This July, English teacher Jennifer Siraganian traveled across the world to Coomera, Australia, to visit Harker’s sister school Saint Stephens College. Offering education from preschool to Grade 12, Saint Stephens College is a private school with one campus, hosting a number of temporary international students in addition to locals enrolled for the full year.

Siraganian’s trip consisted mainly of interacting with the student body and the faculty and integrating herself into the school community; according to her, the best part was meeting all of the teachers.

“There was such a variety of different teaching styles and personalities and approaches to teaching […] I really enjoyed watching, observing, taking notes from all of those experiences,” said Siraganian.

Siraganian’s host was Sam Cleary, the teacher from St. Stephen’s College that visited Harker in the spring. Her typical day started at around 7:30 a.m., after which teachers like Cleary would take attendance before going to their respective classrooms. Observing about five or six lessons per day (including unfamiliar classes such as Australian history), she also took part in teaching.

“Later in my stay there, I ended up teaching Shakespeare’s Macbeth, which was really fun. I did some lectures on The Gunpowder Plot and Guy Fawkes Day, which was really great too,” Siraganian said.

Coincidentally, St. Stephen’s College held an athletic fair while Siraganian was visiting, making her trip even more eventful. At the fair, teams dress up in wild costumes and compete in sporting events like track and field, which Siraganian was appointed as a timer for.

“It’s sort of like our spirit day, our spirit events, but instead of just an event, it’s actually all day,” Siraganian said, “[Timing] was really fun because I got to hand out ribbons to students and watch them in a non-academic setting.”

Although St. Stephen’s College is our sister school, Siraganian did notice some differences on her trip. For one, the classes have more students, averaging about 25 to 30.
“I observed definitely larger classes which also really showed me how lucky we are to have such smaller classes here,” Siraganian said, “I can really interact with students on a totally different level.”

The strict uniform policy and school rules at St. Stephen’s College also contrast with ours; they seemed almost formal to Siraganian, who found it intriguing how students are required to line up outside their classrooms before going in.

“When they enter the classroom, they’re not allowed to sit down, but they stand behind their chairs and wait until the teacher greets them,” Siraganian said.
Between the beginning of school and lunch, St. Stephen’s College also offers a morning tea, which Siraganian compares to a daily Extra Help.

“A morning tea is this 25-minute little break, which is wonderful, where you can go and get coffee, or the students go into the snack bar and hang out with their friends or go to their lockers,” Siraganian said, “You can also go to any teacher and ask for help, so it’s nice.”

Siraganian’s 13 day trip to Australia ended successfully and entertainingly, and resulted in a marvelous gain of knowledge both in general and specific to education.

This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on Aug. 31, 2012.