Last Minute Preps

Just like the first, the second week of break has come & gone. In two days, I’ll be back at Villa Maria teaching history & social studies. I’ve been spending the remaining days doing last minute preparations and trying to get rid of this annoying cold I caught yesterday. I’m contemplating whether to get sushi or onion.

Through past experiences, I discovered that eating wasabi covered sushi is very good in clearing a blocked nose. Wasabi, aka ‘Japanese horseradish’ is a very strong spice, and it will burn a clear nasal path after you breathe in the strong scent after consumption. If wasabi is unavailable, like when I fell ill when studying in Ukraine in 2006, my host family made me breathe in the scent of onion through my nose. Hopefully, my cold will be vaporized by Monday because I have two classes to teach that day. It’s odd that in the early 21^st century there’s still no cure for the common cold.

Ben finally got his new computer, after waiting an extra two months, and driving it down from Nelson. Watching him play Grand Theft Auto IV got me thinking about my computer situation. It’s hard to plan lessons when you’re one & only laptop has called it quits and will only give you the Blue Screens of Death whenever you boot it up. Hopefully, I won’t have any troubles at the airports when flying back to Canada, because the security officials make you turn on your laptop to make sure it’s not a bomb. Scouring the Internet for the best deals on new laptops keeps me from listening to the angry voice in my head that wants to bash my old laptop for entertainment. It would make a nice vid for the BLOG, I might add.

My PC at home functions well, but it’s six years old, and I think it’s time for an upgrade. I’ll wait until Microsoft releases its latest operating system, Windows 7, because I don’t want to take a chance with Windows Vista. The cost for my dream PC stands at around $3000CAD, thanks to all the ultra powerful components I want it to have.

My American roommate, Ryan, came back from travelling all over with his American friends. The highpoint of his trip was when his Subaru car broke down in Auckland. Ever since buying it at a second hand auction, the Subaru has been nothing but trouble for him & his friends. It’s in the shops getting its engine fixed but if I were him, I would have abandoned it in Auckland or sold it.

As a Canadian, it was odd to see veterans selling poppies in public places in late April. Canadians only wear poppies for Remembrance Day on November 11th. Upon doing some research, it came to my attention that April 25th is ANZAC Day, where Australia & New Zealand honour the men of the Australian & New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli, Turkey during the First World War. Services are held at dawn and always include the lone bugler playing 'The Last Post' and 'Reveille'.

The Allied objective of the Gallipoli Campaign (25 April 1915 - 9 January 1916) was to capture the Ottoman capital of Istanbul and to secure a sea route to Russia. Turkey was allied with Germany & Austro-Hungary during WWI. The attack was poorly planned by the British & French, but would be carried out by confident Australians & New Zealanders who were eager to go into battle for the first time. Long story short: there were heavy casualties on both sides and in the end, the Turks reppelled Allied forces off the mountainous peninsula.

There’s not much else I can think of right now; my cold is giving me writer’s block. That’s it! Sushi time! Before I go, I’ll just say that I’ll be ready on Monday and I look forward to finishing the final three weeks of teaching practice. I just hope my diploma won’t be as big as my Piano ARCT certificate from Toronto.

Gone With The Wind

On paper it’s break time, but in practice it’s mostly the opposite. Teachers & future teachers may receive mandatory holidays & vacations but a large portion of that spare time is devoted to behind-the-scenes schoolwork like marking tests & assignments, and planning units & lessons. Having a two-week break is beneficial in that it’s possible devote time for R&R before continuing with research & planning. Truthfully, this past week has been mostly leaning towards the R&R side but I spliced in serious work whenever possible.

Since I’ll be briefly teaching the Year 9s about Rwanda, I rented Hotel Rwanda from Blockbuster to get a better mindset about the place. I won’t be showing them the movie because there’s no time for a film study but I’ll encourage them to see on their own time. Hotel Rwanda is set during the infamous 1994 genocide where 800,000 Tutsi were slaughtered by Hutu extremists in 100 days.

The genocide would have been happening during this time 15 years ago, while the Western & European powers didn’t care at all, refusing to support the UNAMIR mission, and only stepped in after the Tutsi rebels, the RPF, ousted the Hutus from power. It upsets me that the same is currently happening in the Sudanese Darfur region & little is being done.

The Belgians are to blame for creating the Hutu & Tutsi division via ethnic classification on identity cards in the mid-20^th century when Rwanda was ruled by the European power. The Tutsi were the elite & the Hutu were poor farmers.

The pendulum will be swinging to the other side for this week, and I may be spending many days at Villa Maria preparing my lessons. With this much focus on teaching practice, you tend to ignore the obvious & differences around you. Just yesterday, I noticed & remembered that the company handling Ilam’s elevators is called Schindler’s Lifts!

The flock of ducks that usually hang out in Ilam’s Quad Area have mysteriously disappeared. I’m guessing they decided to migrate somewhere else during the winter months. The weather has also changed into constant overcast, drenching Christchurch in a dome of white & grey gloom. It actually makes you feel like you’re living in a self-contained biosphere. Well, at least there’s some sun out today.

Lastly, I never thought this day would arrive so fast; it’s mid-April meaning I’ve beaten my previous record of 19 weeks living without the close assistance of my parents. My record is now 20 weeks & counting! I can still remember way, way back in the day when going to a sleep over or staying awake all night was a big deal. Well, when I journey back to Canada I’ll have to decide what to do first: go to Tim Horton’s, or get a shawarma?

Break In Between

The Middle Earth (New Zealand) school year is divided into 4 ten-week Terms, spread across the months between February & November. Students receive two weeks of break in between each term. My teaching program has it that my second teaching practice takes place on the last 4 weeks of Term 2 & the first 3 weeks of Term 3. Not noticing until the last minute, week 4 of TP (week 10 for high school students) came & went, finishing on Thursday because of Easter’s Good Friday. Personally, every Friday is a Good Friday. As well, despite all that I’ve been taught about Easter, I still can’t figure out where the chocolate egg producing bunny fits in?

Before I could rush home, pop open a bottle of expensive champagne, and yell ‘Freedom!’ at the top of my lungs, I visited my four teaching associates & separately planned the next set of lessons for Term 3. It’s only break time for the students because teachers have to prepare for the next term & planning ahead is always encouraged.

For Year 11 History, I’ll be wrapping up the origins of WWII before moving on to NZ during the Cold War. The Year 10s will be looking at the Treaty of Waitangi, and Y9s will be learning about Rwanda before moving on to systems of government. There’s quite a lot material to prepare for but having two weeks makes the tasks much easier. As long as I stay away from procrastination, I’ll be fine.

I had originally planned to travel around but after the first several weeks of practice, it became apparent that I would need this break to rest, ready, and reentre the last three weeks of practice strong & confident. University students are also on break at this time but started last week and finish the same time as I do.

Thursday’s Morning Tea was more of a party because the principal’s secretary was retiring & the faculty were acknowledging & celebrating her years of service & accomplishments. Even if I had my camera with me, it would have been next to impossible to photograph the layout of the snacks & treats because they were devoured within minutes. As well, there were speeches from faculty, wishing the secretary the very best & that she would be missed. Naturally, the secretary had the final say & she thanked everyone for the special morning tea and explained her plans for the future.

Well, that’s pretty much what this week was like. There’s not much else to write because I dedicated my previous post to Tuesday’s Y9 fieldtrip to Ferrymead. So, for the next two weeks, I’ll be preparing my next batch of lessons for Term 3, while reflecting on the true spiritual meaning of Easter – two weeks vacation (paid if I were a certified teacher).

Ferrymead & the Bridle Path

During the fourth week of teaching practice, I was invited by one of my teaching associates to participate in a Year 9 Social Studies field trip to Ferrymead Heritage Park followed by an afternoon tramp on the Bridle Path. I happily agreed since I hadn’t gone on any field trips during my first teaching practice. The bright & early sun was shining when the two Y9 classes (totalling 45 students) converged in the Hall (used for assemblies) for the morning briefing. Maintaining order wouldn’t be a problem because we had more than the required amount of adult supervision: two teachers, one student teacher, and 8 parents.

Ferrymead is like Upper Canada Village, a historically orientated town, except built to show Kiwis & tourists what Middle Earth life was like back in 1907. It’s located near the Lyttelton Tunnel & Christchurch Gondola, meaning a long bus ride from Villa Maria. Unlike North America with its yellow/orange painted school buses, we were transported on a reserved city bus.

Upon arrival, students were lead by Ferrymead staff to the train station where they would put on 1907 oriented clothing. To make it easier for them, the girls were instructed to wear civilian clothing (known as mufti) for the field trip; that & it would be difficult to tramp the Bridle Path in their school uniforms. There were plenty of traditional dresses to go around but some girls chose to experience 1907 as boys by wearing grey slacks. Changing into character was optional for staff & some indeed chose to play along.

After the students were briefed on how to act (children are to be seen, not heard), they were split into four groups & would conduct a morning ‘Round-Robin’, visiting the school, general store, bakery, and typical house residence.

School in 1907 operated with gender segregation in mind: girls & boys played outside in separate areas and sat opposite each other in the classroom. For the simulation, my group learned to sing God Save The King and how to write with fountain pens. Since Ferrymead was simulating a rural town, the school was one classroom. Naturally, the teacher was male & to be feared by his pupils because he maintained discipline via a wooden cane & a strap. Lucky for the girls, the cane & strap are no longer used; instead, present teachers prefer tasers.

The General Store was where everyone in town would go to do their shopping. Products such as jams, toys, dolls, hard candies, player pianos, rice, soaps, & washboards were stocked, having been delivered from the port town of Lyttelton. I was surprised to see canned fish from New Brunswick on sale. Back then, consumers would hand over their shopping list to the general store staff who would collect the necessary items. Nowadays, there are many options at your disposal: ordering online with delivery, self-checkout at the grocery store, or good old fashion collecting everything yourself and letting the cashier scan everything for you.

The Bakery mostly specialized in supplying bread but also provided many other baking products. Girls were taught how to make biscuits and shown how the large stone oven operated. The wood burning oven is privately owned and is still used to bake bread, which is sold in farmers markets. It takes 8 days for the oven to completely cool down before being safe to clean.

A typical rural house residence was small & pretty cramped. There would only be about four rooms and daughters would help their mothers with the intensive tasks of cleaning, ironing, bed making, cooking, silver polishing, and rug beating. My group found it quite challenging to accomplish all these chores with pioneer equipment and were glad to be living in the modern age. Back then, it would take a whole day just to complete one chore!

Once the Round-Robin was completed, students & staff changed out of character clothing and proceeded to have lunch. Once our stomachs were full, we thanked the staff of Ferrymead, boarded the bus and headed off to Lyttelton.

The Bridle Path is a track that was constructed in 1850, from Lyttelton to Christchurch, giving early settlers a route over the mountains. With the experiences of 1907 life still fresh in their minds, it was time for the Y9s to journey the same route early settlers took to establish the city of Christchurch. Having done plenty of marching & walking in cadets, this would a piece of ‘k-a-k-e’ for me. It’s a good thing I brought sunscreen because the last time I was up in the hills (Godley Head) my face got burned.

As for the girls . . . they heavily complained and exaggerated their pains at the beginning but after a while, they started enjoying the tramp, especially after watching a mountain biker pass by them on the way up. The tramp up to the summit took about 40 minutes since I was in the rear, making sure no one was left behind. The view of the Christchurch valley below was breathtaking and many students stopped to snap pictures with their mobile phones.

The way down was a challenge because the rocks were slippery so I suggested to the students to walk down on the side of the path. The further I descended, the calls of grazing sheep became louder. At one point, the sheep were silenced by Y9s whistling at a group of men who were tramping in the opposite direction because they weren’t wearing their shirts.

Once the tramp was completed, we waited for our bus to arrive, the students passing time by playing games and thanking the parents with bars of chocolate. When the bus arrived, we all piled in and made a quick pit stop at Ferrymead, picking up the baked biscuits before settling in for the happy ride back to school. By the time we disembarked, the final bell at Villa Maria had rung.

The trip was declared a success with the teachers noting that they overheard some students planning on tramping the Bridle Path over the Easter Break. I enjoyed the field trip as well and was glad that it took place on a sunny Tuesday . . . because Wednesday & Thursday was nothing but rain.

*(And if any of you are still shocked & confused, no, tasers are not being used by Kiwi teachers today).

What To Write?

The month of April has arrived . . . and I’m experiencing mild writer’s block at this moment. I know that much has happened this past week, but my mind is being slow today, wanting to make use of the sunny day rather than writing. Already, the third week of my second teaching practice has come & gone, with me teaching history lessons on the Spanish Civil War, the Abyssinian War, the first & second Anschluss attempts between Germany & Austria, and an economic lesson on production & productivity. I’ve become accustomed to teaching with the latest version of Microsoft PowerPoint, making it easier for students to copy notes, and letting me keep an eye out for troublemakers. According to my associates, my teaching has improved and I’m not in any hot water.

Since I don’t have time to prepare lunch in the early hours of the morning, I rely on Villa Maria’s canteen services & I have to admit, they do make good honey chicken wraps and club sandwiches. As well, the faculty put on a special Morning Tea, with savouries & treats, because a teacher was turning 30.

I'm aware that I haven't posted any pictures of Villa Maria but those will be forthcoming - I've just been paying more attention to lesson planning & preparation.

As always, I’ve been paying attention to world news & I was surprised to hear that the transit service in my hometown of Ottawa recently purchased several double-decker buses. Apparently, they can carry more passengers than the long articulated buses (I prefer calling them accordion busses). It’s a step in the right direction after the dreaded 53-day strike; all the city needs to do now is tinker with the proposed light rail plan before commencing expansion.

Parts of London, England are flaming because of people protesting the G20 Summit. It’s tough to agree with the voices of protesters when some of them think the best way to deal with the recession is vandalism. However, I agree that it’s unfair for the working class to suffer while fat bankers pocket huge bonus payments, like the AIG execs. Maybe it’s time we abandon the unfair spoils of capitalism & switch over to socialism? If the G20 leaders don’t want to be bothered by protesters, then maybe they should conduct their meetings via cyberspace. It’s the 21^st century: why are world leaders meeting face to face when it can be done through the internet with webcams?

Following in the footsteps of the current recession, my old laptop has crashed & won't start up again. There were times in the past where I could get around the Blue Screens of Death (BSOD) but I think this is truly the end. It's really not surprising since it was operating on Windows 2000 Pro! When I get a new laptop, it'll run either Windows XP Pro SP3 or the new Windows 7 that's coming out in the near future. I'm skipping Windows Vista.

After the Easter Break, I’ll be starting a new topic with my Year 9 Social Studies class: Life In Rwanda. It’s good that I mentioned it because April 7^th is the day of remembrance for the 1994 Genocide. Over a period of 100 days, 800,000 Tutsis were slaughtered by militant Hutus with machetes while the world sat around & did nothing. World governments keep voicing the phrase, ‘Never Again,’ but have continually failed to stop genocides. The Armenian Genocide, the Holodomor, the Holocaust, Pol Pot’s Cambodia, Rwanda, & now Darfur. If it were up to me, I would send covert special forces to pay unannounced visits to the leaders of tyrant nations & have them removed. So far, humanity is the only race capable of hating its own kind.

Bad things aside, many trees here in Middle Earth have been changing their colours, a sign of autumn & the eventual arrival of winter. It will be odd when I return to Canada because I’ll be leaving in winter & arriving in summer. For those of you in North America, yes, it is possible for snow to fall in July – just fly down to the southern hemisphere!