A trip to Amsterdam and leaving for Poland

The seventh day-Friday-18^th March

We went to Amsterdam to do some sightseeing there. We took a canal bus and we stopped at the flower marker and Van Gogh Museum.

                                                

                                                              The canal in Amsterdam

 

                    There were parking lot for bikes in front of the railway station in Amsterdam

                                                             Amsterdam’s  architecture

 

The last day of our stay in Assen-19^th March

We left hotel at 9.30 and took and we were traveling by train and bus to the airport in Eindhoven.

We got to Katowice at 5.15.

 

 

The visit in our partner school in Holland was a wonderful adventure, which enriched our knowledge of the European country, gave us a lot of opportunity to speak English and  enabled us to get some important information and materials for our job.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sixth day in Assen

                                                    The sixth day-Thursday-17^th March

                                   The presentation of “Do it” program  in a school given by Mr. Willem Borghuis.
                                     He suggested introduced some rules into schools:

                                                                           -during breaks, pupils first class go outside
                                                                           -no candy machines anymore
                                                                            -healthy school canteen
                                                                           -drinking tap water
                                                                           -no smoking

Mr.Willem is showing the energy balance

 

                                                            He said that the program of “Do It” resulted in:

                                                          -pupils are less overweight

                                                         -pupils drink less soft drinks

                                                         -pupils spend less time on watching TV and computer

                                                        -more boys take breakfast.

                                                               

 

 

 

 

                                                  

 

                                Practice: tests on pollution  in package materials with students

                                    In the afternoon we went to see the Presentation of Sustainabilty Centre

                                                                     and tour around the building

 

After visiting the Center we were having lunch there and discussing the topics connected with:

-student’s exchange to Turkey in May 2016,

-student’s activities September ’16 - May ’17,

-other activities, planning, use of eTwinning website.

 

 

The fifth day in Assen

The fifth day-Wednesday-16^th March

In the morning we were participating in the workshop done by Mrs. Huubs Hubbeling, who gave
a lecture about healthy school. Afterwards we discussed all the aspects of introducing healthy habits into our schools.

After the workshop we visited Drents Museum in Assen where we saw the exhibitions connected with history of the town and some exhibitions about Maya’s civilization.

 

 The Drents Museum building. There were a lot of  flowers(crocus) in front of it.

 

 

                                        The guide is giving us information about the museum.

In the late afternoon we were invited to the school restaurant for dinner prepared by students, who have been trained to be cooks, waitresses and waiters  in the future. All the dishes made by them were delicious and they behaved as real restaurant’s employees.

Workshops at the Dutch school

The fourth day-Tuesday-15^th March

We were taking part in the presentation on the healthy aspects of using a schoolyard  done by Dutch teacher, Mr. Onno Oord. Before the presentation, all participated teachers  went around the school building and checked the ground there, they drew their signs expressing their “likes” and “dislikes” after seeing the schoolyard. After coming back they put the cards with their opinions on the blackboard. The Dutch teacher read out their opinions and presented different ideas of students, teachers and architectures, who designed  a new  look of the schoolyard.

 
                                                     The workshop with Mr. Onno Oord

After lunch we went to the Veenhuizen Museum, where we took part in making homemade cheese workshop. Our guide and trainer involved us into making cheese. It was a very interesting experience. We spent there all the afternoon but we got the cheese which we had made.

Our trainer explained us what we should do

 

                                                         There is the cheese which we have made

                                             There were a lot of shelves with the ripen cheese

While we were travelling back we noticed that the canals are located along the roads and they are not fenced from them and you must drive carefully if you do not want to cross the narrow line of the grassed stripes and go into the canal.
There were old houses and each of them had its name written high on the front wall.

 

Dr Nassau College Penta School

                                             Classrooms and workshops in the Dutch school

                                                    The classroom for cooking lessons

 

A lesson of carpentry

 

                                                           A lock-smith workshop

                                                          A classroom for making bread

                            

                                                                 An Art lesson

 

                                                             Dance plates in the gym

 

                                                          One of the three gym

                                                               A karate lesson

 

                                   The international group of teachers in a teacher staff room

               The head teacher, Menno den Hollander is welcoming foreign teachers in his school

                                      There is a sentence written on the teachers room’s wall:

”In a healthy school we form a social community where everyone can develop his/her talents”.

 

 

 

 

The third day in Holland

                                                      The third day-Monday-14th March

The Dutch coordinator, Ellen Franken came to us by bike to show the way to her school. It took us 15 minutes to reach the school’s area.

 

The school consists of a few buildings, which are really big and modern. Each classroom is well-equipped with modern and new desks, chairs and educational materials. Students work mainly with tablets during their lessons.

                            We could see our partner countries flags outside the main school building

 

                                      The international group of teachers outside the school building

                                      The international group of teachers inside the school building

 

The view of the school area

 

There are wide and long corridors and big classrooms with the interior walls made of glass and you can see pupils working without coming into the classrooms.

 

The school has about 900 students and half of them take vocational training in  special workshops and they are being trained to be carpenters, hairdressers, cosmetologists, barbers, bakers, cooks, waiters, waitresses, welders and lock-smiths. There are three gyms, a few  staff rooms, a restaurant, a bakery, a big kitchen and big painting and drawing classrooms.

The second day of our stay in Holland

The second day-Sunday-13 March

The weather was perfect( sunny without the strong wind) for a trekking tour and visit the National Park “Drentsche Aa”, which is situated in Assen.

 

The whole group of Polish, Turkish, Dutch and German teachers left the Hotel de Jange and went on a tour at 11 o’clock a.m. and came back at around 6.00 o’clock in the evening.

 

 

The first part of the tour led to the sheep farm where we saw sheep, rams and little lambs. They were many children, who were playing with the lambs.

 

There were some exhibitions in the nearby buildings where we could see different kinds of woolen products like: socks, scarves, toys, gloves and sweaters.

After visiting the farm  Dutch teachers: Willem Borghuis and Ellen, gave us a pedometers for  counting our steps during our tour of the park. We were walking, rather marching along the paths in the fields and forests admiring the Dutch countryside. We could see farm houses whose roofs were made of straws and beautiful horses in the fields.

 

 

 

 

 

                          There were some big stones, which come from the ancient times in the park.

 

                                      We stopped in front of the windmill, which was in the park as well.

At the end of our tour we checked our pedometers and they indicated that we made more than 10000 steps. That’s why we deserved a good lunch, which was given us in the nearby restaurant and we tried typical Dutch meals. While we were waiting for the lunch we were talking about educational systems in our countries.

We could feel and see:

-fresh and clean air,

-clean paths in the forests,

-flat fields everywhere,

-a lot farm buildings changed into houses,

-no dark smoke from the chimneys,

-some cows, horses,sheep and storks in the fields.

 

 

Short-term joint staff training event in a Dutch School

Short-term joint staff training event in a Dutch School:

           Dr Nassau College Penta 12-19 March 2016, Assen in Holland

Participating Polish teachers: an English teacher-Mrs. Maria Zaor,a Biology teacher-Mrs. Małgorzata Golec, a Physical Education teacher-Mr. Tomasz Wnętrzak

The first day (Saturday)-12 March- arrival in Assen

We arrived in Holland at the airport in Eindhoven and first we took a bus to the nearest railway station and got on the train to Ultreht and there we caught the train to Assen. During the two-hour journey we noticed that Dutch people are very friendly and helpful and owing to their help we came safe and sound to the Hotel de Jange in Assen.We rested for a while and went for a short walk into the town. In front of the hotel there was an open-air market where  you could find a big choice of food(meat, sausages, fish, bread, cakes, sweets),flowers  and different kinds of handicraft products and souvenirs.

 

                                                           The flowers in the market.

In the evening our partner school teacher, Ellen Franken came to welcome us in Holland. In the late evening we watched the news on TV and we couldn’t see any information about Poland.

Apart from that we noticed;
-the sunny and a little windy weather,
-no heavy traffic in the streets,
-good roads, a lot  of paths for bicycles,
-many bikes standing along the streets without any lockers,
-friendly people, willing to help with finding places,
-Dutch people know English well.
The other activities:
-a long stroll around the town, admiring the canal banks,
-taking part in the mass in a Catholic church-not many churchgoers inside the church; the woman celebrated the ceremony and all the gathered people were taking part in the mass-saying prayers and singing songs.

                                                           On the canal bank

 

Phisical fitness index in Polish School