Basisschool

Every Friday for the next three months I'll be spending my day volunteering at a local primary school. The idea is that I'll be giving back to the community while simultaneously putting myself in a learning environment. As the 4-6 year-olds I work with learn how to read and write (in Dutch of course), I'll be learning right beside them. And since 4 and 6 year-olds here can't say any more English than "my name is…" and "one, two, … ten", it forces you to have simple Dutch conversations. 

Today was my first day helping out, I was the new play thing. It was interesting seeing how different the grade school education system here seems to be from America. The children look like they have a lot more freedom, the teachers aren't watching their every move. The daily schedule is a bit loose because they work, to a certain extent, at the student's pace. When recess was over they waited for all the kids to walk themselves back inside, they didn't yell at them for being slow. The kids in my class (ages 4-6), would let themselves out to go to the bathroom, and didn't seem to take advantage of the fact (though I have only been there one day). I think it probably builds a lot of confidence and self-assurance to give the children some choice in their day, and not such a strict protocol. 

A few things I noticed that I found odd as an 18 year-old American:

1. The children watch TV while they have their snack time. It's educational children's TV, but still very different from what I'd expect a class to do.  Especially when they would watch English nursery rhymes (and sing along!), very impressive.

2. One of their play stations today was a learning app on an iPad. I don't think this is a European feature as much as it is a 2017 one, but I found it very advanced for a school that I noticed still used paste instead of glue.

3. The children have a 75-minute lunch. This is because most of the students go home for lunch. At noon their parents pick them up and they go home to eat. While it's true I did leave for lunch almost every day in my 11th and 12th years, I've never seen a primary school let their students out before.

4. They don't provide any food for their students. I am not sure if this is a typical Dutch thing, but my high school here also doesn't provide food outside of the vending machines and small snack bar. I can't compare this to the entire United States, I'm sure many schools in the U.S. don't provide food. Still, it's weird to see a school without a cafeteria. 

Still, it was a nice day. I introduced myself in Dutch and the teacher had all the kids introduce themselves in English (some were too shy, and some just mumbled it in Dutch, but that's fine). It was nice to see the teacher encouraging the students, I just wish she hadn't encouraged them to shake my hand while they introduced themselves. I saw at least three kids take their hand directly out of their mouth when it was their turn. I wish those kids could've just waved instead, but kids can be gross and I guess that's something a teacher gets used to fairly quickly. 

I'm looking forward to the up-coming Fridays. I think it'll be a good way to learn a bit quicker. I already have a favorite student. Her name is Noa and she wears glasses. She knows the ins&outs and was explaining everything to be today. I even noticed that she'll direct the other kids when they need help. This includes the boy that my teacher described as a "dreamer". I think this must be a new teacher code word. 

This also marks the end of the first week of school. My school schedule is a mess and I have to get it fixed, but my books are on their way! The other students are teaching us a bit of Dutch and lots of potential friends are popping up. Tomorrow I'll be going to a music festival here in Lelystad with my host sister, and maybe meeting up with the other students. My host sister is nice and the other students seem cool so it should be a nice night. Tomorrow is also when my host brother Kenneth leaves for a three month exchange in Canada. He was really nice showng me around these past two weeks and it'll be sad to see him go. I'm used to constantly having a gang of guys in the house so it'll be different with just one host-sibling. I think this host family is the most teenager-y mine are going to get so I'm going to enjoy what little I have. My host sister is nice and the other students seem cool so it should be a nice night. 

Below I included some photos from the past week. Last Sunday was my host parent's anniversary so the family went out to dinner. An Italian restaurant, and you know what that means (pasta!). Shout-out to the waiter who took the pic and was also captured in the mirror behind our table. I also included a couple photos of the grocery store that my family runs.  The gym is where my Kung-Fu classes take place, and the class room photo was taken today at snack time (~10:30am).