Today we went to a secondary school for refugee students. A teacher from the school greeted us and talked about the history of the school. This is school was meant for students to learn Dutch between 1-3 years. Overall there are 87 students between the age of 11-18 that come from all over the world who attend this school. The school is separated into five groups: 1) Starters 2) Post-Starter 3) Middle 4) Leaving 5) Mix. The students are separated by their level of speaking and understanding Dutch. In the starters' group, the teacher mentioned that they teach Dutch at the basis level and progress up. One issue that students in this school come across is being kicked out once they turn 18. According to Netherlands law, a child is required to attend school up to the age of 18. Since, most of the students are undocumented immigrates it makes it difficult to continue their education, health care is taken away from them, and they sometimes are left on the streets. After the teacher gave us a background on the school, we were separated into five groups to observe a classroom. Zach, Sydney and I got to observe the 'Leaving' group. This group was considered the highest group of students to understand and speak Dutch. Our teacher mentioned that depending on their age, after this year they would transfer to a regular Dutch secondary school to finish their education. We got to see the students act out clips from a movie they saw the day before. The teacher said that drama is technique that they use for student to practice speaking Dutch rather then just reading and writing it. After each group performed, the students had the opportunity to ask us questions and we had the opportunity to ask them questions. It was really interesting to observe the primary schools in Maastricht and compare it to this secondary school. The primary school in Maastricht were all great schools however, they were lacking diversity which I believe plays a big role in education. At St. Maarten College students came from all over the world! In the class I observed, there were students from Philippines, Afghanistan, Colombia, Turkey, St. Croix and much more! It was really cool to see that students that were coming from all these countries and learning a completely different language than what they are used to.
By observing this classroom, I gained a new perspective of a student. It was the first time that I felt that I did not understand what was being said in the classroom because of the language barrier. I started to think that their are students in the U.S that feel the same way. There are so many students that migrate from all over the world and attend school in the United States. Sometimes students come to school not know a word of English; however people, including teachers and students, need to understand that students that come into school not knowing English does not mean they are dumb...it actually means that they are determined because they are learning a new language in addition to their native language. Attending this school was really touching to see how hard the students work!
After our class observations, the teachers made a delicious lunch with soup, sandwiches, and Dutch pie! It was sooo goooood!! Once we finished our lunch we headed back to the city center and had the afternoon free to ourselves. Cinz, Hannah, and I explored the city for a little bit before we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.
Since it was our last night in Maastricht, as a group we went to dinner at a restaurant called Kiwi. It was a cute chic restaurant were all the college students hang out. We all had a great time and enjoyed our meal and drinks in Maastricht!
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