Week 14

A new format for the blog as I am now in the world of work, not to mention house stuff to take care of, so it wont necessarily be a day by day account.

 August 1st  Monday, 8.35am and I am in front of my first class in NZ. Garin College starts everyday with a staff meeting at 8.20am. There is a thought for the day plus announcements. I head off to the library where I have a double class of year 13 geography (1 hour 40mins). The library was also the venue for a Mauri  welcome ceremony for the Japanese group who are staying at the school. We had to wait for it to finish before class could continue.
Pupils are the same the world over. Teaching in front of a class requires the same approach the world over. At least I'm teaching tourism so it is a pleasant topic for them and me. I then have a few free periods before my next class. The school day has two 40 min breaks, the first is at 11.21am and the second is at 1.43pm. this means there is only one class in the afternoon. It seems to work quite well, but it means you eat your lunch quite early or you are starving if you wait to the second break. After years of rushing to get a drink finished at break-time, it seems odd to have time to finish a mug of coffee AND eat.
I then met 9D before the second break. There are 27 of them. They are the same age as NIrelands year10(14 yr olds). The year 9s are the youngest in the school. I am teaching social studies and our topic for the next few weeks is 'Power Politics'!When I introduce the topic, they seem interested....long may that last !!
Later in the week when I give out homestudy(homework), there is a look of surprise in both classes. they tell me they dont get homestudy. I already knew that was true. I assured them they wouldn't get one every class, but they weren't impressed. I also told the year 13s they would get used to it, which, of course I know some of them wont.
I only have 7 periods to teach per week, but I spend a lot of time doing preparation. The staff all have a work area in the staff centre, I have a desk surrounded by the English/Performing Arts staff....all very entertaining. My Social Studies Faculty are a very nice bunch. The staff only day involved mostly eating and being 'social'.
This first week of school also included a full school inspection. I could only hope they would not find me. They didn't! To thank the staff, the Friday afternoon drinks were extra special. My weekend started at 11am, so I didn't stay to find out how special it was.

The week also included the house we hope to buy getting a building inspection. I met the guy at the house and he assured me it was a sound house that he would buy. A lengthy report would follow, but at least we know there is nothing nasty lurking in the building (except the colour scheme).

On saturday, lisa and I go to the clubs bike race. I help out as I am still injured. Lisa moves up a grade and goes OK until the last hard hill. She pays for working to bring the group together earlier in the race. It was over 70km long, so lack of training kms catches a lot of people out. At least she doesn't have to work tonight, so we watch the All Blacks trounce the Aussies. A warm up for the world cup !!
On sunday, Lisa goes to work and I start to move us all to another rental property. We are sad to leave Corrugate, but they have holiday bookings. the next place is a small shed that is now a cottage. It has fab views overRruby Bay. It means Lisa has to cycle slightly further to and from work, but it is flatter.
Bonnie also has to adopt to her new home. She now has ducks, pigs,sheep, a cow and Pukekos to watch/avoid. Sunday is national "Roast day", but we dont have time to throw together a roast dinner as well as move house. Debbie, our new landlady, leaves us some ginger tray bakes as a welcome present (very nice).

This week New Zealand has its youngest world champion...he is 7 years old. He was one of 20 under 12s who travelled as a NZ team to take part in the BMX world champs in Europe. That is typical of NZ sports that seem to travel all over the world from an early age. Funding doesn't seem to be an issue. Sport participation is massive and so is the travel bill.
Must go and do some marking !!