Erasmus+ Journal (Issue 2) 2013/14
Viktoria Ebner, Austria, International Minor, Katholieke Pabo Zwolle
Katholieke Pabo Zwolle
The city: Zwolle
Zwolle is the capital city of the province Overijssel and has about 120 000 inhabitants. It is a very old city; therefore you can find a lot of wonderful buildings to visit:
Sassenport: It is one of the old gates from Zwolle. It was built 1408 and sometimes it is open for visitors. In the whole city are some remnants of the city wall.
Peperbus: The Peperbus is very famous and translated means the name “pepper box”, because it looks like a pepper grinder. It is one of the tallest church towers in the Netherlands.
Sint-Michaelskerk: This gothic church was built from 1370 to 1446. It is not used for Holy Masses anymore, but for visiting with a tour guide. In front of the Sint-Michaelskerk is an angel made out of glass. It is a perfect meeting point.
Houses in the city: There are a lot of beautiful houses in the city. The most important point is to look up.
For sure there are more interesting and beautiful buildings in this city, but the list would be too long.
There are as well parks, where you can play games with your friends or just relax. In the middle of the city are restaurants and small really nice shops and cafes.
So, it is a perfect place to relax, go for a coffee, to go shopping, to go out or only to walk around and look at the beautiful buildings.
Zwolle (photo: Viktoria Ebner)
The University: Katholieke Pabo Zwolle
Katholieke Pabo Zwolle is a small University in the Netherlands. It is located in the southern part of Zwolle. The KPZ is one of the best teacher training universities in the Netherlands.
Comparing studies at my home institution and at the guest institution
Comparison Universities
The studying is more or less the same. We are at home as well in small groups and the lessons are more practical than theoretical. There are about 25 people in one class. A difference is that the lessons are more open for discussions.
Comparison teaching practice schools
I wasn’t in a teaching practice school with alternative education like Jenaplan or Dalton, but my school included a lot of alternative methods.
Here are a few methods of my teaching practice school what I haven’t seen before:
The instruction table is for children, who have problems in different subjects. First they start the lesson together and then the children with problems in this subject sit together on this table and the teacher helps them. The other children work on their own on their ordinary desks.
In Maths and Dutch they have three different levels.
First all the children do the same tasks in a lesson. After that they have to look at a list next to the blackboard. There they can see what they have to do next. The levels are differentiated with stars, like in their books and the pupils know in which level they are.
The timetable includes a lot of reading times of approximately 15 minutes. Each child reads there a book, what it has chosen in the library on their own. When it is finished the child can take another book from a bookshelf in the class with the right level (children know their level).
Courses
CCT
At the beginning of our stay we get to know each other better in this course and presented our countries to our classmates. This course was to discuss our worries, to ask questions and to fix appointments.
In the second part of our stay we created our ideal school in a group of four, which we presented on our last day in the university to our teachers and classmates.
Culture
Culture I: This course was about the similarities and differences of cultures. We talked about dances, languages, clothes and gestures.
At the beginning of each lessen we played a warm-up game to get motivated and fresh.
Culture II: We talked a lot about prejudice and what we think about ourselves. We also draw ourselves for the course and wrote an essay about the perfect teacher.
Drama
The main assignment of this course was to record a short movie in groups of 3-5 people. We could choose the topic and the story on our own and had only a few points which were prescribed, for example: In the group are different nationalities, a Storyboard of every scene, length of the video of minimum three minutes etc.
Dutch
Dutch I: This course helped us to communicate in the teaching practice and as well in the city. We learnt in this course in a playful way the most important phrases and words in Dutch. The book of this course included songs, games, talks and a lot of pictures.
Dutch II (Linguistic): This course was about the language development of the human beings in the last thousands of years, the development of babies till they are adults and differences between languages.
Therefore we did presentations in groups of 4, about the development of the language with a subsequently discussion about the content of the presentation.
To exemplify the differences of languages, we talked with a classmate of another country about the differences of our languages. This talk included for example these points: sentence structure, synonyms and articles. At the end of the discussion we have had to write it down and hand it to get a grade.
English
The whole group could decide which topics are most important to improve, for example: pronunciation or write in an academic way. We discussed about this topics in the lessons. For the grade, the teacher included our research and if we were active in the lessons.
Music
In the first term we learnt some songs in Dutch and English and how we can learn children songs. Our exam in this course was to teach the others a song from our home country in groups of two or three. To remind these songs we recorded a video in which we sang the songs and danced the right movements.
Pedagogy
We have had this course in both parts.
The first one was to prepare us for the teaching practice. We talked about the important points for class management and our personalities.
The second one was about different teaching methods like Jenaplan and Dalton. In each lesson the teachers presented one of them first and after that we asked questions and discussed about the pros and contras.
Research
We learnt a lot about how to collect and evaluate data. In the first part of this course we did more theoretical work. We get a lot of documents about: How to do a research?, What is important when you do a research? etc. At the end of the first part we did a research plan.
The second part was to do our own research together with the teaching practice partner. The research includes theory to the topic and a questionnaire or/and an interview.
Conclusion Katholieke Pabo Zwolle
What I really liked was that the teachers help us any time and if we have had a problem with something we could ask at the reception, the library or of course in the Erasmus office. Another positive point was that there are a lot of computers in the university, which you can use to study or in the free time till the school is closing.
Teaching Practice School: Sint Bernardusschool
My teaching practice school was located in a small city next to Zwolle. The way to get to this school was a little bit long, because we have had to use bike, train and bus, but most of our colleagues could go by bike to their teaching practice school.
The teachers and the headmaster in my school welcomed my teaching practice partner and me very friendly and showed us the school.
The first two times we only did observations and helped the teacher. After this two times we have had to teach two weeks one lesson a day. Then the teaching practice weeks started. That means that we have had from Monday till Thursday teaching practice where we taught two lessons a day. We could choose, if we want to do these lessons together with our teaching practice partner or alone, with the whole class or only a small group of children.
The teachers of my teaching practice pointed me in the right direction. They helped me to prepare the lessons and when I have had questions.
At the beginning it was a little bit hard to teach because the pupils couldn’t speak English at this moment. So, my teaching practice partner and I taught them some English phrases like: Take your pencil, Sit down etc. I also have had to learn Dutch phrases and taught in Dutch, that the pupils can understand the content. For sure I also used sometimes my whole body and mime to communicate, but in these situations you understand the importance of the body language.
At the end of my teaching practice it was like teaching practice at home. I didn’t feel uncomfortable or like a stranger from another country. I was really sad to leave this place, because everyone was really pleasant to me and the pupils were awesome.
Teaching Practice (photo: Viktoria Ebner)
Registration process
Open the homepage of the Katholieke Pabo Zwolle: http://www.kpz.nl. After that click on the button “International Office”. There you can find “Important informations”. To register you only have to click at the list on the left side on the point “International Office” and fill out the application form.
Description of the accommodation
I lived in a small Charlet on a camping place in Agnietenberg together with two other Erasmus students. I takes 15 min to get to the city center and 20 min to the Katholieke Pabo Zwolle. The rooms are really small, but it is quite cheap for the Netherlands and most of the Erasmus students live next to each other in the Charlets. Another plus is that you live next to a pond and a really good way to go jogging.
Room (photo: Viktoria Ebner)
Cost of Living
Apartment € 375,- (with electricity, water and wlan)
Eating and Drinking You need a little bit more than in Austria, it depends
what you like to eat and if you cook yourself or not.
Every weekend is a market in the city. There you can
find fresh and cheap food.
Bike € 70 - 120 (you definitely need a bike, when you stay here)
My Erasmus was one of the best experiences of my live. In the first days I have had a lot of worries how it will be and if it was the right choice to come here. At the end of these five months I have to say it was the right choice. I made a lot of new experiences, I gain on knowledge, have found new friends from other countries - I am still in contact with them and we are going to visit each other - and get a lot more life experience and self confidence. If you have the opportunity to do Erasmus, do it. It will be one of the most exciting times in your live.
Trip to Maastricht (photo: Viktoria Ebner)
In the park (photo: Viktoria Ebner)
Contact Information
Katholieke Pabo Zwolle
Ten Oeverstraat 68
8012 EW Zwolle
T: 038 421 74 25
Erasmus office
International office coordinators:
International office: internationaloffice@kpz.nl
Harrie Poulssen (International Officer): h.poulssen@kpz.
Ria Posthumus (Assistant International Office) : r.posthumus@kpz.nl
Teaching Practice School
Sint Bernardusschool
Nering Bogelstraat 3
7731 EL Ommen
www.bernardusommen.nl