Day 3 Prac EDB031 Course: ED90

Morning assembly occurs every Friday morning. This was attended by some parents. The children lined up in their classes. They sat on a mat which they brought with them in an undercover area. Control of the proceedings were shared between the principles and two selected members of the student body. In total, I calculated that the school has about under 200 students. Everyone stood up to sing the national anthem to start proceedings. The kids sung sweetly accompanied by a funky didgeridoo and tappining sticks sound. Although it was better than "God save the Queen," I personally think that the national anthem is a bit outdated and "We are Australian" reflects more of Australian society of today. The purpose of assembly was to communicate any problems that may have arisen throughout the school and to give out awards or praises to the kids.

After assembly, the class had (Health, recreation education) HRE. This lesson was provided by another teacher. In HRE the kids discuss issues regarding right and wrong feelings, behaviour and actions. I believe that this is one of the reason that the kids at this school are so well adjusted. Although, I did hear a little boy swore in the playground, in which I immediately reprimanded him. PE is next which I am sad to say hasn't changed much since my days at school. They still play the same lame games like tunnel ball which teaches the kids nothing useful.

Next the kids spent their times cleaning up the school. Collecting recycling paper from each class and cleaning the tanks that houses the mice, etc, In my days, we use to throw everything in the incinerator, but we live in an environmentally friendly society now and incinerators had been banned by the council for years now.

From 13:30 - 15:00 the kids are split up into activities which they call multiple intelligence programs. These are: art enrichment, soccer, rock and water, netball, jump rope/dance, and ICT. I am not sure what some of these activities involve, but I went with the soccer group. They were to played my old school, West End. It turns out that West End's soccer team were all girls, which is a bit strange. We anly have one girl in our team. The suburb of West End has definitely changed a lot since I have been there. Before, it consisted of working class families from ethnic backgrounds. The majority of which are Greek and Vietnamese. So the soccer team then were very strong. It was considered a rough area but when I was there, I didn't see anything bad happening. I think now, it is filled with middle-class families but still retaines it's cosmopolitan feel. A soccer team without any boys in a state school is very odd.

The star player of our team is an African ESL student. For a 13 year old he displays exceptional skills. Perhaps it is through arrogance or that he is frustrated with the skills of the rest of his team mates that he tends to not pass the ball around. So even though, he is the star player, he is not popular within the team. It must be brought into consideration that he is in a strange land and this is the only thing that he is good at, so it may be the only way for him to express himself. Sports and are a great form of escapism. When, he was off the field, I told him that he is very talented but he could become an even better player. I told him that soccer is played with the feet and the mind. He had already shown the opposition how good he is by running through all of them but that when they all crowd around him his team mates are left in the open and he could use them by passing the ball. I don't know how he took that as he remained quiet as usual.

It is a pity to see his talent go to waste after primary school. I went and research for some high schools which would nurture and develope his skills further. Kelvin Grove College and Cav Road High has an "Excellence Program" for soccer, but these tend to be geared towards the middle-class. Kelvin Grove would be good as he has an ESL unit as well. I will try to talk to him further to let him know of the options that he has.