Australian teacher enjoying everything Canada has to offer

Times Contributor

 

Snowmobiling, skiing, hiking and hockey; Australian teacher Ali Collins has done these things and more since she arrived in Strathmore last December.

She is teaching Grade 5 students as part of a teacher exchange at Westmount School.

“These kids are good kids. They have fantastic staff here,” she said.

Collins said she hopes to sample everything Canada has to offer before she has to return to Australia next January. She is a huge sports fan, and has already been to a Flames game and is looking forward to attending a Canucks game in the future.

As a teacher who has specialized in teaching Japanese to public school students, Collins said there are differences between Canada and Australia in terms of how students are taught. Previously, she taught Kindergarten to Grade 2 students Japanese. It’s common for schools to teach young children a second language, she said.

“The younger the better.”

This is her tenth year as a teacher, but her first instructing one class of older students on multiple subjects, which has been exciting, she said.

In Australia, the school year runs from January to December and Collins is excited to enjoy a Canadian summer after school is out, she said. She is also excited to get to work with the students this year and the new crop of Grade 5 students after summer.

The instructional structure is somewhat more rigid in Alberta, versus an outcome-based system in Australia, she said. However, there is a movement toward more outcome-based learning in Alberta and Collins said she is enjoying the curriculum. 

“It’s quite different. It’s great though.”

Her favourite subjects to instruct are math (she’s a self-professed math nerd) and social studies because she is learning Canadian history along with the students. 

A Smartboard is used in her classroom, along with computers, and the use of technology here is similar to Australia, she said.

Strathmore and Westmount School are reminiscent of the first school she taught at in a community north of the city of Adelaide in southern Australia, she said.

The hospitality of folks in Strathmore has been awesome and helped make her feel at home, she added.

Collins said she is also impressed with the Alberta Teachers Association (ATA), which has organized some of the exciting excursions she has taken part in. 

Teachers with the ATA that have taken part in exchange programs with other countries help organize exciting trips for visiting teachers, according to Collins.

Despite her parents being nervous about the prospect, Collins said she is keen to see a bear and also as much wildlife as possible while in Canada. 

While trying to spot the diverse wildlife in Canada, she’ll also be careful to stick to the right side of the road, something she still has to focus on, she joked.

Collins is almost halfway through her teacher exchange program and already making plans to come back as soon as possible, she said. Under the program, she’ll have to wait two years before applying to come back to Canada and she will be counting the days.

She experienced her first winter here and laughs about the assurances that it was a mild winter, she said.

“The cold weather doesn’t scare me.”

Though the day that it was -39 C here and 39 C at home was interesting, she laughed.