Manchester, a summary

Now I am back in Borås and my apartment once again. The last days in England me and John spent in Manchester, which is the third biggest city in the UK beside London and Birmingham. On Wednesday we went to Old Trafford to watch a football game in the Champions League between Man United and a team from Turkey called Bursaspor in front of 74 000 people. For me, it was a really interesting experience according to my great passion for football. Since I was a little kid I have been dreaming to go to England and watch one of the best clubs in Europe. Now when it's done, I'm not disappointed at all.

The game, though, was not the best I have seen and unfortunately we never got the chance to see the real big stars in Man U, like Wayne Rooney, van der Saar or Paul Scholes for example. Because of the unknown Turkish team the best players rested until future games.

Before the game we visited a pub close to Old Trafford. It's interesting to see how many people there are who gathers at the pub before a football-game having a beer and a chat with their friends. It's a big difference compared to Sweden, but not that unexpected according to the big pub culture they seem to have in England.

Old Trafford in sight.

A message to Man U's American owner, Malcolm Glazer.


View over Old Trafford before the game.


The players are on the pitch!

On Thursday after a long and well-needed sleep, it had not been that much sleep at the hostel, we decided to explore Manchester. Compared to London there were not that much tourists and it was definitely closer to everything. Though Manchester is a 2-3 million people city you never felt stressed or affected of crowds of people. Me and John wandered around, had a coffee and visited the mall etc. I can really recommend Manchester! In the evening we went to a nightclub called Factory 251 close to the hotel.

Outside our hotel.

Princess Street.

Manchester City Counsil.

The flight home on Saturday went well even though it was a little bit delayed. All in all it has been a great journey, but as you know, “Home, sweet home”.

See you!

London in pictures

Some guy introducing our hostel.


Picadilly circus


A street in Kensington close to our hostel. A few good-looking cars in that street, I can tell.


In Hyde Park a sunny Sunday.


The Brittish parliament and Big Ben.


A gas-company's head-office.


The Westminister Abbey.


Carnaby Street.

London, been there done that

Today it is Monday and me and John are having a few beers at the hostel. Earlier this night we went to a Swedish pub called "The Harcourt arms" t0 watch Elfsborg - Helsingborg. Unfortunatly Elfsborg lost, enough said.

We have been here at Astor Hyde Park Hostel since Friday night and it's wonderful, I absolutely recommend it. The Hostel is really good and we have had time to see a lot of London. We have been to Picadilly Circus, Leicester square, London Eye, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and much more. We have also been to a few pubs and watched Man United - West Bromwich.

On Wednesday morning we are going to Manchester to see Man United against Bursaspor from Turkey on Old Trafford in the Champions League. I really look forward to visit Manchester because it seems like a more typical English town than London, which has big influences from all over the world.

Tomorrow we're taking the Picadilly Line in to central London once again to do some shopping at Carnaby Street and Covent Garden.

Cheers!

London, last day at AVT

I am sitting here in my room at our host teacher, who has been showing us great hospitality. The bags are packed and me and John are getting ready to go in to London to stay at a hostel in South Kensington close to Hyde Park. Today was our last day at AVT and I am really going to miss the school and the pupils. We have had a wonderful time here in Bromley and I can absolutely say that I have learnt a lot. Today, for example, during maths the pupils were solving mathematical problems using writing and mental calculations. See the picture below. The teachers has been educated to teach the pupils as much mental calculations as possible at this level, even though they still also teach the pupils how and when to use algorithms.

I am also very impressed of how they use the interactive whiteboard in the classroom. Even though our teacher told us that she's not using the IWB as much as many of the other teachers at school do. I think that every teacher in Sweden who has access to IWB really should learn how to use it.

Here are some photos from the school.

London day four, thematic work

Due to a bad Internet connection, this will be my second update today.

Today, I observed a really interesting thematic work in our class. The class was working about characters from different fairy tales and about what is typical for a character. During the lesson another teacher came in with a special delivered envelope from Sweden. The letter inside told the pupils that they had to go on a mission to help Swedish students to learn more about fairy tale characters. The pupils were divided into pairs and assigned a fairy tale character placed into small envelopes followed with the big envelope from Sweden. They were not allowed to speak to the other groups about which character they were assigned, it was supposed to be a secret. Working in pairs they were trying to describe the characters personality and appearance and then write it down on papers. Tomorrow the groups are going to read their description of the character in front of the other groups who are going to guess which character being described.

The pupils thought that this lesson was really exciting. I mean, a special delivered envelope from Sweden, can it be more exciting? During this topic work the students practised their skill to work in pairs and descriptive writing. It was a really rewarding lesson that caught every student's attention.

The teacher in our class is very talented, though I don't agree with everything she does. She has a very behaviouristic and strict way of teaching. She prefer complete silence in her classroom and rewards pupils who follows that. Those who don't, get an oral correction in front of the whole class. That goes against how we have been taught to act in the classroom. Although I still have learnt a lot from here. For example the thematic work I mention above but also how to proceed a lesson without using textbooks, which they are really good at here.

London, thoughts about being the "star pupil of the week"

During these days I have both noticed differences and similarities due to the Swedish school. Compared to Sweden this school in England seems to practice a lot of “elitism”. For example, during today's assembly in the assembly hall the teachers handed out diplomas for what they called “Star pupil of the week”. One or two students from every year was picked out as the “star pupil of the week” and had to go up in front of the whole school to get their diploma and applause. For sure, the pupils that was picked out in front of the whole school as the best student this week felt very proud and happy about it but what about the pupils who wasn't picked out? Probably some of the students will never get picked out as the “star pupil of the week” and I don't think that they enjoy this as much as the other ones do.

Another example is from the P.E lesson we observed on Tuesday. To motivate the pupils, the P.E coach told the class that she was going to give that pupil who performed the best during the lesson a bracelet.

I really don't like these thoughts about always pick out one pupil from the class who performed the best in different subjects and situations. In the beginning, contests like these probably will motivate all pupils but as time passes by some pupils will notice that they will never become “the star pupil of the week”. Instead of increase these students motivation and self-confidence I think it probably will reduce them. Also I don't like that the pupils being taught that life is a competition and that you either will be the best or either nothing at all. Instead, I think, should the students focus on taking their own knowledge into a new level instead of struggling for being the best in the whole class. The only one you should compete with should be yourself.

London, first day at school

Hello!

Now, we have been in London for two days. Our journey here went without any trouble and I'm impressed of how well organazied the underground and railway systems are.

Today I spend my first day at school. I was in a year five group, which means that the children are 10 years old. It was a very interesting visit, not that different from swedish school than I first thought it would be. The teacher is nice but very strict and she prefer silence and order, which probably depends on that she has 30 pupils in her class.

I was really impressed by the technique used in the classroom. For example they have access to an interactive whiteboard which they use all the time. They also have a big workshop.

During this week we're staying at a teacher's house, it's wonderful.

To be continued...