Last Day!!!

Today was my last day at Tornhagsskolan.  I will definitely miss my Swedish students, but I am ready to be home.  My students finished their newly discovered land projects today, and I was very happy with the results. They all looked great, and the students worked so hard on them!  I was able to take pictures of each group with their finished product.  I also got a picture with half of the class. The other half had already left because they only have half of an English class on Mondays. On Tuesdays, the half that left on Monday will stay and the rest will leave.  I have enjoyed this experience, and it has given me a different outlook on how cultures impact education as well as a new perspective in ESL students.  I am completely aware of how it feel to sit in a classroom and not understand a single word being said. With that being said, I bid Sweden a sincere, "Hej do!" (Goodbye) I cannot wait to be back in the States!!

English Lessons

Yesterday I taught the Thanksgiving lesson I prepared last week.  The students weren't in class last Wednesday, and they did not have school on Thursday.  Though I was about a week late, the kids still loved it!  I created a Prezi and discussed the first Thanksgiving and then talked about how we celebrate Thanksgiving today.  I also showed pictures to go along with the content.  The students especially loved the pictures from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  At the end of the lesson, I introduced the activity we would be completing.  I thought it would be fun for the students to create hand turkeys and tell what they are thankful for.  The students were excited!  They did not finish them, but we will be completing them by the end of the week.  I can't wait to show you all the finished products!

Today's lesson was on American history, but I had to narrow that down because it's a very broad subject.  I only had 30-35 minutes to give my lesson, which isn't a lot once you take away the time it takes the teacher to translate everything I say into Swedish for the students.  I decided to do my lesson on some of the explorers of America because the Swedish students have been studying the Vikings, and one of the Vikings was the first European to land in America, close to Canada.  The students seemed very intrigued throughout the lesson and very interested.  For this lesson, the students will be working in pairs.  They will be pretending they are explorers and have to create a newly discovered land.  They will name the land, tell who it was discovered by, describe the food sources available, what types of land features there might be, and where it was discovered at.  I think this will be a great way to have the students discuss different features and use teamwork to create the finished product.  We will be working on this activity tomorrow as well.  I'll post pictures as soon as I can.

On another note, we have five days until we are home!  I am so excited, but I'm trying not to count the days.  Hopefully they'll go by a little quicker that way.  I need to start packing and getting everything ready to go!  I can't wait to see my family, especially Aubrey and Cody!  On top of that excitement, I graduate from college four days after we get back!  I have so much to do, and I'll be glad to be able to do it all when I return!

The Cathedral of Notre Dame

One of our first visits today was the Notre Dame cathedral.  It is absolutely stunning!  I had to create a separate post just so I could include pictures from it.  There were so many people there visiting, and there were also people there attending Mass.  I am so glad I got the opportunity to see such a beautiful place

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Paris Day #2

Today was our second day in Paris, and we wanted to make sure we took full advantage of our last Dayan such a beautiful city.  We walked a lot yesterday and saw several things.  Today we decided to go on a bus tour and go see some ore things today.  It was a hop on/hop off tour bus, and we sat on the top deck, which was not covered.  It was cold and windy, but it's a great way to see the city.  The best part about the bus tour was that you could hook headphones up next to your seats, and the history of every place on the tour was told.  We had a lot of fun.  Overall, we've had an excellent and amazing trip to Paris, France.  I still can't believe that I'm actually here.  Our flight leaves tomorrow afternoon, but we're leaving the hotel at 11:30 to make sure we have enough time to check in and get to our gate.  I'll be glad when we get back to Linkoping.  I'll get to see my students again, and I'll be that much closer to being back home!

 Ready to head out this morning!

 

The Louvre

My pictures from the Louvre!

 
 
 
 
 

The Mona Lisa!!!

Paris!

Bonjour!!!  Melissa and I arrived in Paris late last night, and we were very tired from our trip but very excited to be in Paris!  It's still hard to believe that I'm actually in Paris.  Today I think we literally walked across Paris and back to see several different monuments.  We have a view of the Eiffel Tower from our room, which is pretty awesome, but it's nothing compared to being right next to the Eiffel Tower. It really is amazing and especially beautiful at night.  The Eiffel Tower was our first stop and our last later on.  We went on to see the Arc de Triomphe, the Royal Palace, the Obelisk, and the Louvre.  All of these places were amazing to see, and I am thankful I had the opportunity to see these places.  We bought tickets and went inside the Louvre.  It is tremendously large, and we were only able to see a small portion of the museum.  The Mona Lisa was among one of our stops, as well as other paintings, sculptures, and Egyptian and Mediterranean art.  The history behind every piece of art in the Louvre is truly stunning, and it amazes me to think of how these art pieces were created, along with the time and love it took.  Needless to say, Melissa and I are extremely tired after our adventures today.  I'm hoping I'll be able to get out of bed in the morning!