On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to accompany the 9th grade class on a field trip. We spent the first part of the morning at the courthouse here in Harstad, watching a real live court case. While I couldn't understand what was going on because it was all being done in Norwegian of course, a couple of the students were very kind to give me the abridged version of what happened when it was all done. That afternoon, we got a tour of the police department from a couple of the police academy students who were doing a three-week observation at the school. When I asked the teacher why the police students had to observe at a school, she said it is so they learn how to communicate with the youth population, which I thought was awesome! And let me say, they did a great job giving the students a tour of the police station. The made sure to ask the students what they wanted to see, and made it possible for them to see everything on their list, which included the police cars, the cells, the weapons, the drug dog, some criminal technology, and the handcuffs! The students were allowed to sit in the car, play in the cells (they were obviously not occupied!), handcuff each other, and were even able to see a weapon being fired in the shooting range. While all that was cool, I think the coolest thing was that the police students showed the 9th graders how to dust for fingerprints, and let them all go around the room and practice. The kids all seemed to really enjoy themselves and were engaged in what was going on.
The big thing that happened this week was that I got to sub for an English class on Thursday. The two teachers who normally teach the class were both sick, so the principal asked me if I would be willing to take the lesson. I told her that I would sure try! She gave me the materials that had been left by the teacher, explained what she wanted done, and off I went. The students had finished watching the movie "Oliver Twistt" the previous week, and we continued working with that this week. For the first hour or so of the lesson, I let them work on their assignment from last week. When they finished that, we started the new assignment for the week. I read them outloud a chapter from "Oliver Twist", and they had to underline words that they didn't understand, which they later translated into Norwegian. Now, I am not a huge Charles Dickens fan, so this was a bit of a struggle for me, and I told the kids right of the bat that there were probably going to be words that I would have a hard time pronouncing, but I told them I'd do my best. The kids all bared with me and were very well behaved the entire lesson-for the most part! At one point when they were working on their assignment with partners, one boy got up to get something, and his friend sat in his seat. When they boy came back, he told his friend to "F off" (although he didn't just say F!). I went over, and his friends told me what he was saying, and said he'd move if the boy asked nicely. I tried to prompt the boy by saying, "You know there is this word that starts with P that is a nice way of asking him to move." Without skipping a beat, the boy looked at me and said, "Piss?". I couldn't help but chuckle and say that I walked right into that one. That is one thing that continues to surprise me is how comfortable some of the students are swearing around their teachers, and for the most part the teachers don't seem to mind.
I'm starting to get into the flow of things more, and am continuing to enjoy my practicum. I am excited to see what this next week brings, as I get to go to a station with a group on Wednesday, which should be interesting! Look for another update next weekend!
P.S. I continue to be in awe of the beautiful skies in the afternoons. The top picture I snapped on Thursday right outside the school, and the bottom picture is near the pier. Neither of these pictures are truly able to capture how pretty the skies have been!
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