Professional Blog
The classes here in Denmark are so different from class in Stranmillis. Apart from being a lot longer, they are so much more relaxed. Unlike in Northern Ireland, there is no teacher/pupil, lecturer/student hierarchy in Denmark. The teachers here are on the same level as the pupil’s, which creates the relaxed, friendly atmosphere within the classroom. In relation to this, something very different I have witnessed in class is that students and lecturers openly and rather casually swear during class. This is something which really shocked me at first as it is something which would never happen in Northern Ireland, however in Denmark swearing is not seen in an offensive, ‘faux-pas’ way, as it is in Northern Ireland.
I have also noticed that the other students in my class quite often challenge the lecturers about what they are saying. This is something which I haven’t witnessed before coming to Denmark as I can’t imagine myself or anyone else doing this in Stranmillis, I doubt it would be acceptable! However, in Denmark and other countries in Europe it is very acceptable to challenge and debate with your teacher or lecturer. This was another indication for me that other countries in Europe are much more liberal than Northern Ireland is. This is something which I am realising more and more as I experience the Danish culture and also the cultures of the other students around me.
In class we have been discussing teaching English as a foreign language in the classroom and how we can effectively develop reading, writing, talking and listening skills. I have learned this week that Denmark has added a fifth skill ‘communication’ to language teaching and learning. I think that in Northern Ireland we could also say that we have this ‘fifth’ skill within our curriculum as we focus on ‘communication’ as a cross-curricular skill, and not only in the Language and Literacy aspect of the curriculum.
Focusing on the communication aspect of teaching English, we have been discussing the effectiveness of the ‘communicative approach’ to language teaching, by assessing the benefits of the approach for the learners and also the challenges the approach presents to teachers. We are therefore also looking at how we as teachers can develop our communicative competence.
Our classes here consist of a lot of group work and independent learning, which is different from class in Stranmillis. We have a lot of readings to do before class and then we have to prepare presentations or reflect on the readings within a group and present our ideas to the class.
During almost every class since I have arrived in Denmark, I have had a group presentation to take part in. At first, I was very nervous at the thought of this, as in Stranmillis this is something we don’t do very often, therefore I haven’t had much experience. However, once I got up on front of the class I realised that because the classroom atmosphere was so relaxed, I felt completely at ease presenting and answering questions from the rest of the class and the teacher.
From this experience, I feel that I, and the other students in Stranmillis, would benefit greatly from doing presentations regularly in a relaxed, informal classroom environment where the presentations aren’t being graded, as at the minute in Stranmillis, we only ever have assessed presentations, which causes everyone to be stressed and anxious and therefore have a dislike of doing presentations.
In Denmark, presentations are a normal part of class and are very informal. Most exams in Denmark are also presentation based, however this is not worrying to the students as they are so accustomed to it.
Since arriving in Denmark, my presentation skills have improved greatly. The lecturer gives us feedback and asks us questions which have helped to improve my presentation skills. I have gained more practice and confidence presenting, which is something valuable I can take away with me from my experience here as it will greatly benefit my teaching in the classroom.
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| My class enjoying a drink in the sun at the 'Friday Cafe' after class on Friday. |
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