Liusaidh, a young, blue-haired teaching intern from Scotland, arrived at RCN in late July, 2015. She didn’t know much about the College and had no experience of teaching. She didn’t have much confidence, and the Summer Course students asked her strange questions that were sometimes difficult to answer.

Now Liusaidh is a real teacher. She finds interesting ways to explain things to students, understands how they feel in her lessons. Before coming here, she was rather quiet, but says she has become more sociable and open as a consequence of her time at RCN. She says, “The guidance that Angie (Toppan) and Pete (Wilson) has given me has been invaluable, both by delivering model lessons but also by giving me concrete feedback that I can reflect on and learn from.”

Liusaidh spends a lot of time working with Samira (Niger), Mean (Cambodia) and Sumaya (Western Sahara), who are students in the Foundation Year programme at RCN. Teaching beginners is a difficult task because it requires patience. She chooses material that is accessible to her students and helps them talk about their situation and topics they are interested in. They say they have learned a lot with Liusaidh, improving their English skills and becoming assertive and enthusiastic communicators in their new language.

Liusaidh has enjoyed her UWC experience immensely, which has made her stronger and more professional in the art of teaching. She has participated in humanitarian activities such as visiting Førde Mottak and cultural celebrations such as Holi. She has also made the most of opportunities to ski, hike, kayak, camp and look up at the stars and the Northern Lights. In her own words, “I really love living in Norway with fresh air, beautiful landscape and kind people.”

She is ready for new challenges in the teaching profession hoping to work for schools that see potential in the diversity of its student body.

(The above is a collaborative effort, written by her students.)

We were happy to welcome Sarina Tahitu to the College as a teaching intern in April. She came to us as a student teacher from the World Teachers Training Programme at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. Before doing her educational master, she graduated in cultural anthropology and development sociology. With a particular interest in Development Studies and Theory of Knowledge, while she was with us she observed, and then led lessons at the College, as well as participating in a wide range of extra-academic activities. These are some of her reflections:

In Dutch there is a saying, which captures my overall experience here: ‘Kort, maar krachtig!’ It literally means “short, but powerful” or more freely translated “short, but sweet.” My month at RCN UWC has been a blast and I’ve learned a great deal through the conversations I’ve had, the connections I’ve gained and the classes I taught and observed. I have come to love the openness and freedom of the place and its people. I’ve always had an interest in finding out and understanding what makes others tick, and my anthropological heart revelled in working with students and colleagues with so many different cultural backgrounds. I was truly inspired and touched by many during my stay at the College, and I learned a lot about myself as well – as a teacher and as a person in general. I believe RCN is unique and has a huge power and potential for helping future generations learn and understand that diversity is a good thing, rather than something to be feared. Thank you to all who made my stay so very special, to those who invited me along, who made me laugh and who were generous with their time and stories. It was an honour!