Getting Used to

What I actually believe in is that if something starts well, it also ends well. The first week in Piramide was a pretty good one for me in this respect. I had good contact with students, teachers, the other people working there and even with the parents. Moreover, I was always ready to help parents who have difficulty in communicating with the teachers due to their low level of Flemish or English. In this way, a healthy communication was achieved between the teachers and the parents.

This week and a few weeks to come would be the weeks for me to observe the classes and organize what I would like to do and how I should do them in the classroom environment by taking the goals of the project into consideration. This will also make my role more clear in the class as the Comenius Assistant.

Turkish students and the others (although I do not know their language.) were really warm towards me. They were hugging me and trying to pull me from one side in the garden to the other one. Even the ones whose classes I do not attend were smiling to me and asking me questions.

This week I followed Dafne's and Adinda's classes and they were always ready to answer any of my questions and they are also so flexible to make me take part in the classes more actively. For instance, the kids and I were playing some games, having interview in their mother tongue and doing the other activities in Turkish which makes these student more comfortable in the class.

Education is crucial in one's life. Education is a combination of school building, school environment, teachers, equipments for students, parents, care-takers at school and the students who are in the center in the process. They are given the utmost importance as they will be the future of the world. A kid changes and a world changes. Thus, any kids cannot be overlooked in the education.

First Contact & First Touch....

The 15th of September was the first day of my Comenius Assistanship. It can be also considered that this was the first working day of mine after graduation from university. I was a little bit excited, but at the same time self-confident enough to do anything in the class.

Magda, the director of the school, told me that I will start with Hilde's class in the morning and then will go on with Dafne's class in the afternoon and on Wednesday in the morning.

In Hilde's class, there are pupils who are 2.5 or 3 years old. She also works with Marleen who is a part-time teacher in Piramide. As this week, it would be like a orientation week, I was just trying to discover this new environment and the kids, as well. The pupils were so young and when the teachers introduced me to them, they were a little bit shy at the same time. Yet, it did not take so much time to get used to each other. I started to play with kids, help the teachers in the class and meet the needs of the pupils.

Their love towards me was so pure and their feelings were so innocent, this made me really happy; moreover, it motivated me to do more. I was also asking as many questions as possible to the teachers whenever I have time to get answers. They were patiently answering my questions in a very detailed way.

In break times, the teachers were also great to help me to get orientated to the school.

In the afternoon, I attended classes with Dafne. Her class was older than Hilde's. Getting adapted to the Dafne's class also did not take so much time and the kids adopted me as their teacher quickly. We played some games in Turkish so that they can understand the rules better. It worked a little bit, but still there are some. However, it is also something related with their mental development; in other words, to have such problems at this age is acceptable.

In brief, the first day at the school was pretty good and it seems that while I am tryng to teach something, I will learn many things, as well. Now, I understand better why education is a life-long process.

Introduction to the Teachers

On the 14th of September, Luc told me that I will have some time to introduce myself to my future colleagues in Piramide and to get them close Turkey a little bit. In the presentation, I tried to give as much detailed information as possible about me so that they will have an idea about "Who Ufuk is?" better.I was also ready for the possible questions. I think that I did my presentation as well as I was expected. All in all, I strongly believe that the school and I will benefit from this experience greatly in this process.

Tour of Gent on the 5th of September

Today, my landlord Lucie and I had a great tour of Gent. She showed me some important places in Gent. I had some shopping and was trying to discover this city at the same time... As most of the people speak English well, it will not be a problem for me to communicate, but I will learn their language anyway.

Arrival in Belgium on the 4th of September

I arrived at Belgium on th 4th of Sepember. Then, I came to Gent by Train and had a nice chat with a woman on the train. After that, Luc welcomed me very warmly at the train station in Gent. Finally, we came where I was going to stay...