Time has really flown, and we’re down to the third week at our practice school. The difference between our daily life at the school and our free time by the beach is quite striking. This week, our practice teachers took us on a tour of the neighborhoods nearby the school. We saw some rough areas with a high crime rate, and it was eye-opening to see how one street could be dangerous with low-standard housing while the next street over was safer and had nicer homes. This experience gave us a deeper understanding of where the learner´s at the school are coming from.
We’ve also been observing how class management works here compared to back home. Because each grade has a yearly exam, teachers here must stick to a tight schedule to cover the entire curriculum. This means there’s less room for students to actively participate, which is quite different from what we’re used to. We’ve learned that the government can drop in on schools to make sure they’re sticking to the curriculum, which adds even more pressure to keep things on track. This leaves teachers with less freedom to choose their own teaching methods since everything needs to be quick and efficient.
All this got us thinking about trying out different teaching methods. So, we asked one of our practice teachers if we could spend an hour with the kids in the big hall, focusing on learning through physical activities. We did a letter relay game where kids had to run in teams to collect letters and then make as many words as they could. The kids loved it! They were engaged, worked well as a team, and had big smiles on their faces. They even came up to us afterward to say how much fun it was. It’s clear that they appreciate these interactive activities, which we think is different from what we see in students back home in Norway.
This week has been a real learning experience for us, and we’re ready to tackle our fourth and final week with enthusiasm.