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NEWS ARCHIVE - More News Archive HISTORY OF SYDNEY TOUR Friday, 22 February 2008 We caught a bus to the city and went to the Museum of Sydney for a tour. We learnt about Aboriginal history in Sydney (did you know about 90% of Aborigines in the Sydney area died from small pox which they caught from the settlers?). We also learnt about the many countries Australia traded with in the 1800s. Australia has always traded a lot with China, especially tea, sugar and silk. We also saw many old and new pictures of Sydney and the foundations of the first government house built in 1788. by
Lucas GOODBYE TATHIANA February 2008
Last week Tathiana said goodbye to the staff and students at Maewill English College. Tathiana was the receptionist at MEC and so much more - she always helped both the staff and students when they needed some extra help. Goodbye and good luck with the future from everyone at Maewill! GRECCO OR MARLON BRANDO? Wednesday, 20 February 2008
Deborah was very excited when she came into the staff room this morning and it had nothing to do with her seafood pasta. She had discovered a striking resemblance between Grecco, in class 3A and the famous actor Marlon Brando. We all had to admit there were some similarities. And when she showed Grecco the photo he was pretty happy. So now we just have to decide who George looks like. Brad Pitt? TABLE TENNIS COMPETITION Friday, 15 February 2008
Can you guess what the weather was doing last Friday? That's right, more rain so the BBQ at Shelly Beach was cancelled and Maewill held a table tennis competition instead. Philip and Ken played well and were cheered on by their support team which included TT and Jane. VALENTINE'S DAY Thursday, 14 February 2008
The morning started very romantically with a number of students receiving flowers and chocolates - Anne very kindly bought chocolate for all her classmates. It didn't last long but set the mood perfectly. And it sounds as though there will be a few candlelit dinners this evening too.
Love is in the air...love and candy floss. This afternoon Andrea and Bonnie made sure everyone got their own little piece of romance by serving up the best twisted floss this side of the Spit Bridge. But the afternoon wasn't only sweet, it was also sensitive as Sally read out the Valentine's Day poetry competition entries. Surprisingly, the 3 winners were all guys - congratulations Marty, Jason and Ryan!
WHAT'S HAPPENING AT MAEWILL Wednesday, 13 February 2008
This afternoon I had a chance to visit some of the classes and find out what was happening at Maewill. Obviously, I took the camera and got some student photos too (except for Erika who told me she hates being in photos so she offered to take the photo). The conversation classes were studying sport this week and football (soccer) seemed to be the most popular sport amongst all the students and teachers. Deborah's class had learnt some vocabulary relating to sporting equipment (like a cricket bat). Ann's class had learned how to cheer at an Aussie sports event. And Mitch, a new student from Hungary, learned some very special vocabulary that impressed all his classmates and teacher.
David's
conversation class had the most varied favourite sports including William
who loves basketball and Fernando who likes motocross. The High School classes
were working through an extremely challenging Geography assignment. Ryan (Mr.
Valentine) told me that geography was his favourite subject even though it was
quite hard. And when I interrupted the Academic class they were half way through
a word building exercise. Andy explained that it was difficult because there are
so many words and often no rules to help decide how to form the words. However,
if your grammar is good at least you know what type of word to make! GOODBYE YURI, PETER AND BETTY! Tuesday, 12 February 2008
This week we had to say goodbye to some of our favourite students who were returning home after studying at Maewill. Yuir, Betty and Peter were all going back to Korea to continue working and studying. The good news was we had cake to celebrate which seemed to put a smile on everyone's faces. From all the teachers and staff at MEC - Thank you for working so hard while you studied English at Maewill and all the best for the future - see you again soon!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
CHINESE AND KOREAN NEW YEAR PARTY Thursday, 07 February 2008
Today
we celebrated Chinese and Korean New Year at Maewill. My name is Peter and I'm
from Jeoung Ep, Korea. I ate spring rolls, fried rice, dumplings and vegetables.
The food was very nice. If I was in Korea today would be a holiday. I would go
to my cousins house and have a big party. Today was very good and all the students
enjoyed the Asian food. PANCAKES ON SHROVE TUESDAY Tuesday, 05 February 2008
Many
students had an opportunity to make pancakes on Tuesday as part of Shrove
Tuesday - the day before Lent. There was a little smoke but overall the
standard of cooking for excellent and the general consensus was, 'delicious'.
And all the eating occurred in the name of charity; Maewill sponsors a child in
Haiti so students donated money for each pancake eaten to support World Vision
and Delicia. WELCOME ANN AND DAVID Tuesday, 05 February 2008
You may have seen two new faces at Maewill English College over the last couple of weeks. They belong to Ann and David, 2 new teachers at MEC. Ann teaches General English, Preparation for High School and Conversation classes. David teaches General English and Conversation classes in the afternoon and evening. Yiping interviewed Ann and discovered a few interesting facts about her. For example she learned that Ann is originally from the Blue Mountains. She taught English in Parramatta for years before moving to Freshwater (formerly Harbord). She likes teaching because it is never boring and students always have interesting things to tell her. Her hobbies are learning foreign languages, snorkelling and tai chi. Ryan interviewed David and found out that David has recently returned to Australia form Japan where he was teaching English and studying the Japanese language. He likes teaching because he likes meeting people and his hobbies are travelling, soccer and languages. Make sure you say 'Hi' to Ann and David if you see them around.
OPEN AIR CINEMA Thursday, 31 January 2008
We had been looking forward to our annual evening excursion to the
open air cinema for some time now. In summer, Sydney can be a magical place. Set against the beautiful backdrop of Sydney Harbour, with an amazing view of the Opera House, we had planned an amazing night under the stars, having a picnic and watching a movie. However, Sydney's weather can be unpredictable and on Thursday the weather forecast predicted a strong storm. Nevertheless Denis,
Nataly, Andre, Claudio, Roberta, Jakeline and I headed off on the ferry, despite dark clouds looming on the horizon. We met veteran
open air cinema enthusiast, Rustam, on the steps of the Opera House and walked through the beautiful Botanic Garden. We found a secure position under a 150 year old tree. Blindly optimistic, we set up our picnic and waited for the storm to come, and hopefully pass. Unfortunately it didn't pass! But that didn't stop us from chatting, singing and making friends with others under the tree. SHORT STORY COMPETITION Wednesday, 30 January 2008 Maewill
help a short story competition in conjunction with the Sydney open air cinema
movie called, 'the Waitress'. The winners of the competition received a ticket
to go and see the movie on Thursday evening. There were many entries and after
some careful judging the winners were decided. Congratulations Denis and Candy! HELLO GOODBYE RAFAEL Wednesday, 06 February 2008
Today Rafael came to visit us at Maewill. It's exactly one year since Rafael arrived in Sydney and started studying English at Maewill. He has just returned from a 5 week holiday with his parents. They visited Canberra, Melbourne and then travelled on the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide. They also visited Kangaroo Island and yes, they did see kangaroos - too many. Next week Rafael starts studying a Diploma in Media and Communication at TAFE. Good to see you again Rafael and congratulations on your English ability - it's amazing! JAPANESE FAREWELL Thursday, 31 January 2008 This morning all the students said a teary goodbye to their
homestay families before catching the bus. When they first met their homestay
families 4 weeks ago, they looked excited and also a little bit worried, because
it was the first time for all of the students to live with Aussie families. But
this morning they were talking to their homestay families and taking photos as
if they wouldn't like to leave. Also they met new friends and teachers at
Maewill English College. They will keep in touch with them. Students - you will
meet new friends and new homestay families in the next place. Hope you have a
great time with them! JAPANESE STUDENTS GRADUATION Wednesday, 30 January 2008
This afternoon the PIEE and CIEE exchange students from Japan graduated from
Maewill. After an intensive 4 week program at MEC they are now ready to continue their Australian adventure. They will be travelling all over Australia to study at High School and live with Aussie families. Congratulations to all the students for their hard work and
enthusiam. Good luck with the next chapter of your adventure - and keep in touch! SYDNEY UNIVERSITY EXCURSION Friday, 25 January 2008
Have you ever been to the University of Sydney? It consists of modern and old buildings. It is amusing and huge. The first thing we saw was the clock tower. Then we saw a tree called a Jacaranda. There is a saying that you must begin studying before the tree blooms in November, or you will fail your exam. There is also another story about the tree that you could meet your husband or wife right under the tree. Believe it or not. Mae and William met under the tree and fell in love, years ago.
Later we visited two museums. One is called Macleay Museum, which collects a lot of Australian animals inside. In anothe
rmuseum, we saw mummies. It is amazing that there are differences between female mummies and male mummies. It was pleasant to go to Sydney University and we enjoyed ourselves in this historical university. We hope we can go there and be members of the best university we know. MY LIFE IN AUSTRALIA SO FAR Click on the student photos to find out their first impressions of Australia and living with an Australian family.
BLUE MOUNTAINS TRIP Monday, 28 January 2008
Today we went to the Blue Mountains. The mountains were very beautiful and the air was very clear. We have never seen such wonderful mountains. We were excited on the coaster. We want to go again! - Ayako Hirano, Satomi and Hikaru PREPARATION FOR HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATIONS Thursday, 24 January 2008
Today a number of Preparation for High School students graduated from
Maewill. At the end of the month they will be starting High Schools in Sydney - St Luke's Grammar School, Covenant Christian School, St Augustine's College and Tyndale Christian school. All the graduates have worked very hard during their time at
Maewill. Congratulations and all the best from the staff and teachers at MEC! GOODBYE LUCY AND AMY Wednesday, 23 January 2008
Hi everybody I'm Lucy, I'm 10 years old and I'm from Korea. I like Maewill English College but I need to go back to Korea so I am going to Korea tomorrow. I will miss my friends and teachers and some neighbours. I want to go to Korea and I want to stay here too. Today I'm very sad and happy. I will miss my class too! Maybe I will come back again. I love Maewill English College!
Hi! My name is Amy. I'm leaving Australia this Thursday....maybe you'll miss me! And I'll miss all the students and teachers. I feel half sad and half happy because I am meeting my family. If I have lots of money I'll come back! I will miss
high school students like Jennifer, Jenny, Kevin, Yiping....they are kind and friendly. Teachers, thankyou for teaching me until I finished school. I think Maewill English College is a really nice and comfortable school. Bye! See you when I come back to Australia. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Tuesday, 22 January 2008
There were two student birthdays today at Maewill. Dave is a new Preparation for High School student and today he turned 17. In class 4, Caio turned 23 and was surprised when his brother and friend arrived with a cake complete with candles. Happy Birthday Dave and Caio! TOO MUCH RAIN Friday, 18 January 2008
Everyone was supposed to go to the beach on Friday for a barbecue. However, it started to rain on Thursday night and hasn't really stopped since then. Obviously all the students were looking forward to the delicious food so Mae came up with the best alternative for a rainy Friday - pizza and movie! Here's what Nicole had to say: It was a rainy Friday and the planned BBQ at Shelly Beach had to be cancelled. Instead of having fun on the beach we enjoyed watching the movie 'Ratatouille', a Walt Disney Production about a rat who became a chef in a well-known French restaurant in Paris. It was an entertaining and fun way to spend a wet Friday morning. The pizzas that got delivered for lunch more than made up for the missed barbie. CONGRATULATIONS ROSALYN Thursday, 17 2008
Rosalyn graduated from Maewill today after studying here since April last year. During her time at Maewill Rosalyn consistently did her best to improve her English. In the IELTS class Rosalyn worked extremely hard, especially on her writing and was duly rewarded with an IELTS score of 7.5 when she sat the test last year. Rosalyn is due to start her Master's degree this year in Sydney and all the staff and teacher's at Maewill English College wish her all the best. We'll miss you Rosalyn! FEATHERDALE WILDLIFE PARK Friday, 11 January 2008
Today we had a wonderful wildlife experience, we went to Featherdale Wildlife Park. There we could see and touch different animals. And we discovered new things about them, for example: Koalas have a strong eucalypt smell, snakes can change their skin up to five times a year, a lizard looked like it had two heads. And Ann interviewed some of the High School students. SEE YOU SOON JANA Tuesday, 15 January 2008
Jana graduated from Maewill yesterday. She has been studying at Maewill for almost one year and is going back to Slovakia to see her family. She's nervous and excited because she's not sure if she'll come back to Australia or stay in Slovakia - we hope you come back Jana! Congratulations on improving your English so much while you were here and thank you for being a great student. There is also a photo of Petr with Martina. Petr wanted to pass a special message to Jarka who is in Slovakia, "I'm studying hard everyday". We hope so! HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEVIN Tuesday, 08 January 2008
Today was Kevin's birthday. Kevin's a Preparation for High School student at Maewill. He celebrated with Katy, his teacher, his classmates and 2 cakes. Everyone sang 'Happy Birthday', ate some cake and then it was back to work. The other High School classes were also busy but they had time for a quick photo. Here are Ann's class and Sasa's class.
WELCOME PIEE / CIEE STUDENTS Thursday, 03 January 2007
Each year Maewill English College hosts a group of Japanese
exchange students from the PIEE / CIEE exchange programs. The students will be
with Maewill for the month of January to improve their English and to
prepare for their next big adventure - one year at an Australian High School.
Welcome from all the teachers, staff and students at Maewill! SO MANY NEW STUDENTS January 2008
Arriving back to school on Monday, it was amazing to see so many new faces. Amongst them I met two new Preparation for High School students from China, Candy and Helena. They will be studying at Maewill before going on to study at High School in Sydney. Welcome to Sydney, Australia and welcome to Maewill! CHRISTMAS PARTY PHOTOS Friday, 21 December 2007
The last day of school, a time to relax - in fact it was quite the opposite. Mae had organised a full day's activities. They started at 9 with a drawing competition and Christmas quiz. Before all the classes came together there was a final chance to practise Christmas carols. Then everyone met upstairs and Mae introduced a lot of new games: pass the orange, which is similar to, but quite different from pass the parcel. There was balloon stomping, singing and of course the short story competition winners were announced.
By this time everyone was exhausted and hungry - cue the food.
There was too much and then dessert arrived including a special Aussie dessert
prepared by Deborah and Nicole's classes. The afternoon was a perfect chance for
students staff and teachers to relax, digest their meals and have a chat before
the 2 week Christmas holiday. Merry Christmas and a happy new year from everyone at Maewill English College! CHRISTMAS 2007 PHOTOS Thursday, 13 December 2007
Last week we took class Christmas photos - we hope you like the colours red and green! There are morning, afternoon and evening class photos as well as Gold Coast pictures. Can you find anyone you know?
There's no snow in Sydney but it's starting to feel like
Christmas. The Christmas tree is up and there's tinsel everywhere. Most students
have done their Christmas shopping and already sent their gifts home, if you
haven't you'd better be quick. And don't forget to do your homework if you want
Santa to visit your place. MAEWILL BEACH OLYMPICS Friday, 14 December 2007
Mae was right - Friday would be fine! It was, and what a great day for the Maewill Mini Olympics. Everyone was pumped and ready to participate. We arrived at Dee Why beach and the surf was pounding, so the races were held on the grass above the beach. First up was the relay. Teams of four were racing against the clock. Shaun went hard for his team the first time around. However, once the race began, the power went out of him. More training, Shaun! South America was well represented, and very competitive. Andre Felipe and Antonio were quite serious about winning, and Sitora was ready to back them up. Unfortunately, instructions became confused and there was much frenzied running, some people unsure when to stop. Sorry guys. Team Beckham were the winners of that round. Then we moved onto the egg and spoon race. There were some cautious horses, I mean students, but in the home stretch everyone went hell-for-leather. Many eggs were broken. Nevertheless, Johnny won, twice!
After an orange break there was one more race to be had. But not before games of volleyball and soccer/basketball. During the break Silvana practised her job interview skills with Andre Felipe, Li
Sheng, Joe and Tommy had a game of cards (Farmer's field I believe it is called), and Amy, Lucy, Peter and Bonnie did some skipping.
The final race was the the three-legged race. Li Sheng and Lucas got a great start but fell before the end. Ron and Shaun were also pretty good. Anvar and Bonnie pulled up injured towards the end and Ryan and Matt were only finding there feet by the end of the race. In the end, they were all winners. MAEWILL STAFF CHRISTMAS PARTY Friday, 07 December 2007
On Friday evening, after all the tests had been marked and everyone had prepared their lessons for the following week the staff of Maewill headed into the city to celebrate a fantastic year and kick their feet up. Mae and William had organised a private room at Zilver, a beautiful Chinese restaurant in Sydney's CBD. Everyone was so hungry and when the food arrived it didn't stop - we all ate too much! It was a great night and wonderful to have everyone together at the same time - including Fiona who came down from the Gold Coast campus.
ART CLASS Friday, 07 December 2007 To start off everyone got into groups and practised drawing faces using structure. The students then took these basic ideas and transformed them into mono-prints, which is painting on acetate then placing some paper over the drawing and finally rubbing the back to transfer the image. Everyone seemed quite interested in this new technique. Platina and Lucas showed exceptional talent. Lucy, Amy, Dina and Miki were also really enthusiastic. Well done everyone! by Platina Art Class started at 10:00 in the morning. At first we had 4 groups, every group had 4 students. We drew a face on a big piece of paper using some colour pencils. Our group just drew a sketch and used the black and grey ones. We quickly drew the light and dark. The other group also did their pictures, the little children drew colourful ones and boys drew some funny things. Then we used the brush to draw somebody's face on a transparent card. The colours were black and blue. Everyone drew very carefully. I've never drawn like that, so it was just a try. When we finished drawing on that card we took some new paper. At first we put the white paper on that transparent card, then used something like a roller on the paper again and again until the colour was on the white paper. Our picture was finished. I got the first prize in the art class, I was very glad and thank you for teaching us a lot!
GOODBYE MICHAELA, RADKA AND SAO Friday, 07 December 2007
This week three of Maewill's brightest students finished their studies. Micheala, Radka and Sao have been working hard and during their time here their English skills have improved a lot. All three students worked especially hard in the IELTS class and showed considerable improvement in their writing ability. From all the staff and students at Maewill - we'll miss you! PING PONG COMPETITION Friday, 07 December 2007
Today was a funny day. I matched many people who were very strong in Ping Pong. Like Brian, Jin, Ken, Tyler, Jason. Nicole was our judge, she manage all the competition. Brian kept the score. As the first time, I matched Tyler, he was very strong. And second time I matched Brian, he was very strong too. In the third time, I matched Jin, he comes from Japan and he said he likes to play Ping Pong. Finally, I was the champion of the competition, Jin was the second and Ken was the third. We had an exciting moment in the competition. I won two movie tickets, Jin and Ken won a T-shirt. I will take a friend to see the movie. CULTURAL EXCHANGE PARTY Thursday, 06 December 2007
On Thursday there was a lot of food at Maewill from many different countries. There was pizza, noodles, rice and of course feijoada. The most popular dish was the pavlova, a traditional Australian dessert (or was it created in New Zealand?). And all of the students seemed to like the strange green drink too!
THE ROCKS Friday, 30 November 2007
I have been in Australia for half a month, but I hadn't been to the city before, so I became very excited when I heard that I could go to the city to visit the Rocks, the oldest place in Australia. We went to the city by ferry. On the way to the city, I enjoyed the wind from the sea and the beautiful sunshine. I saw the Sydney Opera House when we arrived at Circular Quay. The City is more creative than the place where I live. We walked along the crowded road and enjoyed the fresh air which is much different from China.
First we went to the Observatory, where we watched a 3D movie which described the universe and saw the sun by telescope and saw some stars. It was very interesting.
Then we went to have lunch. The crocodile pizza was very delicious. Crocodile is very different from chicken or beef. It's hard to chew and difficult to describe. The kangaroo pizza also tasted very nice. I enjoyed the day very much. GOODBYE RENATA Friday, 30 November 2007
Renata has been studying at Maewill for nearly a year. And, before Renata studied here her husband, Celso, also studied English at MEC. During this time Renata has become part of the family, she'll be missed by everyone. Luckily for us she is an amazing cook and on Friday she bought in 3 traditional Brazilian cakes for the staff. They were delicious. Thank you Renata and all the best for the future! BUSHRANGERS Monday, 26 November 2007
This week, as part of Australian history, the Preparation for High School students have been learning about bushrangers. Bushrangers were criminals in early colonial Australia who roamed the outback, robbing, stealing and sometimes even murdering passers-by. Some were escaped convicts, who used the bush as an ideal hiding spot, while others were young men in search of adventure. Some of he most famous bushrangers are Ben Hall, "Mad Dog" Morgan, Captain Thunderbolt, Martin Cash and perhaps the most
(in)famous, Ned Kelly. The bushrangers have become an integral part of Australian folklore, and have inspired many songs, poems, books and movies. MAEWILL SISTERS Monday, 26 November 2007
Today Marcia came to visit us and her sister, Roberta. Marcia studied English at Maewill earlier in the year and now her sister is here, studying too. Marcia has been busy since she finished her course. In Brazil she is a psychologist so she has been completing the application process to register here. Good luck Marcia and happy studying Roberta! BALGOWLAH HEIGHTS BBQ Friday, 23 November 2007
Mirka and Majo were very worried about the weather but I promised them there would be no rain. At 10am 37 we set off to catch the 132 to Balgowlah heights. Surprisingly it only took about half an hour to arrive at Tania Park, the start of our trek. Most students thought we had arrived at the BBQ spot. Little did they know that there was a 40 minute walk through glorious bushland to our final destination, North Harbour Reserve. Petr, our new Czech student, said the walk was a little too long, though Majo thought it was perfect.
There were fantastic views of the Harbour and Manly, and its beaches. No one knew about Sara's stairs phobia (there were many stairs), so Majo helped her along the
way. Everyone kept up on the walk. We saw the Squatters' huts, and Deborah showed us the secret path to
take when students decide to revisit this area. When we arrived at our destination, Amir and Shaun were manning the BBQ, with help from Ron, Billie and
Anvar. Lucy, Amy and little Peter were very happy to see the kids play area, and ran immediately over to the slides and
swings. Just as the steaks were ready, Danilo, Antoniele, Tiago and Greco arrived. Perfect
timing!! TOMOMI AND BONNIE Tuesday, 20 November 2007
Meet Maewill's newest staff members, Tomomi and Bonnie. They both started today and will be helping out over the busy December-January Christmas period and while Tathiana is away in India and China. Bonnie is a Northern Beaches local who is studying Civil Engineering at university. She's pretty good at maths so if you have any mathematics questions just ask her (High School students!) When she's not studying or working she'll probably be at her favourite beach, Freshwater.
Tomomi is from Tokyo, Japan. She's been here for 10 months and chose Sydney because it has so many language schools. She enjoys reading and travelling and has visited many different countries including America, Spain, China, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. In the future she'd like to visit Brazil and New Zealand. If you need some help with anything make sure you visit her at reception, she'll do her best to help. Today she is helping Fabiola with some grammar, present continuous questions. - More News here
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Ayako Ogawa
Natsuki Horiuchi
Satsuki Nakatani
Ayako Hirano
Satomi Sone
Ayumi Tanabe
Yumi Yoshida
Mizuki Toyoda
Shiori Yano
Ai Iwashita
Kanako Usui
Sana Shigeta
Ryo Tanaka
Makiko Tomita
Hiroe Wada
Naho Harikae
Hikaru Tsuchizaki
Saori Tsumura
Mai Kitamura
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