Submitted by Brooke Levinson on the 2018 fall semester DIS program in Copenhagen, Denmark…
Week four is known formally in the DIS calendar as core course week. Before arriving at DIS, each student is required to pick a core course. A core course is similar to a major, it is the main topic of your studies while attending school in Denmark. My core course is children in a multicultural context. The class itself meets for three hours every Monday and includes a practicum every Thursday. During the practicum, I assist an English teacher in a Danish school. My core course teacher’s name is Maja. Maja is a woman who demands respect by attending to the individual needs of each student, her kind demeanor inspires me. I tend to call her mama Maja because she is so nurturing and caring towards her pupils.
The study tour is a three-day trip with your core course class. This trip is included in your tuition to DIS, it includes housing, educational activities, two meals a day and cultural sites. On the first day of the study tour, we left Copenhagen at 6:30 am on Monday and headed to Vejen, Denmark. Vejen is in western Denmark in Jutland, which is the mainland of Denmark. The bus ride was about three hours, but time flies when your napping on a comfy double decker bus. We arrived at Vejen Gymnasium. This school in Vejen is where we spent our morning working with fifth and eighth graders. We played games with the fifth graders, like “duck duck goose” or in Danish “banga banga bof.” Danes believe in learning through play so to have Americans play with the students for an hour was a form of teaching them English.
Playtime took a hard turn into reality when we left the fifth graders to meet with the eighth graders. The group of eighth graders wasted no time on formalities as they went straight to the hard questions. The group of students asked us about topics like gun violence in America, high school cliques/bullying, teen pregnancy and our political views. At first I was taken aback by the realness of these matters, but I thought it better to educate them on my truth, rather than let them read reports on the internet. The conversations went smoothly, stereotypes were broken, and friendships were made. By the end of our time together, the students were even asking if we were ever going to come back! After numerous good-byes and well wishes, we climbed back onto our huge double decker bus to depart.
It is crucial to understand that my core course is made up of twenty-three girls and one poor, poor boy. As one could imagine, our bus rides consisted of movies and gossiping sessions. Before we had realized it, we pulled in to our next activity. Here we met the one and only Niels. I was standing outside stretching my legs when a balding man yelled “Hey you! Grab this.” I looked around full of confusion to realize he was pointing at me. I walked over and grabbed a bowl of nails and an electric screw driver. He then introduced himself as Niels. The rest of the group piled off the bus to then follow Niels into a wooden cabin surrounded by makeshift structures, a huge garage and a seemingly endless forest. Inside, Niels explained to us that his job is to work with teachers, the police and social workers. He takes in troubleed youth, mainly boys, twice a week and teaches them vocational skills like how to be a mechanic. Niels gains the respect of the students by being real with them. Many of the boys are sick of teachers saying phrases like “you’re not dumb, you just need to try again” or “if you keep studying you will get it,” so Niels takes a different approach and calls the boys dumb. The students feel respected by the derogatory terms; they feel as if Niels is being authentic instead of sugar coating situations. Niels’s taught my class an entirely different approach to teaching and I hope to one day see him again. From Niels’ workshop, we headed to the hostel for the night.
On Tuesday morning, we returned to the Vejen Gymnasium where we worked with a new group of students. This unique group of teenagers were placed in a class called movement based learning (MBL). This class is made up of students who come from abusive homes, troubled families and/or have mental health issues. The students usually have been absent for a prolonged period of time. We did an activity in a small group where we were given marshmallows and uncooked spaghetti. With these strange materials we were assigned the task to build the largest structure possible in fifteen minutes. We got hard at work, but eventually came in third place, which is seems pretty impressive until you recognize that there are only four groups. The teacher later explained that this activity was not just fun, but it got the students moving, interacting and thinking about structure with an engineering lens.
Back on the bus we went, but this time we were leaving Vejen for good and embarking on a new journey in Aarhus. Aarhus is the second largest city in Denmark. Maja granted us all some free time to explore the cute city. This freedom gave my classmates and I a chance to really bond! After aimlessly exploring the city’s sites, we all reconvened with Maja for a class dinner, then off to bed.
Wednesday tied in the cultural aspect of the experience. First, we went to ARoS Aarhus Art Museum. The museum featured exhibits by Andy Warhol, the Chapman brothers, and even displayed art created by the infamous Hitler. As you traveled up through the three floors of the museum a theme followed you. The entrance floor simulated hell, with dark imagery and notorious artists. The second level represented purgatory with the exhibit getting happier and lighter the further in you ventured. The top level is a panoramic rainbow hallway, meant to simulate heaven. The entire museum was full of history and ethos.
Our last stop before heading back to Copenhagen was at the Lego house. The Lego house is an interactive experience built with six unique zones. Each zone is meant to bring out a different experience. Maja arranged for us to meet with one of the producers of the Lego house, she explained the science and psychology behind play based learning. I do not want to explain too much about the Lego house because my words will not do the fantasy building due diligence. I would recommend this place to any and every Lego lover.
I previously pondered what a three-day field trip would be like with one teacher, one assistant and twenty-four students. The study tour blew all of my expectations away. I continue to be shocked every time Denmark proves me wrong, but I’m starting to learn how to not have expectations because I do not see this surprising theme coming to an end anytime soon.
