Education! Now there's a big topic full of differences from what I grew up with. There are a lot, but I'll try to bullet point the main ones after I tell a couple of stories. (you might want to refill your coffee before you start! lol)Our girls attend a public high school of approximately 2000 students Year 9-13 (Grade 8-12) about 2 blocks from our house. The two main differences they noticed upon attending school were: their classmates and their teachers, and the fact that they were truly from all over the world! Everyone spoke English, however, everyone had a very different accent and used very different words and phrases than we are used to. They may have had a Chinese math teacher, an Indian science teacher, a South African socials teacher, a kiwi PE teacher, and on and on it went. So, not only were the girls trying to adapt to a new school, they were also trying to figure out what in the world the teachers were saying!
In Paige's math class one year, the teacher was talking about 'naught'. Paige had no idea what that meant and asked the teacher, who mockingly told her it was zero, and how could she not know that?! We don't use 'naught' for 'zero' in Canada.
Also at the school assemblies, when the national anthem was sung, the girls weren't singing as they didn't know it, and also due to the fact that half the anthem is sung in Maori. The teacher sitting near them told them to sing, but the girls just didn't know the song and had to hear it a few times to understand how to pronounce the words and to even just learn the words as they didn't have it projected onto a screen or anything.The funniest story has to be when Danae was writing her final English exam and was supposed to write about a short story that they were given. The story was about this guy and how proud he was that he was a hooker. She thought that was really strange but went on to write the best she could about the topic. Later when we were telling the story to someone (a kiwi) they laughed and told us that a hooker is a rugby position! lol. So things that are completely taken for granted in one country are completely foreign to the newcomers to that country!
MacKenzie has been given an opportunity she'd never have had in Canada. She has been chosen by her teachers to be a House Leader for the 2010 school year. The high school is divided into 6 houses. Each house has six Year 13 students who lead it. MacKenzie was chosen to be one of the 6 leaders for her house. For their leadership training in December she will join the other 40 student leaders for a 4 day 150 km bike ride! That's another big difference here, is how they push the students physically in the outdoors.
Danae and Paige also had very special and unique blessings in their two years of school here. Paige played in the highest level of high school soccer and even was chosen as one of the top 14 players in her division at a national school soccer tournament. Paige also won Queen of the Ball in Year 13. Danae had her sculpture and photography chosen for the cover of the school daily planner and school gift calendar and achieved university entrance status in her final year. They've all done so well, for which we thank God!
A few other marked differences that we've noticed in the education system:
- children wear uniforms from Year 1 to 12, and then wear mufti (their own clothes) in Year 13. They also have 'mufti days' throughout the year which causes great angst for many children as they have to decide which of their own clothes they will wear to school
- children go barefoot all the time! They wear their shoes to school, then line them up outside the classroom and spend the rest of the day barefoot. In high school, all PE is done barefoot! We couldn't believe it when the girls came home and left their running shoes behind as they didn't need them for PE.
- high school students call their teachers 'miss' and 'sir'. No last names are used.
- when a child has to go the the bathroom, they make a 'T' sign using both their hands (for 'toilet') and then they can go to the bathroom
- they don't have lock down drills but instead have earthquake drills, and they have 'civil defence' assemblies where they learn what to do in case of a natural disaster.
- all the schools are totally indoor/outdoor concept. More of the school day appears to be held outdoors than in. The concrete is painted full of activities for the children to do like hopscotch, a giant keyboard, alphabet caterpillars, the map, etc.
- in elementary school the children get daily swimming lessons in the school pool during the first and fourth terms. The Year 6 students also get 'waterwise' training which is down at the ocean where they learn open water safety. All schools have a pool and in the summer the families can rent a key to access the pool for their personal use.
- at the elementary school where I work there are children from all over the world and they are coming weekly! In one week we may have new enrollments from South Africa, England, Israel, India, Ireland..... the map pictured above is in our school foyer and shows where all the different students and staff in our school come from (and not just their ancestors, but they themselves having just moved and come straight to our school....it's a school full of first generation immigrants). Our school is definitely not unique in this situation. All schools in this area are full of immigrants. The girls' high school has flags flying in their hall from all the countries represented in their school.
- there is no 'grad' ceremony like we are used to. At the end of Year 13, the students have a dinner together with some fun awards and that's it. The big grad ceremonies and celebrations are saved for University graduations. Our girls were most sad when they realized that they wouldn't get grad pictures and that they wouldn't have a grad picture on a wall in a school somewhere.
- however, the 'ball' is a big deal here and the Year 12 and 13 students celebrate mid way through the school year with a fancy ball.
- the whole grading thing is completely different in high school! This has caused us a lot of confusion and frustration! There are no percentage grades or letter grades, instead they use a system of: 'not achieved', 'achieved', 'merit', and 'excellence'. Yes, it's confusing and frustrating and I won't even get into how they mark things! MacKenzie has figured it out the best as she has had longer in the system. For Danae and Paige only having 2 years of high school here it was a bit of an ordeal to figure out!
Well, those are just a few of the differences. There are heaps more, and I could go on forever, but that would be boring for you and me! As with the food differences stated in my last blog, I know that some people have even greater challenges with the education system when they arrive in a new country. For our children, at least english is their first language and the schooling is in english. For many children who arrive in New Zealand, they know no english and therefore must adjust to a new school, new teachers, new friends, new way of doing things while at the same time trying to learn a new language. My heart goes out to those little children. Thankfully they have a great NLOE (New Learners of English) programme that assists the children in learning english and they pick it up fairly quickly. So while our children have had to make some huge adjustments in their schooling and leave behind childhood friendships and familiar ways, the benefits have far outweighed those adjustments and we are all very grateful for the opportunity they've had to have this very unique and eye-opening experience! We are so thankful for how they positively embraced the new experience at an age when some teens would have rebelled at the crazy adventure their parents had taken them on. God is good and we thank Him for the prayers of His people on our behalf!
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