The Perks of Being a European Traveler : Touring around London

Today we were scheduled to go to the University of East London. We went to the stations to board the train to go to Mile End. At this time, it was very busy with people going to work and it was hard to get into the train. I ended up being left behind! I really had to laugh at the situation and I caught the next train which arrived about three minutes later. Luckily the group waited for me and was very happy to see that I was alright!

We then met Malcolm and took a "bendy bus" to the university. Once we were there, we met with Ian who is a professor in the education department there. In his lecture, Ian talked about how there is very little prep time for students wanting to be teachers, they are thrown right into a classroom. There are also three blocks of teaching which are six weeks long (similar to the American teaching program). Ian also discussed Every Child Matters which is something I really enjoyed hearing about. It is a philosophy to make sure that students are valued, not only educationally but also with their safety. It deals a lot with preventing child neglect and abuse with lots of safety checks as students grow up. Some other things that Every Matters looks at are: citizenship, bullying, health, economic well-being, and equal opportunities.

Ian

On our way back to the station, we got to see parts of the 2012 Olympic Center. For the rest of the early afternoon, we got to go and see St. Paul's Cathedral which was again amazing architecture. Then we got to see the Globe Theater (Shakespeare!) and cross the Millennium Bridge (more Harry Potter!).

St. Paul's Cathedral

On the Millennium Bridge

The Globe Theater

Our late afternoon lecture was at the Salvation Army Headquarters with Caroline Haines. I absolutely adored her lecture! I got so many good quotes from her talk including my new favorite: "Demand a minimum of one person in each of your classrooms that is a better person by knowing you." Caroline talked about religious education in schools, which unlike American schools, is a mandatory learning requirement; however, they do it in a very unique way. They focus on multiculturalism (something I'm very passionate about) and include many different ways of looking at a topic based on a certain religious viewpoint. I loved that they included those different ways to represent each background within the school.

That evening, Dr. Cook, Danielle, Bethany, Kim, and I went to go see Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theater. It was fantastic! They really included all of the audience in their props and we had wonderful seats. The talent of the actors and actresses shown through amazingly!