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..