Erasmus+ Journal (Issue 3) 2014/15
Katrin Auer, University of Zagreb, Croatia, Mobility for Study, PHST
Contact of my university:
Uciteljski Fakultet
Adress of university:
Savska cesta 77
HR- 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Phone: +38516327301
Fax: +38516327399
E-mail: dekanat@ufzg.hr
International relations office:
Zeljka Pitner
Location: Zvonimirova 8
Address: Trg marsala Tita 14
HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Phone: 00385 1 46 98 105
Fax: 00385 1 46 98 132
Description of the university:
The faculty of Teacher Education is the leading institution for educating primary school and preschool teachers in Croatia. The Faculty operates in three locations, with the main branch in Zagreb (total numer of students around 3000).
The first teachers's school in Zagreb was the Higher Pedagogical School which offered a two - year programm from 1919. In the Indipendent State of Croatia the program was extended for four years, but was shortened to three after the Second World War. It became the Pedagogical Academy in 1960, and upon Croatian independence the academy gradually evolved into the modern faculty.
The faculty's grounds in Zagreb were the site of a mass grave of approximately 300 prisoners killed by the Yugoslav Partisans in 1945, after the end of the Second World War.
List of chosen courses:
- Creative Teaching Activities in English 1 (Kreativne nastavne aktivnosti na engleskom jeziku 1)
ECTS: 2
The main objective of this course is to equip students with a substantial corpus of traditional and popular English nursery rhymes, songs, chants, and language games. In addition, students are provided with a wide variety of the most common ways to teach nursery rhymes, songs, chants and language games to young learners. There are many assignments throughout the course, as well as an exam in the end.
- English Teaching Practice 1 (Praksa u nastavi engleskog jezika 1)
ECTS: 1
This teaching practice took place during the “Semester Ferien”, that’s why I had to attend classes instead of the activities during the welcome week (It is done like that every year, so be prepared for that if you want to take this class).
The teaching practice is described precisely below.
- English Teaching Practice 3
ECTS: 1
This course requires 3 hours of initial preparation, individual consultation with your supervisor and the final discussion; 9 hours for the teaching diary you have to keep and the final report; 3 hours for continuing portfolio tasks and 15 hours of working with the children in class. The main aim of the course is to follow up to the children in their third year of learning English at school, to help them gain confidence and to develop motivation for EFL. There are two student teachers in a team and each team is responsible for two or three children.
- English Teaching Practice 5
ECTS: 1
This teaching practice takes place at the SUVAG Foreign Language School in Zagreb. The pupils, who attend those classes in the evening, do this in their free time and pay for it. Therefore their motivation and command of English is quite high for their age group (in my case a grade 8).
In order to pass this class you need to spend 4 hours on reading and preparation for the course, 10 hours of classroom observation, 6 hours of micro-teaching, 6 hours of preparing handouts, keeping a teaching diary and writing a report and 2 hours of group feedback.
- ELT Methodology Classroom Practice
ECTS: none (“normal, Croatian student teachers” get 2 ECTS, as an Erasmus student I got a confirmation letter that says, that I attended all classes and the critical analysis afterwards).
This class you can compare to the teaching practice at the PH-Graz. You either observe or teach 1-3 lessons and afterwards you need to stay for 1 to 2 hours in which you critically analyze the lessons that were taught before. If you teach a lesson, you need to write a lesson plan, if you observe you have to fill in an observation sheet. There are up to 10 student teachers and 2 supervisors watching, while one student teacher is teaching.
- Acquisition and Learning of the Croatian Language (Usvajanje i ucenje hrvatskoga jezika)
ECTS: 4
This course deals with all aspects of language acquisition, such as first and second language acquisition, bilingualism, the critical period for language acquisition, universal grammar etc. The professor for this class taught a polish Erasmus student and me separately and it was very interesting and useful for teaching. We had to copy a book for this class and had to write a theoretical or research paper, which we needed to read a lot of books and papers for.
- Positive Psychology (Pozitivna psihologija)
ECTS: 4
I highly recommend this course, as it deals with all positive aspects of positive psychology. We covered topics, such as happiness, gratitude, understanding emotions, subjective wellbeing, optimism, positive ageing etc. The professor included many activities in her lectures and we had to do an assignment each week, as well as a presentation in groups of four at the end of the semester.
- Sculptural and Ceramic Design (Kiparsko i keramičko oblikovanje)
ECTS: 4
This course is great for art and crafts teachers, as you learn a lot of different projects you can do with your pupils at school. You need to write a detailed portfolio which lists the steps (with pictures), of how to carry out the different projects. E.g. you learn to make a plate out of clay, you smoothen it with sandpaper, burn it in the kiln, smoothen it again, you color it, glaze it, burn it again and then your students can take their own dish home. The projects are easy to do with your pupils, but quite time consuming.
- Phantastische deutsch sprachige Kinder- und Jugendliteratur (Fantastična književnost njemačkog govornog područja za djecu i mlade)
ECTS: 2
For this class you need to read a lot of books, such as “Die kleine Hexe”, “Die feuerrote Fredericke”, “Die grauen und die grünen Felder” and “Der tätowierte Hund”. You learn about different authors and types of children’s books and there are usually assignments that need to be handed in until the next class. The content of the lessons and the books are part of an exam in the end. In my opinion this was a very interesting class and if you are going to become a German teacher or you have to substitute teach German, you can definitely use many of the things you learn in this class.
- Graphics 2 (Grafika 2)
ECTS: 3
This class is comparable to the art classes of Ms. Uhlir at the PH-Graz. You learn different techniques and methods such as monotype and linoleum printing. The professor is an artist that has exhibitions in Croatia, as well as in Austria. He demands a lot of effort from the students as well as material, which adds up to quite a sum of money (linoleum block and cutter, blue carbon paper, tempera color, different kind of paper etc. need to be bought by the students).
- Drawing 2 (Crtanje 2)
ECTS: 2
In this course the teacher didn’t speak much English, but it wasn’t a problem for him to get a cross what he wanted me to do. He gave me examples of drawings previous students had made or he gave me examples from books about big artists. Then I tried to draw my version of it, inspired by the sample drawings he gave to me. I learned a lot in his class, as he is also a well- known artist.
- Painting 2 (Slikanje 2)
ECTS: 4
The instructor of this class was the same one as for the drawing class. As this course was worth more credits, I also got a lot of homework. For example I had to make an aquarelle drawing in class, inspired by Cezanne, and three more at home until the next week. Also in this class I learned a lot of different painting styles and discovered more about my strengths and weaknesses as a future Art teacher. I definitely recommend this class, to anyone that is willing to work hard to develop their painting skills.
- Guitar 1 (Gitara 1)
ECTS: 2
This class is for beginners that want to learn to play the guitar and how to use it in the classroom (e.g. to accompany the singing pupils with the guitar). You learn how to sit and hold the guitar properly, how to position your left and right hand, strumming patterns etc. (the basics). You might even learn how to play notes, however this is also part of the intermediate level course (Guitar 2).
- Guitar 2 (Gitara 2)
ECTS: 1
For this course you get a song book with songs you can sing and play with the pupils. You learn how to play them (notes), how to accompany other instruments and singers (with chords) and different strumming patterns. The group usually consists of around 6 students and the guitars are provided by the teacher.
The teacher didn’t speak English very well, however for this class you don’t really need to communicate a lot with words, so it wasn’t a problem. He even borrowed me an older guitar, so I could practice at home and I learned a lot in his classes. I recommend both guitar classes to anyone who wants to learn this instrument (Guitar 1) and for those who know how to play a little bit and want to improve their playing (Guitar 1 and 2).
Description of the registration/ application process at the UFZG:
The application deadlines are as follows:
10 May for the winter semester / academic year
10 November for the summer semester
Application for an international mobility at the University of Zagreb is only possible by use of the online application form available on this website:
http://unizg.moveonnet.eu/moveonline/incoming/welcome.php
Complete application form
To apply online you must first create a personal account in which you can make your application, save it and continue to work on it at a later stage if you wish so.
Finalise the application
After the application data has been submitted online, the application will be created as a PDF-Document which must be printed out. The printed application form must be signed by the applicant and the coordinator from the home institution and then sent to the UFZG.
If the application is accepted a letter of acceptance will be sent to the applicant.
Enclose required documents
The following documents must be enclosed to the online application form:
- Curriculum Vitae (Croatian or English),
- the Learning Agreement containing the planned course units at the University of Zagreb.
- Official Grade Transcript and Certificate of Enrolment,
- Copy of the ID card or passport (first page with the photo and personal dana).
- Proof of English level - B2 level on the Common European Reference of Languages is required (all kinds of language certificates are accepted)
E-mail for sending the applications
Exchange students need to send their application documents (full application file in .zip or .rar format) only to the following e-mail incoming@unizg.hr.
Teaching practice at the American International School of Zagreb
Address
Voćarska 106
10000 Zagreb
Croatia
Website and Telephone
www.aisz.hr
+385 (1) 7999-300
Director: Ms. Ellen D. Stern
Upper School Principal: Joyce Halsey
Lower School Principal: Sandra House
Schedule
I taught, observed and assisted in a 5th grade (11 year old students). For them school starts at 8 am and ends at 3 pm (plus extracurricular activities). They start in their homeroom and after lunch break (12:00 – 12:40) they usually go to different classrooms for special subjects like Music, Art, PE, Tech, Native Croatian, Croatian Culture, German/ French or to go and listen to stories being read at the library.
There is just one bell which rings in the morning to make the students aware that their classes are going to start in a few minutes. From eight until lunch break you can’t really tell which subject is being taught, because they are all being connected by the homeroom teacher. The homeroom teacher teaches many subjects like Science, Math, English, and History etc. and tries to connect the subjects with each other.
There is a lot of time for independent work and the students can choose when to do or finish certain exercises, although everything has to be finished by the end of the day.
During the lunch break all students have a meal in the cafeteria, which is included in their yearly school fees.
Comparison of my Austrian and Croatian teaching practice
As the AISZ is a private and the most expensive school in Croatia (a fifth grade student has to pay 14,790 Euros per year to attend the school), it is very well equipped. Every student has a personal netbook and a pair of headphones, there are I-Pads available in the classroom, there is a Laptop, a projector and a device that looks kind of like an overhead projector for the teacher, but it works like a camera (you can e.g. draw a chart and fill in the missing words and the students see a live video of what the teacher is doing on the board). The students have access codes to learning webpages like Scholastic, BrainPop, Linguascope, Rosetta Stone, London Library, Shmoop and Vokker.
There are usually just about 10 students in the classroom and for their foreign languages like German or French they are again being split up into two groups with five students each.
The students are very well behaved and even read silently in their books or play strategic games during recess. Once a student needed help from me in Math and I wasn’t entirely sure how to do it, meanwhile another students noticed that and came over and offered to explain the exercise to the student instead of me. I was very surprised; because this is what we in Austria would like the students to do in heterogeneous classrooms, but I just have never seen students help each other like that without being asked for it by a teacher.
Furthermore the homeroom teacher had a gymnastic ball instead of a chair and all the materials she needed, in her classroom (because it was her room and she never had to move into another one). There was flipchart paper and pin boards all over, so she could write important things down on them and they were always visible for the students. She even used window markers to write the vocabulary of the month on the window, so the students could always see the words.
Without exception, the students and teachers talked in English to each other. There was a limit of 30% Croatian students and 40% Croatian teachers. The reason behind it was, that then they wouldn’t start speaking Croatian to each other and the children would be exposed to authentic English speakers (60% of the teachers have to be from overseas).
The students in my class were from India, Croatia, South Africa, UK, Canada, USA, Rumenia and Bulgaria. I had to be present at all times (7:40am until 3pm). I assisted the students and the teachers, observed and did many different activities with them and even had the opportunity to take over, when the homeroom teacher was in a meeting.
Compared to Austrian teachers, the teachers at AISZ have to be present at school much longer. The teachers have to be there from 7:30am until 4:00pm, five days a week and on Tuesdays they need to attend staff meetings. Additionally there are a lot of assignments, tests etc. to correct and activities to prepare in their free time.
Reflection
As I accompanied the students for three whole days (23 hours of helping, teaching and assisting), I really got a grasp of what it’s like to teach at an American International School. It is a lot of work and you always need to be up to date (concerning teaching methods, technology etc.), however you also get it back from the students, because they are at an incredibly high level, very well-mannered and it is a pleasure to work with them.
It was really hard to make out which children were English native speakers and which weren’t and they used such a sophistic language. Basically they got the best support and all the help and opportunities a school can give them.
For example we learned about the author Penny Ur at the PH, which recommends using background music in the classroom. Whenever the students at AISZ had to work silently and independently, the teacher turned on quiet background music (without vocals and relaxing).
Then we heard about the Kahn Academy from Ms. Engel at the PH. At the AISZ the students were working with it in Math. It gave them the opportunity to learn at their own pace and to track their success. It was very fascinating to see all those ideas and methods we learned about at the PH, being actually used in the classroom.
Review of my stay abroad in academic terms
Uciteljski Fakultet is not well organized at all. At the beginning of the semester I didn’t get a schedule, instead I had to email every single professor for the time and place of their course. The unfortunate thing was, that some professors never replied (and there was no other way to get a hold of them) and that many courses overlapped. Even after two months there were courses on my list that I had never taken, because the professors didn’t answer my Emails and didn’t show up when they told me to come to their classes. The ECTS coordinator wasn’t very helpful either. If you want to take courses, she doesn’t think that are good for you (in my case those were the guitar classes), you will have a very hard time changing your learning agreement, getting a hold of her or getting any help from her. The professors themselves are very skilled and you can definitely profit a lot from their classes, but first you need to get the permission from the coordinator to join their classes, which is not an easy task.
Furthermore, there is neither Easter vacation, nor spring break or “Semesterferien" and other Christian holidays like “Christi Himmelfahrt” (as well as "Fenstertage").
Review of the stay abroad in cultural terms
Croatia has a lot to offer. There are many sights, beautiful coastal cities, good cuisine and even though it isn’t far away from Austria, the mentality of the people does differ from us Austrians. There are many ancient towns such as Dubrovnik, national parks (e.g. Plitvice-Lakes), old farmers’ markets, festivals and so on. There is always something going on in Zagreb, e.g. the festival of sweets, the beer festival and the festival of tolerance. As it is a part of the Croatian mentality to drink coffee for about two hours in a coffee shop every day, there are dozens of different coffee shops to discover.
There are a lot of different dialects spoken in Croatia, and about 20 acknowledged minority languages. There are many influences from Italy, Serbia, Bosnia and Turkey (concerning food and the language).
Every Sunday there is a big market called “Hrelic”, about 10 km away from the city center of Zagreb, which is a must see concerning Croatian culture. You can buy anything and everything there, from cars to car parts, motorcycles, new things, used things (there is also a flea market section) and typical Croatian cuisine. There can be thousands of people and it looks like a huge bazar that goes on forever.
Review of the stay abroad in social terms
The Erasmus community in Zagreb organizes a lot of trips and events every week. However, they are sometimes not in the participants’ best interests and therefore a lot of events started to get cancelled starting at around April, because the Erasmus students were just not interested in it anymore. Let me explain why. For example there was a trip to the Plitvice lakes, on which we spent around 4 hours on the bus, just two hours in the national park (and we were not allowed to move around on our own at all) and half an hour in the souvenir shop. Or there was a “cooking workshop” where they just unthawed frozen pastry and baked it with cheese (which didn’t involve cooking and therefore the Erasmus students stopped going there).
Other than that there are dozens of clubs and bars, places to visit and things to do with your mates from university or other Erasmus friends. You can post in the Erasmus group when you are planning to grab a coffee and you can be sure, that within minutes there will be a few other’s that will happily join you.
Useful tips
If you want to find accommodation in Zagreb, it is best to join the Erasmus group of Zagreb on Facebook. A room in a shared flat in the city center with a washing machine and Wi-Fi, will cost you around 250-450 Euros a month including bills. You can also stay in a dorm, which is a lot cheaper, but further out of town (around 100-200 Euros). In a dorm you have to share a room with one more person. The tram ticket costs around 20 Euros per month and the food is a little bit more expensive than in Austria, as well as clothing. The food at the “mensa” is very cheap, but not very healthy.
However, if you want to take the bus to Graz now and then, there is a bus every day at least twice from the bus terminal in Zagreb to Graz and back (35 Euros there and back). This is also a good way to come to Zagreb. However, you should avoid taking the train in Croatia, as it is much slower than the bus.