Our Classroom Community
We are a diverse community of learners. Every community is a product of its parts. Our classroom community is made up of individual students and teachers, each of whom brings a unique personal cultural experience to our classroom community.
We would like to share our cultural identities in the hope that we can better understand one another. Please view the comments below to learn more about the community of 6MW 2013. Feel free to leave your own cultural story. The story you share may draw on your national/international identity or your family identity.
What is an example of a tradition that is part of your unique cultural or family experience?
Is there a celebration or a custom that reflects your values?
(The blog post above was written by Mrs Lindsay Bates and adapted with minor changes. Original post: http://6lbsps2012.global2.vic.edu.au/about/)
Dear 6 MW
I was born is Scotland but I have lived in Australia most of my life. My Dad is Scottish and my Mum is Australian with a British cultural heritage. Christmas Day is a time we spend time together, play games, eat lots of delicious food and exchange gifts. When I was a young child I remember it being the most exciting time of the year. On Christmas Eve I tried sooooo hard to stay awake and wondered with anticipation what Father Christmas would bring me. I thought if I stayed awake I would hear him and even get to see him. It never happened. I always fell asleep. Christmas morning I would wake with a start and shout to my brother, ‘It’s morning! Wake up! Santa’s been!’ I was always delighted with the surprise of what was waiting for me in the lounge room.
Mrs M
Dear MW,
I was born in Australia but I’m half Chinese and half English.
On Christmas day we first opened our presents then we went to a family friend’s house for a barbecue lunch. For dinner we hosted our own barbecue. After the guests left we spent hours on family games. We had heaps of fun.
On New Year’s Eve we went to a family friends house for a pool party and a barbecue. We went to the fireworks afterwards, all of us!
In the beginning of January, our family went to the library. I borrowed the complete series of Ping and her adventures in the Han dynasty it includes:
The Dragon Keeper, The Garden of the Purple Dragon and Dragon Moon.
The people in my last class will probably know this.
I have recently competed in lots of swimming competitions including the State Titles in three events! I have the state sprints coming up soon.
Wish me luck!
GG Out! 🙂
Hi GG
Wow you must be an extremely good swimmer. Good luck for those state sprints!
I have read The Dragon Keeper and really enjoyed it but I haven’t read the others so I will be very interested to hear how they compare.
Does your family observe any Chinese traditions?
Mrs M
Thanks!:)
The Dragon Keeper is the longest book of the series then the page numbers go down. I have read The Garden of the purple dragon if you’d like to hear about it just ask. I’ve got one more book to read: Dragon Moon, but I had to give the book back to the library, it was over due. It’s really sad that there’s only three books to Ping and her adventures:(. Why couldn’t it go forever like Harry Potter? Good news though they have realized a new book called Dragon dawn that is before Danzi met Ping.
Our family takes part in Chinese New Year…sometimes. If we did take part in Chinese New Year we would go to China Town. This year we’re just to busy. I remember last year our relatives from my mum’s side came to Australia and we went to Golden Dragon. They ordered a green soup. None of my relatives liked it but I did so I drank it all!
Thanks GG. I swapped your name for your initials. It’s easy to forget. I know I have accidentally used my name in the past but students were very quick to remind me.
Mrs M
Sooooooo did you want to know about Garden of the Purple Dragon?
I was just laying in my bed and I was thinking about the blog. It’s so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)
Hi GG
Yes I would love to know about it but perhaps this isn’t the best page for it. May be we should start a new page especially for books we’ve loved so others can see what we think and then choose to read the book themselves.
Mrs M
hello 6MW,
My family and I all originate from mainland China, Shang-Hai.
I am a first generation Australian. My parents migrated from Shang-Hai when they finished university. We all celebrate Chinese New Year, unlike a normal new year, Chinese new year falls in Feburary. Instead of receiving gifts we get red pockets. Red pockets are pockets filled with money. Every year I am always eager to find out how much money I have received.
Written by GX
Hi GX
It looks as though you are in for a wealthy February. Good luck!
Mrs M
Hi 6MW,
I am Chinese but I was born in Australia. My parents were born in Hong Kong.
Our biggest celebration is Chinese New Year. It’s the time of the year where our family and friends get together and celebrate. We also have dinner together with them. We get Red pocket money and see the Dragon dance.
By: CY
EA also celebrates Chinese New Year.
Dear 6MW
I am Indian by origin but my sister and I were both born in New
Zealand and the rest of my family was born in Fiji.
One celebration my family and I celebrate is Diwali. Diwali is also known as the Festival of Lights. During this festival we do spring cleaning, cook lots of food and sweets and light up a lot of candles. Everyone also buys new clothes and other items for the house, and we do prayers as well.
SS
Hi SS
Diwali sounds like a lot of fun. What time of year is it celebrated? I visited New Zealand over these holidays. It is a beautiful country. There aren’t many flat parts are there?
Mrs M
Depending on the Hindu calendar diwali could fall between September and October.
What a fantastic space for sharing your learning. I really enjoyed reading a bit about the traditions, celebrations and customs of the students in 6MW- I can’t wait to read more! You’ve made an exceptional effort at writing quality comments.
As some of you may know, I am from Canada, so my family celebrates Canadian Thanksgiving. This holiday takes place every October, but does not have a set date. Legend has it, that it began as a way for the British settlers to ‘give thanks’ to the Native people of Canada for sharing their autumn harvest. More recently, it is a time for families to come together to reflect on their year and all of the things they have to be thankful for. My mom always makes a roasted turkey for dinner and pumpkin pie for dessert. Pumpkin pie is fantastic, but uncommon in Australia. It is made using the flesh of a bright orange pumpkin, similar to the type of pumpkin used for carving Jack-o-lanterns during Halloween. Autumn in Canada is usually referred to as Fall because the laves all change colour and fall off the trees; pumpkin pie is the most delectably-delicious association I have with this very beautiful time of year.
Thank you for sharing your experiences. I hope you enjoyed reading about mine.
Mrs Bates
Hello there Mrs B
I really enjoyed reading about your family tradition of Thanksgiving. My mouth was watering when you described your Mum’s pumpkin pie!
Mrs M
Hi Mrs Bates. Do you remember Miss Bartlett? Did you have her as a teacher when you were younger?
Hi 6MW
I’m 10 years old and I am turning 11 on the 21st of February. I’m from a Greek backround. My grand parents were born in Greece but my parents were born in Australia. My older sister is thirteen and is in year 8. I have a 3 year old Maltese-Shitzu named Aliki. She has honey colour fur with a bit of white. For the school holidays we went to the beach house my grandma and grandpa own in Dromana. I love art so I bought a canvas and painted a flower. We went to the cinemas and watched Life of Pi.
Hi KK
Does your family take part in any traditional Greek celebrations or customs? You and I share a few things – a birth date (we are both Pisces) and I also saw Life of Pi over the holidays. It’s one of my favourite books and I thought the film makers did a fantastic job recreating the story for film.
Mrs M
Hi,ML here,
I come from the Republic of South Africa.
We are a nation that loves sport. Some of the sports are: Rugby, Cricket and Golf.
On Christmas day we go to church after opening our presents. We have a Christmas lunch with friends and family.
Hi ML
So you and your family celebrate Christmas too. You probably feel right at home in Australia as I think we are a nation that also loves sport. Do you like playing sport ML? If that is a yes you will be very happy with the year 6 sporting program.
Mrs M
I was born in Melbourne but I am a bit Italian and Greek but I am mostly Australian.
My mum was born in Italy and my dad was not born in Greece but is still Greek.
I celebrate Christmas, New Year and Easter.
When it’s Christmas my mum makes a village with tiny people next to the Christmas tree. For dinner we always have turkey at my grandma’s house. For Easter we celebrate it normally with chocolate eggs. My favourite Easter egg was the creme egg from Cadbury. When it’s New Year’s Eve we have dinner at a Turkish restaurant with some friends then go back home on our balcony to watch the fire works.
Peace out.
Hi CT
Nice to see you here on our blog. Thanks for telling us about your cultural heritage.
Mrs M
PS My favourite is the M&M egg!
Hi 6MW,
My family have been in Australia for quite a few generations and we don’t have a close link to another culture so I find it really interesting reading your stories. Thanks for sharing them with us.
My parents moved to Doncaster in the 1960s and still live in the house that they built then. I grew up in a court that had lots of other children who were all of a similar age. During the school holidays we would spend most nights riding our bikes, playing cricket or swimming in our tiny backyard pool. On REALLY hot nights when it was impossible to sleep, Mum used to get us up and we could have a swim when it was dark. They were fun nights.
One of the special things that I remember about my family was the number of children around. I am one of five children and my parents fostered over 80 babies. Not all at the one time though : ) I loved Mum putting a tiny baby in my bed on Sunday mornings so that I could give it a bottle before we went to church. I feel really lucky to have grown up being able to do this.
Mrs W
OVER 80 BABIES!!!!!!!!!!!:O that’s so many babies.
Yes…it is lots of babies GG. I can’t even remember them all. Some I can remember though!
Hi 6MW,
I have a Chinese background. Both my parents were born in China, Guangzhou.
We, Chinese people, have lots of celebrations. One of the biggest celebrations is Chinese New Year. It celebrates the first day in the Luna Calendar. This usually happens in Febuary. This is a very big celebration. You do a lot of stuff like getting and receiving red pockets, making a lot of Chinese food, watching the lion and dragon dance and decorating with red things.
I am 5th generation Australian with an English background. I was born in Sydney and moved to Melbourne two years later. My mum is Australian and my dad is part English part Australian. We celabrate Easter, Australia day, Christmas and new years eve/day.(new years eve is my birthday!)On the easter break we usually go canping at Murray river for a couple of days. On christmas we go to my grandma’s and have ham and turkey with the rest of the of the family.
HI 6MW,
I am 10 years old turning 11 on March 25th. I have a Greek background but my parents where born in Australia and my grand parents where born in Greece. I have 2 sisters. Stephanie is 21 and my step sister Jade is 17 but I also have a brother named Dennis who’s 20 years old. On the school holidays I went to Mt Martha with my whole family and some family friends were staying there for a week and we also swam in the pool and beach and had fun.
KP
I don’t know were to begin!!!!!!!!! The homework project I mean. I never really realized there was so much about me!:0
Hi 6MW
My name is NF. I have a Dad, Mum and a brother in my family. My background is China. My Dad’s 46. My Mum’s 47
and my brother is in grade 10. On the holidays I went to the Gold Coast. It was fun. I got to go to the theme parks. There was one ride that was really scary that was called the Superman Escape.
Hi
I’m JW
I am very angry right now cause I got the anti spam word wrong and my whole comment disappeared! But yeh, my Dads name begins with J, and my Mum’s name begins with A and I have a little brother whose name begins with J. I am half Aussie and half Lebanese.
Bye:)
Hi JW
I know what you mean about a comment disappearing. It is so frustrating when you have done all of the work and then it just disappears. Can you tell us about any cultural celebrations you and your family take part in?
Thanks, Mrs M
Hi
I’m LG. I have a Dad and Mum. Their names begin with H. I have a brother whose name begins with P and 3 sisters whose names begin with H, J and the youngest, M. My background culture is Egyptian.
Well bye now.
Hi LG
Can you tell us anything about the Egyptian culture that you celebrate with your family?
Mrs M
Hi 6MW
My family is mixed. My Grandma is from Macau, my Mum is from Hong Kong but as you might know I was born in Australia. I have three dogs – Jet, Cassie and Shakita. I celebrate Christmas, Chinese New Year and my birthday. I enjoy art and maths. I have a fixation for stationery. I love animals a lot. The most inspirational place I go to is Lentil As Any thing. The one thing I don’t like is spelling.
Hi, I am MS.
I went to Hungary for Christmas with my family
and stayed at my grandparent’s house.
I went to live theatre five times and I really enjoyed it. My favourite show was Andrew Lloyed Webber’s CATS.
I also went to a thermal bath that is fed by hot spring water, which is constantly coming out of the ground. The bath is built into a cave, which you can explore, swim or relax in. Also it is the biggest swimming complex I have ever seen.
I also lived in a palace for a week where I felt like a king. But my favourite part of my holiday was when I got to go skiing for three days with my dad.