Auschwitz!

Week 13 –Cultural Development – 26^th May 2011

Krakow

This week saw my first visitor in Poland. Kathryn came for the weekend. At first it felt so weird that she was here. For the past three months it has been like I have been living in a completely different world with no overlap between my life here and my life back in Northern Ireland but I was so glad for her to meet my friends here and to see all the places she had heard me talk about.

We spent the weekend in Krakow, a city that I have really fallen in love with, as there is so much culture and beauty. It was great to return. The last time I visited Krakow I did not have the opportunity to visit Auschwitz, the Polish concentration camp and therefore I definitely wanted to visit it this time around. The camp was established in 1940 and was the biggest Nazi concentration camp in Poland. It also became an extermination camp where more than one and a half million people were killed. The majority of victims were Jew from Central Europe with the next largest group of victims being Poles. Therefore Auschwitz is not only seen, as a symbol of terror, genocide, and the Holocaust but it is also a huge part of not only European but particularly Polish history.

Auschwitz wasn’t quite what I expected. I expected the camp to be in the same conditions as it was during the war. Unfortunately after the war, the German solders burnt down a lot of the concentration camp but some remained. New buildings were built and old building have been refurbished and turned into museums or exhibitions. These provided us with plenty of opportunities to find out more about Auschwitz. Being in the museums, reading about what happened and seeing pictures of the people that were brought here made it very real for me. It was so sad to see how these people, including young children, were treated. We also had the opportunity to see inside one of the gas chambers, and learn about how these were used as part of the greatest mass murders in the history of humanity.

Since I have arrived in Poland I have been told that I have to visit Auschwitz because of its huge importance in terms of this country’s history. Although I am very glad that I got to visit, it is an extremely sad place, with a history full of pain, suffering and death. It was very moving to be there and to hear about what happened in Auschwitz and it is definitely a place that I will never forget.

Until next time,

Jeff





Auschwitz

Lech Lech Kolejorz! Lech Lech Kolejorz! Lech Lech Kolejorz!

Week 11 – Personal Development – 18th May 2011

Last weekend I made plans, with four Italians, to go to Oslo. We booked flights a few months ago because they were very cheap (Less than £10 return) but when we started to look at hostels and prices for transport, museums etc. we decided that a trip to Oslo would really hurt our wallets and instead we enjoyed another weekend here in Poznań, making the most of the time we have left on Erasmus. One of the many reason I have loved Erasmus is the fact that it provides me with the opportunity to be more independent and the opportunity to budget for everything I want or need, unlike at home where I receive financial support from my parent, or as pay from my part-time job.

Roasting Sausages

As I stayed in Poznań, I had quite a relaxing weekend. I spent the weekend hanging with friends, playing football and volleyball and attending a big student concert organised by the university. There were definitely over 1,500 people just enjoying the nice weather, the good music and everyone else’s company. It lasted into the night with bonfires starting where anyone could come and cook their polish sausages. It was organised by the university and it was a great event, and a great opportunity to meet new people.

Vegan Cake

I was informed this week that in Poland a lot of the older people do not eat meat on a Friday due to religious reason, a fact that I was quite surprised with and I still don’t quite understand the reason behind it. Anyway, last week I was invited to a Vegan dinner by some people from my church. I have never intentionally eaten a Vegan meal before but this one was excellent. It was great evening, with great food and great company. Needless to say I will never be a Vegan. I love my meat too much, although I found it fascinating how much you can still make by using meat or egg alternatives and I really appreciated the opportunity to try something new.

Today I also had the opportunity to go on a school trip with my class. The father of one of the girls from my class plays for the Lech Poznań football team and so he managed to get the class into the stadium for a tour. As he was a player we were able to see absolutely everything. The changing rooms, media areas, Very Very Important Person (VVIP) area and we were even allowed on the pitch and to meet some players and the head coach. Like at home there is such a big ‘football culture’ here so the children absolutely loved the trip. And I loved it too!

My Class at Lech Poznan Stadium

This weekend Kathryn is coming to visit and we plan on visiting Krakow and finally seeing the sites of the city and also plan to visit Auschwitz (an infamous concentration camp in Poland).

Until next time,

Jeff

More about the Polish school system!

Week 11 – Professional Developments – 10th May 2011

After enjoying a great Easter holiday and long weekend I have been immediately plunged back into work. I am really enjoying and benefiting from my experience in my school here in Poznań. Due to this I have decided from this week to go into the school for three days a week. I have been developing a great relationship with the class and am really enjoying being challenged by teaching both within a private school and within the IB curriculum. I believe that my teaching experience in this class has not just provided me with confidence but has also increased my ability to both plan and carry out effective interactive activities. As I spend a lot of time planning, teaching or learning polish myself I have become very busy during the week but I may not get such a great opportunity again and I want to ensure I make the most of it.

A big similarity between Northern Irish primary schools and Polish primary schools is the lack of male teachers. During my teaching practice at home, I found that there were no male teachers in both schools I taught in. This is no different in ISOP. There is only one male teacher in the PYP (primary years programme) and he is a specialist PE teacher. I find this very interesting. I think it is important to have both male and female teachers in primary schools. My teacher mentioned to me today that she has noticed that some of the more ‘lively’ boys of the class are responding very positively to having me, a male influence, in the classroom.



Our Classroom



Today I had the opportunity to informally ‘interview’ the main class teacher about assessment and recording of pupils’ progress within the school. My teacher is currently writing reports for the pupils and she was able to show me some of her methods used throughout the year to record pupils’ progress. PYP defines assessment as ‘the means by which we analyse student learning and the effectiveness of our teaching and acts as a foundation on which to base our future panning and practice. It is central to our goal of guiding the child, from novice to expert, through the learning process.’ My teacher told me that assessment with IB schools had to be a continuous process using both formative and summative assessment. (IBO 2000) The class teacher also informed me that IB schools believe that students should not be given grades, only comments about good work, or areas of improvement. However within the Polish system teachers are required to provide pupils with grades. The school is currently trying to think of a suggestion that will keep the teachers right in both systems.

One of the guys on my volleyball team recently asked me if I could go into his girlfriends school, she is an English teacher in a Polish Secondary school, and give a short presentation on life and culture in Northern Ireland. Of course I agreed, it would be fun to make a short presentation and also will give me the opportunity to see a polish school. After speaking to her on the phone she informed me that the presentation should be about 2.5hours but not to worry because that includes time for the students to ask me questions. I am not too sure what I have gotten myself into, although I am looking forward to learning a bit more about NI culture myself.

This weekend I am heading to Oslo with four of my Italian friends, including my roommate Matteo. I am really looking forward to practicing some Italian and seeing a new city in a new country. I am not looking forward though to the effect that a weekend in one of the most expensive cities in Europe will have on my bank balance.

Anyway, thanks for reading,

Jeff

References:

Primary Years Program Assessment Handbook, January 2000. International Baccalaureate Organization

Union Jacks, Cups of Tea and Cucumber Sandwiches!

Week 10 – Professional Developments – 3rd May 2011

Over the past few weeks I have really enjoyed getting to know my class better. I have had the opportunity to teach a number of different Numeracy and Literacy lessons and I have been very impressed with how the children have both listened and worked. As the International School of Poznań (ISOP) is a private school the children are expected to work hard, not just in school but also in the evening. The children receive a lot more homework than children of the same age back in Northern Ireland. As the school is a private school most parent are very involved in their child’s education. Fortunately for the teachers this means that children are really encouraged to work hard at home, although unfortunately some parents have very strong opinions about how their child should be run and may be regularly questioning the teaching methods used in the classroom.

Another observation I have made of the private school system for teachers is that they do not have to teach all subjects. Class teachers only teach Unit of Inquiry (which is equivalent to World Around Us in the Northern Ireland Curriculum), Numeracy and Literacy. Specialist teachers come into the class to teach the other subjects like Art, Music, Spanish, German and Physical Education. This allows the class teachers some free time so that they can mark student work, or complete paperwork, which like in all schools there is a lot of.

I am working with a class with twenty-one students of ages seven and eight, each child with very different abilities and needs. The class has eleven polish students and the rest are from many different countries and all have very different English speaking abilities. This school is obviously very diverse and is proud of this fact. It copes with diversity through encouraging children to embrace differences and celebrating special occasions from all around the world. On Friday we had the opportunity to celebrate the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. In school we made Union Jack, drank tea with milk, ate cucumber sandwiches and watched the ceremony using the projector. The children really enjoyed this historical day and I was very happy to have the opportunity to see the ceremony myself as I assumed, with the lack of TV, that I wouldn’t get to see it.

Our Royal Invitation!

Within the school the children also have a wide range of extra-curricular activities. The school has just built a new multi-purpose sports court that they are making very good use of during after school clubs. They also have non sporting clubs, for example Spanish club, maths club, music club and English club. These are well organised as they are fun and interactive for the children. Last week in maths club we took the children to the computer room and played maths games over the network against the rest of the class. It was a lot of fun, a little competitive and I could really see the benefits of the activities that we were doing.

This weekend I also had the opportunity to visit Prague. We set off late Friday night and took the train through the night. It took us around eleven hours to get there and for most of it we didn’t have a seat, and had to sit on the floor. I can safely say that was not one of the best night sleep I have ever had. Also when we arrived there was some confusion with the hostel that we thought we had booked. They actually did not have room for us but we didn’t realise until we were there. So we took off to find another one. Unfortunately as this weekend is a national holiday is quite a lot of European countries, Prague was very busy, and we had to look in about seven different hostels until we found somewhere to stay.

Prague is a very beautiful city. Most of the buildings in Prague survived through the war, meaning that everywhere you go in Prague you will see an outstanding piece of old architecture. We had a great weekend exploring the city, visiting the markets, enjoying the tours and taking a lot of pictures. Although there is not much to do in Prague there is so much to see, and as long as you get good weather you could easily just spend days walking through the city.

We also noticed in Prague that the Czech language is quite similar to Polish. We found that we just used polish to ask for directions of order things in shops we were generally understood. I am very glad that I visited Prague, it is a very beautiful city but I am not sure that it is the sort of city that you would enjoy as much if you visited again a second time round.

After a nice long weekend I am refreshed and ready to start back to university and school and I am looking forward to a few more adventures planned in Oslo and Krakow at the end of the month.

Until next time,

Jeff