As I sit here, exhausted, I finally have time to reflect upon one of the most hectic weeks of my teaching career - the first leg of our eTwinning project with a school in the Netherlands (doing a History project, but why I was involved is a whole other story!).
There were times when I thought it would never happen and there were definitely times when I hoped it wouldn't happen!
Anyway, on Sunday all 20 pupils arrived, without a hitch. I had images of a poor Dutch child being left at school with no partner but everything worked OK, apart from my appalling pronunciation of the kids' names. We had a great few days with trips to Beamish and Preston Park Museum, pupils working in the LRC on their projects and evening activities of bowling and a social evening at school where we were able to show parents a great slideshow of the activities.
The whole few days were fantastic, if not exhausting. These things are always such fun but so tiring at the same time. It was amazing the amount of support I got from colleagues throughout the school and the confidence it has given me in general. It was a bit of come-down to have to teach normal lessons on Thursday (we had a CPD Day today).
The tell tale signe of the success of the project were the tears at the end of the trip. Several of the pupils were hoping to stow away on the coach with their partners as they left.
For me, as a linguist, the most mortifying thing of the whole few days was that I couldn't (and till can't) speak a word of Dutch. I will certainly be rectifying that before I go over there in a few weeks time to plan the return trip :oP
There were times when I thought it would never happen and there were definitely times when I hoped it wouldn't happen!
Anyway, on Sunday all 20 pupils arrived, without a hitch. I had images of a poor Dutch child being left at school with no partner but everything worked OK, apart from my appalling pronunciation of the kids' names. We had a great few days with trips to Beamish and Preston Park Museum, pupils working in the LRC on their projects and evening activities of bowling and a social evening at school where we were able to show parents a great slideshow of the activities.
The whole few days were fantastic, if not exhausting. These things are always such fun but so tiring at the same time. It was amazing the amount of support I got from colleagues throughout the school and the confidence it has given me in general. It was a bit of come-down to have to teach normal lessons on Thursday (we had a CPD Day today).
The tell tale signe of the success of the project were the tears at the end of the trip. Several of the pupils were hoping to stow away on the coach with their partners as they left.
For me, as a linguist, the most mortifying thing of the whole few days was that I couldn't (and till can't) speak a word of Dutch. I will certainly be rectifying that before I go over there in a few weeks time to plan the return trip :oP
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