Studieskolen - Studieprøven, Mundtlig Kommunikation

I'm taking a break from preparing for the looming final leg of the Studieprøve (which, for me, is tomorrow morning), as I realized that I haven't done a breakdown of this part of the exam.

So, it breaks down like this:

After we took the listening portion of the exam, we were handed a paper with a list of three umbrella topics, under each of which were a variety of possible directions to go in when talking about each topic.  This time around, the umbrella topics are "sport's role in society," "the welfare state," and "public health in Denmark."

Unlike for the PD3, where we only needed to prepare a 2-minute presentation on a topic, for this exam we are expected to prepare three presentations, one for each umbrella topic.  Each one needs to be 5 minutes long.

The day goes as follows:  First, we come in and give a 1-minute presentation about ourselves (who we are, why we're taking module 6 Danish, what we're doing with our lives, etc.).  We then choose, at random, one of 3 cards.  That card will correspond to one of the umbrella topics we have prepared, and it's that presentation that we give.  After that, we then take the remaining 20 minutes or so to have a discussion of the topic presented with the censor.

It's a lot more work that any of us expected.  Because not only are we preparing 3 topics to present, we're also expected to know enough about each topic to discuss it for another 20 minutes after the presentation.

So, the exam sure does go out with a bang.

Luckily for me, I leave on Friday for a much needed trip back to the US to visit my family and friends.  Even if I manage to forget every word of Danish that I've ever learned while I'm away, it's okay as long as I pass tomorrow, because I'll never have to take another Danish class EVER AGAIN.

Studieskolen - Studieprøven, Lytteforståelse Prep

The listening portion for the Studieprøve is tomorrow, and it's sort of a difficult thing to prepare for.  Here's how this portion works:

Part I - In the first part of the exam, a teacher reads out an article, usually about something interesting that happened in Denmark's history.  The text is read aloud twice, and our task is to answer 10 questions about the text.  We can take as many notes as we like, and after the text is read twice, we are given 30 minutes to answer the questions.  The good news - we're allowed to use Danish/Danish dictionaries.  The bad news - the texts are usually written at a fairly high level, and will definitely include words that we've never heard before.  For this portion, grammar and spelling aren't as important, as long as the answer is understandable and correct.

Part II - I don't know why, but I kind of like this part.  Maybe it's because I'm one of those weirdos who kind of likes filling out forms.  So, we're given a text with 30 words or phrases missing.  The teacher then reads the article, and our task is to fill in the missing words that we hear during the reading.  The text is read 3 times: once straight through, once with pauses after each missing word or phrase, and then a 3rd time all the way through without breaks.  We're then given 20 minutes to make sure we have everything spelled correctly and with correct grammar.  For this portion, the word or phrase has to be 100% correct, otherwise it's marked wrong.

As far as preparation for this part of the exam, I have only a few recommendations.  First, do this to your dictionary:

For the second section, this will be extremely helpful.  It's recommended that you look up every word in every phrase you've filled in, even if you are certain it's correct, just to be sure.  And not having to sift through the dictionary trying to find the right section will save precious time.

It's also a good idea to listen to as much Danish as possible, and preferably Danish at a more advanced level than everyday conversations.  Listening to Danish radio helps (which you can stream online here), but I also recommend a Danish podcast called Third Ear.  If you like American public radio shows like This American Life or Radiolab, and you're pretty far along in your Danish learning, I highly recommend it.  Really interesting storytelling, usually about Danish history (both recent and not-so-recent).

And as an update to my previous post, the issue with my stolen residence card has been sorted out.  The administrators at Studieskolen sent me an email to print out and bring with me to the exam, which will act as dispensation.  So, thank goodness for that.

So, anyway, that's enough for today.  Good luck to everyone heading into the exam tomorrow.

Tempest in a Håndtaske

Having a wallet stolen is always disconcerting, and almost always comes with a host of inconveniences.

Such has been the case for me since I had my wallet stolen while walking around Magasin du Nord near Kongens Nytorv about a month ago.

I did all of the standard things as soon as I realized it was gone: cancelled my bank cards and ordered new ones, called the police to report the theft, etc.  What I wasn't expecting was that I would later have issues when I showed up for the Studieprøve...

As is also the case with the Prove i Dansk 3, you're told to show up to the exam with photo identification, so that you can prove that you are the person that they have listed as signed up for the exam.  What they don't quite make clear is that you're also supposed to be proving that you are a legal resident.

This is all well and good if you're an EU citizen, as you're allowed to live in Denmark just by virtue of living in the EU.  But for those of us who are not from an EU country, our status as legal resident isn't proven just by showing a passport.

I showed up to the exam with my passport, completely unconcerned.  There were two censors in our testing room, and the one who checked my legitimation insisted that I needed to prove my residency. Luckily, the other censor was actually my teacher from modules 3 and 4, so she vouched for me, but I was told that I needed to be sure to bring proof of residency to the next two parts of the exam.

Okay, fine, fair enough.

Off I went yesterday, to see what I could do about getting myself a new residency card before June 4th.  The people I spoke to at the State Administration were very nice, and I filled out my form and ordered my new card without any issue.

Well... almost without any issue.

The thing is... according to the woman I spoke to, the cards are made by a different company, and so the State Administration can't really predict how soon my new card will come.

She said it will take anywhere from 3 weeks to 6 months.

So... As you might expect, I had to go to the office at Studieskolen to explain the issue, and see what I can bring with me to prove that I'm allowed to be here.  It seems that this isn't an issue that comes up very often, as the chances of having a residence card stolen right around the same time as an exam are pretty damn slim.

As of right now, I still don't have an answer.  The women in the office at Studieskolen are looking into the issue, contacting an "expert," trying to figure out the solution.

So, that's today's little bit of advice - If you're not an EU citizen, bring your residence card.

Better safe than sorry.

Studieprøven - How to Prepare

Under two weeks until the first part of the Studieprøve exam, and I'm feeling surprisingly calm.

My grades on the practice exams have been steadily improving, and I'm feeling pretty good about it.  I still have the most issues with the listening and dictation portion of the exam, but that part isn't until next month, so I've got a bit more time.

Today, I had a comment on a previous post from someone who is studying for the exam on her own, asking for suggestions for books or other resources to buy online.  We didn't actually use any books this module, so here are my two suggestion for anyone looking for ways to help study for the Studieprøve:

1.  Read the newspaper.  We spend a lot of time in class reading through recent news articles about topics from Danish and European politics, to climate change, to Greenland, and more.  Not only does this help with building vocabulary, but it also gives a lot of context that can be included in both the written and oral portions of the exam.

2. Practice, practice, practice.  Nearly every day in class, we practice for the exam with one or more portions from previous exams.  It's really helpful to get a feel for the layout and timing of the exam.  For example, similar to the PD3 exam, there is a reading portion in which we're given a pamphlet and asked to scan through it and find short answers.  Easy enough, but we're only given 25 minutes for this portion of the Studieprøve, so it's important to practice scanning and knowing how much time to take for each question.  If you scroll down to the bottom of this page, you'll find examples of the various sections of the exam from previous years.  SOOOOOO important to take advantage of these and keep yourself strictly to the time allowed for each section.

Hopefully those tips are helpful to those of you heading into the exams soon.  I'd love you hear how it went for all of you when you're done.

Studieskolen - Module 6 is Melting My Brain

Oh, hi there!

Remember me?  I'm that terrible blogger who hasn't written anything in nearly a month in a half.  Yeah, that one!

The truth is, module 6 has us writing so much that I just haven't been able to bring myself to write more.  Strangely, we took the entire class today to do a practice of the writing portion of the studieprøve exam, which is 3 hours of writing.

And yet, here I am.  Go figure.

So, let's catch up a bit.

Firstly, module 6 is hard.  On the very first day of class, we were already doing practice portions of the exam, which isn't until May/June.  And everyone in the class got high scores on their PD3 exam, which means everyone is really damn good at Danish.

That being said, I at least would have passed the portion that we practiced that first day, which is reassuring.  And the majority of university programs that require the studieprøve exam only require that you pass it with a score of 2 or higher.

As I mentioned, we're doing tons of writing, and often on topics that I struggle to stay interested in.  For example, we spent a couple of weeks discussing the EU parliament and the Danes who sit on it.  I wish I could care about EU politics, but as of yet, I haven't been able to.

Our teacher is tough, but nice.  She knows a lot and expects a lot, but is also perfectly willing to go off topic on occasion.

And she reminds me of my sister.  She actually looks a bit like her, and drinks huge amounts of coffee out of pint glasses, just like my sister does.

We'll be continuing to practice all of the many different bits of the exam for the next few months.  Not only does this exam include the reading, writing, and speaking portions like the PD3 exam, but it also includes a listening portion, which includes some dictation.  Dictation in which every word has to be spelled exactly correctly, otherwise the answer is considered completely wrong.

I'd like to go ahead and recommend a Danish dictionary.  It's just Danish, not Danish-English, but I've found it really useful.  It's actually just the updated version of one of the dictionaries that they have in every classroom at Studieskolen.  Here it is:

2014 Preview

A friend of mine once told me that odd numbered years tend to be the toughest.  Not all odd numbered years, but when a year is tough, it always seems to be odd numbered.

Now, I don't really believe in that kind of thing, but I will admit that 2013 has been a tough one, with almost everyone I know going through very difficult times.  And I'll also admit that the last year that I had that came anywhere near to being as tough was 2009.

The good news is that 2014 is just hours away, and while much of how the year will go is up in the air, I'm doing my best to think of it as a year of possibilities.

So, what can you expect to read about?  A few things:

- On the 6th of January, I'll make my way back to the halls of Studieskolen to begin module 6.  That's right, they actually let me in.  My oral exam didn't shake out as I'd hoped, as I was unexpectedly and excessively nervous.  Having walked out of my little presentation with only a 7, I had to call the student counselor to see if they would still allow me to proceed.  Luckily, the writing portion of the PD3 is the most important for module 6, and I'd gotten a 10 on that, so they signed me up without any issue.  So that means even more Studieskolen updates.

- In February, the university application website opens, and I'll be able to start applying for programs at several of the schools in the Copenhagen area.  Once all of that's done, I'll try to give updates on that process and the process of applying for SU (the student stipend that Danish and other EU citizens receive when they attend university).  I've heard horror stories about how much bureaucracy and misinformation there is when it comes to my particular SU loophole, so… that should be interesting.

- We may have a chance to make a trip back to America this year.  It's strange that it's been a year and a half since we've been there.  The time here has really flown.

- Hopefully, if everything goes as I hope it will, I'll be heading back to school in the Fall.  Which program?  I don't know yet.  Which school?  Also a mystery.  But I'm sure I'll post as soon as decisions are made.

So, I hope you all have a lovely New Years, and I hope your 2014 is full of just as many possibilities.

PD3 Part I - THE RESULTS ARE IN!

The reading and writing portions of the PD3 exam were just under two weeks ago, and despite all of the preparation, I still felt nervous and unfocused.  I just barely finished each section within the allotted time, mostly because I spent huge portions of time just staring down at my paper.

A few days before our scores were due to arrive, our teacher gave us a look at the answers to the reading portion.  This was great and all, but with a crap memory like mine, it only helped to confirm the few answers that I could remember.  Since our own answers were off being graded, we only had our own memories to go by as we checked the answers.  What I was able to confirm was that the one question I was almost sure I got wrong was, in fact, wrong.

We celebrated finishing the most time-consuming bit of the exam with a party at our place the Friday after the exam.  Everyone brought a dish from whatever country they came from, and the evening was full of fun conversation and TONS of food.  It was the very definition of Danish hygge.

On Friday morning, as I walked to class, I checked my email hoping I would have the email containing my grades.  I had, indeed, received an email from the school, but it looked at first like it only contained the time and place for my oral exam on the 16th.  As I scrolled further down, though, I got a shock that almost had me shouting out loud right there on the sidewalk:

Resultatet af dine skriftlige prøver fra denne termin:
Læseforståelse:                    10
Skriftlig fremstilling:              10

Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles… I actually managed to get the 10s I will need to continue on to module 6 after New Years!

I also received the subject for which I'm supposed to prepare a 2-minute monologue for the oral exam: Illegal dog breeds in Denmark.

We all know I love to talk about dogs, plus the topic was given well before we were expecting, giving us even more time than we thought we'd have to prepare.

Merry Christmas to me!

Studieskolen - HERE COMES THE PD3

What a terrible blogger I've been!

With the looming PD3 exam, I've been utterly distracted.  So distracted, in fact, that the damn thing snuck right up on me.

In fact, it's tomorrow.  Or rather, the first part of it is tomorrow.

Since we've spent the last month or so doing practice exams with actual previous PD3s, I am able to give a pretty good breakdown of how the thing works.  So, here goes:

The first day of the exam lasts about 5 hours.  It starts with the "reading and understanding" portion, which is broken up into 2 sections.  First, we're given some kind of information booklet (so far we've seen booklets about Danish taxes, university programs, nature hikes and short trips within Denmark, among others), from which we answer maybe a dozen questions.  We're given 25 minutes for this bit, so it's all about reading the Table of Contents and scanning through information.  Next, we're given a packet with 2-3 articles and we're given 65 minutes to read them and answer questions.  The tricky bit here is that they're looking for very specific answers, so if you haven't fully understood the text, you're likely to give either too much or too little information for your response, leading to them counting your answer wrong, even if it's mostly right.  An important thing to note for this part of the exam is that, despite being allowed to use dictionaries for this part during all of the previous module exams, dictionaries of any kind are not allowed during this part of the PD3.

We'll then be given a 30 minute break, followed by the writing portion.  Good news, folks - dictionaries of all kinds are allowed for this part!  Here, we're expected to write two essays.  One is a response to a letter or email, in which they're looking for more casual language.  And for the second, we have a choice between two topics:  One is based on statistics about Danes or Denmark in which we're supposed to show that we know how to analyze and discuss said statistics, and the second gives a topic for which there are several points of view and asks that we discuss the merits of some of them.

As I mentioned, we've been doing practice exams for the last month or so, and our teacher has been grading them as though they were real PD3 exams.  Being used to an American grading system in which we're either graded from A to F, or we're graded on a percentage scale up to 100%, the Danish grading system is baffling to me.  The possible grades are as follows: -3 and 00 are the grades below the failure line, a 2 is a passing grade, next is a 4 (which is the score needed to attain citizenship), followed by 7 (the American equivalent to getting a B), and finally 10 and 12.  You need a 10 on all sections of the PD3 in order to proceed directly on the module 6.

How have I been doing to far?  In the beginning, I was getting 7's on absolutely everything.  Even the ones that I thought I'd done really well on, always a 7.  Lately, though, I've been doing better.  Mostly 10s, and even a 12 last week on a "reading and understanding" portion.

Here's hoping tomorrow's exam goes as well.  A lot is riding on it.

No pressure or anything...

Studieskolen - Module 5.1, The Remix

Oh, hi there!  Thought I forgot about you, eh?

Nope, it's just been a busy Summer, with doctor visits galore, classes, traveling to see a sick relative, and having family in town.  Not to mention a puppy who's managed to end up with giardia, which has been... smelly and time-consuming.

But, as planned, I have returned for another go-around with module 5.1, rejoining my class from before the Summer "break."  And boy am I glad to be back.  It's nice to see familiar faces and to hear familiar Danish.  Plus, I really do like the way our teacher teaches.

In other news, last week I embarked on what I'm calling Project Let's-Find-Out-if-Ruby-is-a Piano-Prodigy.

In preparation for auditions to try to get into a music program at a university here in Copenhagen, I've started to take piano lessons.  I've never taken lessons on an instrument, and have only really learned to read music as a singer, so... I'm leaning towards me not being a prodigy.

That being said, I do have the advantage of already knowing quite a bit about music, so the teacher has been able to skip a lot of the basic music theory stuff and jump right into trying to train my hands to listen to my brain.

I'm convinced my left hand is controlled by someone other than me.

Studieskolen - Module 5.1, The Overachievers

Who goes to Summer classes at Studieskolen?

The overachievers, that's who.

At least, it seems that way.

While the class is supposedly supposed to have 11 people in it, it seems that there are actually only 5-7 students.  This is the smallest Danish class I've been in at Studieskolen, and it's nice to be able to have more individual attention.

Like I said, though, the other students in the class are all damn good at Danish.  One girl said on the first day that she only reads books in Danish, so her vocabulary is freakin' enormous.  One guy (the only guy in our class, other than the teacher) said that he learned Danish at age 16, though I'm still not quite sure why (he's Turkish, and Danish seems like a pretty obscure language to learn in high school). Still another girl has already done module 5.1 once before, so she's got all of the answers in her book already.  Not to mention, when I arrived in class this morning I saw her reading the dictionary!

So, I'm feeling a bit behind at the moment.

The good news is, the class is as relaxed as a Summer class should be.

The bad news is that it turns out that our class will be cut short by 2 weeks, as the teacher who was supposed to teach at the end is in the hospital (she's fine, but won't be able to teach, from what I understand).

So, more than ever, I'm glad that I decided in advance to repeat module 5.1 in the Fall, so that I'm sure not to miss anything important.

I'm still annoyed that my own memory for words sucks so much.  Anyone have any memory-improving tips?

Studieskolen - Module 4.2, Exam Part II

Oops!  More than a week later, and I still haven't posted about the second half of the module 4 exam.

So, here it is:

On the day of the first half of the exam (which was a Friday), the teacher paired us up and gave us our time-slots for the spoken portion, which would take place the following Monday.  I was paired up with a friend that I'd been in classes with since module 1, so I felt good about that.

The spoken exam was almost exactly like our spoken exam for module 2.  In the first half, we blindly chose from a list that we'd made of the 3 books we'd read during the module and two topics which we'd researched and prepared a 2-minute presentation for.  I ended up choosing one of those topics, and spoke a bit about the difference between how radio stations and media conglomerates work in the US as compared to how radio functions here in Denmark.  The friend that I was paired with spoke about one of her books, which I believe was called something like "Den Grå Mand" ("The Gray Man").

In the second half, the teacher handed us a piece of paper with a topic and a few words to use as jumping-off points.  The goal was simple to have a brief conversation with our partner about the topic.  Ours was TV, so we chatted a bit about how neither of us watches much Danish TV, but that she likes the show "Matador" (which is an older Danish program), and that my husband and I are planning to get caught up on seasons 2 and 3 of "Forbrydelsen."

In the end, we passed without any major issues, as was the case for everyone in the class (as far as I know).

Since it's been a week and a half since all of that, expect another post about my impressions of the start of module 5 sooner than later.

Studieskolen - Module 4.2, Exam Part I

It's been hot and humid in Copenhagen over the last couple of days.  While 70+ degrees (fahrenheit) never used to feel especially hot, here in Copenhagen it feels oppressive.  Something about the combination of the angle of the sun and the high humidity.

That, and the total lack of air conditioning anywhere.

It was in these sweaty conditions, and accompanied by the seemingly unending sounds of construction outside of the Studieskolen building, that we took the first part of our module 4 exam.

The test was fairly similar to previous exams, although it seemed to take much longer.  We started with one of two written bits, for which I wrote a letter about where and how I grew up to a fictional person compiling stories of people's childhoods.  We then moved on to the listening portion, in which we listened to various passages and answered questions based on them.  This was then followed by the reading and understanding portion, where we had a variety of tasks involving reading or scanning through texts and answering questions or filling in blanks.  The teacher was kind enough to break up the two long writing assignments, so we finished with the second of these.  The final written task asked that we write an article for the fictional school newspaper discussing the pros and cons of volunteering to visit lonely elderly people in connection with the Red Cross.

We were given the test without any breaks, and the whole thing took 3 hours.

I was sweaty, tired, and starving when I left, but I'm 99% sure that I did just fine.

Providing I didn't somehow manage to bomb the whole thing, and that I don't completely forget how to speak Danish in anticipation of the spoken bit of the test on Monday, my plan is to attend module 5.1 over the Summer.  The dilemma I briefly had was that my current teacher, who I have learned so much from, is taking the six-week Summer break and not continuing on to module 5.1 until August.

The solution?

I will most likely repeat module 5.1 again in August, because he's definitely the best teacher that I've had here so far.  Plus, the more time I can spend in module 5 before the PD3 exam in November, the more likely I will be to get the minimum 10 required to move on to module 6.

Whatever it takes.  Within reason.

Studieskolen - Module 4.2, EXAM PANIC!

They've gone and scheduled our module 4 exam.  It'll be broken up into two bits.  The first bit will be a week from this Friday, and the last bit the following Monday.

As far as the actual make-up of the test, I don't have too many details.  What I do know is that, much like the module 1 exam, we will have a spoken portion in which we are given a topic at random (from a list of three books we've read and two topics that we've prepared), and we are supposed to talk about the topic for two minutes, followed by questions from the teacher.

As far as the rest of the exam, for now I assume it will be much like the previous exams: some reading comprehension, some listening bits, and a written portion involving writing letters and/or emails.

To be honest, I'm not especially panicked about this exam.

It's the module 5 exam that's stressing me.

We were given Monday's class to decide on and research the two topics of our choosing for the spoken section of the test, and I found myself sitting at a computer next to our new teacher.  I took the opportunity to grill him on what would be needed to proceed to module 6 after the PD3 exam at the end of module 5.

He explained the grading system, which is on a scale of 12.  To pass the PD3, you only need to score a 2.  In order to get Danish citizenship, you need to pass the test with a score of at least 4.  In order to be allowed to proceed to module 6, which I would need in order to take university courses in Danish...

I'll need to score a 10.

So, the plan is to seriously buckle down.  I've downloaded a couple of language-learning apps onto my iPad (the most useful of which, so far, is called Memrise, and teaches languages and loads of other topics), and plan to jump back into the Rosetta Stone practice as well.  My main problem is, as always, remembering the vocabulary.  I find myself looking up words a dozen times and still not being able to remember them the next time.

My plan, as well, is to try to continue to take Danish classes through the Summer break.  There's only one day class offered at Studieskolen during the break, and my teacher admitted that it's entirely possible that there won't be room for everyone and that there's nothing I can do to ensure a spot, so...

Just gonna cross my fingers and hope that everyone else decides that they need a Summer vacation.

Studieskolen - Module 4.2, A New Hope

The new teacher walked confidently into the room wearing jeans and an open button-down gingham shirt over a plain white t-shirt, looking like a mix between Paul Giamatti and Tim Curry.  His hair was wild and curly and his smile was big and full of humor.

I knew immediately that this was going to work out.

From the start it was clear that the new teacher had been teaching Danish longer than our previous teacher.  He was infinitely more sure of himself and of the answers he was giving to our questions.  Not only that, but his Danish was far easier to understand.  Both because his pronunciation was clearer and because he seemed to have a better understanding of which words and phrases we had and had not learned in previous classes.

I already feel more optimistic about the class going forward.  To be honest, I had started to seriously lose hope and motivation, and was beginning to wonder if continuing was a waste of time.

It's clear that he's going to be a tough teacher.  Strict but kind. Insisting that we speak Danish whenever he's in the classroom, even before class starts and during breaks.  But always with a smile on his face.

It's nice to feel a renewed sense of hope.

En Film på Dansk

Strange as it feels to say, this is already the last week of module 4.1, and I'll be heading to module 4.2 next week.

Not only that, but it seems like we're changing horses midstream.

Instead of continuing on with our nice-but-frustrating Monday/Wednesday teacher, Studieskolen has altered the class a bit and we will have a brand new teacher next week.  We'll still have our other teacher one day a week, but our less experienced teacher is being replaced by someone who has, apparently, been working at the school for many years.

I, for one, am relieved.

So, today was our last class with the aforementioned inexperienced teacher.  We spent the first hour of class going over our homework, and took the following two hours to watch a Danish movie.

He asked the class if we would prefer English or Danish subtitles, and I think I was the only one to meekly squeak "...English...!"  That's was my insecurity speaking.  Everyone else enthusiastically voted for Danish.

So, Danish it was.

We watched a film called "Adams Æbler," (which, as you might have guessed, translates to "Adams Apples).  This is a film from 2005 starring famous Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen.  You might know him from the current American TV serious "Hannibal."

I went into it fully expecting to be completely lost, but I surprised myself.  I actually understood most of what was said.  To be fair, I would never have been able to figure it out without the subtitles.  But with the subtitles, I found that I could follow fairly well.

This gives me hope.  And maybe even a tiny bit more confidence.

By the way, speaking of subtitles... It's now a word that I often have difficulty remembering in English. I find myself always wanting to use the danish word (which is "undertekster").

I'm not sure I have room in my brain for both languages, and may eventually forget English completely.

Studieskolen - Module 4.1, Correcting Teacher

Started module 4 yesterday.

Meet the new teachers, same as the old teachers.

Indeed, I have the same two teachers as I had for module 3, and things with our Monday/Wednesday teacher have begun in style.

And by style, I mean with me having to explain the difference between past tense and present perfect tense to the teacher, after he gave us the wrong answer on an assignment during class.

To be fair (sort of), he seemed to be much more prepared prepared for the start of module 4 than he was for the start of module 3.  Then again, he didn't even know he was teaching on Mondays at the start of module 3, and showed up more than half an hour late.

You can't see it, but I'm rolling my eyes.

We also worked on an assignment in which we had to figure out where the "stød" (or glottal stop) was in each of the seasons and months of the year.  If you've been reading my posts for a while, you know my feelings on "stød."  Now, I've come around a little bit on the idea.  A very little bit.  For example, on words that sound almost exactly the same, sometimes the stød and the context of the surrounding sentence are the only way to know which word is being used.  However, insisting that we listen for something that is both difficult (and often impossible) to hear and usually unnecessary for the sake of being understood... feels like a waste of time.  Time that we could be using to learn useful things like... words and grammar.

Not to mention that stød is generally the least of people's problems when it comes to Danish pronunciation.

The good news is, our Thursday/Friday teacher is also the same as well, and I find her knowledgeable, easy to understand, and downright delightful.

Studieskolen - Module 3 Test Prep (and a small update)

Technically, as far at the Studieskolen module calendar is concerned, this module doesn't end for another 2 weeks.  However, since påskeferie (or Easter vacation) is next week, our teachers decided it would be better to have our module test the Friday before the break.  I know I don't expect to speak much Danish during my week off, so I can understand the logic.

One small problem...

My husband and I booked tickets to go see the family in England long before they decided when they were going to have the exam, and I leave on Thursday.

Luckily, the folks at Studieskolen are generally pretty understanding about the fact that their students are adults and have lives outside of Danish class, and are totally accommodating.  What that means, however, is that I'll be taking the test by myself in a different room during class on Thursday morning.

As far as what the test will involve, here's what I know:  There's no spoken section of this exam, and no listening section either.  As far as I know, the test is made up of a few sections that involve reading texts and choosing correct answers based on that test, and then a writing section in which we'll need to write a formal letter and possibly an informal email.

We spent the last class working on informal emails, and we spent one previous class working on understanding the formal and commonly used expressions in formal emails.  However, as I mentioned in a previous post, I feel like this is a skill that would have been helpful MUCH earlier on.  At the very least, earlier on on module 3.  Hell, even closer to the beginning of module 3.2.

But I don't write the curriculum, so...

We'll see how it goes.

And a quick update on this post:  I went to the hospital on Friday, and they took a family history and and gave me some additional information about the implications and preventative measures if I do end up having the gene (all of which was actually more distressing than I'd previously thought), and then sent me downstairs to get blood drawn for the test itself.  And now, I wait.  I wait somewhere between 1 and 2 months...

Studieskolen - Module 3.2, Frustrations

I'm about a week away from my module 3 exam, and there's definitely tension in the air in my class.  It seems that quite a few of my classmates are frustrated with the class for various reasons.

Some feel like they're not learning anything new, or they don't feel like we're focusing on the things they need help with.  Others are simple lost completely.  Still others (myself included) are getting tired of our Monday/Wednesday teacher's teaching methods.

It's been a very different vibe in class during module 3, and not always in a good way.  Especially on Mondays and Wednesdays, when many of us feel that even the teacher doesn't know the correct answers.  And if he doesn't really know what the answers are, then how are we supposed to learn?

Today was especially frustrating.  We spent part of the class working on the "tryk" or stress on words in sentences.  Danish is a sort of musical language, and the inflection has a sort of rhythm to it.  Unfortunately, our teacher doesn't seem to be a terribly rhythmic guy, so even when he's saying a sentence with the stresses clearly on one word, he tells us that the stress is on different words.  It's baffling and frustrating.  It's never been an exercise that I've had problems with until I started taking classes with him.

As far as the module 3 exam, it's entirely made up of reading and writing exercises.  No listening or speaking this time around, which is fine with me.

However, we've just now started learning how to write the more formal letters that we'll have to write for the exam.  Things like job application letters and formal requests for various things.  If it were up to me, that's the kind of thing we would have been working on from the start.  The Danish job application letter is very different from an American cover letter, and I just today found out that I've been writing them incorrectly since I got here.

It's frustrating.

More frustrating still, it looks like I'll have the same teachers for module 4.  I still really like our Thursday/Friday teacher, but Monday/Wednesday-guy needs to get his act together.

Hodgepodge for 500, Alex

It's been a bit of a quiet month as far as posts go.  Oddly enough, this is more because there's been too much going on than that I've had nothing to write about.  So here is a brief rundown of this months news:

I'm about a week and a half into module 3.2 now.  It's been a bit of a strange experience, as we had a whole bunch of new students join the class.  So many, in fact, that there are now more new students than people I know.  Stranger still, most of the new students were put into the class directly from module 2.  It seems their teacher thought that they were all so good that they should skip 3.1 completely.  It's entirely possibly that the really are that good, but it does mean that the our teachers in 3.2 are having to repeat a lot of the stuff we learned over the past 6 weeks, and that does slow class down quite a bit.

In other news, I've had my first experience with Denmark's national healthcare system this month, and I have to say... so far, it's a huge improvement from my experience in the US.  I decided it was time to meet my doctor and ask a few medical questions that I've had on my mind for a while, so I called to make an appointment.  They assign a doctor to you when you get your CPR number, and that doctor's name and number are then printed on your "yellow card" (your CPR card).  I was a little worried at first, as the first time I called I got a message saying there were too many people waiting on the line and that I should try back later.  Next time, though, I got through no problem and made my appointment.  Once I got to the office that day, all I had to do was swipe my yellow card in their little machine, and my appointment time popped up on the screen, and I was officially checked in.  The doctor was very nice, and everything seems to have gone just fine.  Even better still, I didn't have to worry about if or when I would get a bill in the mail.  So far, so good.

And finally, my folks have been in town for the last week.  They fly out this morning, but we've spent the past week walking all around the city, seeing the sights.  When learning a new language, it helps to put things in perspective by being visited be people who don't know the language.  I was reassured by how often they would ask what sometime meant and I was able to give them an answer.

Then again, my mother was picking the words up quickly enough that we're fairly certain she'll know Danish before I do.

Studieskolen - Module 3.1, What's This? Another Test?

There I was, plugging away at my Danish classes, when out of the blue...

An unexpected test.

Okay, it wasn't entirely unexpected.  Our Thursday/Friday warned us last week that we would be having a test to move forward from module 3.1 to module 3.2.  She didn't, however, specify when until earlier this week.  And the test was to be today (Thursday).  She also didn't tell our Monday/Wednesday teacher what kinds of things would be on the test, so that we knew what to study.

So, it was a big giant mystery when we arrived in class today.  I was feeling fairly confident that I understood that grammar that we'd learned so far, until she handed back some recent homework and I realized that I'd gotten about 80% of it wrong.

While some of the previously taught grammatical rules are becoming more and more clear, we've started to learn more that seem to tie my head into knots.

Thursdays are always a little bit tougher than other days, with class the day before followed by a cappella rehearsals at night.  I find myself rushing through the homework without really focusing on what I'm doing.

Something to work on, for sure.

Oh, and have I mentioned that the puppy is going through a phase where he's forgotten how to sleep through the night?

My husband brought home ear plugs today.  Maybe a full night's sleep will help solve the concentration problems I've had in class lately.

When in doubt, blame the dog.