Sights and Sounds from Stagnes 8-13: Week 3

     As the weeks go on, I am continuing to enjoy my placement at Stagnes. The students and faculty are all great, and I enjoy going to school everyday! No day is the same, nor is each week. One thing that I have been really impressed with so far in my three short weeks there is how many different cultural activities the students have the chance to take part in, whether a group comes to the school for a performance, or the students get to go into the city center to view a performance at the Kulture House. This week, I got to accompany the students to a performance by the Military Band here in Norway. I was told that the theme was "Nelson Mandela". I didn't know what was being said during the speaking parts, but one of the students told me that the poetry being read really helped, "set the mood" for the music! I guess I'll just have to take her word for it! 

     Another week, another improtu lesson about North Dakota! This week, I had a different tenth grade student ask me questions about where I live. I was really excited that this student in particular was comfortable asking me some questions, because he told me himself that his English isn't so good. He first asked me if I live in Great Britain. I had to chuckle at this! I replied that, sadly I didn't live in Great Britain, but told him that I'd love to live in London someday! When he found out that I live on a farm, he was asking me if we have animals. I explained that in the area where I live, there are not many farms with cattle because our land is so good for growing crops-especially sugar beets. I had no idea how to explain a sugar beet to him, and when I tried, he looked at me like I had a second head! So, we went to Google images to help us out! I really love that the students seem to be interested in learning a bit about where I live, and aren't afraid to ask me questions (even if I don't always know the answer!). 

     Wednesday I got the chance to observe one of the different stations that the students get to choose to take part in. This week, I observed the "Film and Photo" station. The students in this station get put together different projects, many of which include photos and videos that they take around town. This week, the students were filming different parts of the city to put together an English language tourism video for the city of Harstad. The two students I followed around the city were in charge of filming restaurants in town, and so they were giving the details on where the good places in town are to go eat! I'm hoping to be able to get to see their finished project, and maybe even get permission to share it all with you! 

     I've been doing a lot of relflection as well over the last couple weeks about many things, but one thing I keep thinking of while I'm sitting in the classroom is what it must be like for an English Language Learner (ELL) who is in school in the United States. I would say that 75% of the classes I sit in are done in Norwegian, and while some of the teachers are really great and try and incoporate some English for my benefit, while in those classes I don't have much of an idea at all of what is being said. So I have to rely solely on reading body language and facial cues to try and understand some of what is going on-and let me tell you, this is draining! I think I really take for granted being able to understand what is going on at all times. This experience is going to impact my future teaching in many ways, but I think one of the biggest ways is going to be in how I will interact with future students who may be learning English. With it being so hard for me to be in a classroom where I don't understand what is being said without having to do the academic work being taught, I can only imagine how frustrating it is for students who come into the same situation and are expected to perform academically. I hope that this experience will help me be more in tune with what these students may be feeling, and help me be a better teacher to these students! 

     

This is a panorama I took of part of the city center while out with the students in the film class on Wednesday!