Erasmus+ Journal (Issue 3) 2014/15
Marjolein Leemhuis, Ascham School, Australië, Mobility for internship, KPZ
Contact Ascham school.
188 New South Head Rd,
Edgecliff NSW 2027,
Australië
Phonenumber: +61 2 8356 7000
Contact
We have made contact with the Ascham school by E-mail. (Judith Butcher [jbutcher@ascham.nsw.edu.au])
Information
We contected with the school through a E-mail. The Ascham school is looking forward to seeing us.
Discription of the school
The Ascham school has DALTON education and is only for girls. We will do research about the differences between the education in the Netherlands and Australia.
Preparation
We fulled in a document for the visa (http://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/417.aspx). An travel company has arranged our first week in Australia. When we get there we will arrange a place to sleep. At school we attended a few classes to brush up our English. (Katholieke PABO Zwolle).
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Review of your stay abroad in academic terms
My internship at the Ascham School (Private and Dalton School) in Sydney was great! I had an lovely class (Year 6) and supervisor.
At the beginning of my internship we (my supervisor and I) discussed the program and goals from the school in term 1, term 2 and my own goals. In this conversation about the goals, my supervisor told me that there was an assembly for Year 6 in March. We were really excited about the idea to make the subject of the assembly about the Netherlands. This was an great opportunity for me to teach the children about our culture, traditions and food of the Netherlands. In the end of the assembly they would like to be doing a dance, and because they were learning about the culture and traditions of the Netherlands, I’ve learned the children a specific dance called “the Kanga” which connected too (an typical Dutch tradition) Kingsday in this same period.
The performance of the children was just perfect and they really liked it. Also the reactions of the parents and teachers were very enthusiastic. As an teacher I was so proud of the children as well a bit for me!
The switch between speaking Dutch and English was a bit of an trouble in the beginning. But because you’ve to talk English all the time, I was getting better by the moment. Especially in front of the class I was more confident.
I was giving a lot of lessons to the children, especially mathematics. In total there are 4 classes of year 6, those children were spilt in groups of 5 levels mathematics (level 1 is the weakest and level 5 is the most advanced). The level of my group was the lowest level, level 1. For me it was a great challenge to teach the children in this group. I’ve used a lot of cooperative methods. The children liked the way of my teaching, and learned a lot.
Review of the stay abroad in cultural terms
At the Ascham school there are a lot of different cultures between the children. Every girl is welcome at the Ascham school, whatever the religion of believe is. In Year 6 the children are learning about the different religions. Every girl (with a religion) is getting a chance to talk about her religion, it really opened my eyes about the different religions.
The culture between Australia and the Netherlands is in most of his ways the same. In Sydney are living a ton of Asian people, which I didn’t expect. This is changing the Australian street in Asians cultures. For me this was the most notable, because I didn’t recognize any of this in my travel experience.
Review of the stay abroad in social terms
In my opinion the people of Australia are very kind and friendly. They have respect for the foreigners who are willing to speak English. Like my father in law always says: “You’re talking better English then they are talking Dutch!”. The first week we went to the phone shop, called Telstra. As a foreign student we had no idea which phone card we needed, and how it’s worked. The phone shop man was very helpful and made everything ready for using the phone card correctly. When he saw/heard that we’re foreigners, he toke his time to help us.
Also he told us some beautiful places that we had to see, and some helpful information.
Tips
When you choose for an internship to Australia, the best way to find an place to live is to buy first an Australian phone card and call the house managers directly. It is a lot cheaper then calling from an foreign country, and it’s the fastest way to find a place. Because you can plan an inspection of your (future) room/house.
The best way to travel across Sydney is by the public transport. Like in most lands there is an public transport card, here in Sydney this card called: the OPAL-card. You can buy this card in a lot of small shops, outside this shops there is waving an OPAL-card flag. The minimum prepaid on this card is 10 dollars and you have to “top-up” the card to keep using it. Using this card you get access to all kinds of public transports (train, bus, ferry).
An credit card is an must, it’s the easiest way to buy stuff, pay stuff and booking (rent apartment, vacations excreta).
When it comes to traveling I can recommend to travel across the east coast. It is so beautiful like you have never seen before. Especially the Great Barrier Reef! You can swim with turtles, all kinds of beautiful colored fishes (like Finding Nemo) and, if you lucky, with dolphins.
If you prefer the outback, you have to travel to the middle of Australia. Where you sleep under the stars and where you life truly back to basic!
