Internship

Internship This week at Cameron House I began once again in class five, but was needed in class four throughout the day. I had never been in class for before, but knew many of the children from afternoon sport as well as their teacher Jen. I really enjoyed working with them and getting to know other children on a personal basis. I worked with several of them on their seven and nine time tables. I taught them a simple trick for remembering their nines that seemed to be quite helpful to them. However, once I showed them that trick they wanted to know a trick for every time table and unfortunately I didn’t have one especially for the tricky sevens. We went over the sevens a lot before hand especially because it seemed to be giving the students the most trouble. After practicing with me and others the children completed a time test and they all did very well! We also played a very fun math game involving money. The children loved it because it got them moving. They had to run and get certain slip of paper that had money problems on them and perform the task before the other team and time was up. The catch was that before returning the piece of paper the entire group had to have completed the problem and have the correct answer to get a point. The played boys vs. girls and of course the girls won! J The children had a blast and of course knew it was all for fun and to better their math skills. That afternoon I met another intern from America that was also starting at the school. Her name is Erin and she is from New York and working with reception.  She was very down to earth and she and I got along instantly. She came along to sport with us where Hugh asked us to lead a station together so we did! We had the younger children at sport so we made a mini obstacle course for them to run through and hit balls. They had a lot of fun, especially when we asked them to pretend to be certain animals they really enjoyed that J  Next week is the big week for the Annie production I am so excited to see it as they children have been working extremely hard it will be quite the show!

Internship

This past week at Cameron House I started off again in class five. Each and every week I love class five more and more. I have grown so attached to all the children in the class and it breaks both mine and their hearts when I do get assigned to another classroom. Of course I love all the children and I am glad that I can help out more than one class but class five will always be my favorite! This week in class five we talked a lot about Easter we worked on RE which is Religious Education. This is very interesting to me, because apart from church or your parents beliefs Religion is not taught in schools back in the states unless it is a part of the curriculum such as a Christian or catholic school. However, in London it is a part of many school curriculums at least the majority of all private schools. I also find this interesting because some of the children at the school argue or don’t always agree with what their teacher is saying. Everyone has their own beliefs and values when it comes to religion, but if you are paying to go to a certain private school whom you know teaches religion you would think that you would have somewhat similar beliefs.  Another subject area that we have been hard at work at is drama. We have been preparing and working extremely hard to memorize our lines, and get all props and stage scenery ready. We had a real actress who has starred in many plays around London and even directs a few of her own come in and work with the kids. She worked with them on their acting and facial expressions. She even taught the children a mini Hercules dance which they absolutely loved. I really enjoyed watching her teach them. She brought a lot of energy and enthusiasm which made it that much more enjoyable for the kids as well as myself. This week we have also moved on to geometry in math and heart rates in science. The children caught on well to geometry and I worked with one little boy in particular with perimeter and area. We identified the difference between the two as the sum around the outside and the area within the object it was easy for him to understand addition was needed in order to perform the perimeter and multiplication for area. By the end of our session I feel that he had a really good grasp on the concept and was able to figure out the perimeter of objects that were very irregular. To wrap things up this week in science we learned a lot about heart rate and what a healthy rate for resting and exercising is exactly. We also correlated heart rate with age and had a blast trying to figure out our own and compare them to one another. The children really enjoyed this exercise as we were able to find a few videos on the internet to show them! Each week I am loving Cameron House more and more next I will be helping out a bit in class four so it will be interesting to see the differences between one class level.

Bonjour Paris!

February 27- March 4^th

This week has been one of the best weeks while studying in London! Each week I feel as though I become more and more accustomed to the style of living. Before this week I really enjoyed living here, but now I LOVE living here and everything about it! I believe traveling to Paris this past weekend is what really made me appreciate and realize just how much I absolutely love London. Although Paris was a blast and weekend trips are super fun, after traveling all weekend, unable to speak the language, unsure of your where about, etc. returning to London was the best feeling. I kept saying how good it was to be home when it hit me I had been referring to London as home. It was such an eye opener and one of the best feelings I have been able to experience since living here. I am finally to a point where I feel very confident! I am ecstatic that my boyfriend arrives at the end of next week. I can’t wait to show him around, I can only hope that he loves London as much as I do!  It is going to be a great week and I am really looking forward to finally seeing and getting to spend time with him!

Looking back upon this week, many good memories were made. My best friend Ashley, who is currently studying abroad in Granada, Spain, came to visit for 3-4 days! She was greatly missed by all of us! Tess, Lindsey and I showed her around. We took her to all of the must-sees of London. We walked and walked until any of us could walk no more. We took her to a few markets. She expressed that she loved Camden the best, which came to no surprise to any of us. Camden definitely describes Ashley perfectly. While she was here, Ashley was able to experience fish and chips, strong bow, the tube, a club, the telephone booth, and much more. I am really glad that she was able to come to London and hang out with us! It was time with her that was much needed. Also this week my best guy friend Nolan who is studying abroad in Wales made his second appearance to London and he is not stopping there! Nolan came Thursday night. His main reason for returning to London was to pick his girlfriend up on Saturday, however I am glad he decided to come a few days early to hang out! Because he came early he was even able to go on our day trip with our group to Canterbury and Leeds Castle which was a really neat experience. 
We began our excursion in Canterbury, Kent where we visited the cathedral.  The Canterbury Cathedral is one of the oldest most famous Christian structures in England. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. My favorite part of the cathedral was the architecture and beautiful stain glass windows. I also thought it was interesting to see all of the tombs inside the cathedral with past religious leaders, etc. within them. Our next stop on the tour was Leeds Castle. This was my favorite part of the day, as I had loads of fun exploring Leeds and partaking in the many activities offered around the castle. I learned that Leeds Castle was home to much royalty. I also learned it was originally built in 1119 by Robert de Crevecoeur. The castle became a royal palace in 1278 for Kind Edward I of England and his Queen. My favorite part within the castle was the queen’s bedroom. She had a beautiful satin canopy bed, comfy furniture, fire place, and even a beautiful vanity for hair and makeup. My favorite part around the castle was the maze. It was so much fun! I had never actually done a real one before, but had read about them in books and seen them in movies. After wandering around with absolutely no idea where to go at all, we received some guidance from Tess and her parents who had already found the center. They helped show us the way! Assistance or not the maze was a blast. Also while on the excursion I learned a few fun facts about London and particularly the monarchy which was fitting as we had just discussed it previously in class. I learned that all swans in England are owned by the Queen and the monarchy; meaning they are the only ones allowed to have them killed and or eat them! It reminded me a lot of the bald eagle only no one is allowed to hunt them at all.  After a full day of touring we headed back to London to rest up for our big weekend trip to Paris!
Our flight was set to leave for Paris at 6:30am which meant we had to meet the bus at 4am in order to get to the airport by 5 am which meant we had to get up at 3am. Needless to say we did not get much sleep that night and practically ran on zero sleep all weekend; however it was well worth it. Lucy, Lindsey and I arrived in Paris around 9:30ish with the time change and decided right from the start we were going to make the most of our time. We wasted no time at all locating and purchasing tickets to a bus that would take us to the center or Paris. After arriving in the heart of Paris our adventure had begun. Our French speaking abilities were limited and we had only a city map. At first we walked around in a few circles getting absolutely no where. Once we gained the courage (well Lindsey) to speak some French as well as others if the spoke English we found where we were headed in no time. While in Paris we made it around to all of the main attractions. We also climbed to the top of the Eiffel Tower and went on a four hour bike tour around the city of Paris. The bike tour was by far my favorite part of the trip. It was a lot of fun, and a great way to see the beauty of Paris. At the end of the tour we even got to go on a boat tour it was such a cool experience. Of course you can’t travel to Paris without at least a couple things going wrong. For starters our hostel was a bit shady. I’m just going to leave it at the bathrooms flooded and we cuddled with our bags and purses all night and you are welcome to fill in the rest J Another story, which is more of a blessing happened on our way back to the airport. We were unable to purchase a ticket to the airport via train due to absent ATM machines, ticket machines not accepting cash, and our cards not working. So while Lucy went to investigate Lindsey and I went to ask for change. Long story short the man at the shop did not speak English, however the lady in front of us did. She was able to help us and was so generous that she gave us 3 free train tickets to the airport. We were extremely thankful and blessed! Once we arrived back in London, it felt like we home! Everything was in English, I could operate the tube, and I knew exactly where to go to get home!

Internship

Internship

Cameron House School

February 27^th -28^th

It’s hard to believe that my time at Cameron House is winding down as the end of the term is quickly approaching within the next two weeks. Once term approaches the children have a 3-4 week holiday. At first I was really looking forward to having time off, but I have grown so attached to the children and many of the teachers that I wish there was no long holiday. None the less there is a holiday and I will continue to make the most of the time I have left! This week at Cameron House I began my normal routine in class five. This week I worked again with certain students regarding time, as they were moving on to geometry and needed to pass their exam in order to do so. I was praying that the ones I helped one on one would pass. I felt as though their time telling abilities were left in my hands; helping them to understand was now my responsibility. I was overjoyed and very excited to find that they all passed! I was excited that I was able to make a difference. It was also reassuring knowing that I have what it takes to help others learn.

This week I also helped Mary Ann with her bulletin boards. She is very crafty and loves color just as much I do so we made a tremendous pair and now have the best looking classroom in the entire school. We had the students design rockets with their learning targets attached. Learning targets can also be described as goals. They are what they children feel they need to work on or would like to achieve. For example, many of their targets deal with academics such as handwriting, and math skills, but they also set everyday classroom targets too. Many children chose to target staying organized, or patience. Some even wanted to work on not receiving so many warnings; the best part is the options are endless. Once the children had designed their target rockets, Mary Ann and I constructed a bulletin board centered on outer space. We made the grass, sky and solar system complete with planets and stars! We placed each student’s rockets on the ground for takeoff. The idea behind our wonderful plan is to move the rockets towards the outer space as the students master their goals. It is a fun way for the students and teachers to chart their progress, while at the same time making the room a fun place to learn.

Also this week I had the opportunity to lead a group during sport. Once again we have been playing hockey and sharpening our skills to show for the end of the term match! I was able to have my own group of students. We worked on striking and controlling the puck or in our case the ball. In order to work on our control as well as the way we move we played a game that I used to play all the time, but during soccer practice. The concept is the same, as the object of the game is to knock away the balls from others while at the same time protecting your own. A certain boundary is set before hand adding yet another component to the game. As we played this game I went around trying to knock the balls away from the students. It was so much fun as I had just as much fun chasing them down, as they had fleeing from me!

One of my favorite times this week was learning French with the children. I have zero experience with French. My students in class 5 know more than I do. There are also two girls in class 5 whose first language happens to be French. I told the students that I planned on going to Paris that weekend and knew no French! They were all worried for me, so they insisted on spending a good part of French class trying to help me out! They taught me the basics and decided I would just have to get by. It was so cute! I had another fabulous week at Cameron House! Each week I learn something new and grow even more attached to the children. I can only hope time will slow down! Next week I am going three times to school, I can’t wait!