Pictures from Queensland, and Disco Soccer

So it's taken me a few days, but I finally figured out how to upload pictures to my facebook profile from my friend Ruth's computer. She's got a Mac and the interface is different enough that I've had a hard time getting the machine to do what I want. So! If you're interested in checking out my pics from my recent adventures in Townsville and Mount Isa, check out the following links:

Queensland - Part One
Queensland - Part Two

This week in Sydney is just flying by, and in just two days I'll be on the road - again - heading to the far north of Queensland to the town of Cairns. (Note: this is apparently pronounced "Canes", as the Aussies don't really ever seem to pronounce the letter "r", but I'm having a hard time saying it properly. I'm blaming the two years of French Immersion I did as a teenager. I *like* my r's.)

As far as I know, my parents are having fun in Canberra, but I haven't heard from them at all today so I really don't know.

I went back in to Ruth's school again today and basically took over her class. In the morning I led a discussion with the students about yesterday's field trip and reviewed some of the new vocabulary words we learned (how many third graders know words like "proton", "gamma radiation", and "periodic table"?). I also taught them how to do a PMI journal, which the kids seemed to really enjoy doing. Ruth's putting together a "Reflections" scrapbook journal for her class and the students' entries from today's activity will become part of that book. I also read a chapter from the novel they're studying, "Boy" by Roald Dahl, and actually managed to have her whole class absolutely quiet for about 5 minutes. Apparently this is a bit of a minor miracle. Ruth describes her class this year as being "feral". :-)

Since today was Friday, there was a grades 3-6 assembly just before morning fruit break (aka recess). It was really interesting to see how assemblies are run here. The students sat in neat rows in the assembly hall (there's no gym at this school, or indeed most schools), legs crossed, backs straight, hands in laps. Each week a different class is put in charge of running the assembly, and this time round it was one of the grade 6 classes. Several grade 6 students sat in chairs up on the stage and they took turns announcing what was happening next in the assembly. Various teachers got up and handed out merit awards for academics, homework, and sportsmanship. At the end of the assembly, one of the AP's (Assistant Principals) handed out an award for the best-behaved class during the assembly - which just happened to be Ruth's class!

The rest of the day was given over to sport. This is also typical of Australian elementary schools. All the students involved in competitive teams (more than half the student body, grades 3-6) headed off to meet their coaches (a number of the teachers) at the buses, and they went off to compete in their respective sports in a variety of locations in the community against teams from other schools. Ruth is one of the teachers responsible for the in-school sports program for students who are not on the competitive teams. So I spent the hour before lunch and the hour between lunch and the end of the school day coaching indoor soccer games, inside the assembly hall.

I must admit, when I first realized we'd be playing soccer inside the assembly hall, I was worried. There are glass doors all down the one side of the hall, and they're not made of safety glass. There's an LCD projector mounted in the ceiling, along with a whole variety of stage lights and speakers and the ubiquitous overhead fans. None of these are set in safety cages. This hall is not designed for sports - this is a space where the school meets for student assemblies, plays, and dances. I felt a little better when I discovered that the ball we were using was essentially a Nerf soccer ball, very squishy, and there was no way that ball could go through glass or do any damage to the ceiling fixtures, even if it was kicked really hard.

So yeah! I reffed soccer games. Indoors. In a hall fitted with a giant disco ball in the middle of the room. I would like to point out that the grade 3's and 4's, who played during the afternoon, played MUCH better soccer than the grade 5's and 6's, who played in the morning. I was joking with Ruth afterwards that a number of the grade 6 girls were already developing that familiar, oh-so-wondrous, intermediate "I'm too cool for this" attitude.

One of the things I really like about the Australian education system is its emphasis on sport and physical fitness. It is approached differently in the various states, but overall sport is a much larger part of school culture than it is in Canada. All the kids must participate in organized sport as part of their school life. At Jen's school, all the kids are on competitive teams - the kids get to sign up for the sport of their choice, but they all must participate. At Ruth's school, the more athletically talented kids are on the competitive teams, and the rest participate in in-school activities each week.

I also really like the emphasis placed here on healthy food choices at school. Morning recess here is called "fruit break". The students are allowed to eat a piece of fruit or other healthy snack at this time, but nothing junky. In fact if teachers see students with junk food or candy, the kids are told to put the food away. It's so ingrained in the culture at this school that the kids don't even argue, they just put it away. Children are expected to bring healthy food for their lunches too. The school has a canteen that's open three days a week at lunchtime, but only after the actual eating time is over. This is to prevent the students from loading up on sweets. Apparently if a student tries to buy $10 worth of ice creams at the canteen, the ladies working there won't allow it. They'll only let the student buy one or two portions instead and make them take the rest of the change home. At Jen's school, the students are allowed to eat a snack at any time during the school day - even during lessons - as long as it's healthy food!

As I was looking around the hall during the assembly today, I realized that the number of overweight kids was much smaller than what we see at home. Ruth admits that she's lucky she teaches in an affluent community full of well-educated parents, who for the most part make good healthy choices for their kids. I can't help but wonder if we can implement some of these ideas back in Canada though. Today has definitely given me some "food for thought".