QIEU Teacher Exchange Program
Belle River - Canada Teacher Exchange 2007 Exchange teacher, Rosalene Brennan, and her family left Australia in early December 2006 travelling first to Canada to meet their exchange partners Mary Ann and Dennis Lizotte before travelling through the US. Teaching commenced in early January 2007, Ros says the first week was a whirlwind but the staff are lovely and welcoming and she has a beautiful class which helped her cope to survive the week well. Ros shares some of her initial observations… Well, finally we have two weekends at home and even though I have to spend them writing report cards, I am glad to be able to have my first sleep-in since we left Australia. The conference we went to in Quebec was quite an experience. We can not wait to go back and visit the city again which we will probably do in our Summer Vacation. We had many experiences while there, too many to name them all, but some of the highlights were: • Visiting the "Ice Hotel" - the whole hotel and the beds and chairs and walls and everything are made from ice and people pay hundreds of dollars to be able to sleep in this hotel. We even had a drink out of an "ice" glass, but had to wear two lots of gloves to be able to hold the glass. • Seeing the half frozen waterfall and the completely frozen St Lawrence River (just amazing). • Drinking the warmed up "Caribou" was my highlight.
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• Walking down awesome.
"Old
Town" Quebec -
• But best of all (.....NOT!) slipping on the ice (even though I was wearing the proper snow boots) and bruising part of my leg and hip, was an experience I will not forget so soon. I once slipped on yard duty too and even though I didn't get too hurt that time, my pride was certainly shaken. I watch every step I take now! • Eating "beaver tails" and "poutine" (this has cheese curd on top of it) were interesting experiences. Now, you might think that we are just having one great ol' time here, and even though we are enjoying ourselves, we are all working hard. The Quebec visit – Ice Hotel and local cuisine.
QIEU Teacher Exchange Program I have never seen the children have so much homework to do as they have here. I am not complaining though, because I am glad to see their minds being so stimulated. I love our conversations around the dinner table at night time which are often about what they are learning at school, people they have met, and the different things that people say and do here. This starts some very interesting discussions as you might well imagine. I put in as many hours after school here in Canada as I do in Australia. Sometimes I have to even work a little harder here because there is a lot of new terminology to learn and understand and keep up with. I think I am finally getting a better understanding of it all. I attended a Professional Development day where the topic was about the Grade 3 and Grade 6 tests that each school must make their students sit through. It was not only informative, but also opened my eyes up a great deal when I listened to their perspective and frustrations (very similar to ours in Australia). I was also very interested in the way they are going about trying to improve the results of the tests. (More on this when I return)
I teach grade one over here, but my students are 6 years old turning 7, whereas in Australia they are 5 turning 6. It is interesting to see the way the Canadians present their curriculum and to see where their different emphasis is placed in comparison to us. I have picked up many ideas that I would like to try in my own classroom when I return to Australia. The Canadians have a great emphasis on guided reading and the PM Benchmark results are sent in 3 (or 4) times a year to form statistics, so that the Education Board can keep control of progress and of areas that need more subsidising and further training of teachers and extra resources. I must admit that I have a wonderful class of 19 children here in Canada and no real problems (except for academic) it has been nice to be able to go to school each day and enjoy teaching again. I am in a country school and not a city school and I think this makes a difference. It has been a long while since I have had a fairly "worry-free" class. Not having all the extra worries of all the problems that are presented before teachers in a classroom these days (like ADD/ ADHD, Asperges/ Autistic/ II, etc, etc, etc) really makes a difference. Taking this time out has made me realise why I was feeling so burnt out, which was making me feel bad, because I really do love teaching. The Brennan Family Canadian home for 2007 and the school bus outside St John the Baptist School, Belle River.
QIEU Teacher Exchange Program Work and live overseas for 12 months, return to your current position and still accrue your entitlements. To be eligible you must be QIEU Member working fulltime with a minimum of five (5) years teaching experience. Interested? Contact QIEU Teacher Exchange Coordinator, Jenny Zugno Ph 3839 7020 or jennyz@qieu.asn.au More information can be found on www.qieu.asn.au F:\DATA\Teachex\Web\Exchange teacher Rosalene Brennan 2.doc