City Life in Holland...

The city of Groningen was pretty cool and definitely a good time. It was similar to Copenhagen in the sense that you could walk around it and not get lost. We arrived on Monday afternoon, but all kinda crashed Monday night cause we were tired from all the travelling. Tuesday night we decided was the night we were going to go out. Unfortunately though, Tuesday night in Groningen is the one night basically noone goes out. Bridget and I ended up wandering around trying to find someplace, anyplace that was "hopping" and ended up at McDonalds. Did you know they ahve Rolo McFlurry's here in Europe. They are SO good and the US needs to get them and start selling them. I think i might have to write a letter to McDonalds when I get home and tell them about it...seriously, they are that worth it. Anyways, so yeah we ended up at McDonalds with about 10 other guys who were obviously speaking Dutch. Sometimes when you are around another language for so long you wanna be able to speak another language, any language as long as it isn't your mother-tongue. So, Bridget and I decided we would pretend we talked Danish. However, the languages are similiar enough that I think the guys might have just thought we were stupid... which is fine, we were just having fun haha. Anyhow after mcdonald's we found ourselves at this one bar where there were about 30 guys and only our American Girls. It might have been somehting like a frat group or something, or a gay bar... either way it was good time for us. The guy were soo funny-loved to dance and chat and dance some more. They would compete with each other and bust out these crazy moves, it was so funny. One of the guys randomly lifted me in the air and was swinging me around, seriously i thought i was going to hit the ceiling.... it was a cue to move on haha. We headed down the block to this other bar that supposively was a pretty good dance club. When we walked in everyone was gathered around the bar and noone was on the dance floor. So there Bridget and I go, sober, out into the middle of this dancefloor and start dancing. everyone was looking at us and some of the girls at the bar were mocking us and our dance moves. We figured.. if worse came to worse and someone came up to us... we could just pretend to be completely drunk that way if we were dancing bad we wouldnt be looking too much like fools, but we figured we just stay tehre and keep dancing. afterall they were playing almost ALL american songs. After about 40 minutes of us up there dancing all alone in the middle of the bar, the rest of our girls showed up, which of course got more people out on the dance floor. That night, that Tuesday night will go down in history as the night Bridget and Melissa "got the party started" in Groningen! --On our way home we met these two Dutch guys who wanted to bring us back for Toastes (apparently later I found out Toastes usually have grass in them, so its a good thing we didnt go back with them haha- I guess sometimes they do, not always, but anyhow...) They came back to the hotel with us and sat in the lobby trying to teach us some Dutch words. Unfortunately, we had a 3 hour lecture the next morning and I wanted to get at least close to 4 hours of sleep beforehand, so i crashed pretty quickly. We were going to meet them the next day for lunch on our free time, but they ended up having work, so that was that. It was cool to talk with them though and correct some of the pre-conceived beliefs they had about Americans as well as learning more abotu Holland and Europe.

Iamsterdam~ Amsterdam was a bit different. Tallot (our teacher) warned us that Amsterdam was VERY easy to get lost in. We were given a map (that just cut off our hotel, so it wasn't very much help at all). Of course within 20 minutes we had completely turned ourselves around and couldn't find the restaurant we were supposed to meet the rest of the group in. Seriously, Amsterdam is very confusing. Every corner you turn looks exactly like the previous one you came from and tehre are little harbors everywhere. The maps don't even help much because the street names change so much. What a different city then Copenhagen this is. It's funny in a way and interesting how different cities are from each other all of europe, makes me want to see the different cities in the US more now too. But yeah, point made... very confusing. Thursday night Hanna took a train to see me. It was so good to have a familiar face around for once. I was so drained by that point from being around all girls for the whole week that I had really needed to get away from them. The two of us met up with the teachers in my program and one of the teachers in the EUP Program and had a couple drinks at one of the Irish Pubs, then we headed off on our own. We ended up staying in one bar all night, which was fine I am not usually a big drinker anyways. It was a good choice bar cause we just played pool all night. We challenged a couple guys who were from England and beat them the majority of the time(i think), then we played with two other Dutch guys for the rest of the night(my team won though i hear... don't ask how, cause i have no idea). Did you know in most places in Europe you have to pay to use the toilet? Yea, crazy I hate the idea. As far as I'm concerned... and I tried explaining it to the toilet monitor guy who really hated me at that bar... you can either charge me to put drinks in my stomach or charge me to let the drinks out, but definitely not both. Needless to say, the guy really didn't like me cause I kept coming back without money and still using the toilet. haha ooppps! Late that night we walked down the redlight district but it was after 3am so nothing was really going on, so we went again the next day.

The Redlight district- Such a different culture than in the US. I didn't know if i should feel sorry for the girls in the windows, or if they enjoyed it. I know, they do take it very seriously, for them it is a buisness, but in a way I wanted to just go and talk with one of them. I was kinda interested in how exactly the whole thing works, if they get all the money or have to put some of it down for the people who own the window, etc...

The Anne Frank House.... it was pretty empty and built really into a museum type atmosphere, but something I am glad I made it to see. It is hard to think that she once hid there during such a scary time in history and to think that the streets we walked down were the same streets the Nazi's walked down. It makes you think a lot about history. Reading about things are one thing, walking the paths that history took place on are another...

Holland Academic Visits and Reactions

Danish is spoken in Denmark guys... Dutch is spoken in Holland!

There is so much about life that I still don't understand and the trip this past week gave me so much to think about. Europe is so different from the US, in many good ways, as well as vise versa. Some differences are funny, some are unfortunate, and others are a bit of both.The Netherlands was much different than anything I was expecting from the stay and academic visits in Groningen to the historical sites and life of Amsterdam.

Eerste Opvand van de Woldstroom: This is a receiving school for refugee children ages 4-12 (located in Groningen). After looking back on this week, this visit was by far my most favorite. The school is set up by groups of children ages 4-6, 6-9, and 9-older. When children are brought to the Netherlands they must ALL learn Dutch. At this school their abilities are tested and they are taught in groups according to their age, not according to their language level ability. The staff members really don't speak any other language, therefore the only language spoken in class is Dutch. Boy and I thought learning French in HS was hard, and now still complain about learning Danish sometimes. These young children are forced to come to another country whether it be assylm seekers or refugees escaping genocide and have to learn Dutch in a classroom where the you are not allowed to speak your mother-tongue, at all. Because none of the staff members speak anything besides Dutch in the school, the childre learn through body language communication, computer programs, board games, books, and peer on peer relationships. This made our visit to the school and communication pretty easy because the children were so talented in understanding others through ways we have never had to experience. The children at the school came from so many different backgrounds. There were students from ALL over Europe. It's hard for me to imagine life in another country, and to hear stories about these children and the difficulties they face seem almost impossible to envision. There was a little boy there who came from the desert and needed to be taught how to use a toilet because he had never seen or heard of one before. It is one thing to think about something like this and another to try to place yourself in these childrens shoes; to be taught in another language, which you don't speak, how to use something you have never even seen before. The school is facing many difficulties and having incredible amounts of trouble staying open because of funding. Sometimes I wish I had the money to give these schools. They need to keep these places alive so we don't loose these children. It is so important to give the children a chance to adapt into a new society. The schools help them deal with post trumatic syndrome due to what many times will be an unplanned sygnificant life event carrying challenges unimaginable to us.

The second academic visit of that day was to a 100 year old typical Dutch Windmill that still is in operation as a corn mill. This was pretty neat I must say. I always see the big windmillls from a distance in Holland as well as in Denmark sometimes, but actually being able to climb up to the top of an old wooden one to learn about how it works and actually stand only feet away from the loud mills turning was an experience in itself. Windmills are very important to Holland and its inhabitants and I having the opportunity to see one so close up made the trip that much better. This mill serves to grind corn, remove excess water from the low-lying districts, and sawing timber. All of this is what makes Holland, Holland and gives many people not only the resources that windmills produce, but the way of life working one has to offer.

Tuesdays first visit talk with Will Kratsborn, a leacturer at The Teacher Training Institution of the Hanzehogeschool. Focusing on Multiple Intelligences, he discussed seven ways of musical learning and didactical applications, as well as individual and group work. I thought what he had to say was interesting and his perspective on teaching was definitely different, but I didn't agree with everything he had to say and I am still skeptical about some of his points. He writes music to teach subjects like history. Kinda confusing, sorta interesting, many times hard to believe though. Anyhow he gets ideas from work regarding the theory of multiple intelligences done by Howard Gardner a professor of education at Harvard University. Anyhow I would suggest to just look up information on their work if you are interested because it is kinda hard for me to explain and secretly it was a 3 hour powerpoint lecture, and they turned off the lights for a decent amount of it(i didn't fall asleep literally, but rule number one of teaching: never turn off the lights and put on a powerpoint, especially if the lecture is anytime before noon).

"De Starter" School: This is a public school, which educates children accoring to the Dalton Principles; freedom, independence, and working together. Dalton-principles mean that the pupils are working with a "task" as well as individually, in small groups or in a class setting. This school is 90% Dutch and 10% other so it is not very diverse. When the school first began it was about 50/50 but because it is specific area based and many families are no longer living in that area because of prices and whatnot, the schools diversity is suffering. The informative meeting we participated in seemed to give a lot of background information, so I was a bit confused as to what pretained to that school in particular compared to other schools similar to it. They did emphasize that every neighborhod is different, therefore every school is different. The schools cover ages 0-15 years old and have parental involvement and afterschool programs. These programs create more opportunities for the children. I did enjoy this school, but at the same time there was something missing. Something I find missing in so many places when I'm here in Europe, and something I miss so much from my life in the US-the diversity. Sometimes I question why I am studying Children in a Multicultural Context over here, because sometimes I dont feel like there is enough multiculturalism. The communities need to be more diverse. In many places throughout the world it starts with the communities. Because the assylum seekers are closing down the school have no way over becoming more diverse. Areas are doubling income and causing families who can't afford it to move. Honestly, in the long run I really think this is hurting them because their children are growing and learning in a one box environment. Rather than being mixed with other cultures to learn from and share ideas with, in a way they are being locked in a box with ones similar to them. Because of this I feel like no matter how much responsiblity the schools put on the children, no matter how organized they taught to be, regardless of the number of peaceful programs there are, the children will always lack something because they are missing such a huge aspect of life. In a way it is similar I think with the person I am now because I have traveled abroad. I have learned so much more because I have met other cultures and I realize now even that dispite how diverse of a culture I grew up in, there is always more people to meet, more to learn, and more to apprieciate.

Wednesday morning we went to the Groningen Institute for Education Research. This is a research institution in the field of education, pedagogics, and child development withing the Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences of the University. Here we listened to two lectures which were very interesting and directly relating to what we are studying. The first on discussed the impact of immigrants on host societies. He discussed 4 different stages. What i really enjoyed was the way he focused on the effects and responses of the host societies as well as the immigrants. While I've been here I have been zooming in and educating myself so much on the challenges and perspectives of the immigrants and refugees, that I have totally forgotten about the challenges and views the host societies have. The man discussed host soceties that were relatively homogeneouls dominate cultures, some that decreasingly homogeneous, and those that were becoming culturally heterogeneous. The lecture touched upon how demographic development effects as well. It was a long lecture and very informative and most likely one of the most interesting ones we has say through so far. At the end we talked about how adverse reactions of societies may lead to marginalism, separation, etc..

Cultural Integration (paper by Kele and I)

Cultural identity is a defining factor in the lives of most people and can, therefore, create the greatest difficulties regarding their integration into a new society. To begin a discussion on cultural identity, it must first be defined. Cultural identity can be explained as a combination of a person’s language, country of origin, and religion, accompanied by various other factors. One’s cultural identity forms the basis for a person’s character, creates a source for independence as well as security, personal values, and individual importance. The defining of cultural identity of minorities, and their subsequent integration into society, has gained more widespread attention in recent years both in the United States and in Denmark, particularly in relation to the challenges it carries with it.

The first difficulty which minorities encounter is language. Language is an essential part of everyday life and thus forms the basis for a person’s identity. “[It] plays a huge role in most aspects of human life everywhere,” (Skutnabb-Kangas) and so language is essential in allowing the minority access to the new society. When an individual, especially a child, is presented with various issues about their language and different views on its worth to society, they are automatically presented with a re-evaluation of who they are. Language barriers tend to be the main blocks which most minorities face as the greatest problem when attempting integration into a new society. Due to the wide variety of languages spoken in the world, it is not possible for most people to immigrate to a place where their native language is spoken and so they are bound to face some difficulties.

In addition to the barriers presented by spoken languages, there are also differences in body language and physical interactions that may cause additional misunderstandings between members of different cultures. According to Le Roux, body language, or kinesics which includes facial expression, posture, gestures, and other body motions may serve to express opposing views in alternate cultures. For example, in “Westernized” cultures such as many parts of Europe and the United States, it is expected that when people are engaged in a conversation that they maintain eye contact out of respect for the other person. In contrast, this same behavior is seen as confrontational and rude in many Asian cultures. It is evident that spoken language and body language may convey different messages in different cultural contexts, and so, as an increasingly global community, education about other cultures and their norms of behaviour must be promoted in order to better deal with the increase in diversity.

Not only do body language and spoken language present difficulties to integration, but physical appearances may also create problems. Various aspects of one’s physical appearance, such as hairstyle or clothing style may be accompanied with assumptions from others about that person. For example, a young Muslim woman wearing a head wrap may be regarded in a certain way because of the pre-judgment made by those outside of her culture who are not aware of the cultural significance of that item of clothing. According to Le Roux, aspects of clothing can carry stereotypes that convey certain attitudes about sex, cultural background and other culturally related values. For example, when walking down the streets of Copenhagen and observe the people whom you pass you unintentionally make judgments about their status in society based upon their appearance and the clothing they wear.

Along with the challenges we have discussed, it is necessary to approach the study of minorities in a multicultural context from another perspective as well. Immigrants are faced not only with these barriers created from within the majority society, but the minority also creates barriers for themselves which hinder their own integration. For example, some refugees and immigrants assemble together in groups that share similar origins, customs, and beliefs thus creating a sense of security and community within the new society, though still separate from the community at large. “Far too many immigrants and refugees still live passive lives on the fringe of society, and many experience prejudices and differential treatment in their everyday lives,” (The Ministry of Refugee). By willingly separating themselves from society, minorities may contribute to their own alienation.

Integration and the ways a majority culture deals with the mother tongue(s) of the minority culture(s) have been issues of controversy for the United States and have become increasingly important issues for Denmark in recent years. Mother tongue has so many different definitions that it is difficult to pinpoint just one. A mother tongue can include the first language learned, the language which one identifies or is identified with, the language one knows best, and the language one uses most frequently (Skutnabb-Kangas). Acquiring a second language can be the necessary step towards integration into a new society. Therefore, one must be willing to adopt a new language. Children are the first ones confronted with this pressure for language acquisition through the school system.

Transitional language programs provide instruction on the majority language and culture in both the mother tongue and the majority language. These programs would be the ideal solution to the difficulties encountered when dealing with integration; however, many majority societies choose not to offer such programs. Either the majority does not feel responsible for minority integration, but rather feels that it should be the job of the minority to integrate themselves. Or there are underlying fears that the integration of minorities may cause problems for members of the majority culture. These underlying issues and fears, which come from such antiquated mindsets as racism and other prejudices against a group’s language, religion, or origin, can also create roadblocks to minority integration. Members of the majority may feel threatened by the presence of a capable and competent group of minority individuals who are educated and ready to enter the work force. This fear comes from the perceived possibility that the minorities will interfere with majority employment opportunities or that the minority is “taking” funds and services that should be reserved for the “native” citizens rather than being used for “foreigners.”

It is evidently clear through the challenges which have been examined, how difficult it is for minorities to integrate into an unfamiliar society. Minorities are faced with these challenges on a daily basis which interfere with their ability to live a successful life. When some members of a society are faced with difficulties adjusting, the entire society is also affected. In order for everyone to be happy and live a comfortable life, as a whole society we must work together to educate ourselves and others about the various cultures that exist. We must learn to be open-minded, to accept others, and realize that each and everyone, despite their cultural differences, has something unique to offer.

References
Andersen, Suzanne. “Ethnica Children and Education in Denmark.” Københavnerstudier I tosprogethed 16, Danmarks Lærahøjskole, 1992.

Cummins, J. and T. Skutnabb-Kangas. “Minority Education: From Shame to Struggle.” Multilingual Matters Ltd., Cleveland, Philadelphia, 1988.

Dencik, Lars. “Modern Childhood in the Nordic Countries: ‘Dual Socialization’ and its
Implications.”

Group of Ministers on Improved Integration. “The Government’s Vision and Strategies for
Improved Integration.” Website

Le Roux, Johann. “Effective Educators are Culturally Competent Communicators.”
Intercultural Education, Vol. 13, No. 1, 2002.

Skutnabb-Kangas, Tove. “Linguistic Genocide in Education – or Worldwide Diversity
and Human Rights.” Laurence Erlbann Associates Mahwah, New Jersey,
London, 2000.

One Sticky Experience (paper)

Many times to see through the eyes of a child may seem simple, but I have learned with children it is nearly impossible to put your feet in their shoes. Not only does each child think differently, but the levels on which they do so are so extremely far, fetched for their abilities vary across such a wide spectrum that the concept of seeing things the way they see them is beyond just imagining yourself as a young child once again.

In previous weeks the three year olds at my daycare roasted hotdogs over a fire using metal spears, so I figured they would be able to use sticks this time with no problem. After seeing pictures of young children using a knife on their own and making cookies with little assistance I had expected my cooking experiment to go more smoothly than it had. During the activity though, the children depended on me much more than I had expected.

Once I started to help one child it seemed as though the other children would then rely on me to help them as well, even with the simple tasks. This taught me the importance of realizing that participating in an activity with children does not mean doing the activity for them. Rather than beginning an activity with pre-conceived beliefs regarding the children’s performance ability after reading articles in class about different ways of observing I have learned to use other experiences I’ve had to reflect on how children are developmentally similar and different (Nicolson & Shipstead, 2002). I realize through this activity that no two children have the same capabilities. The first child I made the smores sandwich with depended completely on me to make the entire smore for him. Part of this may be due to the food choice. The children had never seen this snack before, therefore were not familiar with how to prepare it. I am sure this made everything a bit more confusing for the children as well. As I started to work with the next few children though, because at first I assumed they would have the same difficulty as the previous ones I was surprised when the second child grabbed the stick to put the marshmallow on herself. Trying to imagine how children will react to things is only the first step though; next you must realize that individually each child will be very different.

I failed- I was seriously convinced at the end of the project that my idea to make smores went all wrong. Sometimes as adults we feel failure when everything does not go exactly how we planned. I bought so many marshmallows, crackers, and chocolate and only used about ¼ of all of it because less than ¼ of the group we had even participated. How could I consider an activity I created to participate in with all the children a success when less than 7 children participated in it and 3 or so more dropped out half way through?
I’ve learned failure is something you create. The children who did participate in my activity loved the smores! One girl even came back for seconds and thirds. I watched as another girl got tangled up in the sticky roasted marshmallows and gave me a dirty look when I tried to help her get cleaned up. One of the boys helped make the smore sandwich then offered it to another one of the children. So, although my activity did not incorporate all of the children’s participation and even though some of the children who started to help did not want to finish, when I came home and put my pictures on the internet it was nearly impossible to tell myself that this activity was a failure. The children were all smiling and gathered around watching as their fellow friends made their treat as well.

The structure of the day care is very carefree and the children are free to choose what they would like to do throughout the day. This made the activity a little easier for me because instead of having the entire group as I was expecting of 20 children to work with at the same time I only had a few. Some of the other children were watching, but most were off doing their own thing. This classroom structure made the experience go well for the children as well because it gave the shy and quiet children the opportunity to observe what was happening before deciding if they wanted to try it. After the activity was finished and cleaned up some of the children curiously came over wondering what they missed. It is interesting to observe how some children take initiative and are the first to step up to participate in an activity and then compare that to others who hold back, observe, and then decide whether or not to take part. If all the children were expected to participate I would not have been able to reflect on the experience as well for it would have been much more chaotic to try to help many children at the same time while remember how each of their individual experiences were.

As we have discussed in class, different ways of observing will invariably give you different results to reflect upon. Solberg talks about studying children’s work while taking part in the work herself. When you are directly involved with an activity you want to reflect on later you gather more specific detailed information (Solberg, 1996). For example, when I worked directly with the children as opposed just watching how they performed I was able to gain a frame of reference and observe the child’s experience from the position they were in. This creates an opportunity to describe the activity well and identify specific details which later could be used to enable a reader or friend to form vivid mental images of what you saw take place (Nicolson & Shipstead, 2002). I not only watched their frustration as they tangled themselves in the sticky marshmallow, but I knew how they felt because I myself was trying to clean my hands as well. Through this I was able to gain first hand knowledge regarding the children’s ability and was able to compare the difference in amount of initiative taken by each child individually. This is what made all the difference during my activity.

References
Nicolson, S & Shipstead, S. G. (2003): Through the Looking Glass- Observations in the
Early Childhood Classroom (3.ed). Pearsons Education, Inc. New Jersey.
Chapters 1,2, 5.

Solber, A. (1996): The Challenge in Child Research: From ‘Being to Doing’. From
Brannen, J. & O’Brien, M. Falmer. Children in Families: Research and Policy.
Falmer Press.