Extra-Academic Programs

Two teachers, one volunteer and seven students travelled to Fjærland in Sogn to stay three night in a cabin on about 1000m altitude and to explore the Flatbre glacier during the days.

First day included bus travel and the hike up to the cabin, all of it uphill doing approximately 1000 m altitude gain over three hours.

Second day was for exploring the lower parts of the glacier and learn basic techniques with ice ax, crampons and the rope.

Third day was for a trip to a nearby peak crossing the glacier.

Things didn’t work out as planned as the weather turned just a bit nasty, alternating between  torrential down pours,  large amounts of snow and strong winds.

Here is some of the students words about the trip:

“The glacier PBL was an incredible experience. Even though the weather made it a bit more complicated, we had such a great time. In addition to great adventures outside, I also enjoyed the evening conversations with hot chocolate.”

“….I was completely exhausted by the longest and toughest hike I have ever had in my life. “

“Physically demanding hikes up the mountain and in the snow, the massive glacier with its beautiful shapes and color, cozy evenings discussing with the goup in the candle light of the cabin, four days without shower – all the small bits together made the experience complete.”

“…I have now discovered what is it to live in such high, isolated and cold place…. “

“Even though this PBL seems extremely adventurous and dangerous, there is a very peaceful cozy aspect to it that couldn’t be achieved anywhere else. Waking up in the morning in a warm cabin and looking outside at the snow, with no scheduled events and no worries, was the perfect break from life.  I just want to go back!”

“Finally, having the opportunity to go on this trip allowed me to know how much I can achieve physically as well as mentally…”

“Who have ever imagined a Madagascan young girl on a glacier trip!! I am very proud of myself”

We still managed to go out and explore some of the glacier during the days but we did spend more time drying our clothes then we spend outside.

-Aina, Max, Helene, Marianne, Scott, Henrik, Ida, David, Alistair, Joakim

During the International Handicrafts PBL, the students participating had an amazing week; we learnt things, taught things and definitely experienced new things. It was a cosy week when everyone got to know each other better and a lot ended up making new friends.

In this project, each person did a presentation on ideas for handicrafts, exposing us to symbols, patterns, and designs related to our countries. We saw a lot, learnt a lot, and got a lot of different ideas from those presentations. Then the people who knew how to knit, crochet, or cross-stitch (for example)  taught interested others those techniques.  Furthermore, we got people from outside the project to come and show us their handwork. Sarah, the Chinese teacher, showed us some traditional paper cutting, and Else, who works in the kantina,  talked to us about this history of Norwegian knitting and showed us many beautiful garments that she made herself.

Other than getting to make our own things, we all decided to make a big patchwork piece that showed our work and presented a variety of techniques and designs, so everyone made a 20cm. X 20 cm. square and in the end we sewed them together to produce a piece which is now in the kantina. Look up when you return your plates for washing!

In addition to creating pieces of colourful, interesting handwork, we had a cookie break each day which wasn’t just any cookie break. Two of the PBL participants baked each day for the next day’s cookie break. It was very nice to taste different things and sometime even new things from other countries.  We were all sad when the week finished, to the extent that we agreed on a day every week to continue what we started and get more people into this amazing habit of making things with our hands!

All participants of the Chess PBL came there with different experiences of the game. Some of us were already really experienced players, while others were beginners with a very limited background in the game. However, all of us had similar aims and expectations of the PBL week.

During the PBL week we all got to try out our skills in the game by playing against players on different levels, both beginners and experts. In the beginning, we started up by playing many games to see approximately what level we were on. It was very challenging at some times when you played against experienced players, but at the same time, you realised how what they did was smart and what you could have done better. So, just by playing, most of us started to see the logic structure of the game, and learned to use different strategies. We also looked at different puzzles where we got to try out our new skills in logic thinking. From the puzzles we also learned how to tackle some tricky situations in the game.

In the end of the PBL week when we had our evaluation, we all agreed on that, although we came there with different experience and skill, our common aim was to get more open-minded for different possibilities in the game, and being able to see the purpose of the movements of all pieces. We also realised in the end that the strategies in chess are applicable to situations in real life, when it comes to planning and seeing gains and consequences with actions you do in your everyday life.

We think that we all can say that we learned something useful from this PBL. Some of us developed a lot, while others were already on a high level. Although we came there with different experience, and in the end also ended up with different skills, we all learned new sorts of thinking, focus and concentration. We think that those aspects were the ones that in the end of the PBL made us all better chess players.

- Evelina and Eloy

From Sunday the 2nd of October until Friday the 7th of October our group (Jeanni, Tesfa, Rinchen, Sophia, Florence, Oliver, Leo, Florence, Vita and Meta) was introduced to the Arabic language and culture by Jira and Taghla.

After having had an introductory meeting on Sunday, we decided to meet in the mornings to learn the Arabic alphabet, the numbers and some basic vocabulary, to play games and sing Arabic songs. After a break we´d then meet again at Jira’s and Taghla’s flat to cook some traditional food, drink Tea and celebrate our PBL-family. After having had our first introduction to the alphabet on Monday morning we realised that Arabic is not the easiest language to be learned. Nevertheless we had great fun, trying to figure out how to write our names in Arabic, drawing the beautiful Arabic letters, playing a ball-number-game and the-like. In the afternoon we met again, got to enjoy Arabic music and dance, and had the chance to enjoy the Saharawi tea ceremony for the first time. We were fascinated by this exciting process of pouring strong sweet tea from one glass into the other, and spend the evening splashing tea around, trying to learn to do the same.

We learned how to have a basic conversation in Arabic and had the chance to come up with dialogues and have them translated. We were greatly entertained and amused by our struggles of pronouncing the words correctly. Spontaneously Oliver made a song, including all vocabulary we had learned, and so he played the guitar, and the rest sang along. Despite conflicts with the printers, we also managed to create a Learning-Arabic- Language booklet, giving an overview of alphabet, numbers and vocabulary. The girls learned to dress like Saharawi women, which turned out to be quite a challenge at times.

The cosy evenings, filled with Arabic music, were thoroughly documented on video and turned into our personal Arabic-PBl-film. Despite major difficulties in recalling even the simplest sentences we have learned a lot, but most of all had a wonderful time during this PBL.

Thank you very much!