A Unique Natural Area, Mons Klint..

Yesterday was a nice day for me. All  international students went  to Mons Klint. It was a beautiful and unique area. We first went the museum, saw different fossils which occurred about 70 million years ago. The exhibition presented there on sea creatres of the past captures. Hearing and seeing about 70 years ago were impressive form e. Moreover, we watched a short film about seventy years ago and sea creatures with 3D. It was amazing and I felt as if sea creatures were alive. This film is related to the how the chalk on Mons Klint formed. Denmark was covered by the ocean about 70 million years ago. In the ocean there were many different animals and many of the algae lived. In times many animals and creatures died and their shells and body remained at the bottom of the ocean. Also, there were tides in the ocean and when sea level decreased, mountain increased. As a result of the tides, creatures’ remains accumulated and they formed chalk in Denmark. Namely, the chalk on Mons Klint is ancient skeleton remains from life in the ocean about 70 million years ago. Then, we went to Mons Klint, but it was tiring, we had to climb up 200 and more steps to go there. We tried to find different stones while walking by the sea, and we did so. However, learning about Mons Klint and then walking there were very nice for me. Everything was good and it is worth going and seeing fossil remains.  

Instead of democracy video, Enrique’s song!??

Last Wednesday, we had an oral exam for 21st century skills and democratic citizenship education. All class was divided into working groups. Each group had to prepare a video showing democracy and citizenship examples in Danish schools. My group observed and prepared some videos for our oral exam when we went to Danish school for teaching practice, as the others did so. And the last Wednesday was the time for presentation. My group was the second one, so we first listened to the other group and watched their videos with the other friends and Peter and Thomas. We liked their videos, İt was nice and so colourful. And Peter and Thomas asked some question about their videos and observations. And now it was our turn. We arranged our presentation environment, we were four and the first one to explain her observations about Danish schools. She mentioned what our video was included in and what we observed. Then she said “Let’s watch our videos and then we will talk about it.” And she pressed the button to start the video. Everybody focused on our video and were ready for watching the video, and we did so. However, we were surprised and Burcu and I looked at eachother because it was not our video. It was Enrique’s Spanish song, Donde Estan Corazon. Everbody was surprised, and then all of us laughed J our friends said “yes it is fine, we want to listen to Enrique.” We immediately changed it and I really could not understand how Enrique’s song began when our video was supposed to begin. :) Fortunately, we finally made our presentation successfully. It was strange and we remember it with a smile...And here ı share Enrique’s song because we could not listen to it. It is time to listen to the song now. 

Teaching Experience in Danish Schools..

Approximately two weeks ago, I had experienced the teaching practice for the first time. We went to the school where was at Lundby for teaching practice just for two days. It was really short time to experience, but everything was okay and nice for us. Within two days, we attended and observed 5 classes. One of them was fifth grade. Actually we spend our much time with them. The children were great, I think. They behaved freely and say what they want. There is no limitation for them. They freely express themselves and produce new ideas. The lesson was not boring for us. The teacher made different activity for the students. The class environment was colourful remarkable. You can see most posters around the class. One of thing which I observed was the teacher said something and explained in English and then she wanted students to say these things in Danish. And most students were volunteer for spontaneous translation. It is not hard work for them, and they are just around eight and nine years old. It was amazing for me when I think about my country and the children at the same ages. Actually, it is not possible for Turkish students to speak fluently in English and to understand and translate the English explanation. Also, I was wondering about it, so when I had a chance to speak with students I asked “How do you speak both English and Danish fluently? I know Danish is your mother tongue, but what about English?” They said “we begin to learn English at our early ages, and also we interact with the environment and most people speak English.”It was real and the reason for some other country not speaking English so fluently. I like the way that students work cooperatively. We converse with them. We asked some questions about their schools and lives, and also they prepare questions about our country and education system. They asked and learned what they wonder. I love these pupils. They are really clever. Another class is a bit younger. They are fourth grade, and they begin to learn English this year. They are so cute. When we entered in the class, they tried to be introduced yourselves in English with the help of their teacher, and also we did so.  The class was enjoyable. It was based on craft activity. In this craft activity, students would make their books by themselves, namely they would produce a book. The teacher firstly showed what they are wanted to do. Students just watch and listen to the teacher. All students had a needle and thread. They folded a few papers together and then they started to sew the papers to come them together. Both the teacher and we helped them to do so. Then they drew nice pictures, namely they decorated their book cover. J They also produced and wrote their own stories in their book.  The lesson was nice and we had a great time with children. As I said before, our teaching practice was short, but we enjoyed. It was a nice memory for me.

Popeye and April Fool!!!

A few days ago we passed April 1. Some of us have tricked our friends, or we have been tricked  that day. The day is usually full of laughing, tricking and bad and good jokes.I laughed so much  when I watched it. It was funny. J I love Popeye the Sailor so much and I have watched it since my childness. It is amazing, funny and enjoyable. I have just watched it and I want to shareJ On this video, the boys are taking Olive on a picnic. It's April 1, and Bluto plays a series of "jokes" on Popeye, and, of course, these jokes go beyond the bounds of acceptability for Popeye.. Once they get to the picnic grounds,  Bluto puts gasoline on the fire he asks Popeye to light, and  Popeye was immediately smoke, Popeye feels angry, but he could not fight with Bluto because it is April Fool.. Also, When Olive wants Popeye to serve drinks, Bluto swaps a beehive for the lemonade and Popeye tries to run away from bees. Popeye and bees start playing tagJ I laughed so much. Bluto then launches a cruel joke against Olive and frames Popeye. The capper: he replaces Popeye's spinach with a joke can, and runs off with Olive for some canoeing. But Popeye finally gets the last laugh with an inflatable sea monster. Namely, Popeye  pulls Bluto’s leg, and he gives a nice lesson to Bluto. I hope you will enjoy and laugh. It is really worth watching. J

The second city, Odense..

After a bit of a change of travel plans, namely instead of going to Copenhagen, which led to my friends and me taking a train down from Vordingborg to Odense , we finally made it up to Denmark's second city.This city was great and big one.I think there were many good places.

 I went and visitted different places with my friends . We took in the small, but interesting (and importantly, free) Viking museum. It was amazing to see the old Viking Ships.After that we wandered up to, the Old Town museum, which was sort of a living museum which contained a number of old houses from various periods in Danish history, and had a number of exhibits on life from the 16th century onwards, including a toy museum which had exhibits from the whole period. Also, we went to Hans Christian Andersen Museum.We saw Andersen’s special properties such as his books, pens, bed, razors,.. etc. I am sure that everybody around the world hears something about Andersen, and so I was very happy to have a chance to see his houses and the city where he lived.We went there last weekend and although the weather was not good, we  had a great time there. Moreover, we visited the old church in the city.I hope I will go to Odense again when the weather gets well. It is worth tos e and visit both the city and Hans Christian Andesen Museum.You should go if yuo haven’t do so... 

Tsunami sweeps inland..

A Nice Stroll in Copenhagen..

What a day.. It has been  approximately one month since ı came to Denmark. I spent all my times traveling with  my friends  around Vordingborg till last Tuesday. We did not have any class on Tuesday,so my  friend-Burcu and  I decided to go to Copenhagen. And , also that day our friend,  Tuğba would come to Denmark.Our plan was going to Copenhagen in the morning  and coming back with our friend ,Tuğba in the evening. We could do the same thing. We walked along the street and there were lots of people, shopping centers and restaurant.There were no car in the street,  I like it because people can walk and travel  in the way they want.No danger=) Burcu and I saw lots of different places and buildings. I saw ,of course, Andersen Square Travoli, City Hole,Church of the Holy Ghost, Copenhagen Square,  and Copenhagen Harbour. , City Hall Square, namely Hans Christian Andersen Square. If you travel in the Copenhagen, you should see Trovoli and Anderson Square. They all worth seeing and visiting.  And they all  were really terribly amazing. When I first  saw City Hole and Anderson Square, I had the impression that İt seemed huge and affective. There were lots of sculptures, figures and the models of animals both in the building and outside.Especially, there were great figures at the outside of the building. I think the figure symbolises power and justice. I entered in the building and took lots of pictures.Then, we walked around Church of the Holy Ghost. Although the church is not too big, it is pleasant. In the church, there were a host of figures,like angels,people and they were impressive.Also, Copenhagen Harbour was great and you should visit there if you have not done so, yet. When we went the harbour, all sea and harbour were frozen  and it looked like ice rink=)But it seemed still amazing. I am sure the harbour is much better in summer,, and I hope I will see all them in summer . Burcu and I like to take photos, and so both I took lots of photo of her and she took photos of me everywhere. And whenever we found higher place, like the edge of the square, in the street, we put our camera there and we both stayed across the camera without moving until it took our photos automatically. J we did like this ten or more times. At the one of them, an uncle saw us when we put our camera on the higher place and stayed without moving across it, he laughed and he looked at us  again and againJ Fortunately, we also laughed  and it was a great picture of us because of the uncle..  

 We will both remember this uncle whenever we look at our picture with a huge laugh on our faces. Then we  ate donuts together  and chatted  after traveling for four hours. We had a great time and enjoyed. It was around five o’clock  ,so we went to the central satation and began to wait for our friend, Tuğba, coming.After one hour, we met eachother and we  turned back to Vordingborg. Everything was great and  fine for us. We will go there again and again, and we will travel different nice places. I love Copenhagen =))

New Experiences in Vordingborg

Actually, I couldn't come to Denmark at the exact time of lesson beginning because I had some problems with my visa. I was really upset and I couldn't come to Denmark before I got my visa. Fortunately ,I got my visa after I applied for it after approximately two months.It was exiced for me.  I will start  with the first moment from here.When I got off the plane, it was snowing and really cold, but people were notJ They were helpful, nice and sensitive whenever I asked for help. I came from the airport to Vordingborg lonely, and  I had a hard time to carry my baggages from one place to another. On the one hand,I was pulling my baggages  , on the other hand I was searching for ticket center. As I said before, all people are very kind and helpful. They saw  ı was nervous and they tried to help and to relax me.When ı arrived at Vordingborg Station , my friends from Turkey came to take me,and finally I arrived to the  dormitory. However, it is really difficult to be away from your family, friends, or relatives. It is the first time for me to travel abroad.You think that here you are unfamiliar with everything, like people ,street, culture or life styles. Whoever comes abroad for the first time, ı am sure they think like these and I did so. But it did not take very long time to be accustomed to the environment and their life styles because my friends from my own country came before me , so they made everything easy for me. Also, I was very happy to hear that

 

 there is a sea here. My friends - Burcu and Gülşah- and I went seaside a few times. We had a great time there, we enjoyed and took lots of photos. Also, there were lots of ducks and we played with them. Everything there is in order, such as traffic or street.  I should say I was shocked that there were few people in the streets, and that the car stops whenever people walk across. It was really unfamiliar with me J so I was always looking at both sides of the road, but cars already stopped when they realized people to walk across. In my country , you see there are lots of people in the street and they walk along the street for hours or they just meet with eachother in a cafe or a park.When  I talk about traffic and cars, I don't think there are lots of cars and traffic problem in Denmark, but in Turkey we have lots of problem like traffic jam. For example; it is possiblefor people to be stuck in a traffic jam for hours because ıt is more crowded than Denmark. Also, I was surprised shopping bags are not free here.And one more different  situation for me...

 When my friends and I first went shopping, we didn’t buy one –because it is not free- , so I carried a sack of potatoes in my arms along the street  and my friend, Burcu, carried a sack of flourJ These were different experiences from the first few days in Denmark. I feel very happy to be there because I like to learn new things, new cultures and to communicate with people.Also, I believe I will become a stronger person by learning to take care of yourself away from your mother tongue, country, environment, family and friends. I am sure I have dozens of good memories, strong experiences, lovely new friends. I really enjoy  and I believe I have a great time here.