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    Schools of The Air: Timesaver Customs & Lifestyle in The English-Speaking World Australia

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    Virág Szia

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    Schools of The Air: Timesaver Customs & Lifestyle in The English-Speaking World Australia

    Uploaded by

    Virág Szia
    52 views2 pages

    Original Title

    B4

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    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    52 views2 pages

    Schools of The Air: Timesaver Customs & Lifestyle in The English-Speaking World Australia

    Uploaded by

    Virág Szia

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    TS_customs1 19/3/07 11:51 am Page 12

    TIMESAVER CUSTOMS & LIFESTYLE IN THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD Jobs AUSTRALIA

    Schools of the Air


    1 Look at the photos. Where do you think these children are studying? Why are they using computers and radios?

    Many school children in the


    Australian outback live on large
    sheep farms, called stations. These
    stations are so far away from any
    town or school that children have to
    study at home. They only go to the
    school building for a week or two a
    year – otherwise, all learning is
    done via the post, phone, TV, radio
    and video or via the internet. Their
    teacher visits them once a term, and
    all their homework
    is sent by post.
    There are now 12 Schools of
    the Air all over Australia.

    2 What do you think? Circle True or False. 3 Read about Katherine's job on
    page 13. Were your ideas in
    1 You can't be a teacher at a School of the Air unless you can drive. exercise 2 correct?
    TRUE / FALSE
    2 You don't need to do any marking in this kind of teaching. TRUE / FALSE
    3 You have very little personal contact with your students. TRUE / FALSE
    4 It's impossible to do pairwork or groupwork over the radio
    or internet. TRUE / FALSE
    5 Children at Schools of the Air don’t have any contact
    with other children in their year group. TRUE / FALSE

    12 TIMESAVER: Customs & Lifestyle in the English-speaking World © Scholastic Ltd. PHOTOCOPIABLE
    TS_customs1 19/3/07 11:51 am Page 13

    TIMESAVER CUSTOMS & LIFESTYLE IN THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD Jobs AUSTRALIA

    4 Katherine is a time* video of their teacher. They can interact with


    teacher. She lives in their teacher using audio or email. Students can
    Alice Springs, but "enter information" or "draw" directly into a
    the school covers an programme so that the rest of the class can see.
    area about 40 times
    the size of I visit all my students once a term. I usually spend the
    Switzerland. night with the family at their station, and then drive
    to the next one. Once a year, we have a mini-school,
    I work from 8 to 4 – where students in an area get together for lessons
    students can phone and fun. And every year we organise camps to an
    me whenever they like during a school day. I speak to outdoor education centre, for students, families and
    all my students every day, and once a week on air. We teachers. As the students don't see each other often,
    use really high frequency radio waves*, so you can this is a great opportunity for them to play and get to
    hear us as far away as the Antarctic! We even have a know each other. It's the highlight* of the year.
    morning assembly* where the teachers in the studio
    talk about the timetable for that day via the
    internet or radio.

    I mark the work students send in, and send them new
    work. The mail room at the school is like a small post
    office. We have about 70,000 items in the post at any
    time – from school work to radios and computers.

    We also use IDL – Interactive* Distance Learning. This


    uses computers, satellite and internet technology to
    create a classroom situation. The students log on*
    to their lesson using their computer to see a real

    I used to teach in a normal school in Darwin. Here I


    really feel I'm making a difference. You don't usually
    get involved with the whole family the way I do now.
    The parents are my fellow teachers, after all. We are
    all helping each other to help the children. And I've
    learnt to drive a 4x4, change a tyre in the middle of
    the desert, and had some amazing experiences in
    the outback!

    4 Find the bold words in the text which mean: 5 Work in pairs and discuss your answers
    1 to start using a computer programme log on
    ............................................. to the questions.
    2 a live video or recording ............................................. 1 What do you think are the
    3 to communicate ............................................. advantages of the School of the Air?
    4 on the radio ............................................. 2 What do you think are
    5 a message sent by computer ............................................. the disadvantages?
    6 an object moving around the earth 3 How is life different for the teachers?
    used for communication signals ............................................. 4 What is the most important piece of
    7 learning from outside the school building ............................................. equipment for the School of the Air?
    5 Why is the post office so important?
    Personal project
    What would you enjoy about being a student at a School of the Air?
    What would you miss about the school you are at now?
    * What is it in your language? Find out!

    PHOTOCOPIABLE TIMESAVER: Customs & Lifestyle in the English-speaking World © Scholastic Ltd. 13

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