Simone in ‘t Veld is a teacher of English for the Such Fun! programme at ATO-scholenkring. 

She’s one of the ATO-colleagues to travel to the UK for a two week  teacher training course called Methodology and Language for Primary Teachers. 

The course and accomodation was funded by the Erasmus+ KA 1 scheme for professionalisation of teachers.

Simone will stay until the 22nd of July, just like Sandra Minke from Noorderlicht. Once they will be back, three colleagues from Caleidoscoop will take a course in Canterbury.

After the first week, Simone wrote this blog about her adventures in Canterbury.

My Canterbury adventure!

It’s great that I got the opportunity to do a course in England. I’m very excited! The course that I chose is: Methodology and English language for primary teachers. For two weeks I will be staying on the campus of the university of Kent. How cool is that?!

I didn’t have to travel alone. Sandra (who is doing an NLP course) and I drove from the Netherlands to Duinkerken (France) and then we took the ferry to Dover. The ferry ride took about 2 hours and was really nice. There are restaurants and shops. You can sit inside or outside on one of the decks. When you arrive in Dover you see the beautiful white cliffs. From Dover to Canterbury is about half an hour by car. It was our first time driving on the left side of the road, but we arrived at the university safe and sound. I can definitely recommend driving to Canterbury and taking the ferry. It was a very relaxed trip and I don’t think it took us longer than when you go by plane for example.

When we arrived at the campus there was someone at the reception to help us. We got the keys for our house and also a welcome package with information about the campus and things to do. There are some shops on campus, little supermarkets, a book shop and cafés/restaurants for example. There is also a laundry facility. The rooms are very comfortable and modern, you have enough space there. The area is lovely. I enjoy walking around the campus a lot.

The first day of the course  we started at 08.30 with a little tour of the campus before we went to the building where the courses are taught. Then we all got some background information on Pilgrims and their trainers before we spilt up into the groups for the different courses. Each course has its own classroom. Because I am doing a course specifically for English in primary schools, our classroom is filled with materials that we can use for the different activities. We put up everything we make, so in 2 weeks we will have a beautifully decorated classroom. There is also a resources room and a library that you can use at the campus.

During the weekdays you start at 9 o’clock and you have 3 sessions of 1,5 hours with your course. In between there is a coffee and a lunch break. Our trainer is lovely, her name is Stefania. She is full of energy and she doesn’t just teach us the theory, but mostly she makes us do activities that we can use in the classroom. After the first day I already had 10 new ideas I want to try out in the English lessons but some of them can actually be used in other lessons as well. The classes end at 15.30 every day.

Then you have the option to do some workshops. Everyday there are workshops in the afternoon and the evening and you have to sign up for them. The workshops are very divers. Some of the topics are: music, tea, memory tricks, CLIL, IT in the classroom, ADHD, improve your own English etc. The trainers of the courses also teach the workshops so you can see a little bit of everything if you want. I’ve been doing 1 or 2 workshops every day so far because it’s so much fun! There is also the possibility to do a guided walking tour and/or boat tour through Canterbury. Canterbury is a beautiful historic city. My first week is almost over and it’s time for weekend! I’m going to explore the area and hopefully see more of Canterbury and Whitstable

If you are also thinking about taking a course in England, I can definitely recommend doing it at PIlgrims’ at the university of Kent and staying on campus. And if you are already going…have fun!

Simone