2014/04/27

Letter S (part 1): Sport and Science

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 1. Sport

"Australian sport deserves quality piss taking or none at all."


Australians are a nation of active people and they like to joke that they spend more on excercising than on education, but it doesn't mean that they are going to worship their sportsmen and sportswomen blindly. They always retain a healthy dose of irony and humour.

Asked about cricket, they would say something like that:

Cricket is a game that moves about as fast as a Jamaican on valium. It involves watching 11 men in white clothes stand around a field for a few hours, then break to have lunch, stand around, then break again to have a cup of tea, stand around, then go home. The same thing occurs for another 4 days, and then after all that effort, both teams call the whole thing a draw...

Remember, "Australian sport deserves quality piss taking or none at all." So true ;-)


Australians pride themselves on inventing football. That's correct. Football. (see the link under science). However "footy" may mean different games in different states. More on that here.

Some of you know already that I'm hopelessly in love with AFL





Talking about sport, we can't possibly forget about Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.















Sydney was the second Olympic Games organized by Aussies. The first one was in Melbourne in 1956.

That date also marks Aussies' love affair with swimming.

Still, whether you are a professional athlete or an amateur, the main point is to be able to have fun.

Have a listen to this commentary. Pay attention to how Polish audience react to Aussies scoring goals, and how the Australian commentators react to the goal scored by Poland (first two minutes). A bit eye-opening, eh?




2. Science and the inventive Australian mind.

Have a look at the long list of Aussie inventions.

Here is the history of one of them:



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2014/04/14

Plan for today

As you remember, today we'll be looking through materials left over after previous Language Days.
No reading necessary for the class.

Also, as promised, second part of the doco about Jandamarra:


2014/04/06

R: Jandamarra Rebelion and other "R" topics


Tomorrow I'd like to tell you the story of Jandamarra - a brave Bunuba warrior who stopped the whites in the Kimberley region. We'll most probably begin with Rocks and Rivers to get the background on geography and then I will take the stage to talk about the rebellion. If we have time we'll try to cover the remaining "R" topics:

1. Radio

We have already seen what the wireless was like at the beginning of 20th century, with its aspiration to become the "new BBC". Follow the link above to learn more.









I'm not that much interested in names, dates and details. Instead concentrate on the impact that radio has had on the community in a country where many citizens live in very remote areas.

2. Religion

3. The Rabbit Proof Fence (the history of introducing new species: sheep and rabbits)

4. rocks and mountains

5. rivers (Murray-Darling)

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IRRIGATION - good or bad?


Homework for our Erasmus students.

Guys, this time I would like you to read the article about Myall Creek massacre on Wikipedia.
When you learn the whole story, please write a timeline of main events (including dates & names of places and people). This time please sent it to me @ joanna@hir.pl

Thanks :)