

Milan is known for its shopping and I was very keen to delve into this experience. Unfortunately, however, I could not take part to the extent I would have liked to as my suitcases are undoubtedly going to be well overweight when it comes to packing in two weeks time. I therefore had to force myself to stick to window shopping in all the beautiful shops, including my all time favourite – Chanel!

One of the biggest tourist attractions in Milan is the huge cathedral - Duomo de Milano. Although clearly impressive from the front, it was only when I walked around it that I realised the scale of how huge it really is. As shorts are not permitted we had to go on the second day when we were dressed more appropriately, but it was definitely worth a visit to not only view the grandeur of the interior, but also the views of the whole of Milan from the top.

Beautiful Lake Como

The highlight of this trip was the day spent at Lake Como, under the advice of Anna’s placement teacher who used to live there. The day didn’t start out so successfully (having spent three hours in Milano Centrale train station looking for our train) but upon arriving in the beautiful town we knew it had been worth the effort to get there. Lake Como is definitely one of the most beautiful places I have been to and we spent the day happily exploring, sunbathing and of course keeping an eye out for George Clooney who has a house there!

Being away from Poznan for a while allowed Anna and me time to reflect on our feelings about the two weeks we have left and so we have created a list of everything we want to do before we leave Poznan. This includes visiting our favourite restaurants, renting bicycles to cycle about the city, going tubing and of course Michael’s all time favourite – karaoke! As well as reflecting on the activities we still want to try and squeeze in, we also reflected on the many opportunities we have had here to experience new things, particularly as we would not have been able to do any of these had we decided to stay at home this semester. We came to the conclusion that by not going on Erasmus we would have been passing up a great opportunity, especially in regards to travelling.

Lovely Milan

Relaxing in the sun at Lake Como

Tydzien Czternaście / Week Fourteen - Cultural (14.05.2012 - 20.05.2012)

Anna in the military museum 

This week marked the beginning of a cultural week, not only here in Poznan but in many European cities.  The Juwenalia Festival marked the start of this week, with the mayor of the city handing over the keys of the city to the students. There were parades through the streets involving many Erasmus students as this week is also the 25^th birthday of Erasmus, so the two celebrations were mixed together.

Another part of this festival was the Noz Muzeow or ‘Long night of the museums’ which involved all the museums in Poznan being opened late into the night, with free entrance for everyone. This tradition began in Berlin in 1997 and there are now some 125 cities taking part in it. Many of the teachers in school had told us it was an important part of the culture here that we shouldn’t miss, so Anna and I looked up the timetable online and set out to begin our night at the Islamic museum. However, some confusion over the directions ended up with us wandering about a slightly dodgy neighbourhood with no idea where to go so we gave up and decided to head to the Stary Rynek (the main square) where we knew there were several museums. After making it there safely we did enjoy looking around the exhibitions but we realised that we hadn’t quite thought our plan through properly as all the talks were in Polish, as were most of the signs and information. While in Stary Rynek we visited the Museum of Fights for Independence, the Ethnography Museum and the National Museum which we actually walk past several times a week, but have never actually bothered to look inside.

Some street entertainment in the main square

Anna and I both enjoyed getting to take part in this interesting part of Polish culture. We were able to talk with many Polish people while in the museums, something which we actually don’t do a lot of, due to mainly being around other Erasmus students.

As many of the museums are in the main town square, there was also a concert there and many street entertainers as well, which made the square really come to life. After being so cultural Anna and I enjoyed a relaxing dessert in one of our favourite spots – the chocolate cafe! This was a lovely end to another fun week in Poznan and I am becoming very conscious that we now only have three weeks left here. As a result of this we plan to cram as many fun things into our final few weeks. 

This week Anna, Michael and I somehow all managed to get full marks in our Polish oral exam, which certainly shocked everyone! Next week we have the written exam, which isn’t likely to go so well, so we should probably get revising... 

Being cultural!

  

In our favourite spot - the chocolate cafe!