Challenging, creative and rewarding teaching experiences

COUNTRY: Maldives
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Swimming Coaching
WRITTEN BY: Kaitlin Foster, University of Sydney, Education

This week we were given the opportunity to organise our own school holiday program. We needed to devise the timetable, classroom allocations and lunchtime duties – we were the principles of our very own school! We divided the students into both a senior school (years three, four and five) and junior school (years one, two and three).


In the senior classes over the course of the week the students were doing a broad range of activities throughout the day – anywhere from drama activities to an exploration of living and non-living things that could be found at our school! Jess and Mikey focused their unit of work on environmental awareness and the positive interactions the students could make with their local environment. A particular highlight was when the students were able to make their own pot plant or pencil case out of half an empty water bottle. In Kaitlin and Kate’s classroom they spent the week on both English and Science, finishing the week off by giving every student an opportunity to use the pot plant they made in Jess’ class and plant their own seeds!

Real life walking, talking ‘Wild Things’ were found in Ruby and Sam’s classroom – making for some very interesting lunchtime activities. In addition to this, the girls also explored with their classes through art lessons some of the iconic natural and built Australian environments. Two of the Physical Education teachers Izzy and Ally taught the senior classes a human body unit of work – giving the students the opportunity to assemble their own skeletons!

In the junior classrooms, Kate and Olivia developed both a ‘mental maths’ unit as well as a world culture unit. The students enjoyed the opportunity to learn about new cultures as they each developed their own world fact file that they compared to the Maldivian culture each day. Heather and Hilary engaged their classes with health lessons whereby the students each made a ‘health food plate’ of the major food groups as well as discussed friendships in their lessons. A very popular topic this week of Australian icons was a standout in Helena and Melinda’s classroom. The students enjoyed the opportunity to explore Australian landmarks through engaging visual arts lessons where they explored colour and pattern.

After by far the busiest and most rewarding week here, we packed our bags and travelled by speedboat to the Herathera Island Resort. As we stepped off the boat, we all felt instantly relaxed in our own little paradise. We were treated to buffet lunches, dinners and breakfasts but also to picturesque sunsets on both nights that left the entire group speechless. We all feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to be in such a beautiful part of the world.

To top off an already incredible week we were treated with a candlelit barbeque dinner on the beach at sunset upon our return to Hithadhoo. We look forward to the week ahead ready to conquer our last opportunities to teach at both Hithadhoo and Sharafuden Schools before travelling home, relaxed and having eaten far too much food.

Invaluable Teaching Experiences for Education Students in the Maldives

COUNTRY: Maldives
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Swimming Coaching
WRITTEN BY: Kaitlin Foster, University of Sydney, Education

This past week has sped by and it feels like only yesterday that we had our first visit to our local schools. The week has seen us continuing our swimming lessons and starting both the netball clinics and an ‘Australian School Holiday Program’ for the students of Hithadhoo and Sharafuddin schools.

The Maldivian school holidays began this week and provided an incredible opportunity for the group to teach lessons to the local students that reflected the Australian curriculum. On the first day we had over eighty students in attendance! The program also provides us with valuable classroom experience, allowing us to establish a unit of work on any relevant topic for us to teach during the week. The students immensely enjoyed the first day, and in particular Ruby and Sam’s drama lessons.

As four members of our group are studying Bachelors of Education (Human Movement), some of the local high schools have been eager to utilise the girls’ knowledge for the training of their Cadets. This week, the girls have worked tirelessly to present two seminars based on nutrition and first aid. The girls drew a crowd that was much bigger than anticipated, and worked well as a team in engaging the large number of students.

In the Maldives, the schools take pride in not only producing well-educated students but also in the appearance of their school. It is not uncommon for classrooms to be painted with murals depicting key focuses for the year, or inspiring messages for the students that reflect a schools key values. When the opportunity arose for our group to assist a school in need by painting the Maldivian key values we jumped at the opportunity. In just one day Melinda, Jessica, Kate and Helena produced beautiful pillars that will stand as a daily reminder for the students of their educational goals.

A one-night stay at the Equator Resort blissfully tipped off our busy week. A buffet breakfast and a lay by the pool have the group feeling refreshed and ready to conquer the week ahead.

A Mind Blowing First Week In The Maldives

COUNTRY: Maldives
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Swimming Coaching
WRITTEN BY: Jessica Leask & Kaitlin Foster, University of Sydney, Education

Our first day on the beautiful atoll of Hithadhoo was nothing short of magical. With a delayed flight due to severe weather conditions in Hong Kong, and a change of travel route that included a stop over in Singapore, we arrived safely at our guesthouse in the early hours of the morning. After a good sleep in, we all awoke and were excited to explore our new home for the next three weeks.

Our first activity of the day was to visit our schools. For the duration of our stay, the group has been divided between both the Hithadhoo School and Sharafuddin, which boasts the largest school population in the Maldives. At Hithadhoo School we were greeted with flowers and coconuts during our meeting with the Assistant Principal.

Our first days of teaching here have been invaluable. The schools have been very welcoming, with all of our teachers giving us opportunities to teach classes to the students on our very first day! The local teachers are eager to learn new practices, and as a whole we have learnt so many important lessons from the students already. We have also begun to teach the very eager students how to swim in an afternoon program that will be continued throughout the duration of our trip. In addition to swimming, beginning next week, there will be some lively competition between the students at both schools as we are all coaching netball teams that will be competing each other in the island interschool competition.

In addition to our lesson planning and organising the coming weeks ahead, we have been fortunate enough to be able to plan a few little excursions including snorkelling and fishing. Snorkelling was one of the most mind-blowing experiences for so many of the students on the trip. Firstly the colour of the water is exactly how you would imagine it, the brightest and clearest of blues. Meanwhile the wildlife below is breath taking. It is a whole other world down there with so many creatures to be seen. We were lucky enough to see at least 3 turtles in all different sizes, a few reef sharks and so many brightly coloured fish.

As a group we also celebrated two birthdays this week with a beautiful trip to an uninhabited island on Friday, with snorkelling, swimming and a boat ride. We are all now feeling refreshed and ready to conquer our second week!