We were invited to the small high school in the village to talk about Australia and do some English with the students. All the kids were amazingly enthusiastic and excited to meet someone from so far away and hear about different places.
We started the morning with a sweaty game of volleyball with the older kids against the teachers (who were doing well until we joined the team!) The school was very basic and reminded me of the small schools I attended, down to the crappy uncomfortable chairs, cement quadrangle marked out for sports, the uniforms, and even the pregnant teenagers.
I presented a talk about Australia, in my slowest English (with Alex translating), trying to talk about the real country and not just the stereotypes. I was impressed that some of the kids knew the capital of Australia and some of the animals and places. They asked lots of questions about all kinds of things, including the political and educational systems in Australia and immigration law which I didn't have very good answers for. We finished the class with some games in English (Chinese Whispers, or Broken Telephone in Spanish), and a tasting of Vegemite. There was not a lot of positive response to the Vegemite, as expected! A few faces of disgust, including from the teacher, lots of laughs, and only one request for a second helping... and a question if we brought pavlova as well :-)
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We started the morning with a sweaty game of volleyball with the older kids against the teachers (who were doing well until we joined the team!) The school was very basic and reminded me of the small schools I attended, down to the crappy uncomfortable chairs, cement quadrangle marked out for sports, the uniforms, and even the pregnant teenagers.
I presented a talk about Australia, in my slowest English (with Alex translating), trying to talk about the real country and not just the stereotypes. I was impressed that some of the kids knew the capital of Australia and some of the animals and places. They asked lots of questions about all kinds of things, including the political and educational systems in Australia and immigration law which I didn't have very good answers for. We finished the class with some games in English (Chinese Whispers, or Broken Telephone in Spanish), and a tasting of Vegemite. There was not a lot of positive response to the Vegemite, as expected! A few faces of disgust, including from the teacher, lots of laughs, and only one request for a second helping... and a question if we brought pavlova as well :-)
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| Playing volleyball |
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| Talking abut Aussie animals |
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| Feeding Vegemite to the kids |
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