Celebrating teacher diversity

It's report card writing time. That dreaded time of the year when teachers summon enough strength to gather their thoughts and put them on paper in a meaningful and non-accusatory way. For Australian and New Zealand teachers, we are day-dreaming of our winter mid-term holidays and it doesn't help that we are bombarded with teacher memes about end of year and summer break (I'm talking to you American and Canadian teachers!). 

Okay, I've lived all over the world and have family in the US so totally understand the excitement and anticipation of summer holidays. In countries where the sun rarely makes an appearance, I clearly remember the longed-for long summer days. As a fellow teacher, I would never begrudge you your excitement about the end of year either.

However, spare a thought for your poor fellow teachers in the southern hemisphere who are mid-way through the school calendar, feeling exhausted and wondering if it's too early to start doing a countdown to the end of the school year in December. 

Which brings me to my blog post. How much do you know about your fellow teachers outside of the country you live/work in? I will confess my ignorance of some of the words or terms that are used in US English but I know that when I'm talking about bringing some thongs on a holiday excursion I have to make it clear they are the ones that go on my feet when I'm talking to an American! Bum-bags are commonly known as fanny-packs in the US (let's not go there...) and rooted means a solid foundation in the US, whereas in Australia it means.. er.. broken. As in "...your car is totally rooted mate!" - meaning not working (NB: this is the clean definition of the term in Aussie slang!).

Do your students frequently find British English or American English in their worksheets, websites or activities you've downloaded? If so, use it as a teaching point to explore the differences with this useful Spelling variations poster pack. I enlarge this and place it on the wall of my classroom as a reference poster and it's come in handy on many occasions for my students. 

Okay so what are the differences in term dates. Listed below is information I have gathered while researching this blog post. If YOUR school does something different, please comment below - I'd love to learn more about our differences.

STARTING AND ENDING MONTHS FOR THE SCHOOL CALENDAR YEAR 

AROUND THE WORLD

Australia & New Zealand

Late January/early February - December

Austria

October - June

Belgium

August - June

Brazil

February - November

Canada

September - June

China 

September - March

Denmark

August - June

Finland

September - May

Germany

September - July

United States of America

September - May/June

United Kingdom

June/July - June/July the following year

Other noticeable differences are the terms for school years (some states may differ slightly from one another slightly):

In Australia we have:

Kindy (not compulsory)

Preschool (not compulsory)

PRIMARY SCHOOL:

Foundation Year (sometimes known as Prep and newly compulsory in most states) Age 5

Year 1 -6 (through to age 12)

HIGH SCHOOL

Year 7- 12

UNIVERSITY to follow or COLLEGE for a trade

In the United States you have:

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Kindergarten through to fifth grade (aged 12)

MIDDLE SCHOOL/JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

Grades 6 - 9

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

Grades 10 - 12

COLLEGE to follow

For all our differences, what I do know is that teachers are born not raised. I know that teaching, no matter where you are in the world, makes a difference. I know that teachers around the world should celebrate our differences and embrace them. For as educators, don't we encourage our students to acknowledge and celebrate our differences? Our passion for teaching is what unites us. 

To my northern hemisphere teachers I raise a glass and say "congratulations on making it through another school year"! To my fellow southern hemisphere teachers I say, take a breath, push on and in the immortal words of Bon Jovi "we're halfway there!".