Every Saturday morning in the winter term I bike into town to play rugby. Winter's a great time. We live three miles out of town and the way in is mostly uphill, so I need to get a good early start to be in town by nine. On the way in I don't get a chance to look around or notice things very much because the going is fairly hard. Now and again where it gets a bit steep I have to stand up on the pedals and really tread hard.
But it's great getting off to rugby on a Saturday morning with my towel and change of clothes on the carrier, and pushing hard to get there by nine. It's great.
By the time I get to the grounds I'm really puffing and I know my face is about the colour of the clubhouse roof. But I'm ready to go on though. I can't wait to get on the field and get stuck into the game; I really go for it. I watch that ball and chase it all over the place. Where the ball goes, I go. I tackle, handle, kick, run, everything. I do everything I can think of and I feel good. Sometimes it's cold and muddy and when I get thrown down into the mud and come up all mucky I feel great, because all the mud shows that I've really made a game of it. The dirtier I get the better I like it because I don't want to miss out on anything.
Then after the game I strip off and get under the shower in the clubroom, and sometimes the water is boiling hot and sometimes cold as anything. And whatever it is, you're hopping up and down and getting clean, and yelling out to your mates about the game and saying is it hot or cold in your one.
I need a drink then. I get a drink from the dairy across the road and the dairy's always jammed full of us boys getting drinks. You should hear the noise, you should really hear it.
The going home is one of the best parts of all. I hop on my bike and away I go, hardly any pushing at all. Gee it's good. I can look about me and see everything growing. Cabbages and caulis, potatoes and all sorts of vegetables. And some of the paddocks are all ploughed up and have rows of green just showing through. All neat and tidy, and not much different to look at from the coloured squares of knitting my sister does for Girl Guides. You see all sorts of people out in the gardens working on big machines or walking along the rows weeding and hoeing: that's the sort of place it is around here. Everything grows and big trucks take all the stuff away, then it starts all over again.
But, I must tell you. Past all the gardens, about a mile and a half from where I live, there's a fairly steep rise. It's about the steepest part on the way home and I really have to puff up that bit. Then I get to the top and there's a long steep slope going down. It's so steep and straight it makes you want to yell, and I usually do. That's not all though. just as you start picking up speed on the down slope you get this. great whiff of pigs. Poo. Pigs. It makes you want to laugh and shout it's such a stink. And as I go whizzing down the stretch on my bike I do a big sniff up, a great big sniff, and get a full load of the smell of pigs. It's such a horrible great stink that I don't know how to describe it. We've got a book in our library at school and in it there's a poem about bells and the poem says `joyous'. `The joyous ringing of bells' or `bells ringing joyously', something like that. Well `joyous' is the word I think of when I smell the pigs. joyous. A joyous big stink of pigs. It's really great.
It's not far to my place after I've taken the straight. When I get home I lean my bike up against the shed and I feel really hot and done for. I don't go straight inside though. Instead I flop myself down on the grass underneath the lemon tree and I pick a lemon and take a huge bite of it. The lemons on our tree are as sour as sour, but I take a big bite because I feel so good. It makes me pull awful faces and roll over and over in the grass, but I keep on taking big bites until the lemon is all gone, skin and everything. Then I pick another lemon and eat that all up too because I don't want to miss a thing in all my life.
We have an old lady living next to us. She's pretty old and she doesn't do much except walk around her garden. One day I heard her say to Mum, `He's full of beans that boy of yours. Full of beans.'
Based on the information in this text, do you think that there is a advantage to living in rural areas as oppossed to urban areas? Use a table to identify the pro's and con's.
Using the information in the text create a Venn diagram to identify similarities and differences between your's and boy's life? Compare and contrast the information then write a personal reflection to show your thoughts and opinions.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Monday, April 2, 2012
Hard Times
In the mid 19th Century most European cities were overcrowded, with many large, poor families living in single rooms with poor hygiene. Often these people had come to the city for work in factories, however, in many cases there was not enough housing for everyone. The crowded conditions meant that disease was everywhere. Often the causes of the diseases were not known, and people living in these conditions had little hope of improving their lifestyles. Many children died before they reached their fifth birthday, and many more before the age of twenty.
At this time people were leaving Europe to start new lives in new countries thousands of kilometres away. They were taking great risks, and sea journeys took several months. When they arrived, conditions were primitive and there was little medical assistance, but still they considered it a worthwhile move.
1. Create a PMI chart to show the results of people moving to a new country?
2. Identify one main issue that people would face if they were to move, explain in your own words why you feel this would have been so significant? Explain your thoughts and opinions in full.
At this time people were leaving Europe to start new lives in new countries thousands of kilometres away. They were taking great risks, and sea journeys took several months. When they arrived, conditions were primitive and there was little medical assistance, but still they considered it a worthwhile move.
1. Create a PMI chart to show the results of people moving to a new country?
2. Identify one main issue that people would face if they were to move, explain in your own words why you feel this would have been so significant? Explain your thoughts and opinions in full.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Coach Fired
A gay netball coach fired from a Christchurch Christian school has gained compensation and an apology.
The 28-year-old man was employed as a girls' netball coach at Middleton Grange School in February, but said he was sacked by the board of trustees after members discovered his sexual orientation.
The man, who wanted to remain anonymous, told The Star newspaper that school principal Richard Vanderpyl said the board had decided the coach's homosexuality was a problem and he could not continue in the role.
The coach complained to the Human Rights Commission about his dismissal from the Riccarton state-integrated school.
Commission spokesman Gilbert Wong said the matter was resolved after mediation between the two parties during the first school term.
Details were confidential. However, it was reported the school was ordered to apologise and pay the man a confidential compensation sum. The board was also told to attend a human rights' awareness course.
The coach declined interviews yesterday.
He told the newspaper his sacking had shocked him and made him feel "so small".
"It's hard enough to go through finding yourself and accepting yourself and being `out' in the first place," he said. "Having to go through discrimination doesn't help."
Former board chairman Andy van Ameyde told The Press last night a confidentiality agreement meant the parties could not speak about the matter. He was chairman at the time, but there was now a new board that "had left it behind".
"In a way it's frustrating we can't say anything, but it's an official process and we respect that," he said.
In a statement, Vanderpyl confirmed the school and the coach had "reached a confidential agreement".
The man was offered his job back, he said, but he had found another coaching job.
"Both parties clearly state that there is an amicable relationship between them," Vanderpyl said.
A former Middleton pupil and netball player, who did not want to be named, said the school had missed out on a great coach.
"He is one of New Zealand's best players and would've given the girls many expert tips and lots of knowledge," the 18-year-old said.
Green Party rainbow issues spokesman and gay rights campaigner Kevin Hague said sexual orientation discrimination was an ignorance and prejudice usually associated with the 1970s and 80s.
Society had moved on, he said.
"The issue here is purely one of `Is he a good netball coach? Did he fulfil the other responsibilities of being a good employee?'
"His sexual orientation has absolutely nothing to do with his performance in the role."
Ad Feedback Ministry of Education group manager education workforce Fiona McTavish said state and state-integrated schools' boards of trustees were responsible for ensuring they complied with all aspects of employment law, including the Human Rights Act.
In the year to June 2009, 2.5 per cent of the 1405 unlawful discrimination complaints received by the commission were on the grounds of sexual orientation.
Do you agree or disagree with how he was treated by the school? Explain your reasoning and thoughts in detail.
The 28-year-old man was employed as a girls' netball coach at Middleton Grange School in February, but said he was sacked by the board of trustees after members discovered his sexual orientation.
The man, who wanted to remain anonymous, told The Star newspaper that school principal Richard Vanderpyl said the board had decided the coach's homosexuality was a problem and he could not continue in the role.
The coach complained to the Human Rights Commission about his dismissal from the Riccarton state-integrated school.
Commission spokesman Gilbert Wong said the matter was resolved after mediation between the two parties during the first school term.
Details were confidential. However, it was reported the school was ordered to apologise and pay the man a confidential compensation sum. The board was also told to attend a human rights' awareness course.
The coach declined interviews yesterday.
He told the newspaper his sacking had shocked him and made him feel "so small".
"It's hard enough to go through finding yourself and accepting yourself and being `out' in the first place," he said. "Having to go through discrimination doesn't help."
Former board chairman Andy van Ameyde told The Press last night a confidentiality agreement meant the parties could not speak about the matter. He was chairman at the time, but there was now a new board that "had left it behind".
"In a way it's frustrating we can't say anything, but it's an official process and we respect that," he said.
In a statement, Vanderpyl confirmed the school and the coach had "reached a confidential agreement".
The man was offered his job back, he said, but he had found another coaching job.
"Both parties clearly state that there is an amicable relationship between them," Vanderpyl said.
A former Middleton pupil and netball player, who did not want to be named, said the school had missed out on a great coach.
"He is one of New Zealand's best players and would've given the girls many expert tips and lots of knowledge," the 18-year-old said.
Green Party rainbow issues spokesman and gay rights campaigner Kevin Hague said sexual orientation discrimination was an ignorance and prejudice usually associated with the 1970s and 80s.
Society had moved on, he said.
"The issue here is purely one of `Is he a good netball coach? Did he fulfil the other responsibilities of being a good employee?'
"His sexual orientation has absolutely nothing to do with his performance in the role."
Ad Feedback Ministry of Education group manager education workforce Fiona McTavish said state and state-integrated schools' boards of trustees were responsible for ensuring they complied with all aspects of employment law, including the Human Rights Act.
In the year to June 2009, 2.5 per cent of the 1405 unlawful discrimination complaints received by the commission were on the grounds of sexual orientation.
Do you agree or disagree with how he was treated by the school? Explain your reasoning and thoughts in detail.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Beans
Every Saturday morning in the winter term I bike into town to play rugby. Winter's a great time. We live three miles out of town and the way in is mostly uphill, so I need to get a good early start to be in town by nine. On the way in I don't get a chance to look around or notice things very much because the going is fairly hard. Now and again where it gets a bit steep I have to stand up on the pedals and really tread hard.
But it's great getting off to rugby on a Saturday morning with my towel and change of clothes on the carrier, and pushing hard to get there by nine. It's great.
By the time I get to the grounds I'm really puffing and I know my face is about the colour of the clubhouse roof. But I'm ready to go on though. I can't wait to get on the field and get stuck into the game; I really go for it. I watch that ball and chase it all over the place. Where the ball goes, I go. I tackle, handle, kick, run, everything. I do everything I can think of and I feel good. Sometimes it's cold and muddy and when I get thrown down into the mud and come up all mucky I feel great, because all the mud shows that I've really made a game of it. The dirtier I get the better I like it because I don't want to miss out on anything.
Then after the game I strip off and get under the shower in the clubroom, and sometimes the water is boiling hot and sometimes cold as anything. And whatever it is, you're hopping up and down and getting clean, and yelling out to your mates about the game and saying is it hot or cold in your one.
I need a drink then. I get a drink from the dairy across the road and the dairy's always jammed full of us boys getting drinks. You should hear the noise, you should really hear it.
The going home is one of the best parts of all. I hop on my bike and away I go, hardly any pushing at all. Gee it's good. I can look about me and see everything growing. Cabbages and caulis, potatoes and all sorts of vegetables. And some of the paddocks are all ploughed up and have rows of green just showing through. All neat and tidy, and not much different to look at from the coloured squares of knitting my sister does for Girl Guides. You see all sorts of people out in the gardens working on big machines or walking along the rows weeding and hoeing: that's the sort of place it is around here. Everything grows and big trucks take all the stuff away, then it starts all over again.
But, I must tell you. Past all the gardens, about a mile and a half from where I live, there's a fairly steep rise. It's about the steepest part on the way home and I really have to puff up that bit. Then I get to the top and there's a long steep slope going down. It's so steep and straight it makes you want to yell, and I usually do. That's not all though. just as you start picking up speed on the down slope you get this. great whiff of pigs. Poo. Pigs. It makes you want to laugh and shout it's such a stink. And as I go whizzing down the stretch on my bike I do a big sniff up, a great big sniff, and get a full load of the smell of pigs. It's such a horrible great stink that I don't know how to describe it. We've got a book in our library at school and in it there's a poem about bells and the poem says `joyous'. `The joyous ringing of bells' or `bells ringing joyously', something like that. Well `joyous' is the word I think of when I smell the pigs. joyous. A joyous big stink of pigs. It's really great.
It's not far to my place after I've taken the straight. When I get home I lean my bike up against the shed and I feel really hot and done for. I don't go straight inside though. Instead I flop myself down on the grass underneath the lemon tree and I pick a lemon and take a huge bite of it. The lemons on our tree are as sour as sour, but I take a big bite because I feel so good. It makes me pull awful faces and roll over and over in the grass, but I keep on taking big bites until the lemon is all gone, skin and everything. Then I pick another lemon and eat that all up too because I don't want to miss a thing in all my life.
We have an old lady living next to us. She's pretty old and she doesn't do much except walk around her garden. One day I heard her say to Mum, `He's full of beans that boy of yours. Full of beans.'
Based on the information in this text, do you think that there is a advantage to living in rural areas as oppossed to urban areas? Use a table to identify the pro's and con's.
Using the information in the text create a Venn diagram to identify similarities and differences between your's and boy's life? Compare and contrast the information then write a personal reflection to show your thoughts and opinions.
But it's great getting off to rugby on a Saturday morning with my towel and change of clothes on the carrier, and pushing hard to get there by nine. It's great.
By the time I get to the grounds I'm really puffing and I know my face is about the colour of the clubhouse roof. But I'm ready to go on though. I can't wait to get on the field and get stuck into the game; I really go for it. I watch that ball and chase it all over the place. Where the ball goes, I go. I tackle, handle, kick, run, everything. I do everything I can think of and I feel good. Sometimes it's cold and muddy and when I get thrown down into the mud and come up all mucky I feel great, because all the mud shows that I've really made a game of it. The dirtier I get the better I like it because I don't want to miss out on anything.
Then after the game I strip off and get under the shower in the clubroom, and sometimes the water is boiling hot and sometimes cold as anything. And whatever it is, you're hopping up and down and getting clean, and yelling out to your mates about the game and saying is it hot or cold in your one.
I need a drink then. I get a drink from the dairy across the road and the dairy's always jammed full of us boys getting drinks. You should hear the noise, you should really hear it.
The going home is one of the best parts of all. I hop on my bike and away I go, hardly any pushing at all. Gee it's good. I can look about me and see everything growing. Cabbages and caulis, potatoes and all sorts of vegetables. And some of the paddocks are all ploughed up and have rows of green just showing through. All neat and tidy, and not much different to look at from the coloured squares of knitting my sister does for Girl Guides. You see all sorts of people out in the gardens working on big machines or walking along the rows weeding and hoeing: that's the sort of place it is around here. Everything grows and big trucks take all the stuff away, then it starts all over again.
But, I must tell you. Past all the gardens, about a mile and a half from where I live, there's a fairly steep rise. It's about the steepest part on the way home and I really have to puff up that bit. Then I get to the top and there's a long steep slope going down. It's so steep and straight it makes you want to yell, and I usually do. That's not all though. just as you start picking up speed on the down slope you get this. great whiff of pigs. Poo. Pigs. It makes you want to laugh and shout it's such a stink. And as I go whizzing down the stretch on my bike I do a big sniff up, a great big sniff, and get a full load of the smell of pigs. It's such a horrible great stink that I don't know how to describe it. We've got a book in our library at school and in it there's a poem about bells and the poem says `joyous'. `The joyous ringing of bells' or `bells ringing joyously', something like that. Well `joyous' is the word I think of when I smell the pigs. joyous. A joyous big stink of pigs. It's really great.
It's not far to my place after I've taken the straight. When I get home I lean my bike up against the shed and I feel really hot and done for. I don't go straight inside though. Instead I flop myself down on the grass underneath the lemon tree and I pick a lemon and take a huge bite of it. The lemons on our tree are as sour as sour, but I take a big bite because I feel so good. It makes me pull awful faces and roll over and over in the grass, but I keep on taking big bites until the lemon is all gone, skin and everything. Then I pick another lemon and eat that all up too because I don't want to miss a thing in all my life.
We have an old lady living next to us. She's pretty old and she doesn't do much except walk around her garden. One day I heard her say to Mum, `He's full of beans that boy of yours. Full of beans.'
Based on the information in this text, do you think that there is a advantage to living in rural areas as oppossed to urban areas? Use a table to identify the pro's and con's.
Using the information in the text create a Venn diagram to identify similarities and differences between your's and boy's life? Compare and contrast the information then write a personal reflection to show your thoughts and opinions.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Blood relationships
Sometimes police find traces of blood at the scene of a crime but they dont know who it come from. How can they even begin to find out? The best way to ascertain whose blood it is, is to compare it with a sample taken from the victim or the suspect.
There are times when police believe that they know who the blood belongs to, but they cannot find that person and therefore cannot do a blood match.
An investigation is more difficult if the police suspect that the blood came from a victim or perpetrator whose whereabouts is unknown. Today, science can assist. DNA taken from the blood left at the scene can be compared with DNA taken compulosrily from the genetic parents of the person they believe the blood belongs to. If it is their offspring, the DNA samples will be almost identical.
Do you think police should be able to take blood from the parents of suspects?
Give a full explanation to justify your thoughts.
There are times when police believe that they know who the blood belongs to, but they cannot find that person and therefore cannot do a blood match.
An investigation is more difficult if the police suspect that the blood came from a victim or perpetrator whose whereabouts is unknown. Today, science can assist. DNA taken from the blood left at the scene can be compared with DNA taken compulosrily from the genetic parents of the person they believe the blood belongs to. If it is their offspring, the DNA samples will be almost identical.
Do you think police should be able to take blood from the parents of suspects?
Give a full explanation to justify your thoughts.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Sailing around the world
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Youngest person to sail around the world
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Thirteen-year-old Laura Dekker wants to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world, and her parents think that's a great idea.
But the Dutch Council for Child Protection is so concerned about the dangers of the marathon voyage it has asked a court to grant it temporary custody of Laura so it can do what her parents refuse to: Halt the trip.
Judges at Utrecht District Court were to announce Friday whether they will scupper Laura's record-breaking plans. In the meantime, the legal battle has ignited a wide-ranging debate even in this traditionally seafaring nation about the role that parents should play in their children's risky adventures.
The rat race to become a so-called "super child" — the youngest to accomplish some grueling feat — can be fueled by ambitious parents, laser-focused children with talent, or youngsters with a deep need to please or be praised, psychologists say.
Dutch social workers fear that could be an issue in Laura's case, for she lives with her Dutch father who is divorced from her German mother.
"Laura has divorced parents and it is very normal for a child of this age to be very loyal to the parent (he or she) is living with," Child Protection spokesman Richard Bakker told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "How much does she identify herself with her father, who is a good sailor?"
Laura and her father appeared at a court hearing Monday to discuss the council's request, but the mother did not show up, Bakker said.
Do you think that she should sail around the world?
Youngest person to sail around the world
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Thirteen-year-old Laura Dekker wants to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world, and her parents think that's a great idea.
But the Dutch Council for Child Protection is so concerned about the dangers of the marathon voyage it has asked a court to grant it temporary custody of Laura so it can do what her parents refuse to: Halt the trip.
Judges at Utrecht District Court were to announce Friday whether they will scupper Laura's record-breaking plans. In the meantime, the legal battle has ignited a wide-ranging debate even in this traditionally seafaring nation about the role that parents should play in their children's risky adventures.
The rat race to become a so-called "super child" — the youngest to accomplish some grueling feat — can be fueled by ambitious parents, laser-focused children with talent, or youngsters with a deep need to please or be praised, psychologists say.
Dutch social workers fear that could be an issue in Laura's case, for she lives with her Dutch father who is divorced from her German mother.
"Laura has divorced parents and it is very normal for a child of this age to be very loyal to the parent (he or she) is living with," Child Protection spokesman Richard Bakker told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "How much does she identify herself with her father, who is a good sailor?"
Laura and her father appeared at a court hearing Monday to discuss the council's request, but the mother did not show up, Bakker said.
Do you think that she should sail around the world?
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Oil
Oil has become one of the most important fuels in the world. Diesel oil, petrol and aircraft fuel are all made from the thick, black liquid that is brought up from under the ground or he sea-bed. Oil is also used as lubrication to make machines run smoothly. And without oil there would be no plastic. Oil began to be formed millions of years ago when plants and animals died and fell into swamps where they mixed with mud and sand. With the passing of time and movements of the Earth’s crust, the layers of mud and sand became rock. Under the immense pressure of the rock, the oil was formed and collected in large lakes deep underground. It is surprising that today much of the world’s oil comes from dry desert regions where there is little vegetation. Scientists are always searching for new locations to drill for oil. Probably the majority of the oil under the land has been found and now more oil wells are being drilled under the sea-bed. No-one really knows how much oil remains to be discovered, but we do know that one day it will run out.
Do you think it is difficult to bring oil to the surface? why do you think that?
Why do you think it is difficult to know how much oil is left in the world?
Do you think it is difficult to bring oil to the surface? why do you think that?
Why do you think it is difficult to know how much oil is left in the world?
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