Conga Drum!

When i chose the workshop of music and creativity i could not imagine that this would be sooo interesting..I only remember some strange white letters in the blackboard like meter, beat, 2/2 & 4/4, etc etc and then we all took the conga drums..That was it..

In the beginning we tried to follow the rythm that the tutor produced, we tried to learn some meters and we tried to improvise.. All these conga drum sounds that we were producing either individually or in groups were reminding me sounds of Africa, of tribes, of..of..If i closed my eyes i can imagine only tribe people in a wild forest participating in ceremonies, or celebrating..It was such an interesting trip...And suddenly without realizing how, all these sounds made a song... The combination of all conga drums was finally the "The Pfeifer Broz Orchestra Sex and the City", if you check it online you will understand..


I was so suprised when i realized that the lesson was to finished and that it was almost 12..It was the forst time that i was playing this instrument and i really enjoyed this class. I am looking forward for the continue..

Discovering the social pedagogy..

I am studing to be a kinder garten teacher.. this is what keeps me away of what a social pedagogue does and what are the dilemmas he/she has to solve.

"Hans is a 10 year old boy living in a child protection home located in a small village...It is almost Christmas and all children have been allowed to go to home to celebrate with family and friends. Hans cannot go home because he is not welcome there..It is Christmas evening and Wilheim is the social care worker on duty in the home...are alone in the institution...Wilhelm is thinking about the situation ..it is very silent. Wilhelm is thinking of his own Christmas tree at home...What should Wilhelm do?"

When i read this, my first reaction was "If i were him, i would bring the kid in my house". But while talking with my classmates that are going to be social workers i realized that it is not so easy as it may seem to be. The worker had to think clearly what is the best solution, and of course it is important to think about the "rule" according to which the social worker should avoid the connection between the private and the professional field.. Such an action could cause other problems, not only to the kid or to the worker's family but also to the other kids of the intitution. So bringing in contact these two fields is ethically wrong..But if we suppose that there is not another solution, it is much important for the worker to know more about the psycological background of the kid, about the maturity level, and more such infos that may help him/her to conclude..However, having the child in an other home, is not the only solution. The social worker can call some friends in the institution, or organize activities according to kid's hobbies and preferences.

I was so suprised when i realized that being a social pedagogue includes many dilemmas that he/she must cope up with, after deeply thinking of the situation. What is more, i felt this field as really interesting and important as well.

Tutugreda time

My project subject was about the children from 6-12 with autism, and the comparative study of each country’s legislations, laws, convention of rights, education that these kids can have etc. We had to define our framework, to write down the questions that we should have answered by the end of the our report, to search for our country’s information, to compare those findings and finally to conclude. First of all, for me it was really unique experience and that because i am not used to this kind of work/study. It was interesting for me to have to “work” alone and in my group at the same time. I liked that way of groupwork. In Greece, the groupwork usually consists of 2 members and the whole procession is not so interactive. So for me it was pretty cool to discuss, to compare, to talk about the each country’s findings. The result was a product of collective way of working. It was also a chance to know what happens to the other countries.

On the other hand, at the same time it was difficult enough for me to be directly effective as far as my country is concerned and that because in Greece, the kinder garden teachers have nothing to do with the disabled kids. There is a Special Education Department that is responsible to educate students so to work with such children. That means that i had no idea about the legislation that is related to the children with autism, about the place that these kids are situated, about the curicculum that exists for them, about the qualifications and the skills that the pedagogues must have. It was pretty hard for me to find all these information, as a result of the “this is not my field”, i did not even know the sources i had to look on for all those answers that i had to give to my group for my country.. But hopefully, the collective way of thinking helped me enough so to confront these obstacles.

Oh, by the way, my team consists of Derya, Elif, Martin and me.

Dare it or leave it..

Many parents swing as far as the growing up of their children is concerned. Sould they be overprotected, so as to save them from maniac kidnappers and from crazily running cars trying to knock them down? Or they should better risk and leave their children experience the life’s dangers, get over their fears, live their childhood and become more resilient, risking at the same time to "lose" them..?

It is absolutely normal for parents to feel afraid and to worry about their kids. Often media infest our brains with scary news, where kids got lost, where kids live in dangerous society etc.. but does it function if parents transmit their fears to their children by overreacting?

Adults kill adults, adults kill kids, mothers strangle kids, kids kill theis classmate..Do we live in a mad world? Are we all lust-to-kill people? And where are the social workers in this whole crazy story? Actually these are the easy targets, for the media! “why didn't you do something?”

Two are the conclusive points:

~The risk per child is low, and we are in danger of stealing our children’s childhood by overreacting, and by being overprotective

~There is a tiny cadre of extremely dangerous men/women and everyone must be worried about the exceptional risks they pose.

So What is Europe?

Is it just an idea or something deeper? It is supposed to be a number of countries that collaborate and agree to their coexistence, with common values and “rules”, with the same goals and the same expectations..But when you can’t have one Spain, how can we have one Europe?

How can we talk about Union- i mean the European one- , when this exists in Levels? Why Denmark has not euro, but though it belongs to the Union? Are not the european countries supposed to share some common criteria? How are these countries supposed to be equal when they dont share the same features?

Through this union we are looking for the team spirit, because we need similarities. Lets think for example how many similarities have the Nordic countries..But on the same time, we need to build the border, because we need to form our identity..

Is it just a common idea that we all would like too?The ideal?

(This is the dicussion that we had with Mr. Christian Aabro)

It's intercultural time!

One year before, i was attending a course that was relevant with intercultural meetings in the kinder garden, between children of different culture. Within the frameworks of this subject, all the students decided to organize a public celebration, where children could be able to participate in different workshops, and interprate with children of different culture. What i mean is that apart from greek children we had invited Roma families with their children, that are helped from social workers to intervene, and we also had black kids. There were 4 workshops:

• of instruments~where kids were making their instruments with simple materials
• of fairy tales~where kids could listen stories and draw the heroes
• of drawing
  
• of playing in a ground game

It was really interesting for the students to notice how children of different culture and lifestyle could interact in the name of game..And equally important was for us, to find out that intercultural competences are needed for such cultural meetings , and i don't mean only the knowledge of the different culture such as that of Roma, but also the Receptiveness, the Tolerance, the Respect for diversity, the Understanding and flexibility.

Having taken part in this intercultural meeting, i had the chance to learn ways to cope up with intercultural situtations, without taking in consideration the social group, the culture and the life standards, or even the language of each kid. The body language is an international one, so now for me it is easier , to help for example a child of different country to feel good in the classroom.

Through this event i experienced the concrete dimension of stereotypes in Greece. It was pretty difficult to persuade both kids and parents that for example, the Roma kids are kids as well...It was really socking hearing from a child saying "I don't want to sit close to him, because he is Roma, so he is dirty", and furthermore it was really dissapointing knowing that these are parents' perceptions.

One crucial and ambivalent issue that derives from such cases is "Should we create different schools for different culture kids, so to avoid such examples of racism, or this change the same, provides the racism?" On the one side, we protect "different" kids from racism, and give them time and space to learn, but on the other side, we label these children automatically..It is without doubt a crucial issue that needs cautious treatment!

Visiting Instituitions

In 7th of Septebmer, in groups, we visited some Instituitions. My group had to visit a kinder garden for children with special needs and an after school care facility..

• Specialbørnehaven Wagnersvej: children with special needs

The target group are children with special needs. Most of the children have autism or/and syndrome of down. The children are between 2 years old and 6 years old, if needed extended till 9 years old. The kids live in and around Copenhagen.

The main objectives are:

· Learning the kids to live with their disability

· training communication

· and relief the parents from stress and pressure

• SFO Slottet Skole fritidsordning, After school care facility “The Castle”

The target group is “normal” children from 5 to 10 years old from upper middle class and with high income, highly educated parents.

Main objectives :

· Offering a safe place for kids to stay

· Developing social skills and more

· Given from the government

• Focus on the healthy food

• Focus on the sports and activities

During the presentation of our visit we had to compare these Institutions with those of our countries..