My teacher, Kyryn, was also happy to see that I was back. Upon arrival she told me that she had switched the planning up a little bit though. I was entirely fine with that because that's just what happens as a teacher. She needed to make SURE she got the students assessed in each subject before the end of the term (which is also my last week). And, starting next week, for the last two weeks of my time here, the students will be swimming from 10 am to 1pm everyday! That definitely cuts out of classroom time that should be used for end of the term assessments. Nearly all morning I was placed with 3 students and asked to help them write a draft of their final information report. These 3 students worked fervently, but I found myself having difficulty explaining to them EXACTLY what a sentence is. They were given bulleted notes like - a red dome of rock, and they had to put that into a competent and interesting sentence. The students I was working with, lower level, could not understand why that wasn't a sentence. So I would try to work with them by asking them, "if you had to describe Ayer's Rock to me, what would you say?" in hopes that they would respond with, "It looks like a red dome of rock"... instead I incessantly got "a red dome of rock". It was a long, but productive morning nonetheless. We'll likely be doing the same thing tomorrow to finish it.

I also taught the whole group maths today. Before maths, I introduced the new behavior system, which I still hadn't had time to fully get ready. The students appeared excited at the new opportunity to win something, but didn't prove to me that they were giving extra effort. I awarded those I thought deserved being awarded, but was still very stingy about giving awards to those who did not prove excellence to me. I taught for a complete hour and a half, but it proved very very successful! The students displayed good behavior, appeared to finally ALMOST completely grasp subtraction with regrouping, and are rockstars at creating equivalent equations. My vocal cords were SCREAMING at the end of this time, but I didn't have to talk for the rest of the day, so I didn't mind.

I learned today that Prep (equivalent to our Kindergarten) is NOT mandatory here in Australia. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that Kindergarten is mandatory in the US and I was quite surprised by this! Imagine a kid walking into 1st grade not having all of the skills he/she would've learned in Kindergarten (or Prep)! The teachers assured me that the great majority of kids do attend Prep though because it is practically free childcare if nothing else. I thought that was a rather sad way to think of it, but also quite true.

I also recalled a couple Australian words/phrases you may find interesting. Several of these come from what we would think of as an Old British type of wording:
dearer: more expensive
fortsnight: 2 weeks.... this word is used ALL THE TIME, and they are amazed that we do not use it in America
fringes: bangs (like in your hair)
pardon: what did you say?... I know we've all heard this before, but it's SO adorable to have the kids say to you, "pardon", instead of the "WHAT?" that we'd get in America.
docket: receipt
I reckon: I think... again I know you've all heard this, but it is used CONSTANTLY down here... as well as the word MATE. You'd be amazed at how many times I've actually heard or been spoken to with the phrase "G'day mate!" They truly truly use it!
How's you going?: How are you?... My host family asks me this often, and I've heard it from grocery store cashiers among other people.

Okay, I'm going to guides again tonight. They are making Father's Day presents because the Australian Father's Day is coming up this weekend on September 5th... Definitely different than ours. The strange thing is that their Mother's Day is always the same as ours! :) Oh well!

I'd best be off! - G'day Mates! :)

written by  cowane1 on August 30, 2010 from Morayfield, Australia
from the travel blog: Australian Adventures!
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written by  lihanqin on August 31, 2010

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