2014, April. Edition 16
Location : America, Florida Period : February 2014
Edition Internship • for students from students • for students from TTO-group • for parents • for teachers
• for students from students
For my TTO internship, I took the opportunity to go abroad, and by abroad I don’t mean Belgium or Germany.. No, I took this opportunity to go to Florida! The people I stayed with were my mother’s colleague’s family. Are you still with me? No? Okay, well I will carry on with telling you about this th wonderful experience. I arrived on Friday the 7 of February, 19:40, at Orlando Sanford airport, feeling like a time traveller considering the 7 hours time difference with the Netherlands. I was really exhausted from my flight, but the odds weren’t in my favour, because we still had to drive three hours to get home, to Treasure Island (near St. Petersburg). Besides, we also had to stop somewhere for dinner. Well, the next morning I was kind of reloaded, and the fun could start! During the best two weeks of my life (which went by way too fast) I really got to experience the ‘Florida vibe’. The people were so friendly and relaxed, and I really had no trouble understanding everything they said. I felt like a stranger at first, but eventually I felt like I fit in. The people I stayed with, Mandy, Matthew and little Zoe Fesl were really the sweetest. They were so generous, they really spent too much money on me in my opinion, and they made sure I had a good time. And they succeeded, I must say. Also, during the best two weeks of my life I got to eat the most delicious pancakes ever, at a restaurant called Bob Evans. We actually visited the place three times.. Anyway, we visited Treasure Island beach, made a boat trip on Boca Ciega Bay and did grocery shopping at Publix on my first day. The supermarkets are really huge in Florida, just like everything else (the cars, the houses, the people….). My time really flew by, because we did so many fun things! I have to admit, I was supposed to help Mandy and Matthew with some light office work, but since there wasn’t really anything to do for me we spent little time in the office, and they showed me the south of Florida instead. I didn’t mind at all.. Of course we did some work related things, like a working lunch and a trip to the Verizon (a company like our KPN, Ziggo) Data Center in Tampa. We also visited Busch Gardens in Tampa, which was amazing! It’s a zoo and an amusement park combined, so attractive for all ages, so little Zoe (she’s two years old, and she was just getting into her talking phase.. so cute!) could also tag along. I also compensated to the American economy while I visited the country, because I nearly spent all my money doing shopping.. Everything was so cheap and nice and cute (that’s the word they use all the time, everything is cute)! We also visited Sarasota, Fort de Soto Park, and last but not least Seaworld! If you’d like to know more about all the excursions we did, here’s the link to my blog: www.lisagoestoflorida.blogspot.com. I wrote an entry every day, to let everyone at home know I wasn’t turning into a hamburger or anything like that.. You’re free to read it anytime you like! It’s also funny to mention that we went out for dinner and/or lunch almost every day. This is really common in their culture and I can tell you I love their culture!! I’m proud to say I hadn’t gained a single pound when, st on the 21 of February, I returned to our cold, rainy country, again exhausted after a very long flight. Lisa Stam V5
TTO News
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Special News Even voorstellen! Ik ben Wim Merjenburgh, 45 jaar, getrouwd met Susanne. Wij zijn de ouders van Marije (V4B) en Wouter (H2G), zij doen beide de TTO. Tijdens de stage voorlichting van Marije werd onder andere verteld dat er een vacature was in de stage commissie. Na een heftige selectieprocedure (ik was de enige, schijnt een pre te zijn) ben ik in april begonnen in de commissie. Voor mij een mooie en ook leuke invulling van mijn wens om iets voor de Willem te doen. Wim Merjenburgh
Fly away in May Het wordt druk op Schiphol. Onderstaande leerlingen gaan in mei het internationale avontuur beleven. Bart Zwaanswijk Sjanne Zeylemaker Pascalle Sebus Tessa van Vliet Esra Balaban Nathalie Uyl
Engeland Canada Engeland Engeland Turkeije Engeland
Mark van Gilst Richard Simons Steven Heesterman Sarah de Buck Angeline Kooijman Lotte van Dueren den Hollander
Amerika Engeland Amerika Nederland Nederland Singapore
Naar de Verenigde Staten op stage? Als je op stage gaat naar de Verenigde Staten dan moet je een ESTA-reistoestemming aanvragen. Doe dit minimaal 14 dagen voor je vertrekt. De ESTA-reistoestemming vervangt het groene I-94-formulier dat u voorheen aan boord van uw vlucht naar de Verenigde Staten moest invullen. Het aanvragen van een ESTA-reistoestemming kost USD 14, ongeveer EUR 10,50. U hoeft dit bedrag alleen voor uw ESTA-aanvraag te betalen als u een nieuw paspoort heeft, of als uw vorige ESTA-reistoestemming verlopen is. Ga naar www.esta.cbp.dhs.gov
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TTO News
South-Africa at his finest! Location : South Africa Period : February 2014 th
On the 8 of February, after a night of not sleeping the big day finally arrived, it was time to depart to South Africa. The day of departure had already been chaos from begin to start, though the 2 months before it were incredibly hectic. 11 hours later I stepped on South-African soul and from that moment the internship had begun.
Though these first moments weren’t that much fun, because they had forgotten my baggage, which would only arrive 2 days later. Completely exhausted I arrived at the hotel, where I was going to work for two weeks. The next morning the first shift began, I would have to work from 8 to 5 at housekeeping. One week later the shifts differed in which I had to work at the reception desk. With only one day off, from the two weeks, it was quite difficult to see something from South-Africa itself. Luckily I met a lot of nice people which took me to a lot of beautiful places. The ice-skating was very special, because I never expected to do this, while being in South-Africa. The overall experience was just fantastic and it was
very difficult to say goodbye to everyone. I would only depart around 00:30, so that day I went to the beach, to a wine tasting yard and went out for dinner. Unfortunately the moment I had to leave arrived and this was just way too quickly. Florian Vos V5
....en dan gaat je kind op stage Zomer 2009, Mark heeft gekozen voor VWO TTO, tijdens het intake gesprek wordt aangegeven dat ze in de 5de klas op stage gaan. Mijn eerste gedachte was:" gelukkig dat duurt nog heel lang!" In de jaren die volgen komt de stage regelmatig ter sprake maar is het nog altijd een ver van m'n bed show. Dan wordt het begin 2013, we hebben een bijeenkomst op school waar de stage commissie vertelt wat de stage in moet gaan houden. Ineens gaat het leven en besef je dat er het een en ander geregeld moet gaan worden. Diverse mensen om ons heen worden gepolst en uiteindelijk had de tante van Mark een ex collega in Amerika wonen die daar een eigen bedrijf is gestart. Het contact werd door Mark gelegd en degene waar hij naar toe kon was super enthousiast!! In de weken erna heb ik de praktische zaken geregeld zoals ticket, vereiste documenten maar ook in Mark z'n geval begeleiding op de luchthavens. Dit was omdat er zeer korte overstaptijden waren. En dan is de dag aangebroken, Mark gaat weg: Ik zal er niet om heen draaien, het is heftig!!! Een flinke stap voorwaarts in het proces loslaten!!! Maar....tegelijkertijd is het ook fantastisch, Mark had er heel veel zin in, z'n gastgezin was heel enthousiast, alles was goed geregeld. In de afgelopen jaren heb ik er aan kunnen wennen dat de stage ging komen maar ik heb ook gezien dat Mark steeds volwassener is geworden en op een punt kwam dat hij dit echt kon!!! Op dit moment zit Mark in Amerika, hij heeft het enorm naar z'n zin en Ik heb er een heel goed gevoel over. Kortom een ervaring voor het leven voor kind maar ook voor ouder!!! Lia van Gilst
School can be helpful by finding an internship, talk to your mentor!
TTO News
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A trip with new experiences Location: England, Cumbria Period: February 2014
So in the February holiday I finally went on internship! After a lot of last-minute work and stress, because I organized a lot just before I went there. This was because my pen pal said he had exams in the May holiday and it would fit him better if I came in February. So I tried to organize that all and in the end I even did it! So when I finally went there, my mum was very concerned about the journey. I went alone so she said that I should watch out for thieves, but in the end nothing happened. I took the plane to Edinburgh and then went with the bus to the train station after which I would take the train to Penrith. I had to wait a long time at the train station. It was very exciting and I really enjoyed the journey there. When I was there, it still was weekend so I had some time to prepare before I went to work. The company I worked with was called Out of Eden. They bought everything for hotels and bed & breakfasts in bulk and sold them. When I first got there, the people were very nice. My job was to go around the company exploring everything there was to the company. I heard they also did this with
new people to improve the cooperation between the different sectors inside the company. I started with regular, easy work in the warehouse. I had to do a lot of boring jobs, but I understand why, of course you are not going to work there permanently and I haven’t studied yet. It was very interesting to see how everything worked inside the company and I even got some confidential information. The work I did most of all was filling “welcome packs” consisting of some shampoo and body wash, used in hotels by putting new ones inside the bathroom. I also went to a hotel show with my ‘boss’. This was really nice to look what all is involved in hotel business.
I went through it pretty fast though and spent like an hour reading a book. The people in the company were all very nice, explaining very clearly what you had to do. Also, in my host family I had very good conversations with the mother from my pen pal, who was really nice. In my free time I mostly played on the Xbox of my pen pal and I also read a book for English. In the end I really enjoyed my stay there. Also I want to point out that I don’t really want to do anything with hotels, I just did this because it was very hard to find anything where they accept you and I was already very glad when I heard they wanted me here. Gijs van der Hoogt
Reflectieverslag na je stage Van je stage maak je een reflectieverslag. Daarin beschrijf je je ervaringen met betrekking tot je leervraag. What should be in your report? -
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Start with an introduction in which you explain why you chose this traineeship, and you thank the people you worked with. Introduce the reader to the company you stayed with (what kind of company) Write down what you had expected from your traineeship and mention whether these expectations came true. Describe what you did and how successful you were in your work. Provide evidence of your work if possible. Say what you learned about the company and the type of work you did. Say to what extent you have benefited from the experience.
Take notice of: -
This report will also be forwarded to the people you worked with. The report must be in English. It must be between two and four pages long. Your report must be handed in six weeks at the latest after having ended your traineeship and should be assessed as sufficient. In case the assessment is insufficient the school may provide you with an alternative or complimentary assignment. This will happen after consultation between your mentor, the team leader and the coordinator TTO upper school.
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TTO News
Viva a República Federativa do Brasil Location : Brazil, San Paulo Period : February 2014
The internship, probably the part most TTO students look forward to the most. So when it was the time to arrange mine, I was already very excited. I first looked into an internship in England, but quickly made up my mind that I wanted to go somewhere further. I was really lucky that I have family living in Sao Paulo, Brazil. What was even better is that my sister had to do her internship a few years ago, which gave me the opportunity to contact the internship address where she went, Graded international school. They responded very positive to my request and started arranging an internship for me immediately. My final internship would be to be an th assistant teacher in two different 5 grade classes, so I would be teaching children that were about nine years old. The date that I would leave quickly approached, and before I knew it my father brought me to Schiphol airport for my flight. As I flied accompanied, I could skip all the waiting lines and was even brought to my gate with a special cart. The 12 hour flight quickly passed, and 4 movies, lot’s of reading and hours of music later the plane started descending. The first thing I noticed when I stepped out of the plane was the immense heat, because of course I had to go to Brazil in the middle of a heat wave. After a long wait for my suitcase I finally got to see my family and they took my home. I spend the rest of the Saturday evening and the Sunday trying to adjust to the heat, which proved to be quite difficult. I immediately noticed the differences with Holland, although the traffic and the rest of the structure is a chaos the people in Brazil are a lot more relaxed, the opposite from how we are in Holland. Suddenly it was Monday morning and I had to get out of bed at 6 AM to get to my internship, no sleeping in I guess. The first thing I noticed when we arrived at the school was the excessive security, even though it was an international school they immediately noticed that I did not belong there. I was glad my cousin and aunt where there because the security did not speak English but Portuguese, but my family quickly pointed them to the fact that I was an intern. We were allowed to enter, and I did not have trouble passing the security ever since. Afterwards I learned that the security is this important because a lot of rich kids go to Graded and one of the biggest slums of Brazil was only 500 metres away. We were led to the principal from the lower school of Graded, which greeted my very kindly and showed me to the classroom where I would work for two weeks. We were allowed to enter, and I did not have trouble passing the security ever since. Afterwards I learned that the security is this important because a lot of rich kids go to Graded and one of the biggest slums of Brazil was
only 500 metres away. We were led to the principal from the lower school of Graded, which greeted my very kindly and showed me to the classroom where I would work for two weeks. The teacher there was very kind and immediately gave me the books they were working with and my very own laptop! (Laptops are a very important part of the education at Graded) Then it was the time the kids arrived, they first regarded me very warily, but some brave ones immediately started asking me questions which made me feel very welcome. During the course of two weeks I helped them with maths and science projects. They grew very fond of me and I grew very fond of them. Even though th my internship was supposed to be with the 5 grade, the people from Graded arranged more things for me to do. I started st teaching the 1 grades one hour every day and I even joined two English IB-classes, which were quite the same as we have on our school. The two weeks flew by and before I knew it, it was my last day at Graded. At this time I was starting to have a hard time with the idea that I had to leave everyone behind. The children also did not want me to go and one even proposed that I could stay in his house so I could stay longer. When I left they gave me cards and chocolates and asked me if I could come back someday, which I promised I would try. I love my internship and everyone I met, and if someone would offer me the opportunity to do it again I would do it, no questions asked! Marijn Wellen V5
I love my internship and everyone I met, and if someone would offer me the opportunity to do it again I would do it, no questions asked!
TTO News
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Do’s and Don’ts
Begin op tijd met het zoeken naar een stage! Praat veel met familie, kennissen en vrienden over je stage. De ervaring leert dat er iemand binnen je kennissenkring wel weer iemand kent die wellicht belangrijk voor het vinden van een stage adres kan zijn.
Gedragsregels
Aandachtspunten tijdens de reis
Tijdens de stage kom je in contact met bedrijven en instellingen. Wees je er van bewust dat je op dat moment het visitekaartje van de school bent. School en leerlingen hebben alle belang bij een positief beeld naar buiten toe in verband met toekomstige stageplaatsen.
Gedraag je op het vliegveld en bij de douane. Sinds de aanslagen van 11 september 2001 zijn de veiligheidsmaatregelingen verscherpt en verzwaard. Het zou zeer vervelend zijn als jouw gevoel voor humor jou en je medereizigers in vervelende situaties zou brengen.
Vaak hebben personen die connecties met een bepaald bedrijf hebben, een stageplaats voor je gezocht. Ook naar deze personen toe, heb je een zekere verantwoordelijkheid. Zij blijven in de toekomst zaken doen met deze bedrijven.
Let altijd goed op je bagage als je reist, verlies het niet uit het oog! Vanzelfsprekend drink je geen alcohol en rook je niet. Vergeet je paspoort en je verzekeringspapieren niet!
Belangrijke data voor inleveren stageplan TIPS Maak een kopie van je paspoort en verzekeringspapieren en noteer pasnummers (handig bij verlies). Zorg dat je belangrijke telefoonnummers altijd bij de hand hebt. Verder is het belangrijk dat het paspoort (of ID) nog geldig is!
Aandachtspunten tijdens het verblijf Pas je aan bij de regels die binnen het stagebedrijf gelden en maak goede afspraken over bijvoorbeeld werktijden en (koffie-)pauzes. Probeer van tevoren aan de weet te komen wat er van je verwacht wordt met betrekking tot de kleding die je draagt. Let op je taalgebruik. De directe manier waarop in Nederland vaak dingen gezegd worden, wordt in het buitenland niet altijd gewaardeerd. Vermijd taal die door buitenlanders als grof wordt ervaren. Breng nooit vertrouwelijke informatie naar buiten van het bedrijf waar je stage loopt. Stel je positief op en bedenk dat zelfverzekerdheid een goede eigenschap is; eigenwijsheid niet!
Je stageplan dient uiterlijk 6 weken voordat de vakantie begint, waarin je stage wilt gaan lopen, ingeleverd te zijn bij het stagebureau. Je mag het natuurlijk ook veel eerder inleveren! Raadpleeg voor de vakanties van dit schooljaar onderstaande vakantietabel Vakantie
Eerste dag
Laatste dag
Meivakantie
Zaterdag 26-04-2014
Dinsdag 06-05-2014
Zomervakantie
Zaterdag 19-07-2014
Zondag 31-08-2014
Herfstvakantie
Zaterdag 18-10-2014
Zondag 26-10-2014
Kerstvakantie
Zaterdag 20-12-2014
Zondag 04-01-2015
Voorjaarsvakantie
Zaterdag 21-02-2015
Zondag 01-03-2015
Meivakantie
Zaterdag 02-04-2015
Zondag 10-05-2015
Zomervakantie
Zaterdag 11-07-2015
Zondag 23-08-2015
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TTO News
Bangladesh: country with the kindest people in the world When I heard about the internship we had to do I became very excited. For me it wasn’t hard to choose where to go as my family lives in Bangladesh. I started talking to them and their reaction was very positive! At first, we planned that I would do my internship at the office with my uncle. The problem was that this would be at the Dutch embassy, so Dutch-speaking, grumpy, adult men. We decided that this wasn’t really a good idea so my aunt started telling about the international school she teaches in. This school is the largest, wealthiest, and most secured school in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Therefore, it wasn’t easy to let me do my internship at this school. My aunt finally arranged everything and told me that everyone was looking forward to meeting me, and so was I! When it was, finally, the th 14 of February I left our flat, rainy country and flew to Bangladesh. When I arrived, it was still midnight in Bangladesh so my uncle and their driver picked me up from the airport and we drove home. First, we slept for a few hours and then it was time to hug my two lovely cousins. We had missed each other so this moment was a good one! In Bangladesh the weekends are different from what we are used to, they have got their free time on Fridays and Saturdays and go back to work, and school, on Sunday. So, that Sunday, at 06:45, we were picked up by the special bus for teachers. This was our normal day for the coming two weeks. I was very excited and this helped me getting ready this early.
After a 20-minute drive we arrived at the school, wow. I was surprised by the big gates with security men, and loved the school from first sight. It were all different buildings which were connected by roofed paths. My aunt brought me to the classroom I was going to be spending my time the first week. Every class in this school had two teachers; the main, international teacher, and a local one. When I came to the classroom, Lucy, a young British woman, and Farzana, our lovely local women immediately started talking to me and I knew I was going to have a great time! This was even before the lovely children arrived, but when they did, I fell in love with their cuteness. I was spending this first week with Lucy, Farzana and 11, cute, 5-year-old children. Excited was an understatement! Already the first day I received lots of drawings from the children and, even though this sounds weird after just 1 week, I started to love these kids. They were very very cute, sweet, kind, interested and a lot more, I still miss them a lot! There was a sportsday for the little kids, and a “Fun run” in which they ran laps around the school to collect money for schools in Bangladesh which aren’t that rich, which is a very good goal! At first, I had lunch break with other teachers, during which I met some amazing people with who I talked a lot. But later, I decided to have lunch with the children and be there when they got time to play outside. The week had gone very fast, and it was already weekend. Halfway through my internship.. Over the weekend we just relaxed, went to the Dutch-club to eat and swim and had dinner. Next Sunday my second period started, I went to another class with miss Kate, an Australian woman, and miss Sarah. The children in this class were around 4 and also very cute. But because I had such a lovely time with the previous class, I still joined them during break. This resulted in having a good bond with them, and less
Location : Bangladesh Period : February 2014
with the others. But in the end, I enjoyed both of the classes! On my last day, the first class, Lucy and Farzana came to me, they made me a farewell-card, and it was very hard to hide the tears when they gave me a last, long hug. I can definitely say that me internship was simply amazing, and it’s an experience that I will never ever forget! Which is thanks to lots of kind people! Yvonne Edel, V5
TTO News
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Meanwhile in Ireland TTO NEWS is een uitgave van het stagebureau van De Willem. Stagebureau De Willem Randweg 2 3263 RA Oud-Beijerland
[email protected] Redactie Marjan Rozemeijer
Bezoek onze website www.dewillem.nl
Edition 15 – April 2014
Location : Ireland Period : February 2014
On the 13th of February I started the best experience of my life so far. Though the country I would visit for my international internship is not exotic or far away, I have to say that I could not have wished for a better place to go to. It is the country of St. Patrick, beer and rain; Yes, I am talking about the lovely republic of Ireland. Of course the location is not half as important as the work you are going to do, so I made sure both location and job were perfect. Well for me at least. I spent 16 days cuddling cows and calves as a large animal vet. Since my vet and host, Sara Salgado, wasn’t there during my first week I went to cattle markets with a cattle deal, Jim Corcoran, on the days that the other vet did not work in the practice. I want to be a veterinarian, so this job was a great inspiration and motivation to me. If you paid attention you might have read that my host family Salgado wasn’t there during my first week, which meant I had to stay in a huge house in the middle of nowhere with only a dog as company. Of course I was a bit frightened about this at first, but in the end I could say it made me more independent and I definitely think I came back as a more mature person. Interesting fact: it is actually satisfying to talk to dogs when no one else is around. They really are great company. The job I did was fantastic. I helped with TB tests of more than 300 (!!!) cattle, drove around a huge part of Ireland to visit markets and collect the cattle that needed to be sold, saw a calf being born and cuddled baby goats, cows and sheep. Of course there were also things that were a bit shocking: I visited the slaughter house, saw a cow that had a lethal virus, helped with an autopsy of a (dead) sheep and witnessed the birth of two dead calves. Of course this is part of the job, so it was good that I did not only see the sunny side of being a vet. All in all, I can say I truly had the best experience of my life. I met new friends; I can add another country to great places to stay, did a job that motivates me more than ever and one that can only push me more towards my aspirations for the future. Last of all, I do have some tips to make sure you also have the best experience of your life: 1. Follow your heart; this is a chance to really experience a job so do something that you love. 2. Do not focus on the location too much! Of course it adds up to your experience, but being a part of something that you love and aspire is more important, but hey who am I? Not travelling to far also had pro’s: costs aren’t as high if you ever want to visit the people you met again ;) 3. Start organizing your internship quickly enough. Even though everything turned out fine in my case, it is quite stressful if you have to organise a lot, two weeks before you go. 4. Do not book your tickets too fast! I had a lot of trouble, just because of this. Make sure everything is a 100% sure (and not 99,99 %) 5. Have fun! This possibly is your first time out in the world on your own. Enjoy each and every aspect of it. If anyone is interested in more advice or wants to read about my adventures (in Dutch) you can contact school or visit my blog: www.meanwhileinirelandwithyas.blogspot.com Yasmina de Groot V5
