So this past week I finished what is called an 'observation week' where you go to the school that your first placement will be in and you observe how things work and get to know the teachers there. It was quite an eye opener. I had no idea that children here go to high school two years earlier than they do in Ontario, so when I went into my first class on Monday I couldn't believe how young the, what I thought were grade nines, looked. Needless to say because of their age their athletic abilities are quite limited. For example, I taught a basketball lesson on Friday and the children's ability in what they call S1 (I think its equivalent to grade 7) is equal to the skill level of about grade 4 back home (at least when I went through elementary school).
The other eye opener is the sports that they teach over here. For my placement I have to teach swimming, gymnastics, basketball, TABLE TENNIS, football(aka soccer), rugby and fitness. So things could get interesting especially when I am teaching swimming to 20 pupils in a pool so small they call it 'the puddle'. The other interesting thing will be keeping the pupils interested during a 2 hour lesson on Table Tennis (aka Ping Pong, you're not allowed to call it that here!).
Anyway I have another 4 weeks in class and then I start my placement where I will be teaching all those subjects. Until then as Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod would say "keep fit and have fun!"
Peace Out,
Rob
3 comments:
Sounds like you are starting to get to the fun stuff. I guess you'll really start having fun when you start teaching them Rugby!
Anyway, thanks for the update. Been waiting a LONG time for it! :-)
Haha oh Rob....teaching swimming will be fun for sure! That's pretty sweet you get to start your placements soon! Does that mean that once you start your placements lectures are over?
Any-who, "keep fit and have fun"! Haha
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