The day of departure

My stay in Canterbury is coming to an end. This morning I took my last stroll down its cobbled streets to see any pilgrim's destination, the Cathedral. It felt like not visiting it would make my stay incomplete. An entrance fee for an adult will run 12,5 pounds.

stained glass windows at Canterbury Cathedral

Link to the bells of Canterbury Cathedral.

Now I am all packed and ready to catch the Canterbury-to-Gatwick train. With gratitude to Brian and Silmara for a warm receipt and being patient with us, I hold hopes the students make the most of their stay in Canterbury and upon completion of the project we will all celebrate their rocketed confidence and improved language skills.

A follow-up word of wisdom. When traveling in Britain by train, I strongly advise (and I cannot stress it enough)  to consider train delays. Trains here view timetables as guidelines rather than call to action. Mine did so, having shown up good 40 minutes later than expected. Which doubled the excitement.

The fifth day in Canterbury.

The fifth day in Canterbury.

Getting train tickets at Canterbury West, swapping trousers in the laundry, a stroll down Westgate gardens and all the way down to the Norman Castle, following the town wall and back to the College. The last get-together with the students. Final reflections on staying in Canterbury.
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This morning started with a discovery I could have done without: the laundryman had handed me someone else's pants. It took a while to have the matter sorted out and I headed for the train station to print out my Canterbury-to-Gatwick ticket.

As I had three more hours on my hands before the meeting with students at the College, I went down to Westgate gardens, walking past the trees whose names I will hardly remember except for one, the Scottish Pine. Cannot help it, been always soft when it comes to Scotland. And Wales.

The Oriental plane in Westgate garden

Deep in the park, a monument in the memory of the fallen at landing in Italy on July 10th, 1943 is located.

A moving inscription on the monument runs: 

"When you walk through peaceful lanes so green,

Remember us and think what might have been." 

Birds singing in Westgate park

part of the ancient road, known as Watling Street, built by Romans and stretched from Dubris (present-day Dover) to Deva (present-day Chester), passes through Canterbury 

The Norman Castle in the southern part of the town dominates the roundabout and still looks impressive even though there is only a frame of bearing walls left. It is closed for visiting due to falling masonry.

On my way to the College, I was caught in the rain and had to endure through the whole of it. After all,  coming to Britain and not getting drenched  would sound unbelievable so I chose to live up to everybody's expectations.

Part of the city wall, view from the bridge leading to Canterbury East station

Early in the afternoon, the lesson with the students was held. The French colleagues came to observe it, too. To begin with, the students took turns in introducing themselves. Then, they shared their experience and observations with us. Compared to last Sunday, everybody looked and sounded more confident. Later on, they were asked to complete the questionnaire form which was pretty much about the same what they had verbalized a few minutes before. This being done, Silmara gave her feedback to each student and that was it. Next class will last longer.

Silmara giving her feedback to the students

Looking back and reflecting on my experience of what it was like to stay in England for these fabulous six days, I have to admit, the emotions are yet to melt into a solid piece of judgement. It did enrich me as a person, though.

What images of Canterbury were imprinted on my mind ?
Perfect timing. English breakfasts. Welcoming people never tired of saying "I am sorry". Helpful strangers. The smell of burnt charcoal, the feel of warmth, safety and comfort when you sit inside and muse to the quaint mixture of downpour pelting on the windows, never-ending top-chart tunes, reverberating chatter and rolling laughter in the background. Pedestrians in tights and gumshoes crossing streets wherever they fancy. The weather capable of changing a few times within an hour. Owls (!) boo-whooing across the street at daytime. Waking up to the bells of Canterbury Cathedral. Swarms of uniformed teenagers hurriedly roaming the streets at dawn. Supportive teachers with that motherly touch when they would sit down to a student's desk as if they were part of his inner circle. Trains coming and going when they fancy. No steering wheel where it should be. Hospitality. Open-mindedness. Desire to embrace the world.

The fourth day in Canterbury.

The fourth day in Canterbury.

This morning I observed two English classes, both preparing students for the GCSE English exam. The exam is held in five weeks' time.  The first class (Paper 1 revision walkthrough) to have been observed was meant for those who were to re-take the exam. The teacher drew attention to the sequence of questions, reminded to the students what which answer should include. Then, the marking scale was talked through making sure everybody knows which mark they should head for to pass the exam. Again, peer teaching was strongly encouraged.

Picture taken with courtesy of the Canterbury College staff

NB: Anyone late for class is not allowed to get in until the teacher finishes her thought and leaves the classroom to have a word with the belated one.

Picture taken with courtesy of the Canterbury College staff

During the second class, a less advanced group of learners talked through the same thing. The group included students with special educational needs (emotionally or behaviorally challenged learners). Laura, the teacher, made her best in trying to calmly deliver the material, keeping to a very simple and laconic language in her explanations.

Picture taken with courtesy of the Canterbury College staff

A piece of fabric with numbered pockets, hanging on the wall, drew my attention.

Picture taken with courtesy of the Canterbury College staff

As it turned out, students leave there mobile phones when they are not allowed to have them close at hand.

In the evening, Silmara and Brian invited me to dinner. A few educators from France had arrived earlier that day, so Brian booked a table at Cafe du Soleil, a classy restaurant on the Stour near Westgate, to celebrate a new partnership.

The restaurant prides itself on fire wood stove cuisine. Anyone familiar with cooking methods will tell the difference between a fire wood stove and an electric cooker. One of our students, Jaroslav, is taking his vocational placement at Cafe du Soleil but, by the time we got there, he had already left. The chef complimented on Jaroslav's passion for learning new things.

Double Cooked Pork Belly.
Pork is cooked at a low temperature for a few hours and then braised, hence "double cooked".

Thank you for the exciting and  memorable evening, Silmara and Brian !

The third full-time day in Canterbury

The third day in Canterbury. In the footsteps of Chaucer.

This morning I discovered that my linen jacket needed ironing. The hotel did not do washing nor ironing. As always, the helpful landlady came to aid and directed me to a dry cleaner’s at Westgate. The place is run by a welcoming immigrant family with quaint accent. Mind it, laundry service in Canterbury is not cheap, washing and ironing three items may cost 20 pounds and things aren’t done at a finger snap.

This being done, I dived into the town’s pedestrianised High Street, where most of the shops cluster. The term "high street" still denotes a street where the main bulk of trade in town takes place. Window-shopping can be fun once it doesn’t bucket on you. One culture-related remark: have you ever noticed that people walk the way they drive ? Being a right-side driver, I couldn’t help bumping into contraflow street roamers.

As I had no classes to observe today, I made a decision to pay a long-ago-planned visit to the Canterbury Tales Museum. 

Visiting this must-to-see will run 11 pounds for an adult and 9 quid for those under 18. The free of charge audio guides are available in all the main European languages, Estonian and Russian are not on the option list. Still, I would strongly recommend to pick the English version. The language is simple and you will hear five tales as you go from one room to another. Cecily, a charming redhead, will introduce you to the plot of the Tales and their humble author. Well, he wasn’t that humble, being quite well-off as a wine merchant’s son. What he did was taking a cross-section of the entire 14th century English society by bringing all its classes together as they go on a pilgrimage from London to Canterbury and portraying them in English and for the English. A one-way trip would take about 5 days, and how were the pilgrim companions supposed to entertain themselves? Right, by telling stories. So come and hear five of them, walk through the streets of a middle-age town, feel how it smelled, see what it was like to live then. 

"Look out there below !"

Very conveniently, the tour ends at the gift shop.

The official website of the museum is worth visiting: https://www.canterburytales.org.uk

It provides a bulk of downloadable learning resources, like the one below, where all five stories are nicely abridged: https://www.canterburytales.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/KS3-Activities.pdf

The second full-time day in Canterbury.

What I like about English breakfasts is that they give a good kick to the day. This morning mine contained: potato mash shaped to an undernourished dumpling and pan-fried on either side, fried tomato, poached eggs (there was one so plural is over-optimistic), a sausage, roast bacon, beans, a neat pile of mushrooms on the outside. Coffee is offered as you are being seated, apparently to comfortably pass those 15 minutes of waiting that you cross out of your life, but who's counting. The attending lady was very helpful. Her English was so immaculately crisp and articulated to the last comma that I had a feeling of being served by no less than an Oxford graduate if not next to Henry Higgins's kin.

The Miller's Arms Hotel

Things seem to be getting into the groove. I have finally learned the way to the College and never went astray this morning. 

At nine Brian introduced me to the teachers whose classes I was to attend. Both classes were dedicated to preparing students for the GCSE English examination. GCSE stands for General Certificate of Secondary Education, GCSE exams are taken between Year 9 and 11.  The first class represented itself the reading part of the mock examination in English with questions to be answered against time. The second class was focused on descriptive narratives (writing own piece of text according to the composed plan). 

A few kind words about the English classroom. It feels comfy inside ! Students are encouraged to work for result rather than for speed. Teachers are supportive and keep good timing. Students who are at a loss for ideas are suggested prompts to start from.

The classrooms themselves I have so far been to can seat around 15 students. Lessons start at 9 o'clock and last until 5 p.m. 

Today our students are out on vocational placement in the English-speaking environment for the first time. The welding guys are fine, the rest I haven't contacted yet. It is against the rules to pick up the phone during the shift so I chose not to stand them up. They will surely want to share their experience on the blog.

To make it a day, I sought Brian's counsel as to which local chocolate brand he would consider buying as a gift as much authentic as admirable. Having dived into one of local choco outlets, I will part with you at this sweet point.

The first full-time day in Canterbury

The first full day of our stay in Canterbury is coming to its end. This morning we met both Brian and Silmara at the Canterbury College. As my cell phone’s battery happily breathed its last at night (since I was smart enough not to have bought a three-to-two-pin adapter in advance, applaud to the beacon of reason is welcome here), I had to follow my intuition in trying to find my way out of the maze of the living history embodied in brick and mortar. This cost me good twenty minutes and probably a couple of grey hairs since I was trying to make it on time.

At College, Silmara inducted students into what they were going to do during their vocational placement, as well as mentioned a few indisputable things students should follow at all times at their work stations.

Then, we were toured around the premises of the college. Students who are to take their vocational placement within the walls of the college, were shown to their workshops and introduced to persons-in-charge. 

What caught my eye was the posters with local students' feedbacks, 

lining the walls next to the workshops:

Part of the masonry workshop. The mortar used for binding bricks and cinder blocks contains a lot of sand which makes the masonry easy to knock down. 

Following that, a lunch on the receiving party was organised. At that point we parted with Brian and Silmara took us to a posh hotel where two of our students would begin their internship tomorrow and then toured us around the downtown and its budget outlets. 

Abbots Barton Hotel, Canterbury. Here, Richard and Diana will take their vocational placement

At that point, we were left on our own. Later in the day, we had a fabulous walk down the medieval streets of Canterbury. 

High Street

the river Stour

I showed the students to the Canterbury Tales Museum, which is a must-to-see when in town. 

The Canterbury Tales Museum. Opening hours 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

By that time, the access to the premises of Canterbury Cathedral had become free of charge, so we took a short stroll around it (mind the construction works) and I told them a tale by Chaucer, thus finishing this introduction to the English history and calling it a day. Tomorrow, I will start attending English classes at the college. Looking forward to it !

Canterbury Cathedral from the entrance point

Chiming bells of Canterbury Cathedral

The arrival

Hello, everybody who follows the Erasmus Canterbury blog.

Herewith I would like to let you all know that we finally made it to our destination, the town of Canterbury, Kent, in good health and on schedule. Although it was yesterday that I met most of the students  going to Canterbury for the first time, I want to give everybody a credit: no one was late for the train bound for Tallinn, everybody stayed together and was organized. The flight lasted for about three hours. The plain landed at Stansted airport, located well north of London. Upon arrival at Stansted, Steve, the driver, picked us up and gave us a fantastic door-to-door lift to Canterbury College, where we met Silmara, the College project manager who will look after our group, and the host families with who the students will stay for five exciting weeks of their vocational placement. Tomorrow we are all meeting at the College to work through the details of our stay in Canterbury.

Oh, something to keep in mind when traveling to the UK: make sure you have a three-pin power adapter to keep your gadgets kicking ! 

Crossing the Thames with Steve. 

The countryside looks hilly compared to ours, there are no antitank ditches on either side of the motorway like those back home, many roadsigns are electronic boards with digitized text displayed. 

A complimentary assortment of hot drinks at the hotel, very handy after the trip.

A view  from the hotel window over Canterbury Cathedral, the ultimate destination of pilgrimage, portrayed by Chaucer. Many place-names in Canterbury are either linked to Geoffrey Chaucer, known as "father of the English literature", or taken from his "Canterbury Tales". At times, you may come across two identical place-names in town which can be confusing. 

Canterbury is home to the Head of Church of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is also home to numerous educational establishments which is why its streets are always full of students. Our proper exploration of Canterbury will start tomorrow.