Internship Report
Boom Voortgezet Onderwijs
KERN Engels
Iris van Dijk S3456544 1 February – 9 April 2021 Supervisor workplace: Herre van Brug Internship coordinator RUG: Bart Hollebrandse
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The company
As the title page shows, I did my internship at KERN Engels, which is part of Boom voortgezet onderwijs, which is part of Koninklijke Boom uitgevers. This is a Dutch publisher, which was established in 1841 in Meppel. It consists of the following different departments: Boom uitgevers Amsterdam, Boom
uitgevers Den Haag, Boom beroepsonderwijs, Boom voortgezet onderwijs, and Uitgeverij de Tijdstroom/Lemion.
During my internship, I worked from 1 February to 9 April 2021, three days of the week (Monday to Wednesday, 8 hours a day) at the educational department Boom voortgezet onderwijs (Bvo)1. Within
this department, new learning methods are being developed for all levels and all years of the Dutch high schools. Bvo develops courses like math, English, Dutch, history, and science. The main goal of the company is to focus on the core of the course, which is why the word KERN (core) is part of the English, Dutch and math course books (since that are core courses given within Dutch high schools).
I was part of the staff that worked for KERN Engels, the English course. With this method, the pupils learn in a constructive and practical way to use the English language in daily life. I worked closely with another intern, the publisher and the project manager of KERN Engels. Because we were not able to work at the office due to the pandemic, the contact moments took place online. Via Teams, we saw each other each morning at 9 a.m. in order to start our day together. This meeting lasted for about fifteen minutes. This was not only a moment to discuss some urgent work things, but it was also a moment for socializing and discussing our day or feelings. Besides these 9 a.m. meetings, we had a work meeting every Monday from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. The same people were involved in this meeting, but it lasted longer and we discussed work-related matters. Furthermore, there were some online meetings in which I had the opportunity to join and just listen what was discussed in these meetings. These meetings were somewhat on a larger scale, with people from other departments, such as sale and marketing. The discussed subjects during these meetings were mostly subjects that I did not know about or that I was not working on. Nevertheless, it was very interesting to experience how such matters are being discussed and arranged. It was part of my orientation on the company, which is very important.
As I said before, we were not able to work at the office due to the pandemic. Nevertheless, I was allowed to visit the office two times. The first time was on 1 February. Because it was my first day, the publisher considered it to be important to meet each other in person. This day was largely meant as a day to get to know each other, but it was also a good opportunity to familiarise myself with the company and the tasks within KERN Engels. I also received a work laptop, which was very convenient.
The other time that I was allowed to visit the office, was on 29 March, because it was recording day. This means that recordings of presenters for explanation videos took place. I will explain later what that is and what I did there.
1 Bvo works closely with another publisher: Staal & Roeland. They are mainly concerned with courses like
classical languages and art courses. For the sake of the length of this report, I will not pay further attention to this subject.
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My tasks
I worked on several different projects during my internship. I will discuss them in detail below.
1. Drills
Drills are practice sentences that Bvo offers as extra material for the pupils in order to learn and understand the teaching material. These drills are intended for the pupils to practise grammar. The drills are developed according to the information from the book. In the Grammar-section in the book, several subjects are addressed that the pupils learn in school. One of these subjects is ‘parts of speech’ and include question words, articles, prepositions, linking words (Figure 1), adjectives, etc. Another subject is ‘verbs, tenses, and sentences’ and includes present simple, present continuous, past simple, present perfect, future, auxiliary verbs, negations, irregular verbs, etc. Another subject is ‘spelling and writing’ and includes plurals, the difference between to and too, word order, etc. For each of these paragraphs, one drill is made, consisting of 50 to 100 assignments. The high school level for which I made the drills, was VMBO-KGT year 2. About 37 drills had to be made for these pupils. Some of them could be copied from VMBO-KGT year 1, but there were quite some drills that still had to be created, because there are more subjects to be addressed in higher years. The drills consisted mostly of fill-in sentences. For example: “… are you going to the supermarket?” This is a sentence in which the pupil has to fill in the right question word: “when”. Another example: “He … working all day.” The verb that has to be filled in here, is dependent on the type of assignment. The assignment could be that they have to fill in the present tense, or the past tense. The pupils know in advance what kind of assignment it is. The drills-task was a drills-task that I could do during my whole internship as a kind of ‘background drills-task’, since there were so many that had to be created.
Figure 1: The drill about linking words. I created 50 sentences with a gap, so that the pupils had to fill in those gaps. The answers are written in the columns next to the sentences, which will be processed in the program called ‘Drillster’. These drills are intended as extra material for VMBO-KGT 2 pupils.
2. Vocabulary check
There is also a lot of ‘checking work’ to do. Because some tasks are sensitive to (small) mistakes, they have to be double-checked. So, multiple colleagues have to check whether it is correctly done or whether something needs to be adapted. These checking tasks formed a great deal of my work at KERN Engels. The vocabulary check for VMBO-KGT year 2 was one of them. Next to the drills, vocabulary videos are also offered as extra material. At the end of every chapter in the book, there is a word list with English words with their translations in Dutch that have to be learned. Of these words, vocabulary videos are made. First, the English words (not the translations) are placed in an autocue. The first task is to
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check whether the words from the word list are correctly put in the autocue (correct order, correct spelling, etc.). Then, the videos are being recorded with a presenter. After that, the video is completed by adding the words in the video at the exact moment that the presenter utters them. That is when the second check has to be done: are the words complete and uttered and written correctly in every video? Are the titles correct? Is there no delay? These were the things I paid attention to when checking the vocabulary videos. Figure 2 is a still image of one of these vocabulary videos.
Figure 2: A presenter reading the word ‘bookcase’ from the vocabulary out loud, accompanied by the written word itself. This example is from lesson 13 of the book KERN Engels, VMBO-KGT 2.
3. Master classes
In the second week of my internship (8-12 February), there was a master class week. This week was mainly intended for high school teachers, to gain some information about education and teaching in the broadest sense of the word. These master classes were about different subjects, and it was interesting for me to join some of them that had something to do with
KERN Engels, although I was free to join as many master classes as I would like. I joined several master classes about grammar, speaking English in the classroom, how to approach street youth, how to hold the attention of the youth during online lessons, etc. These master classes were very interesting and useful for me. I could even link some of the information from the grammar class to my
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4. Exam analysis
From a certain point on, I was mainly involved in the development of the new course book for VMBO-BK year 3. In order to make this book, sources were necessary to fill the book with appealing and interesting texts. In order to orientate, I was asked to make an exam analysis to see what kind of texts the pupils had to read during their English exam and what the sources were. This was also necessary to establish the level that the pupils should have at the end of their learning path. I thus made an overview in Excel with the subject of the text, the type of text, the length, and the source. I did this for the levels VMBO-BB and VMBO-KB for the exam years 2017-2019. In this way, we could see where we could retrieve good sources to use them in our new course book.
Figure 4: Texts used in the exams of VMBO-BB and KB in 2019. I wrote down the title, the type of text, the length, and the source of every exam text.
5. Reader check
The reader check was a small ‘checking’ task that could easily be done in between other tasks. Bvo has a special website on which the pupils can hear someone reading a text aloud and read along at the same time. This website has some special functions: a read-along line, a ruler to read along, an option to make the text bigger or smaller, an option to set line spacing, and an option to make the background of the text yellow instead of white for reading convenience. I checked whether these functions worked correctly, whether there were titles above the text where necessary and whether they were correct, and I checked
whether the reading speed of the reader was not too slow or too fast.
Figure 5: Example of the reader.
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6. Audio sources
Now, I would like to go back to the development of the new course book. Audio sources were needed to allow the pupils to practise their listening skills. I searched those sources on a special website (Figure 6). Since there were not many audio fragments that could be useful for our purposes, we decided that the audio fragments would be made by some voice actors hired by Bvo. In that way, we could decide exactly what information we want the audio fragments to be about, what kind of speaker, how fast or slow the speaking is, etc. I was not really involved in this process, because this task was postponed to a later moment, since it did not have priority.
Figure 6: Example of one of the audio fragments I found on the website. The text below the video was spoken in the audio fragment.
7. Video and other visual sources
Often, the English lessons of KERN Engels are opened by a video. The video is shown in class and a few questions are asked about it. The pupils are encouraged to discuss the content of the video with each other. Since the new course book will contain themes that reflect profile choices (farming, animal care, child care, hospital, recreational work, ICT, harbour, etc.), we had to find videos that could be connected to each of these themes. I had the task to find those videos (e.g. on YouTube) and put them in an Excel overview. I was not the only one looking for those videos, so together we created an extensive palette of choices for videos. My next task was to decide whether each video was suitable or not (Figure 7). In my judgment, I accounted for the duration of the video, the attractiveness to the pupils, the difficulty, the intelligibly, etc.
In my last week, I was asked to help find images for the course book of HAVO 3. I searched on the websites of stock bureaus and I put some relevant images in a Word-file. I sent them to the project manager and she will eventually choose the suitable images to use in the course book.
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Figure 7: The links to the video sources were put in this file. I wrote down the duration of the video and I commented on how suitable I thought it was for the use in class.
8. Text sources
Next to video sources, text sources also had to be found. As is inherent to an English book: there are a lot of texts in them. Next to the drills, this was the largest task that I did during my internship.
As with the videos, I scoured the Internet looking for suitable English texts that could be used in the new book. I mainly used Google News and filtered on the English articles. I also used a few English sources, such as the Guardian, but payment was often required. I found quite many texts, which were placed in an Excel overview as well. My colleagues also helped with finding suitable text sources, which resulted in a very extensive overview with a lot of possibilities and choices. I also judged these texts on suitability, in which I paid attention to the length, the subject, the vocabulary, the structure of the sentences, whether it was appealing enough to the target group, whether it was not too risky or loaded, etc. I had a lot of fun with this task, and I find it a very pleasing idea that one or more of the texts that I found may be used in the new book.
Figure 8: My judgment on the text sources that were found for the subject ‘trees and plants’. I first indicated whether the article was suitable or not, or whether it needed editing. After that, I commented on the article itself. The publisher decides which articles are going to be used for the book, with the help of my opinions and those of my colleagues.
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9. Checking reading strategies
Another ‘checking task’ was the reading strategies-check. Some of my colleagues wrote reading strategies for HAVO year 1, HAVO year 2, and VWO year 3. These reading strategies will be placed at the end of the course books in order to help the pupils with reading an English text by giving tips. I was asked to read the file and check whether it was clear enough, simple enough and complete.
Figure 9: The first part of the document about reading strategies. I put some remarks in this document, in order to help improve it further.
10. Book check
When a new course book is developed, it is unlikely that the first trial is flawless. Since the course books have many pages (around 265), it is impossible for one person to remove every little mistake. That is why there are a few trials for which several colleagues check the whole book, or at least specific aspects of it. I was asked to participate in the fourth trial of the VMBO-T-HAVO year 2 book. I was asked to pay attention to two things: whether the numbering of the assignments was correct (not only 1, 2, 3, etc., but also a, b, c, etc.) and whether the references to the grammar chapters were correct (whether the right paragraph was mentioned in the lesson). A few weeks later, I was asked to participate in the third trial of the VWO year 3 book. This time, I had to pay attention to four things: whether the amendments of the second trial were correctly adjusted, whether the titles were correct, and the two things that I mentioned before, the numbering and the references. A week later, I was asked to participate in the fourth trial of the VWO year 3 book, in which I had to check whether the amendments of the third trial were well implemented. As a side note, I would like to mention that the checking work might sound subordinate to the creational work, but it was very useful. Because I was mostly creating new things for VMBO-KGT, it was nice to see how other levels were constructed. Through the checking work for HAVO and VWO, my image of the whole department of KERN Engels was strengthened.
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Figure 10: A screenshot of the fourth trial of the VWO year 3 course book. I put my remarks in this PDF-file.
11. PowerPoints and autocues explanation videos
The vocabulary videos are not the only videos that are made by hired actors/presenters. There are also explanation videos accompanying every single lesson and every single grammar chapter. The pupils can watch these explanation videos on the website, in order to improve their understanding of a certain subject. In advance of these recordings, there have to be made PowerPoints and autocues about the subject of the lesson. In order to make those PowerPoints, I used information from the book, from the relevant chapter. I poured that textual information into a PowerPoint and supported it with a few example sentences. Then, I had to make the autocues, for every PowerPoint slide. In a Word-document, I wrote the text that the presenter should read aloud. This text was converted to an autocue app on the iPad, which was used during the recording day.
Figure 11: A still image of a presenter/actor presenting how to read a menu. She read from the autocue, and the PowerPoint was added later.
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12. Recording day
On the recording day, the hired actors/presenters were recorded while they read from the autocue. On 29 March (almost at the end of my internship), we were at the office with four people: the publisher, the cameraman, the actor/presenter, and me. The cameraman had his own equipment and the office was transformed in a pop-up studio, with a green screen, lights, and professional camera (Figure 12). While the autocue was presented, the actor/presenter read it aloud in front of the green screen, while looking into the camera. It took about an hour per actor/presenter, in which there were about six lessons recorded. My task was to read along from paper, in order to check whether something was incorrectly said. Sometimes, the actors/presenters misspoke, but they always realised that themselves. In that case, the autocue was rewound, so that the actor/presenter did not have to start from the beginning.
I was only present in the morning, since the other intern was invited to join in the afternoon. We could not go together, because the amount of people at the office should not excess the corona measures. After the recording, the recordings were sent to the editor. He will edit it and add the PowerPoint, in order to make the explanation video complete (Figure 11).
Figure 12: The cameraman with his equipment, and a green screen in front of which the presenters could present.
Reflection
Overall, I had a great time during my internship! The atmosphere on the workplace (and online) was very good and the contact with my colleagues was very friendly. I could ask questions any time and I was offered enough help when necessary. I learned a lot about the company and the tasks of an editor for the English course. I liked the variety of tasks very much. At the start of my internship, I had a number of goals:
1. I want to experience as much things as possible to develop an image of the company, but also of the work activities.
2. I want to learn how to take personal responsibility. 3. I want to be able to make well-considered decisions. 4. I want to show creativity, a creative mind.
5. I want to develop teaching material in the area of foreign language education. 6. I want to complete my work with a sense of accuracy and an eye for detail.
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Most of these goals are achieved. I have experienced lots of different things that are all part of Bvo. Next to the twelve tasks that I described above, I also attended several online meetings with other branches and departments of Bvo. But I also had the chance to attend two meetings in which the educational advisors of Bvo gave information about KERN Engels to teachers of several Dutch high schools, with the goal of selling the method to those schools. I found it very interesting to be a part of that and I am still curious whether those schools actually chose KERN Engels to be their new English method or not. Furthermore, I took responsibility, made well-considered decisions, and completed my work with a sense of accuracy and an eye for detail. Those goals were actually not hard for me to achieve, because those goals are character traits that I already possessed.
I also had the chance to develop teaching material in the area of foreign language education. Although this was visible during my whole internship, it came out best when I helped developing the new course book for VMBO-KGT year 2. The other tasks also contributed to the development of teaching material, but those materials (drills, PowerPoints, autocues) are considered to be ‘extra’ material, while the development of a whole new course book is obviously more important.
A goal on which I would like to work further, is the development of my own creative mind. I believe that my internship did not last long enough to show this and it is an aspect that needs time in order to fully grow. I would thus like to present my own ideas and take the initiative to make suggestions. During my internship, I got the time to come with ideas, but I did not fully utilize it, in my opinion. Luckily, I am going to keep working for KERN Engels for a while, so I hope that I can develop my creative mind further.
Why Boom?
The reason that I chose this internship, is simple. During my bachelor, I attended a Career Event organized by our student association. A few speakers were invited to tell us about their jobs after their study Linguistics. One of these speakers worked at the publisher Noordhoff, and another speaker worked as a translator at a translation agency. I do not even remember what the third presentation was about, because those two speakers immediately got my attention. I was interested in these two work fields, because I like writing and developing things and I have useful character traits to deploy in these work fields (such as eye for detail and a sense of accuracy, as I mentioned earlier). I was slightly more interested in working at a publisher, so that was going to be my Plan A. But at what company? I am not the type for large organizations, so I had my doubts about Noordhoff. Then I thought about a friend of mine, that I met during my Minor. She worked at Boom, an educational publisher. But did I want an educational publisher or a regular publisher? I was actually fine by both. So, at the beginning of November 2020, I wrote three emails to three different publishers: one educational publisher (Bvo) and two regular publishers. The next day, I received an answer from Bvo that they indeed needed interns for KERN Engels from February 2021. The other publishers did not hire interns, so the choice was easily made. At 18 November 2020, I had my job interview with Herre van Brug, the publisher. We were both excited and I could start at 1 February 2021.
I can honestly say that my expectations were met, if not exceeded! I expected to receive clear instructions about the work activities and that my work would be valuable for the company. I could notice that this was indeed the case and that my work and commitment were appreciated. This was, of course, also expressed in the company’s willingness to offer me a contract.
