Brisbane exchange programme

This might be a bit too late ……

During the sabbatical week, I went for the Exchange Programme with Citipointe Christian College. I have observed between the school and life in Brisbane and that in Singapore to be very different. The students in Brisbane get to choose more than half of the subjects they want to take unlike Singapore as Singapore have a fixed amount of subjects which you need to take. This will ensure the students to have a more enjoyable learning journey as the subjects they choose are the subjects they like. They also had a wider range of subjects and some of the subjects that were taught there for example business and accounting are subjects that could not be found in any secondary schools in Singapore. They are also required to move to different classes for different lessons so they do not have a classroom of their own. They also had a more relax time table in comparison with Singapore’s as they had a longer recess and lunch in comparison to Singapore. They also have a lesser amount of subjects thought per day so most of time their bags will be quite light. They also do not have a canteen so they are always allowed to eat anywhere they want. I felt that I am blessed as I have a very big canteen in my school with a great variety of food comparing to the stall that provide the students there with food as the stall only sells titbits and drinks. The students there are also friendlier as they are easier to be friends unlike the students in Singapore as the students in Singapore will normally bully and insult the weaker ones but these actions could not be seen in the schools in Australia. The school in Australia also starts later had Singapore. This is something good as the people there will have more sleeping hours causing them not to be so tired the next day causing them to sleep during school lessons. During the trip to Gold Coast, I had realised something new. The seats of the toilet bowl are made of metal unlike the ones seen in Singapore. The host for my home stay as an old lady. She is also very friendly and kind. The food that she prepared is also very delicious. After dinner, she would definitely play a card game called “Skip-Bo’ with us. She also let us watched a video about Jesus. When we went home after school and we felt hungry, she would prepare more food for us. This shows that Australians cherish family time. The night before we leave for the airport, our family host prepared two books about life for us and also gave us a set of Skip-Bo cards as she saw the two of us enjoying the game. She also prepared a gift for our mothers. Some of the things that I think the Singaporeans could learn from the Australians are to be hygienic as the toilets in Australia are very clean unlike Singapore. Singaporeans could also be friendlier as the students and even passer-bys made us feel welcome as they will always wave their hands and say hello to us or even give as a high five when we walk past. I hope to go to Brisbane again as it is a very wonderful place.