Final thoughts

Katy

Favourite Food: Pancakes with sugar

Least Favourite Food: Cheese on bread

Funniest moment: I won’t mention it as David would be angry

Biggest difference: Teachers were not as strict and the amount of food that is eaten

Who did you get on with best? Selma, Hannah, Annette

What would you like to bring to Craigmount from College de Brink? Vending machines with Sweets. School was very relaxed at College de Brink

Any other memories? An amazing experience and making lots of new friends was fantastic!

Laura

Favourite Food: Chocolate Fondue…

Least Favourite Food: Chocolate sandwiches.

Funniest moment: David’s dancing was very funny especially how embarrased he was afterwards. I also liked Rosanna brothers explanation of why he like me staying, “we get to eat white bread”

Biggest difference: How relaxed everyone was – I liked that. They were all so laid back.

Who did you get on with best? Everyone but Rosanne especially.

What would you like to bring to Craigmount from College de Brink? How quickly everyone got on and how willing they were to help each other.

Any other memories? I really enjoyed every part of my stay in Holland, everyone was so welcoming and I have learned so much from this experience.

David

Favourite Food: Hawaiian Chicken with rice

Least Favourite Food: Pancakes with ham, pineapple and sryup.

Funniest moment: Teaching Erlend Scottish phrases

Biggest difference: They don’t feel the need to wear school uniform. They call teachers by their first name in Norway and in Turkey.

Who did you get on with best? Erlend frmo Norway and the Dutch students

What would you like to bring to Craigmount from College de Brink? No uniform. The school was organised but laid back. Change the bell.

Any other memories? Our stay was pure mental.

Day 6 – Oei!

Today was a day of creative performances. There was some singing some dancing and some artwork. The Scottish pupils kicked off proceedings with a guided tour down the royal mile, pointing out land marks as they went. We were very impressed at their presentation skills – they did Scotland proud! The Norwegian students then told us about a famous filmmaker called Ivo Caprino who made films telling folk stories. We loved some of the names of the characters who included Rudolph Gore-Slimey (the villain of course!). The Dutch group told us about some typical Dutch celebrations including Queen’s Day (Koninginnedag) and Remembrance day. They also gave an example of a popular type of dancing called “jumping”. David is an expert on this and we may publish video evidence at a later date! Stay tuned! The final presentation was all singing and all dancing! Sedat played his saz (type of guitar) and Selman played the ney ( a flute). We were treated to some Turkish folk music and then some traditional Turkish dancing.

After lunch we had more creative project work. Each group created a poster about tolerance, which they discussed, (Laura and Katy translated the more difficult ideas and words extremely well) and we finished with a song about TIES. David led on the guitar and we all have a tune stuck in our head now…

Day 5 – Presentations

Today we all did some real work (see below for proof)! Pupils presented, teachers discussed. Each group of students gave a presentation about a famous historical figure from their culture. The Scots chose Walter Scott, the Dutch, Anne Frank, the Norwegian, Mikkel Gaup and the Turkish, Nasreddin Hodja

Following these excellent presentations we discussed the results of the survey regarding tolerance that each school had completed. The study guaged the opinion of pupils when asked questions about how their tolerant their school or community was. Craigmount pupils felt they saw many public examples of tolerant behaviour but felt the school as a whole was intolerant of economic, or physical differences. Very interesting.

After all this excitement we had the chance to eat in the school restaurant. We were waited on, cooked for and generally looked after by pupils for the whole evening. It really was an excellent meal. Miss Cameron particularly enjoyed her vegetarian option.

It was not all work though! We did have a chance for an international bowling tournament. Particular rivalry between the Turkish and the Scottish was quashed by an ultimate Scottish victory…..

Day 4 – College De Brink

Today we had a really interesting trip to College de Brink. The teachers were taken to the school in the morning where we met with all the pupils to talk about our education systems and what we had planned for the day. We learned that College de Brink is a vocational school , one of several choices that are available to Dutch pupils after primary education. We listened to descriptions of the Turkish and Norwegian education system. Scottish education seemed quite rigid in comparison!!

After a tour of the school we got a chance to see what happens in other classrooms in College de Brink. There are many similarities but also some notable differences to our school. I don’t know where the car repair classooms are at Craigmount….

I had a chance to learn some more about the way in which the Dutch overcome the fact that a lot of their country should be underwater. This was particularly fascinating as we had spent much of Sunday travelling along the vast dike from Lelystad that connects Flavoland to North Holland (see picture below).

Mr Whiteside

Day 3 – Amsterdam

Today 

I liked getting to know the Norwegian boy better. We have much in common. I also got to know the Dutch children better, their English is very impressive. I enjoyed the science museum today, some very interesting exhibits e.g. the peepshow! Lol. I am looking forward to going to College De Brink meeting new people and seeing new things.

David

My favourite bit today was getting to know the Norwegian people better as we had not talked before. The science museum was very interesting too, especially watching a demonstration in Dutch! I am looking forward to visiting college De Brink and finding out how the Dutch school works.

Katy

I liked getting to know everyone today. We met the Norwegian and Turkish people today who were very nice – we chatted to them in McDonalds. I also enjoyed visiting the science museum – the interactive exhibits were very interesting. I was even at one point surrounded by a giant bubble. I really liked visiting Amsterdam today except that I didn’t get to go to any shops.

Laura

Day 2

Today we teachers went on a trip to see a ship called The Batavia.

The ship is a model of a famous Ship which belonged to The Dutch East India Company. The ship used to carry spices like cinnamon but sometimes it would transport soldiers too. We reckon that people in olden days used to be short because only I could stand up straight on some of the floors! The sleeping area was just right for me,

but some people struggled and had to find an alternative place to rest.

I also think that some people fancied themselves as the Captain!

Afterwards we drove to the beach at Bergen which was beautiful but extremely windy! It certainly woke us up. We had a great day but are looking forward to seeing Katy, David and Laura tomorrow for our trip to Amsterdam. We are also looking forward to hearing what they have been up to.

Miss Cameron x

Day 1 – Amsterdam

We resisted the temptation to call Mr Arbuckle and let him know we had all managed to get up at 4am and instead just sat in the airport politely and sleepily waiting for our plane…..

Once at Schipol we were met by Nick and given an excellent tour of some of the parts of Amsterdam that we will not see when with the larger group on Sunday. David particularly was taking in some cultural highlights.

We then spent the afternoon at the Van Gogh museum (carefully viewing all three floors of it!) where the whole story of Van Gogh’s life is told. There are hundreds of pieces of art that map a path through his life and really show how he developed his style. We couldn’t believe he had just decided one day to become an artist.

We finally ended up in a art-deco type cafe in the main railway station, where we attempted without much success to interpret the menu and enjoyed the company of the restaurant parrot. See below!

Mr Whiteside

Comenius Trip 2008

We are off to College de Brink in Laren (just outside Amsterdam see below),  extremely early on Friday morning (thanks to Mr Arbuckle’s efficient flight booking skills!). We will hopefully use this blog to keep everyone up to date with what we have been doing and learning on the trip.

Watch this space…