NZL-Identity

This term for New Zealand Histories we learnt a lot about identity and who we are. We have also learnt about where we come from and the Census. The Census is a survey that happens every five years in New Zealand. Before we did anything quiz wise, we had to go deeper into what a Census is. We had to figure out what is was specifically, why we needed it and what does it benefit for our future as New Zealand citizens.
The main thing we focused on for the Census was the type of questions they asked and why they asked them. There was all the personal questions like your gender, ethnicity etc. There were also questions about your dwellings or in other words, the house you lived in. A few of the questions they might of asked was
how many residents live in your house at the moment, any mold or asbestos or do you own the house you live in. The reason why they ask so many questions about your dwellings is because They will know what needs to be improved, mostly in households so living would improve by them fixing the problems that have occurred in the household. We got told a few fun facts here an there and we asked a few questions that we got the answer to. One of the main ones that stuck in my brain was the fact that if you weren't in the country at the time of the Census, you didn't need to fill it out. I learnt later that you didn't need to fill it out because your name would've been written down by a friend in the dwellings section.

We got to design our own coat of arms. When our teacher told us about these, it flew over most of our heads until she showed us what one looks like and it clicked in my brain because my home country has a coat of arms. We only had one lesson to do this so we didn't have much time to do it but we had to make it so it represented who we are as a person. Since we didn't have much time, I did it at home.

Near the end of term we did "The Great Greymouth Treasure Hunt". It was basically a quiz that our teacher made up and we had to search the internet for the answers but lucky for me, I had already known some of the answers that she asked in the quiz. I finished first equally with another person but it wasn't about who finished first, it was about who got more correct and we basically had the same answers. The winners at the end got some chocolate eggs as a prize.

The final Project that we did this term was making a poster that was basically saying how great Greymouth is and that it can bounce back and there was a hashtag on one of the articles that we had to read for the treasure hunt and it was #LoveGreymouth. My group had really good designs on our poster and I think we were on track to win. We had one issue with the printer which basically made it so we had to wait before we could glue our information onto our poster so we didn't win. We spent a whole lesson finishing it off and at the end it turned out to look really good.

NZL/ENG-Trip to Kumara

Yesterday on the 9/4/2018 the whole year 9 group went on a trip to Kumara for a New Zealand Studies and English lesson for the day. We had to split into 4 groups and those groups would stay together for the whole day.

We had 4 activities to do:

1. Walk to Londonderry rock
2. Dramatization
3. Team Building Activities
4. History Test

For the Londonderry walk we had to take the bus out of town and we went to where the walk started. Well we had to walk a bit to get to the actual walk but our English teacher Mrs Donovan stopped us at some points to tell us the back story of some of these sights that we saw while going to the walk. One of those sights that we saw was the tailings. This was basically how miners removed large rocks back in the day. They had to use pickaxes, shovels and wheelbarrows to remove large rocks and pile them up. When we got to the start of the walk Mrs Donovan stopped us told us a bit more of history behind mining in Kumara. 

The Londonderry rock was a lot bigger than I imagined and Mrs Donovan told us some old Irish legends that the Irish miners brought to New Zealand. One of those legends was about the Banshee. The Banshee was a spirit of a lady that was killed unjustly and came back to warn people before death comes. She also told us of the changelings and these were basically beings that took the identity of children that wandered too far into the mountains and while they were with the fairies and leprechauns, the changelings would live their lives for them.

The Dramatization activity was okay in my perspective because we got to go see the Historical Bath Sites. It was a lot different than what I had imagined, it was a lot bigger and it looked different than my thoughts on an olden day pool. When we saw it it was full of grass and the rocks that separated the dirt and water were covered in moss, roots and dirt. We had to go into groups and pick a poem for us to act out. My group chose an Irish poem called Blackjack Joe. It was basically about a person who fights this brute called Blackjack Joe and wins and they celebrate. I was the narrator and the others were the actors(of course). We were 1 of 2 groups that actually acted out the poem and the other groups read out their poems that they chose which to me was an easy but effective way of doing so.

After we had lunch we had to do a few team building activities. Mr McDonald was leading this activity and the first team building exercise we did was "crossing the river". We had to split into 3 teams and use lily pads and a plank to get everyone across the "river". If any part of your body touched the "river" you would drown and you will be taken out of the exercise to watch. We had to make sure that one of our limbs were touching the lily pads or he plank at all times other wise that piece of equipment got washed away. My group ended up coming last but at least we got one piece of candy for perseverance at the end. The next exercise was making a catapult. We had to use ropes and sticks to make a catapult. we got a cup with elastic strings on it to launch the ball. We put ours together and it turned out that the cup was too deep which made the ball bounce of the sides of the cups before it launched. The conclusion at the end was that the ball didn't go very far.

Our last activity was a History test. We got told the history behind a person named Richard Seddon. We got in groups and walked to the bill-boards that had information on them. We had to read and search through the paragraphs to find our answers. Our group got most of it done but we missed out a few. It didn't matter at the end because we all got lollies and then we left and went back to school.

English: SEX-Y Paragraph about my hero

Nelson Mandela is a hero because he was a nonviolent anti-apartheid activist, politician and philanthropist who reduced the quantity of racism in the world by disabling the apartheid system.

Mandela was only 9 years old when his father passed away which lead to him being called his birth name “ Rolihlahla “ who was then adopted by Jongintaba Dalindyebo. He was born on the 18th  of July, 1918 and died on the 5th of December, 2013. The Apartheid system was a separate law in South Africa that allowed white people to have greater rights than black folk which lead to wars and protests between the black and white people. Mandela joined the African National Congress in 1942. For 20 years, he directed a campaign of peaceful, nonviolent defiance against the South African government and its racist policies. He was a leader of both peaceful protests and armed resistance against the white minority’s oppressive regime in a racially divided South Africa. His actions landed him in prison for nearly three decades and made him the face of the anti-apartheid movement both within his country and internationally.

Starting in 1962, Mandela spent 27 years in prison for political offenses. The Apartheid system was created by strategist in the National Party to cement their sentience over the economic and social systems. The aim for the Apartheid system was to maintain their white supremacy and to separate the black and white people. This meant that everyday facilities like toilets, public services, vehicles and even the beach was segregated into “black only” and “white only”. The Apartheid system stripped the black South Africans of their citizenship and were forced to follow the laws for non-whites. From Mandela directing his campaign, Mandela and South African President F.W. de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for their efforts to shutting down the countries apartheid system. In 1994, Mandela became the first black president for South Africa running for 5 years (1999).

I strongly believe that Nelson Mandela had a massive impact on changing the world with his strong belief in equality. “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear”. An aspect which lead to him being successful in ending apartheid and becoming the first black President. Without the work of Nelson Mandela, there would surely be different perspectives and cultural views in today’s society. He was a courageous heroic figure who changed many black and coloured people’s lives who were deeply affected by the apartheid system. His course of action holds a significant part in the non-racist society and even expressed his gratitude to New Zealand for their protest against The Springbok Tour. He even stated that this course of action helped in stopping the segregated system in South Africa.
Setting justice into place and righting the wrong, Mandela not only brought South Africa to a new horizon but also had changed the hearts of people across the globe. He had an immense amount of contribution in changing the racial law policies and desegregating South Africa as a whole. Mandela helped to shape the perception of equal rights to all people with equal treatment as well as having the same human rights.