First experience of schools

18^th February 2014

Today was my first meeting with Laar and Berg School. It is fair to say that it is not a traditional single sex school. I was shown around the school by André and the biggest initial difference is probably the ‘smoking section’ for the kids. No one really greets each other there; it is not really a school thing but a Dutch thing.

The school is nice and fully equipped, the school is apparently in a rather wealthy area, so I believe the children come from relatively wealthy backgrounds. The kids dress as they want and well kind of do what they want.

I was introduced in the staff room, and some of the teachers spoke to us afterwards. There is one teacher who is very excited to have me for their teacher’s hockey side, and it looks like I might be doing a lot of work for the English department as that would be the most convenient for us. I am excited to help out with PE. We are already going on an excursion to Amsterdam with the History class to Amsterdam and some of the Jewish museums next month.

We sat in on two of André’s geography lessons, they were in Dutch but it gave us an idea if how classes worked. They are a lot more conversational, kids were not as severely punished for talking as I am used to. And they are allowed their cell phones in class; while not technically for personal use, it did not stop the kids from texting or going on media.

Well the classes may seem less disciplined; I really do see the merit in the style of teaching. It really does allow the kids to think for themselves and be more interactive.

So those were my first observations of a Dutch school and I was impressed and truly excited for some work.

So tomorrow I have a meeting at the other school ATC, it should be interesting as well.

Exciting times.