Edition Internship

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
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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,
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on the 21 of February, I returned to our cold, rainy country, again exhausted after a very long flight.
Lisa Stam V5
TTO News
Page 2 of 8
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
Page 3 of 8
TTO News
South-Africa at his finest!
Location : South Africa
Period : February 2014
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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
Page 4 of 8
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?
-
-
-
-
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.
Page 5 of 8
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
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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
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my internship was supposed to be with the 5 grade, the people
from Graded arranged more things for me to do. I started
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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
Page 6 of 8
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
Page 7 of 8
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
Page 8 of 8
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

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