GALEN CATHOLIC COLLEGE by Lorentia Katea TL

2013

1.Introduction 2.Development

3.Conclusion

Introduction• When we arrived in Wangaratta, Mr Geoff Welch, the Deputy

Principal was waiting for us at the station and he drove us by bus to the college (high school) where we met the Principal, Mr Bernard Neal, and all the host parents. After that, he presented us our host family and I was with Dafné in the same home. Our host family was Eddy and Kate Howard, the lady is an English teacher in Galen and her husband comes from the Salomon Islands and he is still studying.

• Wangaratta is situated in Victoria, which is a state in the south of Australia.

• First, I want to present you the students’ way of life in Galen, then I will continue with all the differences between Galen and our own Senior high school.

The students’ way of lifein Galen• Monday, May 20th was our first day at Galen and it was

very difficult but fortunately the students were helpful because they helped us find our classes. I really appreciated their behaviour because they were smiling and they wanted to come towards us to chat. They were also funny, nice and I noticed that they were very serious in their studies. They did their exercises correctly even if they chattered in the classroom.

• In Galen, everyone got on well and there were not any fights and quarrels between the students and like us they had a good relationship with their teachers. Every day, they came with a snack to eat during recess.

• In that college, almost all the students were slim (boys and girls), which shows that they have a balanced diet. In Galen, they do not criticize other people. I also noticed that they are not like French people who kiss every day; they kiss someone if it is the first time that they meet that person.

• Class participation was always active and enriching. The students were given activities to fulfil in groups of 2, 3 or 4 and they were helped by the teacher and developed a certain autonomy.

All the differences between Galen and our college• To start with, I’m going to present you what school years that

college is composed of.• At Galen Catholic College, they had students from year 7 to

year 12 together but the buildings were separated into 3 categories (junior school, middle school and senior school).

• Every day, they start at 9am and work till 3.30pm. They don’t have school on Saturday but they have school on Wednesday afternoon and it is a big difference in comparison to us.

• Another major difference is that unlike us, they don’t have a cafeteria. Every student can buy food from a little kiosk situated inside the school where there are sandwiches, hotdogs, pizza slices, pieces of fruit and cakes, soft drinks…

1. For their studies, they are not in classes that are predetermined like us (grade 12 literature,science, economy, technology…) because it’s the students who choose their lessons so they can change classes with each bell and they have a lot of classes. They do not always end up in the same class with the same number of students. They also have lessons that we don’t have in our college like drama,RAM, computing, psychology.…

2. Another thing is that they have a big library and it’s separated into several areas: an area to read, an area to work with computers and another area to work with teachers.

3. In Galen,every student has a laptop which is supplied by the college and they don’t come with schoolbags because they have lockers in the college so every morning, they have 10minutes to take their books out.

4. Last but not least, they wear a uniform every day but they have a few types of clothes according to the season.

CONCLUSION

• When we studied in Galen, Jonas and I were in the same class and during my school time , I enjoyed being with the students in our class because they were very nice to us.

• I was happy to discover that college because I learnt a lot of things and I saw many differences between our senior high school and the English-speaking school in Wangaratta.

• I’m so happy to have discovered their way of life and studying and so grateful to them for welcoming us the way they did!