Well, here I am, in between presentations, thinking over each yawn and considering how I contributed to them and how to avoid them in the next class. I've never had to talk about Australia before, as if being Australian makes me an authority on the subject. I was looking online for Australian qualities and I was surprised by how much I identified with their descriptions. The sense of 'fair go', and 'no worries' along with 'have a go' seem to sum up my philosophical outlook pretty neatly. I didn't realise I was such an Aussie at heart.
2 comments:
Strangely enough I find myself in the same situation right now with me being from South Africa. Having to present South Africa as if I am some kind of expert to a group of 16 - 18 year olds at a school I teach at part-time. My problem, on the other hand, is that I probably identify too strongly with South Africa to give any kind of objective presentation on it. And how would they relate to 'howzit china' (pronounced 'hazit chahna') Have you any ideas what I could concentrate on?
What worked well and seemed to prevent yawns was first playinga dn then discussing the lyrics to a piece of music related to the subject - 'Gimme Hope Jo'anna' by Eddy Grant.
Best of luck 'mate'!
:) Darls,
I tried to narrow my talk down to what the teachers wanted but it seems they were reluctant to give me a narrower topic guideline other than 'Australia'. So I did this:
I broke the hour talk into 5/6 parts.
1) Aussie slang and some jokes about how and why we say it.
2) Typical Values and a brief outline of where they come from. (convict history)
3) Some big differences in culture between there and here. Putting the fault on myself (and not their insensitivity or uncouthness)
4) Some of my childhood with photos - what was 'typical'and what was not - the introduction of suburbs and typical housing.
5) Photos of typical landscapes, animals, famous buildings, people
6) Questions are encourage throughout.
Hope this helps
(by the way, I didn't do the whole 'fun facts' thing, since I figured they could get 'facts' from a book/internet)
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