Blog 1: Introduction

●     Share your background, reasons for teaching abroad, and your expectations for the experience.

●     Introduce the host country and city where you'll be teaching.

Hello!

I am so excited to be completing part of my Student Teaching in Auckland, New Zealand. I decided to consider this opportunity as soon as I heard about it in my orientation for my first field placement. At this point, I was thinking about it but nervous about bringing it up to my family or if it would be realistic for me. By my second orientation when I heard the short snippet about it again I decided I wanted to look into it further and reached out. I started talking to my family and friends about it to see if I would have the support needed. I was quickly ready to sign up and set up my first couple of interviews in order to receive the application.

The travel aspect was exciting to me because I have been lucky enough to travel internationally with my choir previously. I knew I wouldn't get to pick where I go, but that I would have a great experience wherever I got assigned. I liked the idea of having little control something that would be such a big deal. I am excited to learn more about their culture and lifestyle as a whole. However, the part that makes this experience even cooler for me is that not only do I get to see the daily living of those in New Zealand, I get to learn about their education system and see what they determine is important for their students to gain from being in school. I look forward to learning what a typical day looks like for a student, how the teachers prepare, what requirements they have to follow, and how they are assessed.

My expectations for this experience are set very high. I have no doubt this will be incredible. Simply just learning about the different styles is exciting to me. I am sure I will be able to bring home some aspects of the classroom that I have not seen in previous placements at home. Outside of teaching, I am placed with a host family that is near the school. I am excited to walk to and from the school and have that time to myself each day. The views from their house are beautiful and I look forward to exploring their local area, as well as further out when I have more time.

New Zealand has a population of 5.123 million people, with 1.657 million of them living in Auckland. For comparison, Ohio's population is 11.78 million with 367,991 of them living in Cleveland. My main takeaway from that statistic is how large of a city Auckland is since almost a third of the whole population is in this city. Auckland is known as the "City of the Sails" and has two major harbors that are only about 10 miles apart from each other on opposite coasts. There are lots of beaches, volcanos, and wonderful landscapes to view within the city. New Zealand as a whole is known for its Rugby team, the strong Maori culture, Lord of the Rings, Haka war dances, and having the highest ratio of sheep to people. I will be teaching in a smaller suburb of Auckland called Cockle Bay and be living within walking distance of Howick Village.