Return from Australia

Times Reporter 

 

Westmount Elementary School teacher Monica Major had always dreamed of going to Australia, and last year that dream came true. 

“I have always wanted to go to Australia, I think part of it is you hear their accent and it’s cool, you think about the land that’s so different from our land, so I have always wanted to go. When I was going to University in Red Deer I lived with a girlfriend and she went to Australia for four months,” said Major.

“When she came back I was just, I want to go, I want go, I want to go, but I didn’t know how I was going to afford to go. So when this came up and they said you can do this exchange for a year to Australia I’m like well why not.”

Through the teacher exchange program Major essentially traded places, and lives, with Ali Collins. 

“You change houses, lives, everything. What happens is I apply to our Alberta Teachers Association, she applies to her teachers association and then they look through and try to match you the best they can on where you want to be,” said Major. 

She had an opportunity to say ‘no, that’s not where I want to go’ if she had felt so inclined. The idea is you trade houses, trading cars is not recommended, and you still have to pay for the upkeep of your own home, but then it was up to Collins to pay the utilities bills. If you do not want someone to stay in your house, then it is up to you to come up with an alternative, said Major. 

Major left Strathmore January 11, 2012 and returned January 4, 2013. 

“I would recommend it for every teacher, everywhere to give it a go and try it because it’s not only that you’re teaching in another school which is good but you get to travel too so why not,” said Major.

“It is weird at first. At first you’re super excited and it’s all new and you love it. Then it did get to a point where I was like, I am tired of living someone else’s life, being in someone else’s house, someone else’s vehicle, someone else’s school and sort of someone else’s friends and family. They became your friends too, but they’re kind of someone else’s. I was very happy to come back.”

Major teaches Grade 5 at Westmount and Collins is the Japanese teacher at her school in Australia. Major was given a choice on what grade she would like to teach so she went back to the younger students, choosing a reception-1 split which would be a kindergarten-Grade 1 class here.

“The school I went to was fantastic and I just fit right in,” said Major.

“Curriculum wise I found it very, very similar especially because I had the little ones. They still need to know their ABC’s they still need to learn how to basically count that kind of thing.”

One of the biggest differences was of course the weather. Indoor recess is held because it is too hot, not too cold. Both here and there the students are required to spend 30 minutes a day doing a physical activity.

“It’s a lot harder here to go outside and have that physical activity when you have to dress up whereas there I can just take them out whenever I want. You don’t have to put on outdoor shoes, you don’t have to put on a coat, you just go and you can run around and do whatever,” said Major.

The school year is broken up into four terms. Term one and four are during the hottest time of the year and the kids, all the way to high school, have to wear a hat with no exceptions on the school or grade. 

“I think that was a big change, just sort of the weather aspect of it, the fact that you’re outside so much more than you are here and the terms. Last year they divided the terms into 10 weeks. So we went to school for 10 weeks and then we had two weeks off,” said Major.

The school year also started in February, which meant Major was able to start and finish a complete school year with the same students. She loved the split of 10 weeks on and two off. By about 10 weeks, Major said, you start to get a little worn out and then the two weeks is the perfect refresher for the following weeks. 

The school focused a lot on literacy, and was big on classroom buddies, which is Cross-Age Tutor Students (CATS) so every classroom has another one paired with it. The buddy system is not new here, but Major said in Australia it is more of a specific program with the older kids trained for their role in it. 

While in Australia Major took in the sights and toured the country. When she landed in Brisbane she went to the Australia Zoo, home of former crocodile hunter Steve Irwin, where she held a koala. She drove the great ocean road on her second two-week holiday.  She went snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns, did a rain forest tour and a helicopter tour. 

Major also took a bus tour to see the Uluru which is a sacred rock to the aboriginal people and there are big stories that come from there about their culture.  Major also went to the Kings Canyon and Sydney was her last trip. 

The exchange was everything she had hoped for and she plans to one day return to Australia, but her next plan is to see a lot more of Canada.