End = Einde = Geen einde

Hi there,
Good to read you again guys and to know that we will meet very soon.
I am going to tell you what happened in April and during my last weeks at the Esahl in Brussels during the month of May.

Well it is not only a myth that there are some differences between French speaking and Dutch speaking Belgians. But the differences won’t be so big that it could result in a culture clash. Their society is just more directed by the use of media than in our society. Well it seems strange but media and the language can make a huge difference even in the same city. The media is present everywhere and passionate the old and the young people. They almost always use the computer to teach. That’s something that can be bad for your eyes when you go out and the sun is shining if you see what I mean. They are very influenced by what they see on TV and I let you imagine how good their English pronunciation can be. It is as if they act a whole movie when they speak.

The Flemish are like between us and the Dutch. As I have lived two years in Amsterdam I was not really surprised by the way they think or act. Individuality is more important in their society than in our society.

We have now still three weeks to go. It seems like the never ending story as I learnt that some of you were already at home lol. Once again I enjoy the experience a lot but I would like to have more time to work on my final paper too. Still I am very happy that I have made this choice and that I could study in a Flemish school. I have progressed in Dutch and in English I think. We had (and still have) a lot of work for our English course which was also good for my English. It is a pity although that I couldn’t stay longer after the classes with my classmates to speak with them. This was not possible because of the lack of spare time. We made several interesting things like a week of the diversity together. That has been good to strengthen our friendship. So I would make the same choice if I had to do it again but I would like more spare time to allow me to get to know the students better.

Even if I have learned a lot from this new experience I don’t think that I am changed. After all, as I said before, they are like between us and the Dutch which is a bit… like me lol. One of the things I have learned is the intensive use of media during the class. I consider it rather important today and I am ready to use more media in my classroom: magazines, papers, television, computers and of course… the internet. And if I would keep only one thing in my mind I hope I would be the fact that Flemish speaking people are not so different than we are.