Semester Ends...

Last  week we  finished our lessons with Peter. Spring semester has ended up and now it is time to work on my exam paper, which is supposed to be handed in very soon. A little bit stressed with the thought in my mind that an exam (in fact two exams - one for English and one for educational studies) is soon, I try to deal with it  but that's how it work's all the time: whenever there is an exam, there comes anxiety and stres. Also since it is almost time to leave Denmark, it feels quite strange  and it is even harder to deal with all these stuff , thinking about leaving the country that you have been for the last nine months which has been a kind of home to you. But at least what I know from the last nine months that I have spent in Denmark is the fact that I have learnt a lot and I feel myself far more closer to being a teacher now thanks to all the possibilities of practicing (both in the classroom and out in Danish schools) I have had and all the things I have learnt from the lessons. For this reason, I am sad for leaving but I am also glad that I have come to Denmark and gone through all these. It might be a little sad but it is not the end of the story; in fact the story begins right after when I go back to Turkey. Only ten months were meant to be spent in Denmark, it is almost done and it is time to make use of what I have experienced in Denmark in my future life.

When it comes to the last lesson with Peter, I got a quite useful reflection. At the beginning of the lesson, Peter  gave us a list of ideas  that we could reflect upon a teacher's beahviors (such as avoiding hesitations, not being boring, smiling at the pupils, entering into the classroom in a confident, purposeful and assertive manner etc). Then, he asked us to prepare a short presentation of our first meeting with our pupils. Then, everybody got a challenge; a behavior that s/he should avoid or strengthen as a teacher. As I entered into the classroom, everything that I had in my mind (about avoiding certain behaviors or performing those I should) slipped away because I was quite anxious. Then, I added this into my own list of behaviors that I should avoid when I became a teacher: BE ANXIOUS? NO, absolutely something that I HAVE TO avoid. I calmed down later on during my presentation but my classmates' being reluctant about my activity and not responding to my utterances in any way  (except for Peter's challenge of pretending as if he did not understand the instructions of the activity to make me give the instructions in another way) discouraged me from doing the presentation. Anyway, maybe they also tried to create a challenge too but I would NOT give up in a REAL classroom environment where there were more than a few students, unlike that day. After my unfinished presentation, I got feedback from Peter and I just crossed out one of my challenges: do not form too long sentences while speaking with your students. As Peter commented on my presentation and as I normally do, I tend to use shorter sentences when I am supposed to teach because it is very important that your students understand you easily. Also, it is an important point for a language teacher not to form too complicated sentences especially when teaching English to young learners. So, maybe I was discouraged a little bit when my classmates did not listen to me but I still learned something in that lesson: be aware of the challenge you will meet when you are out there in front of your pupils. And YES: Challenge Accepted. :)

Bringing school to home in a backpack!

Should school stay at school ? 

In one of our lessons this semester, we discussed the dilemma of homework. As I found it interesting I decided to write my exam paper on this topic; and,  in fact, it is quite controversial with all the opposing beliefs about the impacts of homework on students. Paralel to what I personally believe and what researchers found out, homework has no academic benefit on especially young learners. In this video, an eleven year old American 5th grader claim that students do not need homework and he has really strong arguements. I came across hundreds of homework definitions while researching for this topic but his definiton of homework is really radical : Homework is bringing school to home in a backpack...