Norwegian students visiting South-Africa, 2024
Once again 10 students from UiT the Arctic University of Tromsø have taken the leap and signed up for four weeks of practicum in South-Africa.
Read about their experiences below!
Last week at Vulumzi Senoir Secondary School: Enkosi! Thanks!
And so, the last day of the last week at Vulumzi has come to an end. Five students are sitting here, full of impressions and emotions. We are incredibly grateful for all the wonderful experiences we've shared with the teachers and students at Vulumzi over the past...
Week 3 at Machiu Primary School: classroom management
During our first year at UiT, we learned about the four categories of classroom management: Relations, structure, motivation and expectations, and learning culture. After these three weeks in a South African school, we have made many interesting observations about...
Week 3 at Vulumzi Senoir Secondary School: Ninjani?
This week has been a bit chaotic. The week started with a lot of rain on Monday and Tuesday. It rained way more than what is normal this time of year, and several roads were flooded. Consequently, the school was closed on Tuesday, since several of the learners were...
Week 2 at Vulumzi Senoir Secondary School: Another amazing week at Vulumzi
This week all of us has completed some innovative projects in our lessons. We have used a lot of time to plan and prepare, it was even more time-consuming than it is at home since we don’t have the same resources available. At the same time, it was exciting to do...
Week 2 at Machiu Primary School: Framework Factors
South Africa is a country of big differences, facing significant inequalities between the rich and the poor. These disparities are also evident when comparing the framework conditions of various public schools in Gqeberha. After two weeks of teaching practice at...
Week 1 at Machiu Primary School: First Impressions
Our time in Gqeberha, South Africa, began on Friday, October 4th, when Eileen and Sean warmly welcomed us from Nelson Mandela University. They picked us up from the airport and drove us to our accommodation. Their friendly smiles and hospitality gave us a positive...
Week 1 at Vulumzi Senoir Secondary School: First impressions
Molweni! On our first day at Vulumzi Senoir Secondary School, we were greeted by a very friendly principal, who introduced us to the school staff. The staff all seemed very excited to have us there, as they’d never had any foreigners teach at their school before. Each...
South-African students visiting Norway, 2024
For the second time we have South-African students visiting Tromsø and Stonglandseidet.
Week 4 from Borgtun
Health and life skills focuses on equipping learners with the proper resources and information to be able to function in society and caters to their overall wellbeing. This consists of communication, decision-making and self- management skills. Along with teaching...
Week 3 at Borgtun
We noticed that there are both major and minor differences in classroom management and pedagogical aspects between Norwegian schools and South African schools. South African learners display more discipline because they tend to adhere to the rules implemented by the...
Week 3 in Senja
Hello from Senja! We have had an amazing last full week of school filled with incredible experiences both in and out the classroom. As the experience comes to an end, we are all filled with bittersweet feelings as the excitement of returning home to our loved ones...
Week 2 at Borgtun
Week 2 has been really insightful and we have already learnt so much. Once we had gotten used to the cold temperature we were able to make observations on the infrastructure and physical environment of the school. A normal day at the school starts at 8.30am till...
Week 2 at Stonglandseidet, Senja
Hello from Stonglandet Skole!After a full week of school, it is safe to say that we have settled in well. We have had a week of teaching learners everything we can about our home country, from the history, languages, cultures and socioeconomic issues to the animals,...
Week 1: Presentation of the group and the first week at Senja
A little bit about us:We are a group of four SP/FET students from Nelson Mandela University, we specialize in teaching learners from grades 7 through to grade 12 in South Africa. We are all from different places in South Africa but are all connected through Nelson...
Week 1: Our first week in Norway Tromsø (Borgtun)
Wow what a week it has been! On our arrival we met with Annfrid and Silje who helped us settle in well. The first thing we noticed when we arrived is the very cold weather. The locals kept saying how nice the weather is because there was sun, but we could only feel...
Norwegian students visiting South-Africa, 2023
Hello blog!
Once again 10 students from UiT the Arctic University of Tromsø have taken the leap and signed up for four weeks of practicum in South-Africa. Read about their experiences below!
5-10, week 4: The last week on Vukani Combined School and in South Africa
Our time on Vukani Combined School has come to an end. We have had a great time and made many new friendships. All our backpacks are filled with many experiences that will be useful for the rest of our lives. The last week has been one of the best weeks we have had...
1-7, week 4: leaving Machiu Primary School
We have now returned to Norway and back to our normal daily routine. There are many experiences and memories to take in. We have been eager to tell our friends and family about the past month. The last week in Port Elizabeth was spent to say goodbye to all our new...
5-10, week 3: Classroom managment and pedagogical leadership in South-Africa
Over the initial three weeks of our practicum, we've had the opportunity to witness and acquire insights into another form of classroom management and pedagogical leadership style. The blackboard is used in a greater extent than what we are used to in Norway, which...
1-7, week 3: Learning experiences
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...
5-10, week 2: Our second week at Vukani Combined School
Our second week at Vukani Combined School has come to an end. During this week, we had the opportunity to teach the 8th-grade students at the school. There are approximately 90 students divided into two classes. We took over teaching Natural Sciences, Social Science,...
1-7, week 2: Similarities and differences
The second week has been full of impressions. There are a lot of things that are similar to Norway, but also some things that are really different. The school is surrounded by a fence for safety. The classrooms and staffrooms are split between six buildings, and...
1-7, week 1: First impression
When we arrived in Port Elizabeth, we were greeted by Eileen and Sylvan from Nelson Mandela University, who welcomed us warmly and drove us to our apartments. The next day one of our practice teachers, Danielle, invited us to a local food market. This resulted in a...
5-10, week 1: Hello from Jeffreys Bay!
Who are we? We are three students from GLU 5-10. All of us are from Northern Norway and have the subject Food and Nutrition as our third subject in common. We also enjoy skiing in the wintertime and like to try out new things. Tord Fjellvang Karlsen is from Bleik on...
South-African students visiting Norway, 2023
As a part of the ITENSA-project we will also have students visiting Norway. Our participating schools here are Borgtun in Tromsø, and Stonglandseidet in Senja.
Sustainability – Thoughts from the students
Sustainable development The ITENSA-project have 8 teacher students from NMU doing their practice in schools Norway for a four-week period in April and May. We discussed the concept of sustainable development in education, and what it means for them. We asked them to...
Norwegian students visiting South-Africa, 2022
Hello blog!
We are ten students from Norway who through the ITENSA-project will have our teaching-practice in South-Africa. Four of us will be in Port Elizabeth (P.E.)/ Gqberha in Machiu Primary School, and six of us will be in Cofimvaba at St. James Secondary Senior School. P.E. is an urban city, where Machiu Primary school is in one of the townships on the outskirts of the city, while Cofimvaba is a rural area where St. James is a private, catholic school. In this blog we will talk about our impressions of the schools and focus on how democracy and citizenship is expressed through teaching practice, amongst the pupils and in the society.
Week 4: Back home
Reporting from Tromsø are Andreas, Vegar, Karoline and Gry Jooohh! As a result of “African time”, this post is running late. We got emotional when leaving Machiu Primary on Friday, thinking of all the good memories and experiences we had in four weeks. This practice...
Week 3: The South African school system
Reporting from Gqeberha, South Africa! We are done with our third week at Machiu Primary School and feel like we have gotten a better insight in how the South African school system works. We also have a better understanding of how the teachers here work. The teaching...
Week 2: Resources and circumstances in and around the school
Hello blog! This week we will be writing about the resources and circumstances in and around the school, in this affects democracy and participation from the pupils. One of the first things we noticed about the pupils in the school is that they all look similar as...
Week 2: Awards Day
The second week at Machiu Primary School is over. It’s been a week with a lot of things going on. It’s been “hectic”, as they say in Afrikaans. On Thursday, the school had their annual Awards Day. Every day prior to Awards’ Day there were preparations going on.
Week 1: Hello from Cofimvaba!
Hello from Cofimvaba! We are six students who teach 5. – 10. grade, and we are having our teaching-practice in St. James Secondary Senior School. We spent our first weekend in Port Elizabeth, where we felt like we were staying in an urban city with great diversity....
Week 1: Reporting from Gqeberha, South Africa!
After a week at Machiu Primary School in Gqeberha there are a lot of impressions we need to process. We are really happy to have got this opportunity to see other perspectives on how to run a school, according to their society and government. The school is situated in a rough neighborhood, and in addition to guards at the entrances, there is a fence around the whole school, which is quite different from what we are used to in Norway.