A Great Performance from Maori “Kahurangi”

The sun was shining so bright. Ibu Jane and I always come earlier than other teachers. We arrive at school around 7.15.

I visited Prep D where Ibu Bernadette teaches. She read a story “The Scrubbing Machine”. The children enjoyed the story. After that she divided the children into 4 groups: writing, reading, drawing and vocabulary – word bank.

At 9.30 Ibu Bernadette took the children to the Multipurpose Room to watch a special performance with other students. The performance was provided by the school. It was a wonderful performance. The performers came from Maori backgrounds and they lived in New Zealand. The dancers and singers brought their special instruments to play. Every performance used different costumes. They taught us some Maori words and everybody loved it. It was easy to understand the songs and the movements because they explained it clearly to us before they did each dance. Before the last performance they choose one student and a teacher to try some dance movements using a long stick on the stage (sorry I forget the name of the equipment). The performance took about one and a half hours.
Teachers and students looked exited and enthusiastic to watch from the start til the last performance.

Wow……. I have had another great opportunity to learn more about another culture. It showed that St Leonard’s is focusing on internationalism and helping their students become more appreciative and be more open minded people and also to respect their own native culture.

It is similar to our school; Global Jaya had a special week to learn about other cultures. It can be from our native cultures (Indonesian Culture Week) or it can be from other countries (Cultural Week).During that time each year level does some activities based on the culture that they have chosen. The students learn about the languages, customs, foods, costumes etc. We invite a guest speaker also. Then at the end of activities we have a short Assembly.

After school day Endang and I attended on First Steps Reading and Writing PD by Anne Hammond. She gave us some tips on how to record and assess children’s work in reading and writing.