When Aiden wants to impress people with his knowledge of Australian, he slips into a comfortable ‘G’day Mate!’ So far his Australian vocabulary only consists of a few word and phrases but he is hoping by the end of 6 months that “his mates back home won’t understand him because he’ll be talking Australian” as noted by Aiden as he returned home from school today.
Aiden has been attending school for almost a week now and seems to be settling in nicely and enjoying getting back into a routine. There are a few names that consistently come up in our conversations so hopefully these new relationships will develop into lasting friendships.
We live about 1 km away from the school and Aiden and I enjoy a pleasant walk in the morning. It takes us about ½ an hour but is truly only about a 20 min walk, if that. There tends to be lots of dawdling and inspection of leaves, branches, worms and bugs along the way. I have been picking him up at the end of the day since it has been so hot and I don’t think I could handle trying to get him to walk the km after a long and hot day at school.
School here is a full day for all students. It starts a 9 am and runs until 3:15 pm. They have a free time in the classroom at 10 am and are allowed to have a snack as long as it is fruit. At 11:15 am they are shooed outside for a 15-minute recess and are also allowed to grab a snack at this time it they wish. Lunch is around 1:00 and goes till about 1:45 pm. During the afternoon they have a short 5 – 10 minute break around 2:30 pm and are let out at 3:15 pm. Things are pretty casual; there are no buzzers. In the morning around 9 am, one of the students is given a hand held school bell and runs around the schoolyard to let the children know it is time to go in. Inside the classroom is set up very similar to that of a Canadian classroom. The Prep/1/2 class, referred to as the junior class, has access to 3 desktop computers and 9 laptops, all connected to the Internet. They don’t appear to listen to the Australian Anthem every morning but do sing it on Monday mornings during assembly.
There are four boys and one girl within a year of him so he is happy. Two will be starting school this Feb and three are already in Prep (their equivalent to Kindergarten). The school consists of one main building and four smaller ones. The main one is the one that contains two classrooms joined by a small teacher lounge/kitchen area. The smaller buildings are the washrooms, the gym, the office and the Arts, Crafts and Music room.
Last Wednesday was his first day and I went with him for part of the day. He was a little unsure to start and needed a little bit of confidence boost. This is likely the only morning that I will know what Aiden learned at school, since I was there. I can’t believe how easily and quickly kids fall into the “ I don’t remember” or the “nothing” response. His main classroom teacher is Frau (German for Mrs.) Stoffel. The morning started off with the group seated on the floor around Frau Stoffel’s chair. They spent a bit of time here and Frau Stoffel introduced Aiden to the class, they asked him where he was from and talked about some differences between Australia and Canada.
From there the conversation led into a discussion about cicadas. They are currently out and making a racket. A cicada is an insect that is about an inch long and ½ inch wide. Its eyes are wide set with short antennae protruding between or in front of the eyes; it has transparent wings and flies. It has no mouthpieces so it does not bite or sting and is harmless. There are three main types in Halls Gap; Black Prince, Yellow Monday and Green Grocer although we were told there are over 200 different types. Cicadas do not produce their sound by rubbing wings or legs together, like many other familiar sound-producing insects like crickets. They have loud noisemakers called "timbals" on the sides of the abdominal base, which acts like a drum. A cicada rapidly vibrates these membranes, and enlarged chambers derived make its body serve as a resonance chamber, greatly amplifying the sound. They modulate their noise by wiggling their abdomens toward and away from the tree that they are on. It is only the males that produce a song. They hang out, making noise, hoping to attract a female. Their song is among the loudest of all insect produced sounds. And they are loud. Everyone around here says that once the temperature reaches above 18° they start to sing. So we have this racket from about 7:30 in the morning to about 8 at night. A person from the department of Education came out to measure the decibel levels; the cicadas are registering between 88 and 90 db: louder then a jet airplane. They seem to be only in the valley. Of course we are just on the edge of it. Once outside of the Gap, things are much more peaceful.
Aiden has been attending school for almost a week now and seems to be settling in nicely and enjoying getting back into a routine. There are a few names that consistently come up in our conversations so hopefully these new relationships will develop into lasting friendships.
School here is a full day for all students. It starts a 9 am and runs until 3:15 pm. They have a free time in the classroom at 10 am and are allowed to have a snack as long as it is fruit. At 11:15 am they are shooed outside for a 15-minute recess and are also allowed to grab a snack at this time it they wish. Lunch is around 1:00 and goes till about 1:45 pm. During the afternoon they have a short 5 – 10 minute break around 2:30 pm and are let out at 3:15 pm. Things are pretty casual; there are no buzzers. In the morning around 9 am, one of the students is given a hand held school bell and runs around the schoolyard to let the children know it is time to go in. Inside the classroom is set up very similar to that of a Canadian classroom. The Prep/1/2 class, referred to as the junior class, has access to 3 desktop computers and 9 laptops, all connected to the Internet. They don’t appear to listen to the Australian Anthem every morning but do sing it on Monday mornings during assembly.There are four boys and one girl within a year of him so he is happy. Two will be starting school this Feb and three are already in Prep (their equivalent to Kindergarten). The school consists of one main building and four smaller ones. The main one is the one that contains two classrooms joined by a small teacher lounge/kitchen area. The smaller buildings are the washrooms, the gym, the office and the Arts, Crafts and Music room.
Last Wednesday was his first day and I went with him for part of the day. He was a little unsure to start and needed a little bit of confidence boost. This is likely the only morning that I will know what Aiden learned at school, since I was there. I can’t believe how easily and quickly kids fall into the “ I don’t remember” or the “nothing” response. His main classroom teacher is Frau (German for Mrs.) Stoffel. The morning started off with the group seated on the floor around Frau Stoffel’s chair. They spent a bit of time here and Frau Stoffel introduced Aiden to the class, they asked him where he was from and talked about some differences between Australia and Canada.
From there the conversation led into a discussion about cicadas. They are currently out and making a racket. A cicada is an insect that is about an inch long and ½ inch wide. Its eyes are wide set with short antennae protruding between or in front of the eyes; it has transparent wings and flies. It has no mouthpieces so it does not bite or sting and is harmless. There are three main types in Halls Gap; Black Prince, Yellow Monday and Green Grocer although we were told there are over 200 different types. Cicadas do not produce their sound by rubbing wings or legs together, like many other familiar sound-producing insects like crickets. They have loud noisemakers called "timbals" on the sides of the abdominal base, which acts like a drum. A cicada rapidly vibrates these membranes, and enlarged chambers derived make its body serve as a resonance chamber, greatly amplifying the sound. They modulate their noise by wiggling their abdomens toward and away from the tree that they are on. It is only the males that produce a song. They hang out, making noise, hoping to attract a female. Their song is among the loudest of all insect produced sounds. And they are loud. Everyone around here says that once the temperature reaches above 18° they start to sing. So we have this racket from about 7:30 in the morning to about 8 at night. A person from the department of Education came out to measure the decibel levels; the cicadas are registering between 88 and 90 db: louder then a jet airplane. They seem to be only in the valley. Of course we are just on the edge of it. Once outside of the Gap, things are much more peaceful.
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