About Australia and Greenhills Primary

The new Greenhills Primary School (Opened in late July)

Australia is divided into six states and two territories. The six states are New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia. The two territories are the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. Australia is just a bit smaller than the United States in size and is the world's sixth largest country. The majority of Australia's population lives along the east, southeast, and southwest coasts. Most of people residing in Australia are Europeans, but the country also contains many from "aboriginal" populations. Australian culture is known for it's own uniqueness, but also integrating the different cultures that inhabit the lands.

Greenhills Primary School is located in Greensborough which is a suburb of Melbourne. Melbourne has about 3.8 million people residing in it and is located within the State of Victoria. The school that I will be working in is located within the municipality of Nililumbik and the township has a population of about 20 thousand people. While most of Australia is known for it's dry hot weather, Greensborough experiences a more temperate climate like the majority of southeast and southwest areas of the country. The weather in Greensborough when I will be there is typically:

January & February:
-Warm and sunny with sea breezes
-High temperatures around 40C (104F)
-Warmest night around 25C (77F)

March:
-Transition from Summer to Fall
-Temperatures in the 25-30C range
-Fairly dry time, but sometimes heavy rains occur

April:
-Sunny weather and comfortable temperatures
-Strong winds and occasional rains

One of the biggest adaptations I will have to make while in Australia, is understanding their dialect. While English is the language spoken by the majority and also used in schools, Australians have a vocabulary of their own. This will be very important for me to know and understand certain terms before arriving so I do not look like a crazy American saying things that do not make sense.

I am very excited to be working at Greenhills Primary. I have found that the school is from Level Prep to Six and that the school focuses greatly on an integrated curriculum.  The Levels are broken down as follows:

Level 1: Prep Year

Level 2: Years 1 and 2

Level 3: Years 3 and 4

Level 4: Years 5 and 6

Level 5: Years 7 and 8

Level 6: Years 9 and 10

The school focuses on a family-based community and values generosity, respect, enthusiasm, acceptance, and teamwork.  The school follows the Victorian Essential Learning Standards which focuses on three domains:

1. Physical, Personal, and Social Learning

2. Discipline-based Learning

3. Interdisciplinary Learning

Each of these domains is broken down into various strands including things such as Interpersonal Development, Personal Learning, English, Mathematics, the Humanities, Communication, Thinking Processes, etc.  I am very excited to learn more about the school I will be working in and cannot wait to be exposed to a whole new aspect of learning (Education).

Cultural Development Objectives

My Cultural Development Objectives:

1. To experience different teaching practices and styles and look at Education from a whole new perspective
2. To emerge myself in a new culture and be open to the different, and new experiences I may encounter in and out of the classroom
3. To expose my students to the American culture and gain knowledge from them about the Australian way of life
4. Step out of my comfort zone and really embrace the experience I am going to have—It is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I want to someday bring back to my own classroom the culture knowledge that I gain
5. To be more aware of my strengths and weaknesses as a person and teacher
6. To better understand the outside view of the United States and use this knowledge to my advantage when returning to teaching here.