Week 13

Hello! Welcome to my final blog post.

 

 

Now that you’ve read about my experiences, do you think you have what it takes to be a global student teacher? It takes A LOT. You have to:

-        Learn English all over again. It’s spoken in a different accent with a different vocabulary and different spellings. It DOES take some time to learn.

-        Become familiar with a new language. Chances are if you’re outside of the United States and the country you are in knows English, they will also have a secondary language that is popular and widely known. In New Zealand, it was the Mauri language that was integrated into school and life.

-        Assimilate to a new culture. Forget the way you thought you held a fork, another culture will do it differently. There will be all sorts of cultural norms and differences that will lead to misunderstandings you will have to communicate your way through.

-        Convert everything. The electrical outlets. The temperature. Weights. Distances. The time difference between where you are and you home country. There’s always something happening in a unit you’re not used to.

-        Try new foods. The diet of every culture is slightly different. If you’re going to survive, you’re probably going to have to make some changes to your diet. For example, I only had peanut butter twice while I was in New Zealand (people in the US are shocked, I know).

-        Learn a new geography. Towns, cities, lakes, oceans, mountains, and where they are positioned in relation to each other will take some time to learn.

-        Become an expert in public transportation. Chances are you won’t have access to a car, so you will need to figure out how to get places. Whether that means taxis, buying a bus ticket, or walking an hour to get somewhere for free, you need to plan ahead in order to get there and back.

-        Build a local support system. You’ll always have your people back home to lean on, but it’s important to build a support system with people who are actually in the same place as you. Time zone changes and busy schedules sometimes make it difficult to communicate with people back home, and you’ll need someone to talk to who can relate to your experience abroad.

And I haven’t even gotten to the teaching part yet. In the schools, you’re going to need to:

-        Learn a new school structure. Forget the way schools you’ve been in work, abroad they are going to have differences and you need to learn how schools are set up where you are.

-        Learn a new curriculum. What schools teach and when they teach it will vary by country, and you are going to have to get used to a whole new set of rules and standards (or lack of them).

-        Plan lessons that meet requirements of two countries. While you’re student teaching, you still need to meet Minnesota standards. It takes some extra planning to figure out how to do that while you’re still meeting the needs of your teacher and class.

-        Build relationships with students of different backgrounds. You’re going to need to figure out how to connect with students who come from a different place and culture than you. The good news is kids are kids no matter where they are from, but you may need to change the way you ask questions or what you talk about in order to get the responses you are looking for.

-        Have people observe you who don’t have your training. You will be formally observed by teachers who have been trained in education in the country they are in. They may not realize the differences between your education and theirs, so you may not initially meet their expectations.

-        Be flexible. Things change in classrooms all the time. You may be asked to change your plans for the day or lead something that you’ve never done in the United States. It’s important that you are flexible to these changes and that you try your best.

-        Ask questions. If you can’t ask for help or clarification when you need it, teaching anywhere would be tough. This is especially true if you’re teaching somewhere with cultural and societal differences from what you were trained for. ASK ASK ASK about anything and everything. The more you ask the more you can get a handle on this new style of doing everything.

So what do you think? Are you cut out for global student teaching? If that list seemed a little intimidating, let me help you answer that question. If you:

-        Like challenges

-        Enjoy learning new things

-        Work hard

-        Are passionate about helping students

-        Love teaching

-        Are open to new ideas

-        Have a positive mindset

-        Communicate well with others

-        Can adapt to new situations

then you would make an excellent global student teacher. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not easy. But I believe we grow the most from the experiences that are difficult, challenge our views and beliefs, and get us outside our comfort zones. That’s exactly what global student teaching did for me. And it’s what it could do for you.

 

 

 

The final week of my placement absolutely FLEW by… I spent the week doing a lot of reflection about my time in New Zealand and enjoying being with my students (who I already miss). I could not be more thankful for this experience. I am not the same person or teacher I was when I got to New Zealand. It was an absolute pressure cooker at times and I wasn’t sure if I would make it through in moments, but it created change within myself and my practice. Here are some of the skills I gained which will help me in my classroom next year:

-        Confidence. At the beginning of my experience, I would look to my cooperating teacher when faced with a tough decision in class. By the end, I felt like I was able to use my professional judgement in the moment and debrief about the decision after.

-        Questioning. I learned how to ask open questions that deepen student learning and to actually explore student answers even if they took a turn I wasn’t expecting.

-        Collaboration. Working in a collaborative classroom really taught me how to work with other teachers and develop things together. My ideas were usually better when I ran them by someone else first.

-        Flexibility. I always thought I could go with the flow pretty well, but this experience made me continue to work on that skill. Things would change last minute, adjustments would have to be made, and school would carry on. I got pretty good at thinking on my feet.

 

 

 

It’s so rewarding to think back to where I started and see where I have come. Before I go, I wanted to share the highs and lows from my New Zealand experience. Let’s start with the lows.

Bottom 5 New Zealand Experiences:

1.      Having my luggage fly to Houston when I flew to San Francisco. It only took a day to get to me, but it was still inconvenient.

2.      Walking for hours with blisters on the bottom of my feet. I got blisters on the BOTTOM of my feet one weekend, and we didn’t have a car, so I had to walk for about an hour at least four different times on them. It was AWEFUL!

3.      Bussing to Taupo from the north. There was an overnight bus that we often caught back to Taupo after a weekend away. It came through at night, getting to Taupo around 12:30am. About 5 north of Taupo, the bus always stopped at a convenience store so the driver could have a 30 minute break. It was torture being so close to town but having to wait for so long.

4.      Overnight bus to Wellington. The only time I got any sort of motion sick was on this bus. When we got into Wellington traffic, the driving got really jerky and it didn’t sit well with me. I thought I was going to puke, but I held it in and felt better once I was off the bus.

5.      Dunedin hostel. It was a sketchy situation. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, read my last post for more information.

And now let’s move on to the highlights!

Top 5 New Zealand Experiences:

1.      Sunsets. Over mountains, lakes, and trees. Need I say more????

2.      Zip lining and canyon swinging. It was epic.

3.      My students. Getting to know them was a definite highlight. They brought so much personality, joy, laughter, and challenge to every day and I loved it!

4.      Scenery. Vast and everchanging, it never got old to look at. It was a change from Minnesota for sure.

5.      People. I met a lot of amazing people who shaped my experience, and I am grateful for my interactions with each and every one of them.

 

 

Thanks for reading about my experiences, it means a lot to me that you took time out of your day to see what I’ve been up to! Now that I’m done with student teaching, it is on to graduation and getting ready to have my own classroom next fall!!

 

 

 

 

As always, drop questions or comments below so we can connect!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best to you and yours,

 

Ellie Riihiluoma

 

Weeks 9-12

Hello everyone!!

It’s time for another update on my time in New Zealand! My time is quickly coming to a close, but that doesn’t mean things are slowing down in the least. Here’s what’s been going on:

 

Final two weeks of Term 1:

School in New Zealand is split into four terms. Term one is the longest (eleven weeks). In week ten I completed my final week in full charge of the class. It was a bittersweet moment because I finally felt like the kids were getting into the routines I had set with them and now I am handing control back to my cooperating teacher. At the same time, I am excited to have my own classroom, and handing back control means I’m one step closer to that! In our final week of term, I got to get out and observe some other teachers and classes. Besides that we had a fun courage day (one of our themes for the term) where students participated in a wide range of fun activities that require courage. On the more administrative side of things, teachers did a lot of back-mapping (looking at the learning that happened over the semester) in order to inform teaching for next term. We made tweaks to the schedule, changes to student groups, and planned to implement new learning activities to cover gaps that were showing up in the curriculum through this process. Term one was all about building those relationships and knowing our students. Now in term two academics through inquiry will be at the forefront to fill gaps and engage students. I will be leaving after the first week of second term, but I am really interested to see how all of this plays out.

 

We managed to squeeze in a few things during the weekend between these final weeks of term. On Friday Rachel and I did a Redwoods Treewalk (SO cool to walk along bridges up in the trees and learn about New Zealand Redwoods and how they differ from those in California).

Pathway through the trees!

Then on Saturday we went to Hobbiton (I mean, you have to right?). I must confess that I haven’t actually watched all of the Lord of the Rings films, but it didn’t matter because the set was so beautiful I was able to appreciate it anyway!  

 

 

We also went to the Waitomo Glowworm Caves (which technically are filled with glowing fly maggots, but it doesn’t have the same ring to it). We couldn’t take pictures because they are too sensitive to light, but it was a cool experience. Imagine being in a cave and seeing the ceiling covered in fireflies whose lights don’t blink on and off, and you can pretty much picture what it was like.

To top off the day, we went to a traditional Mauri hangi, where we had a traditional meal of meat, potatoes, and kumara (like a sweet potato) that had been cooked in the ground with pavlova for dessert, and were shown a cultural performance to learn more about the Mauri culture. Then we hopped on a bus and headed back to Taupo.

Food cooking

Cultural performance - which included a Haka

But our weekend wasn’t done yet! On Sunday all the Taupo global student teachers got together with our hosts and made them an American dinner as a thank you for everything they have done. What was on the menu? Burgers, fries and onion rings, salad, and roasted broccoli and cauliflower. Then we pulled out the dessert of pumpkin pie and showed them how to make s’mores over a stovetop (it was raining so we couldn’t have a fire). It was delicious and great to get together with everyone one last time towards the end of our experience. Since one of the first things we did when we got here was get together to eat food, it was one of those full circle type of things.

 

Holiday:

Don’t call it a school break or vacation. The two weeks students have off from school at the end of term one are called a holiday, and I took advantage of this time to see as much of New Zealand’s South Island as I could. Here’s how it went down:

On Sunday we did a few last things in Taupo before heading off on our trip. We took a boat ride to view some Mauri rock carvings and then bathed in some thermal pools as a relaxing way to end the day.

Carving

Hot pools at sunset - relax!

Early Monday morning Rachel and I bussed down to Wellington to begin our holiday. We went to a museum which had exhibits about ANZAC day (New Zealand’s holiday recognizing people who have served or are serving in the Australia New Zealand Army Corps) and about early Mauri civilization here in Aotearoa (land of the long white cloud – aka New Zealand). Then we walked along the lake, and eventually met up with three other global student teaching students, who had picked up a camper to drive ourselves down the West Coast for the next few days.

 

On Tuesday we got our first taste of the South Island as we ferried from Wellington to Picton. Immediately we noticed how much bigger and more dramatic the mountains were in the South Island, and didn’t hesitate to snap lots of photographs!

 

On Wednesday we did a hike in Abel Tasman, complete with ocean views and a swinging bridge! It was a great way to kick off our time on the South Island.

 

Swinging bridge!

 

On Thursday we hoped to do a hike up near the Frans Josef Glacier, however the road had been washed out in a recent storm and was not yet repaired. Instead we viewed the Fox Glacier from a distance and continued our journey down south, and took in some amazing mountain views.

Look close and you will see a glacier under the clouds

On Friday we got our first taste of Queenstown and fall colours really began to pop. We met up with another global student teacher and her family for lunch, and then dropped off one of our crew members at the airport as she was going to spend her second week of holiday in Australia.

On Saturday the remaining four of us took a cruise around Milford Sound. It rained on us for the whole tour, but the rain added a number of breathtaking waterfalls for us to view so we couldn’t complain too much.

The little white streaks are actually waterfalls!

On Easter Sunday, Rachel and I embarked on a cliff-jumping-zipline and bungee-swing adventure in Queenstown, while the other two flew back to Auckland. If you ever find yourself in Queenstown, I HIGHLY recommend doing the Shotover Canyon Swing and Canyon Fox. A zip line with a freefall and a bungee swing will definitely get your adrenaline going, but at the end of the day you walk away feeling relieved that you’re still alive and proud that you jumped off a cliff even though you were a little bit terrified.

Jumping into a zipline

Before the fall

Here we go!!

On Monday we headed over to the East Coast and spent the day exploring Dunedin. Unfortunately, it was so spread out that we found it difficult to navigate to things as we had left our campervan in Queenstown. We also had a bad experience with the backpackers we were going to stay at. We got there and it turned out we were trading a cheap price for a sense of safety and security (not to mention we could NOT find the room we were supposed to be in), so we checked ourselves into a four star hotel instead just to feel safe. Can you say luxurious? We saved the day by working out in their gym, drinking complementary hot chocolate, taking a shower in the waterfall shower in our room, and relaxing in cozy bathrobes provided for us.

On Tuesday we bussed to Christchurch. We began our trip by checking out a museum called Quake City. The South Island has a fault line that runs through it, which means that there are a number of places that have had some catastrophic earthquakes, and Christchurch is one of those places. In 2011, there was a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck at lunchtime, killing 182 people and damaging and collapsing many buildings. The museum also highlighted Christchurch’s resilient spirit by showing ways the community came together to help each other, and explaining how this earthquake is changing the way infrastructure is being built in order to make it safer in future earthquakes. Then we checked into our accommodation for the next two nights, which was a room with little pods in the wall to sleep in and a giant recreation area for cooking and hanging out. It felt like something futuristic or from a spaceship – the only downside is it was right next to the airport so you heard everyone coming in from late flights or leaving for early flights.

Check out this room!

 

On Wednesday, Rachel and I took a bus to Akaroa, a peninsula which was formerly a volcanic basin and was settled by both the French and British. We spent the day hiking to a waterfall, walking along the waterfront and viewing a lighthouse, eating fish and chips, and walking around the town and its shops.

Loving the fall colours!

 

On Thursday Rachel left to fly back to the states, and I hoped on a bus to Picton. It was ANZAC day, so the town was bustling with people out and about celebrating with family and friends. I checked myself into my hotel room (with a view!) and spent the afternoon relaxing after a busy week and a half!

View from my hotel room

Everything I brought with me for the two weeks had to fit on my back!

On Friday I ferried back to the North Island. It was a beautiful sunny day and I spent some time wandering around Wellington. I ate some gelato and watched the sun set, then hopped on a bus that took me back to Taupo.

Final views of the South Island

 

I spent Saturday and Sunday doing laundry and getting myself ready for the upcoming week at school. I can’t believe it will be the last week of my time here in New Zealand. I’m missing the people back home, but know I will miss this place I have been lucky enough to call home for the last three months. I’m going to spend as much time as I can enjoying all the students I have gotten to know so well while I have been over here – I’m going to miss them when I leave!

 

I hope you enjoyed reading about my travels! I’ll update you after this week is over and let you know how much I cried having to leave my students.

 

As always, feel free to drop a comment below if you have thoughts or questions about my experience. I’d love to connect with you!

 

Best to you and yours,

Ellie