This Friday afternoon’s activity was a test of athletic and linguistic skills in the summer sunshine.
The temperature was hot and the competition even hotter as teams participated in the GV Caloundra Pentathlon, five events which tested teamwork, enthusiasm and communication skills.
Events included charades, the egg and spoon race and, most challenging of all, a race in which all members of each team had to pass an onion between one another without using their hands, which led to some pretty funny results!
When the points were added up at the end of the afternoon, the Crocs team were declared the winners and celebrated with a well-earned, ice-cold six-pack!
Well done to everyone who took part – have a great weekend!
Next weekend we have a bus going to the Gold Coast with GV Noosa and GV Caloundra students. First stop is Dreamworld and Whitewaterworld, then off to Surfers Paradise for a night club tour. After a couple of hours sleep at the backpackers, some breakfast and a visit to the markets and DFO shopping on the way home.
All of this for only $220! Spaces are filling fast so get in to see Patty this week to make sure you don’t miss out.
Global Village English Centres welcomed a new addition to the Australian side of the family this week with the official opening of GV Byron Bay!
GV Byron Bay is located in one of the most popular beach resort locations on the Australian coast, about 90 minutes south of Brisbane or about 40 minutes south of the Gold Coast. The school has opened with a great group of students from all over the world. If you’d like to know more about GV Byron Bay, check out http://gvenglish.com/english/schools/byronbay/ .
After 17 months of service above and beyond the call of duty, Andy is leaving us to travel around the world.
So, it is with much sadness and a great deal of envy we say goodbye and ‘bon voyage’ to Andy and his lovely family. Oh, just one more thing Andy, send us a post card or two. We’ll miss you.
After the success of the Tri School Shield Soccer Competition in December, we have been approached by the Caloundra Shelly Park United Football Club. Their president Chris McCormack sent me this message:
To the students at GV Caloundra,
This year we will have 1st and 2nd division teams. There will be 11 teams in the Division 1 competition and the same number in the Division 2 competition. We have gained the talents of a coach who has had international experience in the UK and America. He will be running the seniors program.
We also run teams in a very strong Ladies competition.
We are looking for players of all ages and in particular for the 1st and 2nd Division Mens and Womens teams.
Sign-on days will be Saturday 31st January 2009 10am to 2pm
Sunday 1st February 2009 10am to 2pm
Thursday 5th February 2009 5pm to 8pm
Saturday 7th February 2009 10am to 2pm
Sunday 8th February 2009 10am to 2pm
If any of you want to attend please bring your passport and a passport size photo of yourself. An Australian Driver’s Licence is also OK.
If you have any question I can be contacted on the following numbers:
Work 5491 1422 Mobile 0422824638
I look forward to meeting some of you on sign-on days.
Regards
Chris McCormack
President Caloundra Shelly Park United Football Club
This Friday is the last school day before Australia Day and we want to know how much you know about the country you are living in.
You will be divided into teams to play against each other for an AWESOME AUSSIE PRIZE.
We will have questions (some easy, some more difficult) in the following categories, so use the next few days to read up on everything Australian:
Australian Geography
Indigenous Animals and Plants
Famous Aussies
Australian History
Australia’s Sporting Culture
Aussie Slang
Australia’s Best Coastal City – Caloundra
Remember there are lots of great activities happening on the Sunny Coast and Monday 26 of January is a public holiday. Classes resume Tuesday, 27 January.
If you have never been to Australia Zoo then this could be an ideal day for your first visit.
John Williamson, the famous Aussie musician who was a friend of Steve Irwin – Crocodile Hunter, will help locals and international guests celebrate Australia Day on January 26 at 10:30am. You will also find kangaroos to pat, koalas to cuddle and of course crocodiles to stay away from.
A HOME AMONG THE GUM TREES sung by John Williamson at Australia Zoo
I’ve been around the world a couple of times, or maybe more,
I’ve seen the sights, I’ve had delights on every foreign shore,
but when my mates all ask me the place that I adore,
I tell them right away.
Give me a home among the gum trees,
with lots of plum trees, a sheep or two, a ka-kangaroo.
A clothes line out the back, verandah out the front,
and an old rocking chair.
You can see me in the kitchen cooking up a roast,
or Vegemite on toast, just you and me, a cup of tea.
And later on we’ll settle down and mull up on the porch,
and watch the possums play.
Give me a home among the gum trees,
with lots of plum trees, a sheep or two, a ka-kangaroo.
A clothes line out the back, verandah out the front,
and an old rocking chair.
There’s a Safeway up the corner, and a Woolys down the street,
a brand new place theyve opened up where they regulate the heat,
but I’d trade them all tomorrow for a simple bush retreat
where the kookaburras call.
Give me a home among the gum trees,
with lots of plum trees, a sheep or two, a ka-kangaroo.
A clothes line out the back, verandah out the front,
and an old rocking chair.
Some people like their houses with fences all around,
others live in mansions, and some beneath the ground.
But Me, I like the bush, you know with rabbits running ’round,
and a pumpkin vine out the back.
Give me a home among the gum trees,
with lots of plum trees, a sheep or two, a ka-kangaroo.
A clothes line out the back, verandah out the front,
and an old rocking chair.
Give me a home among the gum trees,
with lots of plum trees, a sheep or two, a ka-kangaroo.
A clothes line out the back, verandah out the front,
and an old rocking chair.
This is your chance to make suggestions about how we can make GV Caloundra even better. Simply write your suggestion on a piece of paper and pop it in the box.
Also please feel free to discuss any problems you have or any ideas that you have with Andy. The door is always open.
Pictures from left: Excited staff and students cheer the horses on. WINNERS: Nathalie from GV staff. Sam from Sue’s Class. Taeil From Stephanie’s class with prize money on the table. Eduardo from Nicole’s class. Clair with the winning tickets from Nathalie’s class.
This afternoon we had a great chance to do a real-world listening task when we watched the Melbourne Cup on TV. GV students, staff and employees from Cadet joined together to cheer on the winning horses. The atmosphere was great and like many Aussies GV students also entered a sweep in their classes. The teachers also had a sweep and our new teacher Nathalie was lucky enough to win.
(WHAT IS A SWEEP? A sweep is a friendly way to bet on a horse race. Groups of people in an office or factory get together to watch a race. Before the race starts they must buy one or more tickets foten by picking them out from a hat. Each ticket has the name of one of the horses and there is only one ticket for each horse. If your horse wins you can win all the money. In the Melbourne Cup there were 24 horses and 24 tickets so if each ticket was $1 the prize money is $24 – not bad!)
(Pictures: Renat the Romantic, Diana the Shopaholic, Coco the Optimist and Aki the Surfer)
Last Friday was graduation day for 4 of our students. While we are always sad to see students go, it is particularly sad when we lose people who have been here for a long time. Diana from Colombia and Renat from Russia had been with us for about 30 weeks and were amongst the elders in the GV Caloundra family.
We also said goodbye to Coco from Taiwan and Aki from Japan who were both in Pre Intermediate A Class – the class is not quite the same without Coco’s great smile and Aki’s great enthusiasm.
Last week we celebrated our 1st birthday in Caloundra with Happy Birthday sung in English, Spanish, Koean and a few other languages. Of course we celebrated the Aussie way with beer and bangers (bangers = slang for sausages).
Thank you to all the people who have made the school great. From GV we have our dedicated teachers and admin staff. The support from CADET International College , particularly Karen, Alison, Loris and Glen, has been wonderful. Thanks also to our great students – your smiling faces and eagerness give the GV staff a lot of satisfaction.
We start a second year at Global Village Caloundra with hopes of further expanding our academic programs, getting more students and of course having another year of fun.
Mark and Karen Schebella, who taught the Elementary class in 2007, recently returned to Caloundra after travelling through Asia and Europe. Their trip got off to a great start and they enjoyed Vietnam and Thailand, but unfortunately Karen got extremely sick while they were in the Czech Republic and they have been forced to return to Australia to recover.
Karen plans to stay around for a few weeks until her grandchild arrives while Mark will return to the historic city of Pilsner in the Czech Republic for a job teaching English to people working in the IT industry. And also sampling their devine Pilsner beer no doubt.
We wish them all the best and look forward to the next update from them.
This week we welcomed young Japanese girls and boys on the Sakura Tour. They have a separate class taught be Sue. Sue is also takeing them on interesting afternoon activities including canoeing on the Maroochy River, a tour of the beautiful green Sunshine Coast hinterland, a swim at Kings Beach and a visit to Australia Zoo to see koalas, kangaroos and crocodiles.
Picture: Jennifer, Sue, Noriko, Adreyan, Hana, Andrea, Kyohei, Suguru, Sophie, Jennifer and Louis
Sue’s Elementary Class did a treasure hunt in the main street of Caloundra earlier this week. They had a number of tasks to do. For example, they had to find information from the council chambers, learn how to join the library, research job information at Centrelink and find out where to get the best coffee.
Unfortunately Noriko (in the pink t-shirt) leaves GV Caloundra to return to Japan this Friday.
Also leaving this week is Tobias from Pre Intermediate A. He will spend one month doing the Barista at Cadet then return to Zurich, Switzerland to work in a Wine and Grill Restaurant. For more information on Barista visit Cadet International College at www.cic.net.au
Student – Teacher relationships have to be one of the best parts of teaching. Friendships are formed and nurtured: experiences shared and memories treasured when in years to come we remember the ‘good old times’.
This campus opened September 07 and since then we have had the opportunity to meet and, in time, farewell wonderful students who joined us and became part of our school and little community.
When the time comes it is always sad to say goodbye, but, thankfully quite a lot of you keep in touch via email and some of you even visit.
Last week David returned to GV Caloundra to farewell us before he headed back to Korea. David was one of the first students to study with us here at this campus, so it was a touching gesture that he made his way from Sydney to say goodbye. I’m sure I can speak for Andy, Vivien, Spanish and Tanya as well, when I say: how wonderful it was to see David again and how much we will miss him.
So, I would like to say a special thank you: to all the students who think of us, who stop by to see us again before they leave and to all the students who email and send photos, including us in their lives by letting us know how they are and what they’re doing. We appreciate it!
Top Left: Leonado the linesman with a flag in one hand and a beer in the other. Top right: I didn’t want to give up the shield to Noosa. Bottom left: The Noosa captain is carried high. Bottom Right: The winning team
The Caloundra Crocs played great football against GV Brisbane and GV Noosa. It was a fantastic winter’s day to play. The sun was quite hot and the ground was terrific.
The first match was between GV Noosa and GV Caloundra. It was an exciting match and ended up a tie 1-1.
In the second match the Crocs played GV Brisbane and managed to win 4 – 2. Ricardo was the top goal scorer. Crocs fans went crazy at the result.
In the third match GV Noosa scored 4 goal to GV Brisbane’s 2.
The final result was that GV Noosa won their matches by a greater margin than Caloundra and so won the competion. And while Noosa may have won the shield I think that Caloundra had the best fans, and the best chanting. Special thanks goes to Patty for looking after the barbecue even when there were thousands of hungry students hanging around for a sausage and beer. Thanks also to Sori for helping Patty.
Finally three cheers for all the great players on the Crocs team and on the other teams. In November there will be another big game and a chance for Caloundra to regain the Global Village Tri School Shield.
When you enroll as a student at Global Village Caloundra you sign the “English Only Agreement” that says that you will only use English in class and in the school. Recently students have complained that some students are lapsing back into their own languages instead of using English.
To enforce this rule the college is using the same system that is used in football (soccer). We are bringing in Yellow and Red Cards to warn students who are breaking the rules.
If you break the “ENGLISH ONLY” rule you will be warned with a Yellow Card. You may be given a Yellow Card by any teacher if they find you speaking another language in class, in the common room or on the school grounds.
If you have been given a Yellow Card and are discovered speaking another language AGAIN you will be given a Red Card. A Red Card means you must leave your class OR you you may be asked not to attend your next class OR you may be asked to leave the college grounds.
