Practical Placement

In my studies at the university was a practical placement included and since the beginning I was wondering where I can go for the placement. As I get the information that I can help in a primary and secondary school I was so happy, because in Switzerland I study teacher education and not social services as in Finland. I was nervous when I went there the first time, because I couldn’t speak any word in Finnish only English, French and German. The children were shy at the beginning and I tried to speak with them, but they always said they can’t speak English that good. I helped in some English and French lessons and sometimes in the music lessons. It was totally different to the school in Switzerland and I was a little bit shocked, because I thought it would be better.
After a longer time the children got interested in where I am coming from and what I do in my free time and also about my language and if I can speak Finnish. So, they asked me a lot of questions. After some weeks I had the chance to teach them by myself so I decided not to teach them in the Finnish way, but I will teach them as we do it in Switzerland. The children were so motivated and even the secondary students had fun in French, and I didn’t see that they had fun before. I was happy that they liked the way I taught, and I could learn a lot from the school and from the children in Finland.

I will miss this time and the kids even it was hard.