47th and 48th WeeK

MY PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE

I was doing my practical placement in an After School facility Blegdams Remise, in Østerport, in the centre of Copenhagen, and it’s a good zone. The After School was inaugurated 22 years ago with the same philosophy than nowadays. The children used to be from middle-high class, so usually they don’t have to work with social problems. There are sixty five children, and only two of them are immigrant.

MY CONCLUSIONS

I have to say that for me to know this kind institution was a discovery because I didn’t know anything about it before. It was a different practical placement for me, because of the communication. I realised the importance of the verbal communication because I couldn’t understand anything, and I feel frustration when the children spoke with me in Danish and I couldn’t say anything. It was a strange feeling, but although I learned to express myself through gestures and non-verbal language. It was so strange to be in a place where I couldn’t understand anything but despite all the children were with me, and I could play with them. Moreover I think I learned to be imaginative, because I had to interpret what the kids were saying to me and tried to give them an answer.

So, I had a different and good experience in my practical placement, and I assess it positively for my future job. 

A LITTLE COMPARISON

In Spain we don’t have this kind of institution. I guess because of the children finish their school at 5:00pm. If they want to do something else, extra-school activities, they have to choose something specific: football, basketball, theatre, plays the piano… And if they don’t want to do any activity, usually their grandparents take care of them until 7:00pm or 8:00pm when their parents finish their work. This is something very different than in Denmark, the schedules are very different, I guess because of the weather.

If I think about some institution it seems as an After School facility, I would choose a “summer school”, where the children used to go in summer to enjoy their free time in their vacations, although it’s impossible to compare, because in a summer school exist a structure and a planning for everyday. The children cannot do whatever they want all the day, just some moments during the day.