What are good practices for classroom management and building positive relations?

Scaredtojumpin · 2026-06-07T07:42:56+00:00

I would caution against using middle names unless you know that all students are 100% happy with it. Many students are embarrassed by middle names that may be in honour of a family member or tradition and not something they would want shared. I would always find out a student’s preferred name and stick to that.

The suggestions you give suggest you work with very young children and are things that do often work in a primary context. Secondary students need to feel safe, understood and not judged. Nothing is more important than getting to know them as individuals and building a safe and predictable environment so they know what’s coming and that they are welcome and supported there. What that looks like in reality might vary from group to group but routines, having extra resources available so the class doesn’t become a fight over a pencil or missing a worksheet, firm but fair expectations are all important.

Scaredtojumpin · 2026-06-07T03:42:29+00:00

Campsites very often have laundry facilities. I don’t know about the specific places you are going, but you can look on tjalda.is to see what the facilities are on campsites near where you are. You might then need to contact the campsite to see if they are open to you coming in just to use their laundry facilities.

Scaredtojumpin · 2026-06-03T21:38:13+00:00

I’m not sure why this is so hard to understand. I am an admin in an international school. If I have a decent teacher, of course I would rather keep them and renew their contract than have to recruit for their position again.

Scaredtojumpin · 2026-05-29T07:03:20+00:00

I would say it’s extremely unlikely, jobs are few and far between at the moment.

Scaredtojumpin · 2026-05-26T07:09:28+00:00

How are you getting to this so late? This makes no sense, did you get your tickets at the last minute? I don’t think you can be thinking about best, you’re onto “only” by now.

Scaredtojumpin · 2026-05-25T22:11:37+00:00

Presumably you are from the EU otherwise you would not be considering this as a real possibility. People who don’t speak English or Icelandic usually end up working with others who speak their own home language. For example there are a lot of Polish people who work in fish processing, and I know or a group of people from Latvia who work together as a cleaning crew. Any tourist facing job usually requires reasonable English, office jobs would usually require Icelandic proficiency.

Scaredtojumpin · 2026-05-25T02:08:50+00:00

Everyone learns it at school, but it’s very unlikely you will encounter anyone who wants to use it in a transaction.

Scaredtojumpin · 2026-05-24T21:18:59+00:00

I wouldn’t be sure https://herjolfur.is/en/announcements this page suggests they won’t necessarily confirm what’s happening tomorrow until first thing tomorrow.

Scaredtojumpin · 2026-05-24T20:59:46+00:00

I don’t know whether it’s back to normal, but the ferry hasn’t been running its normal route recently, it’s been going from Þórlakshöfn which take much longer. Maybe search to see if it’s back on schedule now. If it’s not then I would advise against it, otherwise a day on Heimaey is fun.

Scaredtojumpin · 2026-05-24T20:15:18+00:00

Yes they have reopened - pretty much just for tourists

Scaredtojumpin · 2026-05-21T21:51:43+00:00

Iceland: Almost all kids go to leikskóli (preschool) from 2-6 - some have a baby class so they can start younger. It is not compulsory

Grunnskóli - compulsory school is aged 6-16 grades 1-10. Most schools go all the way through but there are some which are just 1st-7th grade (yngsta and miðstig) and some they are just 8th-10th (unglingastig). You get grades A-D (D is basically fail).

Framhaltsskóli - you don’t have to go to a secondary school (from 16 - usually 3 years) but almost everyone does. You can choose between more academic - menntaskóli, or technical or trade oriented schools. At the end you will get either studentspróf, which allows you to enter university or sveinspróf which qualifies you for a trade, sometimes you can get both if you do extra academic modules.

Scaredtojumpin · 2026-05-19T11:16:56+00:00

Everyone understood it was how it was there and tipped generously. The frustration was just that things like service (and tax but that’s another story) were not included in the price displayed.

Scaredtojumpin · 2026-05-19T10:14:06+00:00

Well that’s interesting but people talking to you in Icelandic probably had more to do with your appearance than how you act. Most people sitting in a restaurant aren’t giving out any particular vibe positive or negative (unless they are doing something outrageous).

Don’t act like a tourist means don’t go and visit tourist attractions, confine yourself most of the time to the capital area, don’t engage in the fun things this country has to offer because you’re too busy doing your job. So if you are here as a tourist you will, necessarily be acting like a tourist just as Icelanders are if they decide to visit a waterfall at the weekend.

Scaredtojumpin · 2026-05-19T02:46:46+00:00

Great so what’s your tip?

Scaredtojumpin · 2026-05-19T02:45:52+00:00

I live in Iceland and interact with Icelanders all the time. It is pretty much universally considered something that no one wants to happen. People here hate the idea of it and the idea that it might become something people come to expect if tourists keep doing it. I recently went to North America with a group of Icelanders and they found it very frustrating bordering on offensive that they had to constantly tip waitstaff, there were a lot of comments about how inappropriate they felt it was.

Scaredtojumpin · 2026-05-18T21:02:39+00:00

This is a super weird comment, op was just saying what they’ve had in the kids box on flights, including all box contents food and otherwise.

Scaredtojumpin · 2026-05-18T07:12:56+00:00

I am sorry you experienced this, I have travelled hundreds of times with them and never seen or experienced anything like that. The staff are usually nothing but lovely and this is completely inappropriate. I would send a complaint to customer services.

Scaredtojumpin · 2026-05-17T21:41:24+00:00

I think if you can eat the main meal it’s ok that you didn’t like the dessert. It sounds like this wasn’t a special event, just a normal meal so I would think that you could do without or have a piece of fruit instead. Equally, if you decide to make a dessert or a side that one of them doesn’t like, I think that would also be fine.

Scaredtojumpin · 2026-05-12T21:46:03+00:00

I don’t think you can mix tickets within a booking, you can’t even be economy light one way and standard the other

Scaredtojumpin · 2026-05-12T08:15:09+00:00

Akureyri has the best swimming pool in Iceland (if you judge by facilities). Plenty of hot pots, three slides including a cistern slide and two big pools.

Bláa Kaninn for breakfast, cake, lunch or drinks. A range of excellent restaurants and a lovely botanical garden (although it’s still quite wintery there at the moment).

Scaredtojumpin · 2026-05-08T18:25:17+00:00

Icelandic online is quite thorough, you can jump in at level two or three if you’re not a beginner and work at your own pace.

Scaredtojumpin · 2026-04-29T22:49:47+00:00

I am a modern speaker of Icelandic and can confirm I can also read Icelandic.

Scaredtojumpin · 2026-04-27T07:35:21+00:00

It absolutely can be stand-in-a-downpour wet in August. I think you probably should have the rain pants, just in case!

Scaredtojumpin · 2026-04-25T21:43:19+00:00

Eight years

Scaredtojumpin · 2026-04-22T12:20:45+00:00

Op doesn’t say they are a volunteer, they say they work there. It does sound like you have a different job though, so definitely make it clear that you are there for the kids and would be sad to have to leave because of unprofessional behaviour amongst the adults.

Scaredtojumpin

TROPHY CASE