Week Fifteen - Vecka femton (Professional Development) 21-04-12 - 27-04-12

Having had another week at Fridaskolan I have seen many more activities and I think I will be sad when leaving at the end of next week. I have become quite attached to the children in my class and have gotten to know each of them individually by helping them with their work and I can now finally remember everyone’s name! 

Poetry that Grade 5 were writing about love.

It has been a busy week as I have been teaching some English lessons to my grade five class and have been trying to persuade them to speak more English at the request of my two class teachers. It doesn’t take much to persuade some of the pupils as they say they enjoy speaking English and want to learn more vocabulary and phrases therefore they will voluntarily come to me and ask to speak in English. There is a lot of structured time for English lessons in the class as they are timetabled for every other day which stresses the importance of learning English at compulsory school in Sweden. After looking at the Swedish Curriculum for compulsory school (school from the age of seven to sixteen) I have realised that several parts of the curriculum are much the same as the Northern Ireland Curriculum and that lessons taught in the classroom would be similar to what teachers in Northern Ireland would teach, yet sometimes it can be very different for example, the pupils have home economics to the level that secondary pupils in Northern Ireland. 

 

It is strange to be able to see many similarities but still see a lot of differences. One of the main differences I notice at Fridaskolan is the freedom that the children have in the classroom and outside the classroom. I was astonished to realise that the pupils walk to a local sports stadium for physical education; they are not supervised by any adults as they walk and they cross several roads on their way. I was in total shock that they were allowed to do this as in Northern Ireland pupils are generally not allowed to leave the school grounds unless supervised by a member of staff. Another difference I have recognised is that there are two full time teachers in most classes which allows for adequate planning time for each teacher nearly every day for at least one hour which is something a teacher in Northern Ireland would do after school.

I think that the school ethos at Fridaskolan is one of trust, respect and equality as pupils can have a say in what they want to learn and what they want to do. Most of the pupils I have talked with have said they really like the school and that they are glad that they are at it and to be honest if I attended Fridaskolan as a child I think I would say the same thing!

Week Fourteen - Vecka fjorton (Professional Development) 14-04-12 - 20-04-12

Being on teaching practice at Fridaskolan is a brilliant opportunity to see how things happen in the school system in Sweden as well as seeing the running of an independent school which differs greatly from municipal schools. I have noticed a few differences already between these two types of schools such as the number of resources and the way in which the school is furnished is amazing as IKEA furniture is used at Fridaskolan which makes it look more homely. Throughout various areas in the school you can even see the pupils relaxing or hanging out, talking to each other or listening to music on their Mac Books supplied by the school (on a temporary basis until they finish school at sixteen).  No school in Northern Ireland has supplied every child with Mac Books but it is important to remember that this is just one type of school that can do this!

 

I have really loved my first few days at Fridaskolan and I have a very helpful teacher who is keen for me to get involved and talk with the children in order to improve their English as it is an opportunity for them as much as me. I have been speaking English with small groups of six to seven children at a time in a separate classroom from the teacher so that they will speak English and not be shy in front of their teacher. I am really surprised at their level of English as they have only been learning for two years yet some can have a fluent conversation with me that makes perfect sense! Some of the children who cannot speak a lot of English can still communicate with basic vocabulary which is great as I struggle to understand when they speak Swedish – although occasionally I can understand and I can follow conversations and lessons in Swedish. 

I have been able to see many practical activities at Fridaskolan this week such as floorball (which is a very popular and competitive sport amongst the children), wood work and needle work. I was shocked to see that the children can use the machines in wood work and needle work without much supervision and they decide what they want to make themselves rather than mass producing the same item like we do in Northern Ireland. I think that the school is certainly much more relaxed than schools in Northern Ireland as the teacher would always be watching the children using machinery even at secondary level as pupils do not have much control over what they learn. 

I can sense that it will be a busy few weeks whilst on teaching practice but I am looking forward to getting to know my class a lot better and hopefully I will be able to remember some names before I leave as right now it seems hopeless! 

This week was also the week of going on the cruise to Latvia with the majority of other Erasmus students I have gotten to know. It was certainly a few sleepless nights and plenty of partying as well as some sightseeing in Riga before getting back on the boat to go back to Stockholm. It was great to visit Stockholm again and do some shopping although I was happy to get back to my own bed in Trollhättan. It was a worthwhile experience and I am glad that I did it despite the fact that I still thought I was on a boat after two days of returning to land!