My experience at the University of Crete is perfect and unforgettable which is far more than I have expected. The Erasmus group is like a big family. Everyone is so nice, friendly, and helpful. The city is full of sunshine, friendly Greek people, and lots of events to join. I enjoyed a lot at the beaches, the hiking routes, and some road trips with my friends here. Besides, the staff in the International Office are super nice, who helped me and gave me a lot of care all the way when I needed them. My responsible professor Marina is also a very cute and charming person. I learned a lot from her. I am really happy that I made my choice to come here and met so many wonderful people.
I am here for one-semester traineeship from Feb to July in the Department of Preschool Education. Due to my previous working experiences as a Chinese and English teacher before my Master’s Program, I found it worthwhile and essential to observe and draw references from each other. During my kindergarten observation here, some phenomena regarding teaching methods and pedagogies are so inspiring, for instance, the professional one-to-one guidance to children with behavior problems, the skills the English teacher used to lure the children to speak targeted English words, the play-based teaching strategy etc. Besides, the Greek lesson every week is a great way for me to keep in contact with most Erasmus students and promote my understanding in the kindergartens. In light of the entire traineeship, I also completed a program report and a paper about the comparative study of the early childhood education system in Greece and China. More importantly, I also set up the framework for my final thesis on Greek language education policy. I hope my thesis could add up the understanding of Greek education system for the Chinese research field and promote more research interests between the two countries.
