Properly Welcomed and Trained by the New South Wales Department of Education
Department of NSW Holds Welcome and Training
Hello Elementary Friends,
Last Friday (19th February) I attended a required training at the New South Wales Department of Education. Here is the content of the opening slide of our presentation from one of the executives in the Department:
Hard Yakka
It’s bloody bute that you have come on a walkabout, I am sure that you will give it a fair crack of the whip, although I reckon your folks think you’re a ding bat for havin a go.
It’s a bonzer place so have a Captain Cook. Check out the big smoke, visit the coat hanger, go to the never never, go out into the big red, watch some aerial ping-pong and chuck on the cozzie or togs (budgie smugglers or thong) and have a splash. The tucker is ridgie dige so enjoy a cut lunch, spag bol, hot chook or dog’s eye with the occasional coldie. Or if you prefer a chardie or cab sav …… even the clean skins are good for a rage. If you are a bludger, a wowser or a wuss I’m sorry. Its better to yabber, be a larrikin and give it a fair shake of the sauce bottle.
You will find yourself flat out like a lizard drinking. From Kindie to 12 our ankle biters will keep you feeling like you have been run out. On more than one day you will retire to your digs stuffed. They will whinge and chuck the odd wobbly. They will ask if your are a Pom or Septic Tank. At the start they will think that you are a mug because your not true blue and they will give you a knock or two. Don’t get your knickers in a knot or do the Harold Holt, just say “struth” and come back bright and sparkie the next day in the bag of fruit. Be wary of the sickie because the car park talks and your sure to be sprung. This will only stir the possum and make things worse. Put on the roo bar, stick it out and she’ll be right. You may even get a pressie.
Being a chalkie is a rip snorter but you will only get a brass razoo. You will find the shellas and blokes fair dinkim and the opals and pearls will come from the joey’s in your care.
Enjoy the Corroboree!
Next week I will give you the translation - but for now just let some of the language sink in!
Here are some of the topics that were shared with us at the training on Friday (19th):
1. Welcome and New Directions in Education for New South Wales, Australia
2. Stories from Australian Exchange Teachers (back from exchange for 2015)
3. How to Get the Most out of Your Exchange
4. Expectations for Teaching in New South Wales
5. Exchange Support
6. Cultural Assistance (Safety and Local Laws, Environmental Education, Parks and Wildlife, Surf Safety, Sun Safety)
7. Chance to network with other Exchange Teachers - exchange contact information and make plans for get-together opportunities.
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It really was a great day and helped me gain a broader perspective of the Exchange Program and what the year will hold.
Friday evening the families of the Exchange Teachers met at the Orient Hotel in the Rocks Area of Sydney. It was enjoyable to get to meet the family members. I especially enjoyed seeing how many of the young teachers are here with young families - what a wonderful opportunity for the children to have a year of living and learning in another country during their growing-up years!
Saturday morning we joined most of the exchange families on a Harbor Cruise aboard our own chartered ferry - the Radar (one of Sydney's historic, small ferries. We traveled quite a way up the Parramatta River and then back out toward the eastern suburbs. We had a lovely lunch/picnic at Clifton Gardens. Here are some photos of our day:
After we said good-bye to everyone until our next gathering in a few weeks, Mitch and I walked around in the Rocks Markets and then to an area that is called Barangaroo.
We then made a quick stop at Cockatoo Island on our way home on the ferry. Needless to say we were rather pooped when we finally got home!
Cockatoo Island, is located at the junction of the Parramatta and Lane Cove rivers, in Sydney Harbour, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Cockatoo Island is the largest of several islands that were originally heavily timbered sandstone knolls. Originally the Island rose to 18 metres (59 ft) above sea level and was 12.9 hectares (32 acres) but it has been extended to 17.9 hectares (44 acres) and is now cleared of most vegetation. Called Wa-rea-mah by the Indigenous Australians who traditionally inhabited the land prior to European settlement, the island may have been used as a fishing base.
Between 1839 and 1869, Cockatoo Island operated as a convict penal establishment, primarily as a place of secondary punishment for convicts who had re-offended in the colonies.[7][8][9]
Cockatoo Island was also the site of one of Australia's biggest shipyards, operating between 1857 and 1991. The first of its two dry docks were built by convicts. Listed on the National Heritage List, the island is significant for its demonstration of the characteristics of a long-running dockyard and shipbuilding complex, including evidence of key functions, structures and operational layout. Cockatoo Island contains the nation's most extensive and varied record of shipbuilding, and has the potential to enhance understanding of maritime and heavy industrial processes in Australia from the mid-19th century.
In late March 2005 the Harbour Trust, in partnership with an event organiser, held the Cockatoo Island Festival. The event put the island on Sydney's cultural map and initiated a range of cultural activities including contemporary art installations, exhibitions and festivals.
The Harbour Trust opened a camp and glampsite on the island in 2008. The camp ground attracts some 20,000 campers a year and is a popular spot for watching Sydney's renowned New Year's Eve fireworks. In 2010, the island attracted a capacity crowd of over 2000 campers to view NYE fireworks. Other island holiday accommodation consists of five renovated houses and apartments with harbour and city views.[11]
Sydney Ferries services Cockatoo Island as part of its Woolwich/Balmain ferry route and Parramatta RiverCat route. Day visitors are welcome, and can picnic, barbecue, visit the cafe, wander at leisure or take an audio or guided tour. Cockatoo Island is open daily and there is no admission charge.
Cinema Showing Benefits Fred Hollows Foundation
On Sunday (21st) we accompanied Eva (Helen, my exchange partner's sister) and her husband, Matthew to a showing of the new movie, Brooklyn, at the Roseville Cinema in Roseville (a northern suburb). The proceeds from the benefit showing are earmarked for a very beneficial foundation - Fred Hollows.
The Fred Hollows Foundation is a non-profit aid organization based in Australia founded in 1992 by eye surgeon Fred Hollows. The Foundation focuses on treating and preventing blindness and other vision problems. It operates in Australia, The Pacific, South and South East Asia, and Africa.
We were happy to have been included in such a worthwhile cause while we are here in Australia and to learn about the work of the Fred Hollows Foundation.
Year Two News at Beaumont Road Public School
This week at school has been busy with lots of learning in Year 2 class 2KH! Here are some things that we learned this week:
1. How to skip count by all of the single digit numbers (precursor to multiplication),
2. How to write explanation and narrative essays. We wrote about our families and a recount of our excursion (field trip).
3. How to tell time to the half and quarter hours.
4. How to determine if something is probable, possible, or improbable.
5. Comparison of family lives now and in the past.
As part of our "Families Past and Present" unit we had our first excursion of the year. We traveled 70 minutes by bus to the historic Vaucluse House in the Vaucluse area of the eastern suburbs. It was pretty amazing to travel with 2 buses of 7-8 year old students over the Harbor Bridge, past the Opera House, and on to the Vaucluse neighborhood for an excursion! Here is some information about the Vaucluse House:
Vaucluse House is one of Sydney’s few 19th-century mansions still surrounded by its original gardens and wooded grounds. When the towering colonial explorer, barrister and politician William Charles Wentworth bought the house in 1827, it was a single-storey cottage in a secluded valley of partly cleared coastal scrub. In fits and starts over the next five decades, William and his wife Sarah developed Vaucluse into a large and picturesque estate. The grounds were extended and flourished to cover most of the present-day suburb of Vaucluse but the main house of the family’s dreams was left unfinished. In 1915 Vaucluse House became Australia’s first official house museum and continues to entice visitors to its lush and still secluded grounds. In 2015, Vaucluse House celebrated 100 years as a Sydney area museum.
Here are some photos of our Excursion to Vaucluse House:
Finally - a quick Year Two Story:
Most of you know that until this experience of being on Exchange, I have not had my own classroom of students for MANY years! It has been such a professional growing experience to be responsible for the planning, organization, preparation, instruction, and evaluation of learning for these 23 beautiful children. When my principal, Malcolm, originally asked me what level I would like to teach, I immediately thought of my lack of confidence in teaching math, so I said that I would take Year 2, thinking that, surely I could handle Year Two Math - even in a foreign country! I knew that I would have to learn the metric system and remember that temperature is in Celsius, but I was confident that I could do it! So - the other day while in class we were discussing "fact families." I said - "who can give me members of the fact family that would add up to 5?" Most of the students said "2&3, 1&4, etc." One student was quite proud of herself when she said " zero and 5!" Then, my math whiz says, "Well - that would be negative 5 plus 10." Oh dear - I just thought I wasn't going to have to learn 4th or 5th grade math this year - looks like that is in store for me and at least one of my students!
Have a great Leap Day, dear friends!
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