Dag 2 5 Feb 2008: De verkeerde tram

This day started really bad: I got on the wrong tram. I was nearly to the station when I discovered it was the wrong one. When I looked at the map at the stop, it seemed that the tram I took, stopped relatively close to the school; well, it didn’t. Thank God there are a lot of helpful Dutchmen, such as the driver of the tram. He told me where to get off and to which tram I had to transfer. Thanks to him, I was ‘only’ 10 minutes late. I was really ashamed because I think a future teacher can’t be late. You’re expected to be on time when you’re a teacher and I think you should also do this when you’re still studying. So, once again, Mrs. van der Leer, I’m very sorry I was late.
But there’s one good thing that came out of this situation: it helped me becoming more independent and it helped me to discover the city of Rotterdam.

Once I reached the school and the room where I had to be, I got an introduction to the Dutch culture. Off course, as a Belgian, I already had an opinion on the Dutch: loud and extravert. That’s what all Belgians think, I think.
Off course I realize that this is just a stereotype image of the Dutchmen and that it doesn’t count for all of them. It’s like Mrs. van der Leer-Veth puts its so good: you’re the ambassador of your country; and off course, when you see 1 loud Dutchman, you think they’re all like that.
I thought Americans were very stuck-up and only thinking about their country but I discovered this isn’t true. Images of nationalities aren’t always correct, that’s something everyone should bare in mind.

Then I got an introduction to the curriculum of teacher training education. To be honest: this wasn’t really that interesting for me because it was about primary education and the English of the lecturer wasn’t that good (so I wonder if the other students understood everything). This lesson did make me think about my own school: how does it work, what are the most important things, etc.
It was also nice to compare the Belgian system with that of other countries, although it wasn’t about secondary education.

VMBO and VWO, my nephews, uncles and aunts from the Netherlands talk about it but it wasn’t always that clear to me to which I could compare this in Belgium. During to lesson ‘Introduction the Dutch educational system’ I got a relatively good view at this.
I was surprised to hear that the Dutch pupils have to take a SITO-test when they’re just 12 years old. I think pupils have to have the right to choose for themselves (as it is in Belgium). Off course I realize that a lot of pupils make wrong decisions; in Belgium a lot of pupils are victim of the waterfall system (you start at the highest level and keep ‘falling’ downwards). These SITO-tests would be a nice idea to help preventing this waterfall thing to occur.
I will put it this way: both systems have advantages and disadvantages.

Last but not least we got a visit of Mrs. van der Leer-Veth who told us what we are expected to do when we’re going to a school. In my case this was not very useful because I’m the only student who studies secondary education (the others study primary and nursery education). Although, the assignments the others got, also count for me. I have to discuss them with Mrs. Verloop. The difference between me and the others is, that they only visit 4 or 5 schools; so they visit the same school at least twice. In my case, I will visit a lot more schools so I hardly ever step into the same school twice. As a result of this difference, the others can prepare small lessons for the children, as I will probably do something else (which has to be discussed with Mrs. Verloop). It’s hard to give a lesson in a school in front of pupils you’ve never seen before. I could try it. We’ll see what becomes of it.
I am very interested in the different schools. Next week I’m going to an evangelistic school and later on I’m probably going to a TTO school (where they teach in English and Dutch), a Christian school and even an Islamic school. I’m really looking forward to see the differences in approach and perhaps curricula in these schools. By seeing all those different approaches, I can use different things to benefit from.

During lunch break I went to the Central Station on foot. This gave me the opportunity to discover the city a bit more. I passed a lot of nice shops and beautiful buildings. I found the Goethe Institute, where they’re showing ‘The Edukators’ tomorrow evening. Too bad I haven’t got a bicycle yet.
Near the Central Station I located the RET-shop. I had a bit of a discussion with the boy who helped me. I wanted a ticket to use the public transport for 3 months. Now, a season ticket was quite expensive (€ 23 for one month!) and then you had a choice between the ‘strippenkaart’ and an OV-chipcard.
The ‘strippenkaart’ costs € 7 and has 15 strips on it. I need 4 strips to get to school and back home from school. This means that I can only use such a thing for 3 to 4 days. I choose to take an OV-chipcard. I’ll tell you next week how it worked. In Belgium it’s much easier: you have a Busypazz which you can buy for 3 months, 6 months or 12 months. It’s also quite cheap.
Later on, the Spanish girls and I went to search the Donner bookshop. It was a quest! We got a bit lost (twice) but in the end we found it (I just asked someone who passed us). The Selexys-Donner is a huge bookshop, a real bookheaven! I just love it.
By going on this quest I found out more about the public transport in this city. I usually only take the tram but now I took the metro as well to get to the bookshop. I still think the public transport is very expensive here! But I also have to add that it’s good. You have a lot of trams and metros (just make sure you’re not on the wrong one!) and the people of RET are always friendly and helpful.