My first week of school!!

Hey guys!

   This was my first week of school at The Terrace School in Alexandra, New Zealand. It has been everything I could have hoped for and more. I love the school and the students are absolutely adorable. My cooperating teacher is amazing as well!! I'm in the Year 2 level, which is comparable to 1st and 2nd grade in the states. I'm learning a ton about how to teach little children because I've been mainly with students a little (wee) bit older than these kids. Also, I'm learning about the "Kiwi" way to teach. It's different from the way we teach in America, but there are also many similarities. One of the biggest differences is that they hardly ever do any reading or math (maths as they say here) as a whole class. They do things in little groups all the time for the those subjects and they don't really do much as a whole class. I'm wondering if it's different in the upper (senior) grades at the school, or if it's similar the whole way through? Another difference is that teachers teach almost everything here! I will be teaching art, music, physical education and computer class (ICT) while I'm here. There is a language specialist who comes in twice a week to teach their native language, Maori. Twice a month, the students spend their Maori time singing Maori songs and putting the words they know to music. I got to be a part of this singing my very first day here. It was really cool and I learned a song that talks about all the main body parts. I'm struggling a little bit with the words, but I think over time I will become better at it, because they try to incorporate as much Maori into their school day as possible. Most things in the room as labeled which is not dissimilar from the states, but there is the Maori word for that item in addition to the English word! It's really cool and they say that they do it because they don't want to lose their connection to their native culture.

   Speaking of Maori, we got a VERY cool welcome into the school. There is a ritual the Maoris do to welcome people onto their land. This is called a powhiri. We get called onto the land by one of the senior girls and then we are able to enter the main hall. There is a lot of singing and the hosts talk about their land and the people who inhabit it. Then the guests present a gift (we wrote a letter introducing ourselves and saying how grateful we were to get the opportunity to teach at their school) to the hosts. Then if they accept us (they did!) we walk around to everyone, shake hands and touch foreheads to show that we are accepted and part of the family. After that, we are part of the family and the students all perform a song and dance welcoming us. This was one of the coolest things I've ever been a part of. I'm very excited they shared their culture with us.

   Something else that was different from what I'm used to is "Morning Tea." Every day day about 11:10 the students and teachers get 15 minutes to unwind and chat and have a snack and/or tea. The students go outside and run around and eat and the teachers go to the teacher's lounge. The only rule of tea time in the teacher's lounge are that you don't talk about school. You can discuss anything else you want, like your personal life or funny stories that happened to you, you just can't talk about school. And tea time is mandatory. They think in order to be your best, everyone needs a little time during the day to have a break and socialize. I tend to agree with this. The kids get some fresh air and a snack and the teachers get a chance to see one another because that doesn't always happen throughout the rest of the day.

  The school is set up like an open campus, so the rooms are all spread out and you have to go outside to get almost anywhere. I really like this a lot! When we go to another classroom, or the library or the grand hall, we get to go outside. I know this wouldn't be feasible in the US because of severe weather, but it's nice while I'm here. The town I'm in is one of the tamest, weather wise, or so I'm told. It's been a little chilly so far this week but it's supposed to warm up very soon. This open campus is very telling of the outdoorsy culture. The children don't always wear shoes because they're so in tune with nature here. They don't have to wear shoes during class and they don't have to wear shoes outside (unless it's really cold) which is something very different from what I'm used to! They always have their little sun hats on though, which are really cute, especially on the little bitty ones! :)

   The children were all really excited to see a student teacher as well. I was like a magnet at recess, all of them were rushing up to me, asking me a million questions. I was like an alien in the morning, the kids kept popping their heads in, looking at me and quickly running away. I could hear them outside making comments like "She has cool hair!" When they came in they were shy at first but they warmed up to me in about 5 minutes and after that they asked me about every question they could! I gave them each a penny as a gift and they though they were so cool!! Funny how a penny, can be so exciting to someone who's maybe never seen one before! They are very interested in the states and how everything works over here!

  Well, that's about all I can think to write about my first week! I'll write more very soon about everything I'm doing in the school and I will post pictures just as soon as I can get them uploaded onto my computer :) For now, I'm going to head out, learn more New Zealand words (like wee, cruisy, jumpers, maths and biscuits which mean cookies!), try my best to master the NZ accent (I find myself asking everyone "huh?" a lot) and master driving the car on the left side of the road sitting on the right side of the car!!

Bye bye for now!