Anita, Health & Social Care student, Portugal

The motivation

I applied for this placement because I wanted to become a teacher in the nursery field. Going on this placement has helped me decide on my future career direction and make the right choice about what to study at university.

The placement

I undertook a variety of tasks including helping to feed the children at lunchtime, organising the classroom, participating in outdoor activities with the children, and motivating them to focus and do their work. I also helped staff with planning activities.

My biggest achievement was being able to communicate with the children that didn’t understand English. If you aren’t able to understand a language it can make things 10 times harder, so you really have to think of other ways to communicate. Fortunately, I was able to do this and complete all the task I was responsible for.

It was an eye opening experience because I learnt about how educational practices in Portugal varied from elsewhere. For example, during my work experience in London I learnt that children started learning  the alphabet and numbers at the age of 3 or 4, but this was different in Portugal

The location

What I really enjoyed though about my time abroad, was that people were warm and welcoming which made us feel like we were at home. Despite the fact that we weren’t able to speak the language, the teachers still tried their best to communicate with us. We met new people and were taken on trips so that we could learn about the history of the country. For example, we visited places like Via Nova de Gaia (Porto) which was really amazing because we were not expecting the views we saw. We also got the chance to visit a town called Braga.