Understanding and being understood by Danish pupils...

During my practice here in Denmark, I had to face a real problem for teachers: I was unable to communicate with the pupils...

Why? My level in Danish is very poor, and the pupils, 7 years old, could not speak english yet.

We could communicate, but very briefly and very basically.

Unfortunately, the lessons at UCSyd did not help much as the level was too basic and out of the theme of the class and school. So, I did use the basics we learned in Aabenraa.

The sentences I said the most must be "Jeg forstår det ikke" (I don't understand) and "Undskyld, jeg taler ikke Dansk" (Sorry, I don't speak Danish).

For the mathematics lessons, I could help some children because I knew how to say the numbers, plus and minus.

I had to use a lot of face and body expression to be understood when I wanted to communicate with the pupils, and it actually was very interesting, but really annoying also sometimes when I could not understand the questions of the pupils...

But another point was my understanding of the language. Because of the lessons in Aabenraa, and because I have been hearing Danish for four months now, I could understand what was happening in the class and sometimes understand the conversations. This made me very happy!