In term 1, I joined the Course of Outdoor Learning in Theory and Practice. We had a chance to lead the class outdoor with the children. We were divided into several groups depending on the school-age in line with our passion and specialty.  I joined a preschool group because of my experience as an early childhood teacher and my motivation to understand outdoor education for early childhood better.  So after we assigned in groups, we had several seminars, written summaries or reports, and practical activities in an outdoor setting that related to the age group. This process was really helpful to build holistic knowledge before you start your own lesson plan and activities.

So after a few weeks, we had a discussion about what activities we want to do with the student. We consider several aspects especially the sense of place, experiential learning, and fun time. We also tried to input the learning objective related to basic mathematic and focus on social engagement between the student. We planned several games in the beginning and in the end.

We concluded that we should bring activities that can sustain, which means there is a possibility for the teacher to continue it. That’s why we choose to have activity create traces and follow the trail, as we acknowledge that many children in Sweden are lost in the forest every year. It is important for them to understand the path and pattern if they have difficulties in the forest.

Before we apply it to the real class we had a chance to try our lesson with our classmates. As we understand that to act as a preschool student probably will end up silly and I believe that a lot of my friends will act total for that! 🙂

So, we designed the lesson with something new that even for adults will not be easy to understand. That is a language barrier, so we talked in our own language to lead the activities. The activities themselves happened in the forest around 20 minutes from the university. In the end, the activity was so good and pretty sure my friends learned some new words that day.

After we received a lot of feedback and make sure that we prepared for the activity. We meet with the teacher who will help us in the day to explain our activity and ask some questions regarding the habit of school, and once more check the environment and the safety.

Finally, the day to lead the activity with experiential learning, hands-on practice, combine with visual help we did our activity. The children had so much fun and looked very enjoy the process from the beginning until the end. The teacher said that the children gained their confidence and knowledge to speak English in daily conversation.

For me, this opportunity was very special and help me to understand better how to apply my knowledge and theoretical understanding of real life. I gained my experience to work with team teacher and understand a little bit of Swedish

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