Hello from Jill and Abby!
We are soaking up our last few weeks here in Brisbane, and loving every second. At the beginning of October, we finally started our volunteering at Kelvin Grove State College. Abby has been placed in a Year 4 generalist classroom, while Jill was placed in Years 7-9 Art and English. Our partner teachers have been so welcoming, and we have enjoyed attending the school’s weekly professional development sessions for pre-service teachers. In the classroom our roles are mostly observational, but we are still gaining lots of practical knowledge to take with us into Field III.
In general, we find the school to be quite similar culturally to those in Alberta. The main difference is the design of the campus. It serves K-12 students in a fairly affluent area, therefore the facility is large and includes many specialized buildings – even a pool! We also find it interesting that there aren’t really hallways. Rather, the classrooms empty right outside. The perks of living in such a temperate climate! Another difference is that this school offers many ‘excellence’ programs where students can pursue high-level, specialized sport and art training. In particular, Jill has loved getting to see their dance teams in action at a school assembly. Students also wear uniforms here, which is a stark contrast to our own upbringing.
We are feeling more and more at home in the city of Brisbane. We navigate the public transit confidently, and even have some go-to spots for food, drinks, and entertainment. One of our favourite ways to spend our days off is to take the ferry to South Bank. There, we head to Streets Beach to sip coffee, tan, and read our books. We are also frequent customers at Yochi, an Australian self-serve frozen yogurt chain.
Additionally, it only takes about two hours to transit from Brisbane to the Gold Coast, and we have been taking full advantage of that lately. We have taken a painting class there, been to the Wet N Wild water park, spent some time at the beach, and attended Fright Nights at Warner Brother’s Movie World amusement park.
Less than two weeks until we’re back on Canadian soil!