Hello!
Happy Passover from Auckland!! Hope everyone is enjoying a matzah-filled week at home. Auckland has been great and sunny but Passover here is definitely not the same as at home. I'll let you know all about that, but figure I'll update you since I left off last.
On Friday my friend's parents and friend came to visit for Passover. We went to services at the synagogue and then to her university teaching assistant's house for shabbat dinner (how crazy is it that one of her TA's is an observant Jew who likes having people from out of town over for shabbat?!). It was really nice! The community just got in a lot of meat from Australia (one of the two-three times a year that they get meat) so we had delicious turkey! There were a few other people there too, and it was really nice and great to have a home cooked meal! The house was a bit of a walk away, so it was nice to see a more residential area of town which is still located pretty close to the city. It was a really nice evening.
On Saturday there was a village fair in Parnell which is only about a ten minute walk from me so a few of my friends and I went over to check it out. It was a lot of fun! Parnell is a very "arts 'n crafty" area. All of the stores were open with different crafts outside. We explored some of the shops which were really cool. Then the really exciting parts were that there were people walking around with free food to sample!! It was really awesome and delicious - all of the local restaurants gave a few trays that people would walk around with for everyone to sample. There were also live bands and different performances going around. It was such a fun event! Then one of my roommates works with someone who was putting on an art show in Devonport. So we went off, took the ferry and went to an art opening. It was really cool art and again there was lots of free food! One of my friends even bought some art which was cool, but I have no clue how he is going to get it home! After the art show we came back to Auckland and went back to Parnell for dinner at an Italian place which was pretty good. It was a really nice day!
On Sunday a few of my friends and I went to hike Rangitoto! Rangitoto is Auckland's youngest and largest volcano. It erupted 600 years ago and is now extinct. It is accessed by ferry but the island is not at all developed with no food or water. The hike up was about an hour and was beautiful. The entire island is covered in incredible trees and molten lava rock. The view from the top was beautiful and you could see out to Auckland. It was really sunny out which was nice (but hot!). Then on the way down we went to some Lava Caves which were really cool! I had my torch (headlamp) and we crawled in two of the caves which were really awesome. After the initial small part the cave opened up so I could stand and then we went out the other side which really looked like a big rabbit hole which was cool. Then we hiked back down and had a couple hours before the ferry so we decided to hike around the base. We saw some historich bach's (beach houses - but now no one lives on the island) which were set up like they used to be which was really interesting. Then we went out to Flax Point which is just a point on the island which was pretty. Then we took the ferry back and it was time for me to start studying for my psych exam! Here are the pictures from Rangitoto: http://picasaweb.google.com/LSOL817/RangitotoNZ#
Monday was the first seder. I went with my friend and her family to the synagogue's Israeli seder. The room was set up with a lot of circle tables. We sat with a couple from NZ who used to live in the US, a backpacker from London and another from the US. It was interesting but completely in Hebrew! They had each table take turns reading to make it more interactive but I was still a little lost and missed the songs from home. The meal was not even comparable to what I'm used to but at least I got a bit of meat! Then we went back to my friend's parents hotel for some dessert and singing which was fun.
Tuesday was seder number two also back at the synagogue but this time it was run by B'nei Akiva which is NZ's youth group. The seder was themed "Egyptian Idol" which was cute and it was filled with families which was nice. They put on different skits throughout the seder which was nice and there was a lot of singing. The meal was the same but there was more food. At the end I got to meet some of the local people my age which was nice and fun.
Today I had my personality psych exam which was not fun. It was really hard but at least it's over!
Now that you're all up to date, here are my internship updates!
Friday, March 26
Today was the third day in a row that one of the teacher aides was not in. While I have gotten used to this pretty regular occurrence, what was interesting about this instance is the fact that the same aide has not been in for three days and that she did not call in to the base school or to the classroom to report that she would not be in. Anyway, because she was not in today was especially busy. On Fridays my head teacher is physically in the school building but is working on other things so we have a different head teacher from Australia. She is also really great. After starting with fitness exercises, the head teacher asked me to work with one of the children on reading. He was a little distracted today but we were able to get some work done. We read a story, then he put the sequence of the story in order (using Velcro pictures) and then made sentences on the Velcro board about what was happening in each picture. After everyone else had finished their fitness exercises we had morning group time where we went over the days of the week and weather. The children chose every possible weather combination, which the teacher went along with since here in Auckland the weather is constantly changing! During morning tea break one of the aides in my class was telling me about moving to New Zealand, which was interesting. My head teacher had also told me about her experience immigrating to New Zealand and her first impressions of it. I find listening to why others have moved to New Zealand, what they originally thought of it and what they think of it now to be very interesting. We also we talking about how her daughter wants to study abroad, and how she doesn’t think she would be able to handle going off to Europe for the semester which I thought was interesting, since her daughter is so close to my age. I don’t know if this is something shared by all New Zealand parents (or parents in general) or just my specific teacher. It’s also nice that the other teachers are opening up more to me. After morning tea we worked with the children’s fine motor skills by ripping up paper for the Easter cards we will make next week. At noon one of the other teacher aide’s had to leave, so we were down two teacher aides. Due to this I spent the majority of the afternoon helping the other aide with toileting. At the end of the day we watched the mainstream kids duo-sport day where a lot of the kids rode their bikes then ran around the fields. It was fun to watch.
During lunch my normal head teacher was in the lunch room so I was able to ask her what she does on the days that the other head teacher is in. She said that she works on fundraising for Carlson – contacting different donors to get money for the school. I asked her what they need the money for and where they get most of their funding. She said that they get the majority of their funding from the government. The government pays for the children’s wheelchairs, walkers and most devices. She has been applying for grants for more technological stuff that the speech/language, occupational and physical therapists want to work with the children. I think it’s interesting and great how much the government funds the children and school. I hope to talk with her most in depth about this.
Tuesday, March 30
Today we had the other head teacher in, five kids, all teacher aides and a teacher aide who is applying for the aide position so it was a full house! We did fitness pretty quickly and had a lot of time for math and English. For math the teacher decided to do some physical math activities, which were a lot of fun. She first would say certain “math terms” such as across, in front of, next to and between. After she said each word the children would have to move to be in the correct position (with assistance from the teacher aides). In this way the kids were able to see and understand what the different words mean so that when we talk about them in relation to numbers they have a better concept of it. Then the teacher would call out a number and we would have to get into groups of that number. It was a fun energetic math lesson! Then we did some reading before morning tea. After playtime we made collage Easter cards. It was interesting to me that the kids make Easter cards in school because this is something that would not be done in the US. Apparently NZ does not have as strict a separation between “church and state.” Anyway a big egg was drawn on the front of each card and we used the paper we had ripped up the week before to make a collage in the egg. It was messy but fun. The teachers ended up doing most of the work, which I think is unfortunate, but the kids did help a little and had fun. Then we had lunch followed by playtime and then we played a game with room 1 (the other Carlson classroom) during the last block. This game was also related to Easter but was basically a board game where you had to go from the basket to the bunny. The children were in teams of two and had to press a button, which would spin to a number to determine how many spaces they would go. We played twice and it was fun. Thursday is the last day of term and a few of the teacher aides and support staff are leaving which will be sad, but it should be a good day!
Tomorrow is my last day of Carlson for term 1. I have a 2 week break from class and internship so I am going to Australia! I leave really early Friday morning for Melbourne where I will be meeting up with my friend who is studying there for the semester and another one from Sydney. We will then be taking the overnight ferry to Devonport, Tasmania. We're going to travel around Tasmania for a little over a week and then go back to Melbourne. After a day in Melbourne I will then fly to Sydney to meet up with some people from my program and travel around there for a few days! I'm SO excited to go to Australia!! I'll be sure to take a lot of pictures and tell you all about it!
Have a good beginning of April!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Coromandel!
Hi there,
Hope you are all enjoying the start of spring in the Northern hemisphere. It is actually approaching the end of summer down under and fall is threatening to appear any day now. Due to this, this weekend six of us decided to go to the Coromandel which is world reknown for it's amazing beaches.
Coromandel is located about 2.5 hours from Auckland and is a peninsula (pronounced "penishular" here). Driving up on friday was a little crazy with traffic and the roads are really windy but it was completely worth it! We stayed in the upper-mid part of Coromandel in a town called Whitianga. Our backpacker was called the Cats Pyjamas and had lots of character. After making some pasta and broccoli for a very late dinner that we had picked up along the way, we went to the beach which was a two minute walk away. The beach was on Mercury Bay and we walked around for a bit before heading to bed. Saturday we got up nice and early and made some eggs before driving out to the start of the Cathedral Cove walk. Driving to the start was absolutely beautiful because it was the first time we had seen Coromandel in the daylight. The rolling hills contrasted with the water was absolutely beautiful. The sun came out as we were driving and stayed out all day which was amazing! Anyways we made it to the carpark and then started our 45 min walk to Cathedral Cove. The walk was really beautiful between the water and mountains. We then made it to Cathedral Cove and it was absolutely breathtaking - SO gorgeous!! There were really cool rock formations everywhere and a huge rock that had a hole in the middle of it to walk through to get to another beach which had more rocks and beautiful water. Apparently this is the place where part of "The Chronicles of Narnia" was filmed but I've never seen it. We went swimming, explored caves, dove off of rocks and just relaxed in the sand for most of the afternoon. Then we walked back to the car and drove off to Hot Water Beach. Every day an hour on either side of low tide you can go to this beach and dig your very own hot water pool. We rented a shovel from the dairy (convenience store) and headed off to the beach. After first digging in the wrong spot (apparently being 10 ft off makes a huge difference) we went to the right part and started digging however another group was just leaving their hole so we jumped into theirs. If you just sink your feet into the sand it gets SO hot! It was so nice and relaxing, especially with the whole hole dug up so that the hot water was everywhere. On Sunday we went to Cooks Beach which was also so nice and hung out there for a couple hours before coming back to Auckland. It was such a nice and relaxing weekend with beautiful weather, water and beaches. I love Coromandel!
Here are the pictures if you want to see for yourself: http://picasaweb.google.com/LSOL817/CoromandelNZ?feat=directlink
The other exciting thing to mention from this weekend is that when I came back to Auckland my roommates and I made foccacia and baked ziti from scratch! It was so delicious!
Alright now onto the Carlson Oranga school update!
Thursday, March 18
Today was the day of BINGO! Almost every activity we did was somehow incorporated into a bingo game theme. I don’t think this was intentional, but it ended up being a neat way to structure the day around. After fitness and math (counting) we moved onto English. To get the teachers to recognize words, we played a game of bingo where different children’s abilities were utilized. Each child was given a game board of five cards that had a name of an object and the associated picture. However, the children who have devices were not given cards and instead they were the ones “calling out” the card picked. This way the children who have devices were able to work on recognizing the card, finding it on their device and calling out for the other children so they would know what card was being called. The children with the playing cards were able to see if the card called matched any of the cards on their game board. It was really interesting and a good way for children of different levels to practice different skills. After morning tea we did a different game of bingo but this time using animals. Again it was fascinating for me to see how the children were all able to play one game but each used his or her own skill sets to make it possible for them to play.
Another interesting thing that I learned today has to do with NZ culture. At the end of the day one of the teachers in the room next door asked how old I am, which led to everyone announcing their age. Some of the people working at the school were younger and older than I expected. Some of the teacher aides were younger than I am which led me to realize that they probably did not attend university. I think the since I am constantly surrounded by university students (both where I am located in Auckland and back in the States) leads me to think that everyone goes to university, but this is clearly not the case. Furthermore, some people who I thought were younger already have children of their own. It just made me realize again what a different environment I am in at school and the diverse group of people that I work with, which makes it all much more interesting!
Friday, March 19
Today was Parasport Day! Once every year the children take part in Parasport day. It is pretty much the equivalent of a small scale Special Olympics. The event took place at Mt Roskill primary school and was such an exciting day! Children from all different schools in Auckland attended the event. All the children had some type of special needs but whose classrooms were located in mainstream schools. The kids in my classroom were all so excited. They got to see children who were in their classroom the previous year but have since moved on to other schools. The fun environment was very contagious! We first assembled for the official opening where the people who put the program together talked. We were split up into circuits, which were further broken down into teams. The circuits were done by age and ability and the teams were further broken down into ability. We then had our circuit activities where each circuit group had four activities that the teams rotated through. The “elephant” circuit that I was at had an obstacle course, ball toss, bean-bag toss and ball game. There were five children in my team (two from my classroom) and each of the children had a teacher who was helping them. In addition to the five children and five adults, there were four children from the Mt Roskill Primary School who were the team leaders and buddies. At each station these four mainstream kids would cheer the children on and got to know them a bit. There was a bit of interaction, but I wish there would have been more because I think that my kids would have really liked it. Each activity in the circuit was run by two children at the intermediate school. They did a good job but probably should have known a bit more about the types of disabilities and the actual abilities that each child had. The circuits were a lot of fun though and the kids really enjoyed it. We then had a break for morning tea before moving onto the track event where each team raced against each other. Then we had closing ceremonies and a picnic lunch. After lunch everyone left, except for our classroom. We spent the afternoon with different special needs classrooms at Mt Roskill. Most of the classrooms had more behavioral and emotional problems, which was pretty familiar to me, and it was amazing for me to see those kids interacting with my own. One of my girls was playing hide and go seek with one of the girls in the classroom (with a bit of my assistance) and it was incredible to watch these two girls who are very different from each other and each with their own obstacles coming together and playing. It was a really incredible day and I am happy that I was able to observe and be a part of it. I was able to see mainstream kids interacting with my own as well as children with various special needs interact.
Monday, March 22
Today we joined the primary school for an assembly by the Duffy organization. The Duffy organization provides free books to children in New Zealand. They prepared a special assembly at school where they had one of their role models present. The role model chosen was a celebrity who has been in TV, movies and musical plays. She spoke to the children about how reading is a big part of her daily life and did some demonstrations including acting and singing. It was a lot of fun! Then they called up one child from each classroom and presented him/her with a book. The Duffy organization did a great job with the assembly and instilling the importance of reading in every child. It was also interesting to just be at an assembly with the mainstream children and see how a New Zealand primary school operates. They had some children who are in their last year of primary school lead the assembly by introducing the people and songs. There was a lot of singing and I got to hear the school anthem which is all in Maori, with hand motions! It was very interesting to watch. After the assembly we went back to the classroom and heard about each child’s weekend. Some children used their devices to tell about the activities they did during the weekend whereas others parents had recorded (either using a device so we could hear their voice or by writing) what the child had done. Then each child received two free books from the Duffy organization and we spent the rest of the time reading the books and presenting the books to the rest of the class. It was a really fun morning!
Hope you enjoyed the update!
Hope you are all enjoying the start of spring in the Northern hemisphere. It is actually approaching the end of summer down under and fall is threatening to appear any day now. Due to this, this weekend six of us decided to go to the Coromandel which is world reknown for it's amazing beaches.
Coromandel is located about 2.5 hours from Auckland and is a peninsula (pronounced "penishular" here). Driving up on friday was a little crazy with traffic and the roads are really windy but it was completely worth it! We stayed in the upper-mid part of Coromandel in a town called Whitianga. Our backpacker was called the Cats Pyjamas and had lots of character. After making some pasta and broccoli for a very late dinner that we had picked up along the way, we went to the beach which was a two minute walk away. The beach was on Mercury Bay and we walked around for a bit before heading to bed. Saturday we got up nice and early and made some eggs before driving out to the start of the Cathedral Cove walk. Driving to the start was absolutely beautiful because it was the first time we had seen Coromandel in the daylight. The rolling hills contrasted with the water was absolutely beautiful. The sun came out as we were driving and stayed out all day which was amazing! Anyways we made it to the carpark and then started our 45 min walk to Cathedral Cove. The walk was really beautiful between the water and mountains. We then made it to Cathedral Cove and it was absolutely breathtaking - SO gorgeous!! There were really cool rock formations everywhere and a huge rock that had a hole in the middle of it to walk through to get to another beach which had more rocks and beautiful water. Apparently this is the place where part of "The Chronicles of Narnia" was filmed but I've never seen it. We went swimming, explored caves, dove off of rocks and just relaxed in the sand for most of the afternoon. Then we walked back to the car and drove off to Hot Water Beach. Every day an hour on either side of low tide you can go to this beach and dig your very own hot water pool. We rented a shovel from the dairy (convenience store) and headed off to the beach. After first digging in the wrong spot (apparently being 10 ft off makes a huge difference) we went to the right part and started digging however another group was just leaving their hole so we jumped into theirs. If you just sink your feet into the sand it gets SO hot! It was so nice and relaxing, especially with the whole hole dug up so that the hot water was everywhere. On Sunday we went to Cooks Beach which was also so nice and hung out there for a couple hours before coming back to Auckland. It was such a nice and relaxing weekend with beautiful weather, water and beaches. I love Coromandel!
Here are the pictures if you want to see for yourself: http://picasaweb.google.com/LSOL817/CoromandelNZ?feat=directlink
The other exciting thing to mention from this weekend is that when I came back to Auckland my roommates and I made foccacia and baked ziti from scratch! It was so delicious!
Alright now onto the Carlson Oranga school update!
Thursday, March 18
Today was the day of BINGO! Almost every activity we did was somehow incorporated into a bingo game theme. I don’t think this was intentional, but it ended up being a neat way to structure the day around. After fitness and math (counting) we moved onto English. To get the teachers to recognize words, we played a game of bingo where different children’s abilities were utilized. Each child was given a game board of five cards that had a name of an object and the associated picture. However, the children who have devices were not given cards and instead they were the ones “calling out” the card picked. This way the children who have devices were able to work on recognizing the card, finding it on their device and calling out for the other children so they would know what card was being called. The children with the playing cards were able to see if the card called matched any of the cards on their game board. It was really interesting and a good way for children of different levels to practice different skills. After morning tea we did a different game of bingo but this time using animals. Again it was fascinating for me to see how the children were all able to play one game but each used his or her own skill sets to make it possible for them to play.
Another interesting thing that I learned today has to do with NZ culture. At the end of the day one of the teachers in the room next door asked how old I am, which led to everyone announcing their age. Some of the people working at the school were younger and older than I expected. Some of the teacher aides were younger than I am which led me to realize that they probably did not attend university. I think the since I am constantly surrounded by university students (both where I am located in Auckland and back in the States) leads me to think that everyone goes to university, but this is clearly not the case. Furthermore, some people who I thought were younger already have children of their own. It just made me realize again what a different environment I am in at school and the diverse group of people that I work with, which makes it all much more interesting!
Friday, March 19
Today was Parasport Day! Once every year the children take part in Parasport day. It is pretty much the equivalent of a small scale Special Olympics. The event took place at Mt Roskill primary school and was such an exciting day! Children from all different schools in Auckland attended the event. All the children had some type of special needs but whose classrooms were located in mainstream schools. The kids in my classroom were all so excited. They got to see children who were in their classroom the previous year but have since moved on to other schools. The fun environment was very contagious! We first assembled for the official opening where the people who put the program together talked. We were split up into circuits, which were further broken down into teams. The circuits were done by age and ability and the teams were further broken down into ability. We then had our circuit activities where each circuit group had four activities that the teams rotated through. The “elephant” circuit that I was at had an obstacle course, ball toss, bean-bag toss and ball game. There were five children in my team (two from my classroom) and each of the children had a teacher who was helping them. In addition to the five children and five adults, there were four children from the Mt Roskill Primary School who were the team leaders and buddies. At each station these four mainstream kids would cheer the children on and got to know them a bit. There was a bit of interaction, but I wish there would have been more because I think that my kids would have really liked it. Each activity in the circuit was run by two children at the intermediate school. They did a good job but probably should have known a bit more about the types of disabilities and the actual abilities that each child had. The circuits were a lot of fun though and the kids really enjoyed it. We then had a break for morning tea before moving onto the track event where each team raced against each other. Then we had closing ceremonies and a picnic lunch. After lunch everyone left, except for our classroom. We spent the afternoon with different special needs classrooms at Mt Roskill. Most of the classrooms had more behavioral and emotional problems, which was pretty familiar to me, and it was amazing for me to see those kids interacting with my own. One of my girls was playing hide and go seek with one of the girls in the classroom (with a bit of my assistance) and it was incredible to watch these two girls who are very different from each other and each with their own obstacles coming together and playing. It was a really incredible day and I am happy that I was able to observe and be a part of it. I was able to see mainstream kids interacting with my own as well as children with various special needs interact.
Monday, March 22
Today we joined the primary school for an assembly by the Duffy organization. The Duffy organization provides free books to children in New Zealand. They prepared a special assembly at school where they had one of their role models present. The role model chosen was a celebrity who has been in TV, movies and musical plays. She spoke to the children about how reading is a big part of her daily life and did some demonstrations including acting and singing. It was a lot of fun! Then they called up one child from each classroom and presented him/her with a book. The Duffy organization did a great job with the assembly and instilling the importance of reading in every child. It was also interesting to just be at an assembly with the mainstream children and see how a New Zealand primary school operates. They had some children who are in their last year of primary school lead the assembly by introducing the people and songs. There was a lot of singing and I got to hear the school anthem which is all in Maori, with hand motions! It was very interesting to watch. After the assembly we went back to the classroom and heard about each child’s weekend. Some children used their devices to tell about the activities they did during the weekend whereas others parents had recorded (either using a device so we could hear their voice or by writing) what the child had done. Then each child received two free books from the Duffy organization and we spent the rest of the time reading the books and presenting the books to the rest of the class. It was a really fun morning!
Hope you enjoyed the update!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Pasifika, Giraffes and Gaga!
Hi there!
Another week has gone by with lots to report! My class and internship are still going well, but my muscles are stil sore from biking so hopefully by the next time I check in I will be in better shape! It's been getting a bit colder here - it seems like it has become fall overnight! Hopefully there will still be a few more warm days but luckily it doesn't really get below 50 here. Oh also just a tidbit: we haven't done daylight savings yet so I'm currently 17 hours ahead of the US but we will "fall back" at the beginning of April. I figure I will talk about my internship at the end per usual, and I'll write about other things going on in Auckland first.
Friday I went to services at the local synagogue which was really nice. A lot of the tunes were the same which was really comforting. It is an Orthodox synagogue with a separation between men and women, but it was still pretty inclusive except almost none of the women sing! My friend and I were basically the only ones singin, oh well. After services some of the people our age came up to us to introduce themselves which was nice, and they were really welcoming. Then I went to a really great italian restaurant for dinner where I had handmade pasta that was delicious!
Saturday was Pasifika! Pasifika is a festival put on by the Auckland city council and is considered to be one of the most significant cultural events in the Pacific! The UniLodge (where I live) arranged a free bus for us and took us there at 9am. The festival was located about 20 min away from where I live right next to the zoo at the Western Springs regional park. The park itself is really nice and centered around a beautiful lake. The festival was basically a celebration of all Pacific islands - specifically those which have people who have immigrated to NZ. Pacifika was set up so that each Pacific island was a village, consisting of food and craft booths, activities and a stage for performances. Some of the villages were bigger than others, but they were all really interesting! Each village was run by people who had lived in the pacific island and some had special guests that are the equivalent of "Ms America." I saw performances in places ranging from Tuvalu to Samoa to Nieu and more and they were all really good! There was also a TON of food which was delicious. I had doughnuts, fish, rice, salad and corn. But there were a lot of people walking around with huge watermelons with ice cream in it. The other cool thing about it was just how many people were there - it was HUGE! The villages all merged into each other nicely and each village also had some facts about the island - apparently most of them will go underwater with global warming which is awful. I really felt that each village I went to I was able to get a sense of the island and what it was like there - but now I just want to go visit all of them! There were also tons of corporate sponsors who were handing out free things. It was a really fun day! Sunday I went to the Lady Gaga concert which was a lot of fun! We had general admission tickets and got there early so that we were SO close to that stage - it was awesome! It was a really cool concert because she made it like a story line and of course her costumes were ridiculous.
Now onto my internship!
Thursday March 11
Today we went to the zoo! We have been building up to this trip in the classroom for a while with our zoo animals unit and it was exciting that the day was finally here! When I arrived into work though, none of the students were there and one of the teacher's aides was out sick. By 9 only 2 of the students were in and it was looking a little grim for the day. However, apparently there is really bad traffic on thursdays, and all of the kids made it in by 9:20. After getting them all ready we buckled the kids into the van and set off for the zoo! We were able to have a one-to-one ratio which was great so that each of us were able to push a kid and give them individual attention. We walked around and saw tigers which was exciting because they were pretty up close. Some of the kids have devices which speak for them so they were able to announce which each animal was which was really cool! We saw a couple other animals and then it was time to go to the Africa section to feed a Giraffe! Apparently every day at 11:15 the zoo does a giraffe talk and demonstration and then everyone in line gets a chance to feed a giraffe! We were pretty far up in line and when we got to the front each child got a piece of celery and a chance to feed a giraffe! The girl that I was with was a little scared and had a hard time letting go of her celery so I helped guide her hand to feed the giraffe and it was so cool! Giraffes have really long, strong purple tongues and I got licked by one! It was so awesome!! After that exciting event we saw some more animals and then stopped for lunch. While we were eating a mother and child came over and the mother asked what school program we were with. The speech language therapist who was with us discussed Carlson and the mother said that her child has cerebral palsy and that she was very interested in Carlson. It was really interesting to see how most of my kids probably started and how excited their mothers probably got when they learned about Carlson. It made me remember what a unique school Carlson is with all the different programs they offer for children with cerebral palsy. After lunch we walked around the zoo a bit more and then it was time to load up the vans and drive back to school. It was such a rewarding but exhausting day. The children really seemed to love the zoo and it made me happy to see them so excited! Something else that happened today is that my head teacher's car got in an accident which was the fault of the person behind her. However, when she was talking about the insurance policies it made me realize how different it is from the US and how the person whose fault it was that rammed into her might get away from the entire situation without paying anything, whereas she the victim will probably have to pay money. It seems like a pretty crazy system to me - the whole not being accountable for injuries you inflict on others seems strange. I guess that's what happens when insurance is free in a country.
Monday March 15
Today was a very busy day in the classroom! Two of the teacher's aides were out and all six kids were there so there was a lot to do. We didn't go swimming today because of the weather but there was still a lot going on. I helped with all the routine things that we do in a day but ended up doing a lot more of the behind the scenes work (helping with bathroom runs, lifting, cutting food, putting away things) rather than face time with the kids, which was fine and just a different aspect of what it is like to work with kids with cerebral palsy. It is also nice because there is a Carlson classroom next door so we were able to merge for part of the day and one of their teacher aides was able to help us out. It was also interesting for me because when we were getting the children ready the other room teacher aide had a couple questions and I was finally able to be the person who knew what was going on! That was pretty exciting. What I really found interesting about the day though was the fact that two of the teacher aides were out. It seems like almost every other day at least one of the teacher aides are out. This is such a contrast to the US where people rarely are out of work, especially so frequently! One of the aide's was out because she didn't feel well and her back hurt, but the other one was supposed to come in. She called and told the head teacher that she was running late because she couldn't find her car keys. She finally realized that they were in her partner's (it's interesting that people in NZ refer to boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wives as "partners") car and decided she would just come in the next day when she got her keys back. I feel like if this situation happened in the US the person would jump on a bus or in a taxi to get to work. It just shows how different the culture and approach to working is, especially the fact that the head teacher didn't seem to mind that much except for being short-staffed.
That's about all I have for now!
Lots of love from down under!!
Another week has gone by with lots to report! My class and internship are still going well, but my muscles are stil sore from biking so hopefully by the next time I check in I will be in better shape! It's been getting a bit colder here - it seems like it has become fall overnight! Hopefully there will still be a few more warm days but luckily it doesn't really get below 50 here. Oh also just a tidbit: we haven't done daylight savings yet so I'm currently 17 hours ahead of the US but we will "fall back" at the beginning of April. I figure I will talk about my internship at the end per usual, and I'll write about other things going on in Auckland first.
Friday I went to services at the local synagogue which was really nice. A lot of the tunes were the same which was really comforting. It is an Orthodox synagogue with a separation between men and women, but it was still pretty inclusive except almost none of the women sing! My friend and I were basically the only ones singin, oh well. After services some of the people our age came up to us to introduce themselves which was nice, and they were really welcoming. Then I went to a really great italian restaurant for dinner where I had handmade pasta that was delicious!
Saturday was Pasifika! Pasifika is a festival put on by the Auckland city council and is considered to be one of the most significant cultural events in the Pacific! The UniLodge (where I live) arranged a free bus for us and took us there at 9am. The festival was located about 20 min away from where I live right next to the zoo at the Western Springs regional park. The park itself is really nice and centered around a beautiful lake. The festival was basically a celebration of all Pacific islands - specifically those which have people who have immigrated to NZ. Pacifika was set up so that each Pacific island was a village, consisting of food and craft booths, activities and a stage for performances. Some of the villages were bigger than others, but they were all really interesting! Each village was run by people who had lived in the pacific island and some had special guests that are the equivalent of "Ms America." I saw performances in places ranging from Tuvalu to Samoa to Nieu and more and they were all really good! There was also a TON of food which was delicious. I had doughnuts, fish, rice, salad and corn. But there were a lot of people walking around with huge watermelons with ice cream in it. The other cool thing about it was just how many people were there - it was HUGE! The villages all merged into each other nicely and each village also had some facts about the island - apparently most of them will go underwater with global warming which is awful. I really felt that each village I went to I was able to get a sense of the island and what it was like there - but now I just want to go visit all of them! There were also tons of corporate sponsors who were handing out free things. It was a really fun day! Sunday I went to the Lady Gaga concert which was a lot of fun! We had general admission tickets and got there early so that we were SO close to that stage - it was awesome! It was a really cool concert because she made it like a story line and of course her costumes were ridiculous.
Now onto my internship!
Thursday March 11
Today we went to the zoo! We have been building up to this trip in the classroom for a while with our zoo animals unit and it was exciting that the day was finally here! When I arrived into work though, none of the students were there and one of the teacher's aides was out sick. By 9 only 2 of the students were in and it was looking a little grim for the day. However, apparently there is really bad traffic on thursdays, and all of the kids made it in by 9:20. After getting them all ready we buckled the kids into the van and set off for the zoo! We were able to have a one-to-one ratio which was great so that each of us were able to push a kid and give them individual attention. We walked around and saw tigers which was exciting because they were pretty up close. Some of the kids have devices which speak for them so they were able to announce which each animal was which was really cool! We saw a couple other animals and then it was time to go to the Africa section to feed a Giraffe! Apparently every day at 11:15 the zoo does a giraffe talk and demonstration and then everyone in line gets a chance to feed a giraffe! We were pretty far up in line and when we got to the front each child got a piece of celery and a chance to feed a giraffe! The girl that I was with was a little scared and had a hard time letting go of her celery so I helped guide her hand to feed the giraffe and it was so cool! Giraffes have really long, strong purple tongues and I got licked by one! It was so awesome!! After that exciting event we saw some more animals and then stopped for lunch. While we were eating a mother and child came over and the mother asked what school program we were with. The speech language therapist who was with us discussed Carlson and the mother said that her child has cerebral palsy and that she was very interested in Carlson. It was really interesting to see how most of my kids probably started and how excited their mothers probably got when they learned about Carlson. It made me remember what a unique school Carlson is with all the different programs they offer for children with cerebral palsy. After lunch we walked around the zoo a bit more and then it was time to load up the vans and drive back to school. It was such a rewarding but exhausting day. The children really seemed to love the zoo and it made me happy to see them so excited! Something else that happened today is that my head teacher's car got in an accident which was the fault of the person behind her. However, when she was talking about the insurance policies it made me realize how different it is from the US and how the person whose fault it was that rammed into her might get away from the entire situation without paying anything, whereas she the victim will probably have to pay money. It seems like a pretty crazy system to me - the whole not being accountable for injuries you inflict on others seems strange. I guess that's what happens when insurance is free in a country.
Monday March 15
Today was a very busy day in the classroom! Two of the teacher's aides were out and all six kids were there so there was a lot to do. We didn't go swimming today because of the weather but there was still a lot going on. I helped with all the routine things that we do in a day but ended up doing a lot more of the behind the scenes work (helping with bathroom runs, lifting, cutting food, putting away things) rather than face time with the kids, which was fine and just a different aspect of what it is like to work with kids with cerebral palsy. It is also nice because there is a Carlson classroom next door so we were able to merge for part of the day and one of their teacher aides was able to help us out. It was also interesting for me because when we were getting the children ready the other room teacher aide had a couple questions and I was finally able to be the person who knew what was going on! That was pretty exciting. What I really found interesting about the day though was the fact that two of the teacher aides were out. It seems like almost every other day at least one of the teacher aides are out. This is such a contrast to the US where people rarely are out of work, especially so frequently! One of the aide's was out because she didn't feel well and her back hurt, but the other one was supposed to come in. She called and told the head teacher that she was running late because she couldn't find her car keys. She finally realized that they were in her partner's (it's interesting that people in NZ refer to boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wives as "partners") car and decided she would just come in the next day when she got her keys back. I feel like if this situation happened in the US the person would jump on a bus or in a taxi to get to work. It just shows how different the culture and approach to working is, especially the fact that the head teacher didn't seem to mind that much except for being short-staffed.
That's about all I have for now!
Lots of love from down under!!
Monday, March 8, 2010
Paying to Join Clubs? Welcome to Auckland Uni
Hello Hello!
It's been another busy week in Auckland! This past week I was pretty much just getting used to uni and work life (note: they all call "university" uni here. So I go to "Auckland Uni"). My psychology class is still good and interesting, it's just hard to stay ontop of academic work when I'm working at my internship so much, but I'm sure I'll get the balance soon. My internship has been going really well, and at the end of this update you can see what I've been writing for my internship reports if you're interested. Riding my bike has been pretty good, but my muscles are SO sore!! Auckland is pretty hilly so parts of my route are definitely a struggle, but I'm getting more used to it and hopefully I'll be in shape soon!
The most interesting thing that has happened this week is my involvement in student univeristy life. Last week was o'week (aka orientation week) where all the clubs were set up in the quad to recruit new members. I joined three clubs: the canoe club, Jewish club and Dessert club. However, each club costs money to join, which I thought was really strange, since that it definitely not the case at Brandeis. Anyways these three clubs seem like they will be worth it. I had heard about the Canoe club from someone on my geography field trip during the summer term and she told me I had to join it! So $20 later, I am now a member of the canoe club. They run a lot of trips throughout the semester, most of which are free. I went on their first free trip on Saturday FROM 9 am - 6 pm. We met in the quad and took cars to Puhoi river which is about an hour north of Auckland. There were about 50 of us and only 25 kayaks, so we split into two with the first group paddling the first half and the second the rest. I was in the second group. Since we had about an hour until we had to be at the halfway point, my car went to a beach at the regional park for a bit which was a lot of fun. The water was pretty warm and it was beautiful there! Then we went to the halfway point and went into our kayaks. These kayaks were different than the ones I had grown used to in the South Island. They were one person kayaks and did not have rudders to help steer. The kayaks really responded to every move that your body made! I got better at it throughout the course of the day but I would randomly find myself spinning around if I made a wrong move. It was a lot of fun and most of the people were beginners so we were all crashing into each other. There were a lot of New Zealanders on the trip so it was fun to talk to them. We kayaked to a pub where we had a free BBQ which was really nice. Then we all headed back to our cars and went back to Auckland. It was a really nice day and I'm glad I joined the canoe club! The Jewish club is actually a Jewish union between NZ and Australia. They had their first event on Saturday night and it was a Purim party (one week late). It was located at the Orthodox synagogue nearby. Although I was really nervous about going (since I did not know anyone) I made myself go and it was a lot of fun. There were probably about 30-40 or so people there, so it was VERY differnet than the Brandeis experience. Most of the people knew each other but they were friendly and welcoming. It was interesting though because around half the people there were no longer in university and were in the mid-20s so it is not just a student club. The same was actually true for the canoe club. I think that most of the university clubs are for the greater Auckland community, and not just for students. The final club I joined is the Dessert club. The dessert club has some delicious events throughout the semester, but they also give you a card which entitles you to discounts at a bunch of different cafes and pastry shops! I have not used it yet, but am really excited to try out the different bakeries around Auckland!!
The other exciting things that happened this week was my trip to One Tree Hill, which is ontop of Cornwall Park. My internship is right near the One Tree Hill Park (no, not at all like the TV show). I met one of my other friends there after work on Friday and we biked around, hiked up the hill and got some ice cream. There are SO many sheep just roaming freely about the park which was really exciting for me! But everytime I would try to get close to them, they would run away. Don't worry I'll be going back to the park and expect to befriend lots of sheep! Anyways we made it to the top of the hill and the view from the top was absolutely wonderful! It gave me a really good sense of where I was in Auckland and made me realize how far the bike ride that I make every day actually is! One Tree Hill/Cornwall Park is really nice and I'm glad that it is so close to my internship so that I can take advantage of it! Also on Sunday there was a big music festival at a park right across from Auckland uni about 5 minutes away from me. It was really nice to just chill out there and get some food before going back to the reality of class and internship the next day.
Speaking of my internship, I think this would be a good time to go into my updates that I've been writing for BU. But just a side-note before: one of my kids makes the "Zoolander" face a lot and it is hilarious! Anyways, here we go:
March 5, 2010
The past two days at the Carlson School Oranga classroom have been really good. I’ve gotten much more comfortable with the children, staff and the environment there. On Thursday I was asked to do the fitness exercise with one of the children, but after explaining that I still did not feel comfortable doing it on my own, I was able to watch another teacher and she explained the different steps to me. We then worked on counting and reading and I was able to work with two children, another teacher and an occupational therapist. It was nice to see how the teacher’s go about teaching the children academically. I was able to have a chat with my head teacher during morning tea time which was great. I explained the different components of the internship, my worries and expectations. My head teacher was very receptive to the conversation and it went very well. After morning tea we had drama where we acted out a story about a zoo-keeper which was fun. During the talk with my head teacher, I had expressed to her my interest in seeing how the Carlson children are integrated into the mainstream school. Later that day two of the Carlson children went to the kapa haka, and I was able to join. The kapa haka appears to be a combination of music, dance and Maori class. There was a mainstream class there with the two Carlson kids and we learned a new song and did a few hand motions. The Carlson child that I was sitting next to was laughing at me attempting to sing the Maori songs, but I had so much fun! Later that afternoon we did some work on the computer. On Friday two of the children were sick, as was one of the teacher’s assistant, so it was a pretty low-key day. After fitness we worked on counting and reading. The head teacher asked me to start working on counting with two of the children with animals and cards. I was a little intimidated since I had not worked with the children by myself before, but after a bit of trial and error it worked out well. I would have the children take an animal out of the bag (to work on the fine motor skills) and then go over how many animals they had on their desk. Then I would show the children the different number cards and have them point (or in any way that they can indicate, since it varies) to what number they thought they had. Then we read some stories to work on English. After morning tea we had art where we put marbles in paint and rolled them across a cut out of a zebra and tiger to make stripes. It was really interesting to see the different ways that art can be accommodated so that these children with motor impairments are able to participate. After lunch we did some more computer work and then the week was over.
It was definitely a long week, but the days went by pretty quickly. It was also interesting to just talk with the teachers and discuss differences between our two cultures such as driving. Overall, I feel much more comfortable in the classroom than I did at the beginning, and am looking forward to seeing what happens next week!
March 8, 2010
Today when I arrived at the Carlson School Oranga classroom I realized how much more comfortable I felt there than I had the previous week. I knew more what to do and was able to help get the children out of their wheelchairs and started with fitness. After a little bit of confusion, we were able to head out with three out of the six children (the other three had colds) to go swimming! I was the only one of the teachers to bring my togs (bathing suit) so I went into the water with one of the physical therapists and the kids. The pool is located at a Christian center that they let the classes use during the week. The pool was "solar heater" but was much warmer than I expected. Each child has to be held by one adult, and having the experience of actually swimming with the kids gave me a whole new idea of what Cerebral Palsy is actually like and the children's physical abilities. In the water, the kids are able to try to move more than they are able to in a typical environment, especially since they are not constrained by equipment and things which attach to their legs. We tried walking, kicking and jumping. It was so exciting when I would repeat requests for a child to walk, and then feel like I was not getting through only to have them make a physical motion a moment later. We played with the bubbles and the kids even got to ride around in a little inflatable boat. It was a lot of fun. I feel like I was able to learn a lot more about the children's abilities and physical therapy surrounding Cerebral Palsy in general. After that it was off to the university to go to class!
March 9, 2010
Today was one of the children’s birthdays! It was pretty exciting and was fun to see one of the kids who is usually quiet and reserved get really excited about her birthday. We had a party during morning tea time which was really nice and delicious. Other than that, the day was fairly normal except that one of the teacher’s aides was out, so there was a lot for me to do. I helped do some prep work in the morning for a language program we did about the zoo. We have been doing a lot of zoo activities to prepare for our big zoo visit on Thursday. The speech language therapist used some really interesting devices to help with the activity where the children would press a button that had a pre-recorded message that she had made where she asked a question. This way the children felt that they were more involved. We did more work on counting and recognizing numbers, which is emerging to be a big math theme. In the afternoon we did jolly phonics and worked on some more letters.
Since I have been in the Carlson Oranga classroom for a little over a week I thought I would share some cultural differences I have noticed. First of all, the classroom in general is much more relaxed than those in the United States. Also what is interesting is that one of the teachers aides is from Japan, and she gets really frustrated by some of the other worker’s laid back attitudes. She is normally the one who gets angry if other teachers show up late or do not do a task in a timely manner. Watching her frustration, I realize that Japan and American cultures are more similar in that respect that New Zealand culture. Everything in the New Zealand classroom is “cool” and there does not seem to be much stress or frustration. If a child is not listening or responding, the teachers do not normally get frustrated, or if they do it takes them much longer to show their agitation than it would in the States. I’ll be sure to report more as I see the differences emerge.
That's all the update for now. Let me know if you have any questions or comments!
Hope all is well with you!!
It's been another busy week in Auckland! This past week I was pretty much just getting used to uni and work life (note: they all call "university" uni here. So I go to "Auckland Uni"). My psychology class is still good and interesting, it's just hard to stay ontop of academic work when I'm working at my internship so much, but I'm sure I'll get the balance soon. My internship has been going really well, and at the end of this update you can see what I've been writing for my internship reports if you're interested. Riding my bike has been pretty good, but my muscles are SO sore!! Auckland is pretty hilly so parts of my route are definitely a struggle, but I'm getting more used to it and hopefully I'll be in shape soon!
The most interesting thing that has happened this week is my involvement in student univeristy life. Last week was o'week (aka orientation week) where all the clubs were set up in the quad to recruit new members. I joined three clubs: the canoe club, Jewish club and Dessert club. However, each club costs money to join, which I thought was really strange, since that it definitely not the case at Brandeis. Anyways these three clubs seem like they will be worth it. I had heard about the Canoe club from someone on my geography field trip during the summer term and she told me I had to join it! So $20 later, I am now a member of the canoe club. They run a lot of trips throughout the semester, most of which are free. I went on their first free trip on Saturday FROM 9 am - 6 pm. We met in the quad and took cars to Puhoi river which is about an hour north of Auckland. There were about 50 of us and only 25 kayaks, so we split into two with the first group paddling the first half and the second the rest. I was in the second group. Since we had about an hour until we had to be at the halfway point, my car went to a beach at the regional park for a bit which was a lot of fun. The water was pretty warm and it was beautiful there! Then we went to the halfway point and went into our kayaks. These kayaks were different than the ones I had grown used to in the South Island. They were one person kayaks and did not have rudders to help steer. The kayaks really responded to every move that your body made! I got better at it throughout the course of the day but I would randomly find myself spinning around if I made a wrong move. It was a lot of fun and most of the people were beginners so we were all crashing into each other. There were a lot of New Zealanders on the trip so it was fun to talk to them. We kayaked to a pub where we had a free BBQ which was really nice. Then we all headed back to our cars and went back to Auckland. It was a really nice day and I'm glad I joined the canoe club! The Jewish club is actually a Jewish union between NZ and Australia. They had their first event on Saturday night and it was a Purim party (one week late). It was located at the Orthodox synagogue nearby. Although I was really nervous about going (since I did not know anyone) I made myself go and it was a lot of fun. There were probably about 30-40 or so people there, so it was VERY differnet than the Brandeis experience. Most of the people knew each other but they were friendly and welcoming. It was interesting though because around half the people there were no longer in university and were in the mid-20s so it is not just a student club. The same was actually true for the canoe club. I think that most of the university clubs are for the greater Auckland community, and not just for students. The final club I joined is the Dessert club. The dessert club has some delicious events throughout the semester, but they also give you a card which entitles you to discounts at a bunch of different cafes and pastry shops! I have not used it yet, but am really excited to try out the different bakeries around Auckland!!
The other exciting things that happened this week was my trip to One Tree Hill, which is ontop of Cornwall Park. My internship is right near the One Tree Hill Park (no, not at all like the TV show). I met one of my other friends there after work on Friday and we biked around, hiked up the hill and got some ice cream. There are SO many sheep just roaming freely about the park which was really exciting for me! But everytime I would try to get close to them, they would run away. Don't worry I'll be going back to the park and expect to befriend lots of sheep! Anyways we made it to the top of the hill and the view from the top was absolutely wonderful! It gave me a really good sense of where I was in Auckland and made me realize how far the bike ride that I make every day actually is! One Tree Hill/Cornwall Park is really nice and I'm glad that it is so close to my internship so that I can take advantage of it! Also on Sunday there was a big music festival at a park right across from Auckland uni about 5 minutes away from me. It was really nice to just chill out there and get some food before going back to the reality of class and internship the next day.
Speaking of my internship, I think this would be a good time to go into my updates that I've been writing for BU. But just a side-note before: one of my kids makes the "Zoolander" face a lot and it is hilarious! Anyways, here we go:
March 5, 2010
The past two days at the Carlson School Oranga classroom have been really good. I’ve gotten much more comfortable with the children, staff and the environment there. On Thursday I was asked to do the fitness exercise with one of the children, but after explaining that I still did not feel comfortable doing it on my own, I was able to watch another teacher and she explained the different steps to me. We then worked on counting and reading and I was able to work with two children, another teacher and an occupational therapist. It was nice to see how the teacher’s go about teaching the children academically. I was able to have a chat with my head teacher during morning tea time which was great. I explained the different components of the internship, my worries and expectations. My head teacher was very receptive to the conversation and it went very well. After morning tea we had drama where we acted out a story about a zoo-keeper which was fun. During the talk with my head teacher, I had expressed to her my interest in seeing how the Carlson children are integrated into the mainstream school. Later that day two of the Carlson children went to the kapa haka, and I was able to join. The kapa haka appears to be a combination of music, dance and Maori class. There was a mainstream class there with the two Carlson kids and we learned a new song and did a few hand motions. The Carlson child that I was sitting next to was laughing at me attempting to sing the Maori songs, but I had so much fun! Later that afternoon we did some work on the computer. On Friday two of the children were sick, as was one of the teacher’s assistant, so it was a pretty low-key day. After fitness we worked on counting and reading. The head teacher asked me to start working on counting with two of the children with animals and cards. I was a little intimidated since I had not worked with the children by myself before, but after a bit of trial and error it worked out well. I would have the children take an animal out of the bag (to work on the fine motor skills) and then go over how many animals they had on their desk. Then I would show the children the different number cards and have them point (or in any way that they can indicate, since it varies) to what number they thought they had. Then we read some stories to work on English. After morning tea we had art where we put marbles in paint and rolled them across a cut out of a zebra and tiger to make stripes. It was really interesting to see the different ways that art can be accommodated so that these children with motor impairments are able to participate. After lunch we did some more computer work and then the week was over.
It was definitely a long week, but the days went by pretty quickly. It was also interesting to just talk with the teachers and discuss differences between our two cultures such as driving. Overall, I feel much more comfortable in the classroom than I did at the beginning, and am looking forward to seeing what happens next week!
March 8, 2010
Today when I arrived at the Carlson School Oranga classroom I realized how much more comfortable I felt there than I had the previous week. I knew more what to do and was able to help get the children out of their wheelchairs and started with fitness. After a little bit of confusion, we were able to head out with three out of the six children (the other three had colds) to go swimming! I was the only one of the teachers to bring my togs (bathing suit) so I went into the water with one of the physical therapists and the kids. The pool is located at a Christian center that they let the classes use during the week. The pool was "solar heater" but was much warmer than I expected. Each child has to be held by one adult, and having the experience of actually swimming with the kids gave me a whole new idea of what Cerebral Palsy is actually like and the children's physical abilities. In the water, the kids are able to try to move more than they are able to in a typical environment, especially since they are not constrained by equipment and things which attach to their legs. We tried walking, kicking and jumping. It was so exciting when I would repeat requests for a child to walk, and then feel like I was not getting through only to have them make a physical motion a moment later. We played with the bubbles and the kids even got to ride around in a little inflatable boat. It was a lot of fun. I feel like I was able to learn a lot more about the children's abilities and physical therapy surrounding Cerebral Palsy in general. After that it was off to the university to go to class!
March 9, 2010
Today was one of the children’s birthdays! It was pretty exciting and was fun to see one of the kids who is usually quiet and reserved get really excited about her birthday. We had a party during morning tea time which was really nice and delicious. Other than that, the day was fairly normal except that one of the teacher’s aides was out, so there was a lot for me to do. I helped do some prep work in the morning for a language program we did about the zoo. We have been doing a lot of zoo activities to prepare for our big zoo visit on Thursday. The speech language therapist used some really interesting devices to help with the activity where the children would press a button that had a pre-recorded message that she had made where she asked a question. This way the children felt that they were more involved. We did more work on counting and recognizing numbers, which is emerging to be a big math theme. In the afternoon we did jolly phonics and worked on some more letters.
Since I have been in the Carlson Oranga classroom for a little over a week I thought I would share some cultural differences I have noticed. First of all, the classroom in general is much more relaxed than those in the United States. Also what is interesting is that one of the teachers aides is from Japan, and she gets really frustrated by some of the other worker’s laid back attitudes. She is normally the one who gets angry if other teachers show up late or do not do a task in a timely manner. Watching her frustration, I realize that Japan and American cultures are more similar in that respect that New Zealand culture. Everything in the New Zealand classroom is “cool” and there does not seem to be much stress or frustration. If a child is not listening or responding, the teachers do not normally get frustrated, or if they do it takes them much longer to show their agitation than it would in the States. I’ll be sure to report more as I see the differences emerge.
That's all the update for now. Let me know if you have any questions or comments!
Hope all is well with you!!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Let the semester begin...
Hi again,
I know I just updated the blog yesterday, but since my return to Auckland much has happened so I figured I would keep you all posted! Semester one started yesterday and with it my class and internship began.
Due to the way my program works I am only taking one class this semester and doing a 250 hour internship. I am going to be doing my internship monday mornings and then all day Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. I am taking a Personality Psychology class, which I was really excited for because I have honestly missed psychology. However when I walked into the classroom I was completely overwhelmed because it is a class of 380 people! To put that into perspective, the largest class I have ever been in at Brandeis is 120. Quite a difference! Anyway due to the large number of students, the professor kept telling us that we cannot e-mail him because it is just not possible for him to respond to all of our e-mails. Therefore a discussion board is set up online for us to ask the tutors questions. We have a 2 hour class every Monday then a 1 hour on Wednesday and a 1 hour 20 person tutorial (mine is Wednesday afternoon). Then the professor moved on to scare us about how difficult the course is going to be, and although it is a level two class and I have been taking more advanced ones at Brandeis for the past year, he succeeded in scaring me. Furthermore, he informed us that we should begin working on an essay that is due May 17th immediately. However, I think it will be a good course and put a lot of other psych that I've learned into perspective since we will be learning about a lot of the big name theorists. It was nice to be in a psych class again!
I'll get to my internship in a minute, but a quick word about transportation: I took the bus on my first morning and got completely lost going from my bus stop to the internship. It was supposed to be a 15 minute walk and although I gave myself plenty of extra time, I got lost and ended up in a coffee shop with my map asking where a street was. The people working there did not know, but one of the people who had just bought a coffee helped me figure it out and then gave me a ride there - it was SO nice of her! I thanked her a million times and ended up at my first day on time!! Anyway, the buses are pretty expensive and the schedule is a little off so as of today I am officially the owner of a bike!! It is red and fantastic! Anyways onto my actual internship. As part of my internship requirements (since it counts as a class), I need to write a bi-weekly account of what happens at my internship. Below is my first entry. I think I am going to put my entries on my blog in case you guys want to read them, but don't feel like you need to!
My internship is in one of the Carlson School for Cerebral Palsy satellite classrooms at the Oranga Primary School. The Carlson School is a school for children with cerebral palsy. The base school is where most of the children attend, but those who are higher functioning are given the option of attending one of the two Carlson satellite schools. There are two Carlson classrooms in Oranga. The classroom that I am interning in has six children, one head teacher and three teacher aides. Two of the children are girls and the other four are boys. I was specifically interested in working in this classroom because I would love to see how the children in the Cerebral Palsy classroom are integrated with the mainstream children. Going into the internship I was a bit nervous because I have never worked with anyone with cerebral palsy, but mainly excited about this opportunity. One of the reasons I had decided to come to New Zealand was because I heard that they are well known for their special education. This internship seems like a great way for me to learn about special education in New Zealand and incorporate myself into the society.
The first day of my internship was a bit overwhelming but fun. It was not a typical day though: not all of the children were in attendance and we went swimming in the morning. Every monday morning the children go swimming as part of their physical therapy routine. Only four of the children were able to come swimming. We first had to fasten all the children into the vans which was quite difficult, but eventually everyone was strapped up and ready to go. The children were taken into the pool two at a time by the physical therapists and did various exercises. Since I did not have my "togs" (bathing suit), I stayed on the site and was with the children who were not in the pool. I still do not really know how to communicate with children with cerebral palsy since although they are very limited in how they can respond, their comprehension level is higher. Hopefully I will learn the correct way to do this. It was interesting to watch how different movements in the water were helpful to the children, as well as the different devices which exist to help bring the children into the water. After they all went swimming we went back to the school and I had to leave to go to my class at the university. It was a good first day but it made me realize how much I need to get used to wheelchairs since they are a very prominent aspect of these children's lives.
Today was a more typical day in the classroom and was my first full day. However, one of the teacher aides were not there so the classroom was a bit short-staffed. We started off with fitness which consisted of getting the children out of their wheelchairs and placing them on the floor. Then each teacher was in charge of one child and was basically stretching their muscles. Since they were short-staffed, I was trying to learn and do along as the teacher was doing the exercises - it was really hard work! Hopefully I will get the hang of it soon, but I just kept feeling like I was hurting the child I was working with. Then one of the children told us using his device and with the help of his speech therapist about a camp for kids with special needs that he had just been to last week. It was really cool to hear about the camp from his perspective and the device that he uses is awesome! I didn't realize how great technology was, but it seems to be quite advanced in the cerebral palsy world. Then we had morning tea and it was shocking for me to see how much effort goes into their eating. The children vary in the amount of help they need to eat, but for all it seems to be a big process. I mainly just watched a child who is pretty good at feeding himself and just had to adjust his fork a bit. The children then went outside for 15 minutes. Then we learned about the differences between carnivores and herbivores, but most of the children were tired. We then moved onto lunch followed by a 30 minute break while the children were outside again. Four mainstream children came to help bring the cerebral palsy children outside and played with them during the recess. I found this to be so exciting! Hopefully I will get a chance to observe their interactions and to learn about how this program is set up. Also one of the children went to a mainstream classroom for part of the day - hopefully I'll be able to accompany him one time to see what that is like! Then we had "jolly phonics" where the language teacher sings with both classrooms about the different sounds the letters make. Today one of the letters was "s" which was for "snake." As we slithered "s" and make snake motions, the language teacher turned to me and exclaimed "oh Lara you must have seen a snake before!" to which I responded a startled "yes." The other teachers got so excited and made me act out what I would do when I see a snake. It was so strange for me but I realized that they have never seen snakes before because there are no snakes in New Zealand! That was the end of the day and I was surprised at how fast it flew by.
I noticed a few differences between how the school is run in NZ vs how they are in the US. Back in the US I have been in many preschool and elementary school classrooms. First of all every child wears a uniform, which is a remnant of British influence here, but it was really interesting to see every child wearing the same clothes and hats. The entire structure of the day is also different since they have a snack time followed by a short recess and then an hour later have lunch followed by a longer recess. It makes the day go really fast, and I can't imagine US schools giving two recess'. One of the things that was hardest for me to watch is that a lot of the time the children are just sitting there in their wheelchairs and the teachers are paying attention to another child or doing something else. I do not know if this is common for classrooms with children with cerebral palsy, or if it is typical of NZ classrooms, but from my experience, most US teachers do not allow a child to sit there without being intellectually stimulated. Another difference is just the nature of the teachers in the classroom: they seem to be way more reserved and less welcoming than what I am used to in the US. They are very nice, just not as overly friendly as I am used to. I also did not receive as much direction from the teacher as I am used to. Overall, it was a good first couple of days but just very overwhelming. Hopefully it will get easier!
That's all for now!
Love from Auckland!!
I know I just updated the blog yesterday, but since my return to Auckland much has happened so I figured I would keep you all posted! Semester one started yesterday and with it my class and internship began.
Due to the way my program works I am only taking one class this semester and doing a 250 hour internship. I am going to be doing my internship monday mornings and then all day Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. I am taking a Personality Psychology class, which I was really excited for because I have honestly missed psychology. However when I walked into the classroom I was completely overwhelmed because it is a class of 380 people! To put that into perspective, the largest class I have ever been in at Brandeis is 120. Quite a difference! Anyway due to the large number of students, the professor kept telling us that we cannot e-mail him because it is just not possible for him to respond to all of our e-mails. Therefore a discussion board is set up online for us to ask the tutors questions. We have a 2 hour class every Monday then a 1 hour on Wednesday and a 1 hour 20 person tutorial (mine is Wednesday afternoon). Then the professor moved on to scare us about how difficult the course is going to be, and although it is a level two class and I have been taking more advanced ones at Brandeis for the past year, he succeeded in scaring me. Furthermore, he informed us that we should begin working on an essay that is due May 17th immediately. However, I think it will be a good course and put a lot of other psych that I've learned into perspective since we will be learning about a lot of the big name theorists. It was nice to be in a psych class again!
I'll get to my internship in a minute, but a quick word about transportation: I took the bus on my first morning and got completely lost going from my bus stop to the internship. It was supposed to be a 15 minute walk and although I gave myself plenty of extra time, I got lost and ended up in a coffee shop with my map asking where a street was. The people working there did not know, but one of the people who had just bought a coffee helped me figure it out and then gave me a ride there - it was SO nice of her! I thanked her a million times and ended up at my first day on time!! Anyway, the buses are pretty expensive and the schedule is a little off so as of today I am officially the owner of a bike!! It is red and fantastic! Anyways onto my actual internship. As part of my internship requirements (since it counts as a class), I need to write a bi-weekly account of what happens at my internship. Below is my first entry. I think I am going to put my entries on my blog in case you guys want to read them, but don't feel like you need to!
My internship is in one of the Carlson School for Cerebral Palsy satellite classrooms at the Oranga Primary School. The Carlson School is a school for children with cerebral palsy. The base school is where most of the children attend, but those who are higher functioning are given the option of attending one of the two Carlson satellite schools. There are two Carlson classrooms in Oranga. The classroom that I am interning in has six children, one head teacher and three teacher aides. Two of the children are girls and the other four are boys. I was specifically interested in working in this classroom because I would love to see how the children in the Cerebral Palsy classroom are integrated with the mainstream children. Going into the internship I was a bit nervous because I have never worked with anyone with cerebral palsy, but mainly excited about this opportunity. One of the reasons I had decided to come to New Zealand was because I heard that they are well known for their special education. This internship seems like a great way for me to learn about special education in New Zealand and incorporate myself into the society.
The first day of my internship was a bit overwhelming but fun. It was not a typical day though: not all of the children were in attendance and we went swimming in the morning. Every monday morning the children go swimming as part of their physical therapy routine. Only four of the children were able to come swimming. We first had to fasten all the children into the vans which was quite difficult, but eventually everyone was strapped up and ready to go. The children were taken into the pool two at a time by the physical therapists and did various exercises. Since I did not have my "togs" (bathing suit), I stayed on the site and was with the children who were not in the pool. I still do not really know how to communicate with children with cerebral palsy since although they are very limited in how they can respond, their comprehension level is higher. Hopefully I will learn the correct way to do this. It was interesting to watch how different movements in the water were helpful to the children, as well as the different devices which exist to help bring the children into the water. After they all went swimming we went back to the school and I had to leave to go to my class at the university. It was a good first day but it made me realize how much I need to get used to wheelchairs since they are a very prominent aspect of these children's lives.
Today was a more typical day in the classroom and was my first full day. However, one of the teacher aides were not there so the classroom was a bit short-staffed. We started off with fitness which consisted of getting the children out of their wheelchairs and placing them on the floor. Then each teacher was in charge of one child and was basically stretching their muscles. Since they were short-staffed, I was trying to learn and do along as the teacher was doing the exercises - it was really hard work! Hopefully I will get the hang of it soon, but I just kept feeling like I was hurting the child I was working with. Then one of the children told us using his device and with the help of his speech therapist about a camp for kids with special needs that he had just been to last week. It was really cool to hear about the camp from his perspective and the device that he uses is awesome! I didn't realize how great technology was, but it seems to be quite advanced in the cerebral palsy world. Then we had morning tea and it was shocking for me to see how much effort goes into their eating. The children vary in the amount of help they need to eat, but for all it seems to be a big process. I mainly just watched a child who is pretty good at feeding himself and just had to adjust his fork a bit. The children then went outside for 15 minutes. Then we learned about the differences between carnivores and herbivores, but most of the children were tired. We then moved onto lunch followed by a 30 minute break while the children were outside again. Four mainstream children came to help bring the cerebral palsy children outside and played with them during the recess. I found this to be so exciting! Hopefully I will get a chance to observe their interactions and to learn about how this program is set up. Also one of the children went to a mainstream classroom for part of the day - hopefully I'll be able to accompany him one time to see what that is like! Then we had "jolly phonics" where the language teacher sings with both classrooms about the different sounds the letters make. Today one of the letters was "s" which was for "snake." As we slithered "s" and make snake motions, the language teacher turned to me and exclaimed "oh Lara you must have seen a snake before!" to which I responded a startled "yes." The other teachers got so excited and made me act out what I would do when I see a snake. It was so strange for me but I realized that they have never seen snakes before because there are no snakes in New Zealand! That was the end of the day and I was surprised at how fast it flew by.
I noticed a few differences between how the school is run in NZ vs how they are in the US. Back in the US I have been in many preschool and elementary school classrooms. First of all every child wears a uniform, which is a remnant of British influence here, but it was really interesting to see every child wearing the same clothes and hats. The entire structure of the day is also different since they have a snack time followed by a short recess and then an hour later have lunch followed by a longer recess. It makes the day go really fast, and I can't imagine US schools giving two recess'. One of the things that was hardest for me to watch is that a lot of the time the children are just sitting there in their wheelchairs and the teachers are paying attention to another child or doing something else. I do not know if this is common for classrooms with children with cerebral palsy, or if it is typical of NZ classrooms, but from my experience, most US teachers do not allow a child to sit there without being intellectually stimulated. Another difference is just the nature of the teachers in the classroom: they seem to be way more reserved and less welcoming than what I am used to in the US. They are very nice, just not as overly friendly as I am used to. I also did not receive as much direction from the teacher as I am used to. Overall, it was a good first couple of days but just very overwhelming. Hopefully it will get easier!
That's all for now!
Love from Auckland!!
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