StockholmNIE2018

Week 2 has concluded! Had some chance to teach the students in front of the class (and I was being assessed for my very first lesson)! As mentioned previously, students in IES Bromma are in the midst of working on their projects. The year 5s were already embarking on their Dream Room Project and the Grade 6s are being tasked with researching the History of Number System! Students were split into groups of 5 across their banded classes, and they were to explore the Attic, Binary, Egyptian, Mayan, Quipu and Roman numeral system. They will then have to present how these number system works and converting the numerals into the hindu-arabic system that we are using. This also means that they have to create a mini-lesson to teach their peers about the number system they have to master. Thus, I was tasked to give instructions to the class about the project and demonstrate what the mini-lesson could be like using the "Suan-Pan" (算盘) system. The lesson was assessed and went rather smo...

Before I start on my week 3 post, here's us enjoying our ice cream over the weekend! Fun times Week 3 went by real quick, probably because we are all occupied with work and as the saying goes - time flies when you're having fun. Me explaining some concepts to my students during their activity! As I begun to teach more and more, my CT offered me more insights on how I could improve my lessons. I realise that the way I present ideas and mathematics to the class could be done better. Instead of making it question-answer, my CT suggested that I present it as a problem and encourage them to solve it. I'm working on it! My CT gathered the class back after PE lesson to shake hands with their opponent. I realised that sports is really great for character building This week we had HAGA JOG, where the kids run laps in the HAGA PARK. Here comes the picture spam! I created this board and recorded their laps! Good job to them all. After running f...

Week 2! Week 2 was amazing because I got to know my class better. I also started to teach, and worked on classroom management strategies to keep my class under control. My CT gave me one entire chapter to teach and I officially started teaching this week. I had really insightful discussions with my CT on various activities that could teach content and how to structure the lesson such that students' short attention span is taken care of (content followed by activities). We also tried to let students apply what they have learnt into their daily lives. I had a lot of fun! My CT also introduced me to many resources that I could access online and help with my mathematics lessons. I also followed my class to more classes! Here're some photos: Decorating their social studies work with a cool font  Woodworks! (our D&T) Student still working on his Woodwork project My first ever lesson on measurement! Me teaching Student doing the activity wor...

In the blink of an eye, it is already week 3!  In this week, I had my lesson evaluation by Ms Elisabeth, and I am glad it went well. I am glad this lesson evaluation was conducted because it was a good and objective assessment of my lesson, and it helped me to reflect critically on my mistakes. Other than that, I felt my bonding with the classes became better. :) Students were more comfortable being around me, and students began to ask questions about my classes, which is an indication that they feel that there is a dialogue present between us. I am glad that this is a positive change, and I am appreciative of that. Overall, this week has been peaceful and mostly occupied with teaching. I have also volunteered to help my teacher marked some of his work as he was swamped with tons of markings currently. I followed their answer keys and found that they are rather lenient in their marking, which is very different from Singapore's educational system. Work aside, we had the chan...

Wow how time flies! Just when I was getting used to this too. This week, I helped out with the usual classes and tried teaching a little more. I also finally managed to remember all the students' names of my CT's mentor(form) class. On Wednesday, the Year 4s and 5s were having their sports day and hence, a lot of teachers were absent since they were helping out at the event. As a result, my CT and I had to sub for a few classes. We got the PE classes, two of them, and got the students to play football and frisbee. The students seem to enjoy having us participate in their games as well. During last period, my CT had the mentor class (Year 6) write letters to themselves. Something like a time capsule, the letters will be returned to them when they finish Year 9, three years from now. Some of them couldn't think of what to write while others got creative by drawing pictures as shown on the right. I like the idea of this reminder to themselves, to note how far they will go in...

I started teaching this week and had my teaching evaluation on Tuesday. While there are points for improvement, I am relatively satisfied with how the class went. The students are also slowly warming up to me which is an improvement from last week. Regarding lessons, I have been trying to find classroom management strategies that work for me but it's still in the process of trial and error. My CT has also recommended a few strategies for catching student attention and getting the class to be quiet when needed. Hopefully next week yields a method that works for me.  On the weekend, we went to Kristen's (one of Stockholm University's student teachers) place for a barbecue and had a nice exchange of information regarding education systems and the similarities and differences between Singapore and Sweden's. We also went exploring a little as shown in the below pictures. Stockholm's subways have artwork on the walls and are very picturesque. There are also beauti...

In this 2nd week, I started teaching at Rödabergsskolan under the supervision of Mr Daniel. It was a fun, interesting and yet challenging week. Firstly, the school culture is vastly different from Singapore. Unfortunately, teachers in Sweden do not get as much respect as they do in Singapore, and as such, causes a set of problems to arise mainly due to disciplinary issues. Thus, I begin to appreciate Singapore's education system and its sense of discipline that's embedded within the system and its students. Secondly, due to the fact that school is free in Sweden, some students show complete disinterest in studying and can be very rebellious at times. This is in complete contrast to Singapore, and as such, have made me feel even more appreciate of how Singapore's education system is constructed to ensure that students go to school being more focused on studying. Lastly, student interaction is key in Sweden, or else students will automatically "switch off" dur...

Its unbelievable that week one has zoom by so quickly, and I am loving every bit of my time in Stockholm... Well maybe not so much of the first three days, which were a little bumpy. xD We arrived to Stockholm reaching late for our transit airport, but luckily since it was not our mistake for missing the flight, we got a free replacement flight. But unluckily... the flight arrived two hours later than expected... and by the time we reached Arlanda Airport Stockholm... we missed the opening hours to collect our keys to the accomodation, which also means we were frantically looking for an accomodation. Our Swedish Teaching Buddy, Petra, was kind enough to provide us shelter for the day we arrive, in which we were extremely thankful for.  However as she has fallen ill and did not want to spread the flu bug to us the next day, we had to look for alternative accomodation... in the form of Generator Hostel! It was quite a neat experience, where we register for one bed each and eac...