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A blog post with every single category marked (I'm doing this for scribefire)

Money and teachers

From ABC News:

A Griffith teacher has welcomed a proposal for higher pay rates as a step in the right direction towards retaining quality teaching staff in the Riverina.

The Business Council of Australia is calling for a pay rise for some teachers to more than $130,000 a year, saying talented people avoid the profession because of low pay.

Education Minister John Della Bosca has rejected the proposal as ludicrous because of its cost.

But Griffith High School's teachers' federation representative, Richard Wiseman, says the proposal has merit if rewards are shared fairly.

"We're ... one of the schools in the country areas that have no rental incentives, we get no incentives for transfers so ... something has to be done to make some of our locations a bit attractive for teachers," he said.

While I think the idea of raising wages of teachers to $130,000 is a bit steep, Richard Wiseman (a teacher I worked with at Griffith High School and a good bloke) is spot on when he talks here about a lack of incentives for difficult and/or out-of-the-way schools.

There just isn't enough teachers to serve the kids at Griffith. In places like Sydney and Newcastle, it is highly unusual for a school to not locate a casual teacher needed to cover lessons for any teacher who comes down sick. In Griffith, a lack of casual teachers was normal, and it was not unusual for entire classrooms of kids to be sent into the playground for the period to entertain themselves because no teacher was available to look after them.

I'm not saying that increasing wages to $130,000 will magically solve this problem (though it might eventually solve it over time), but that schools in remote and/or difficult places need some way to attract not just good quality teachers, but teachers in general.

When I moved to Griffith in 2006 to work at Griffith High School, I was welcomed with open arms by the staff at the school. They went out of their way to welcome me and make me feel at home and went overboard to ensure that I stayed for the two terms that I was working for (replacing a teacher who left suddenly at the end of term 2, who had also replaced a teacher who had left suddenly at the end of term 1). Moreover, they did this without knowing if I was actually a decent teacher or not. It made my decision to move there while leaving my family behind in Newcastle much easier to bear.

Had there been more incentives - covering the cost of moving, given a place to rent at a low price, having an extra week of summer holidays (common in outback schools where the summer heat is unbearable), the guarantee of a permanent position - then it would have been very difficult for me to want to leave and return to Newcastle.

In many ways money was not really the main issue - it has to do with job/income security and job satisfaction.

Griffith teacher had secret camera

I taught with this bloke:

A Griffith High School teacher in southern New South Wales will never be allowed to teach again after pleading guilty to charges related to a teenage boy finding a hidden camera in his home.

The 17-year-old boy reported Murray Wendell Jones, 42, to police in December after finding a small hole in a pot plant in the man's toilet, which contained a camera.

An Education Department spokesman says the Griffith teacher has been suspended without pay after pleading guilty to three charges, including filming for an indecent purpose and having a restricted substance, namely sleeping pills, without a prescription.

The spokesman says Jones will be placed on a "never to be employed" list.

I'm home

Left Griffith at around 6.00am and arrived back in Newcastle just after 3.00pm. It was a good trip - I gave a lift to a teacher's daughter's boyfriend who actually turned out to be a Christian who attends "Smokin!" Barney's at Broadway. We had lunch at the Scottish restaurant at Sally's Corner and half way through Peter Hughes walks in. Peter is some big wig at AFES these days and he and I were on MTS together back in 1994-95, so it was good to catch up. His kids are named Calvin and Kia "A Reformer and a car" he explained.

It's great to be back with the family. Aiden and Lillian jumped all over me when I got home. Lillian is so grown up now (she turns two in March) and helped me unpack the car.

Erratum

On Saturday my letter to the Herald stated that 50% of Griffith were migrants. Wrong wrong wrong. 2001 Census figures show that Griffith's migrant population is 16.8% of the population, which is actually lower than the Australian average of 21.9%.

But there are some notable differences. 24.9% of households in Griffith speak a language other than English. This means that Griffith migrants are not English speakers and that even some Australian-born people speak another language at home (it's the Italians).

Tamworth's 2001 census figures are also notable. This country town has only 4.9% of people born overseas - and most of them are from England, Scotland and New Zealand. Moreover, 94.9% of Tamworth residents speak English at home.

And my letter may have communicated the idea that everything is peachy here in the multicultural utopia of Griffith. Far from it. But it is, to my mind, a very successful multicultural town.

1 week to go

... before I go back home to Newcastle. For those who don't know, I'll be returning to Newcastle and trying to find work there. I had hoped to bring Anna and the kids here to Griffith, but Judy, Anna's mum, is very sick and we need to stay in the Hunter.

If you can, please pray that I can get work. Anna has 3 days per week guaranteed at Centrelink but we would both prefer it if I work and she stays home looking after the kids. I've just applied for a teaching position which I won't get but I suppose it's important to try.

I got a Christmas card from one of my students the other day. It's notable because she's a Turkish Muslim.

Some teachers are being farwelled this weekend at a party at one of the local clubs, including me. I've had a good time here at Griffith High School. If I ever needed confirmation that I was an effective teacher and could make it in a hard school then these past few months have been worth it. It has been hard yakka but it has ultimately been rewarding.

It has also interesting being a "bachelor" again and not having wife and kids around - it has certainly had its advantages but I would rather stay with my family any day.

I have a letter in tomorrow's Sydney Morning Herald about Tamworth and its rejection of Sudanese refugees. One of the other teachers here is a guy called Kevin Farrell who often gets letters into the Herald and has inspired me to return to my letter writing.

Hopefully I'll also return to more regular blogging. It has been very difficult to blog and get emails here in Griffith. Today, for some reason, I can sit at the desk in the staffroom and blog but on other days I can't.

What will I miss about Griffith? The Spaghetti Campagnola from Belevedere's restaurant; the very short drive from school to home; the teachers I have made friends with, especially Shannon, Naomi, Venessa, Sally, Murray and Katie; Five of my year 9 students - Dean, Carla, Trent, Kimberley and Matthew - who were very entertained by my "stories" and worked hard when needed; the lack of traffic lights; the brothers and sisters at Griffith Presbyterian whom I never really got to know too well; Mrs Pascoe, one of the parents of a year 7 student, who appreciated my input; the long drives to Rankins Springs, Ivanhoe and Cobram.

What will I not miss about Griffith? The desert heat; the flies; the mozzies who are even now breeding in the pool of water outside our house; kids who couldn't give a damn; the taste of the town water supply; the lack of a Thai restaurant; the lack of trees; the lack of doctors; the lack of adequate funding for public education; the traffic down Banna avenue; going shopping and bumping into students you were yelling at 60 minutes beforehand; the lack of channel 10; kids who truant class and go swimming in the irrigation channels and return to school with wet undies; and, of course, being away from Anna, Aiden and Lillian for such a long time.

Being in Griffith (part 11)

• I have last period off - then travelling from here to my sister's place in Bundanoon. Travelling back to Newcastle on Saturday from there. For the next two weeks I'll be back in Newcastle.
• I had my first net session yesterday for Yoogali Cricket club. It's a new club and will be fielding an A grade, a B grade and a C and D grade sides (C & D are youth teams that play on Saturday mornings). It was probably the best net session I have had in over a decade (mainly because I haven't had many net sessions in the last ten years). I was hitting the ball well and although I got out 3 times (bowled once, caught behind twice) I did manage to loft one of the captain's deliveries way over his head. I was also able to smack some bad deliveries bowled wide of the off stump - something I have had difficulty doing in the past. After my net session I chose not to bowl since I didn't want to embarrass myself! It was an encouraging start to my first full cricket season since 1988.
• Griffith has almost no artificial cricket pitches. This means that we will all be playing on turf this season. And with Summer being the dry season here and 40-over one-day matches being played, I'm sure that I'll get in a lot of cricket.
• I've changed around my blog template a bit. If you look to the left of the screen you'll notice a new category called "Film Reviews" in the OSO departments. I've also made a new category called "selected articles" where I've put links to some of my more better-written and/or more controversial pieces.
• By the way, it's nearly ten years since I came up with my zero unemployment idea and nothing has yet convinced me it's wrong yet - not even conversations with economists. That doesn't mean I'm right though...
• Asthma is better - obviously the pollen here only gets bad during certain periods.

Being in Griffith (part 10)

• Today is the 2nd last day of term. Everything is winding down, especially the students.
• I was in the staff common room the other day and a teacher was telling a story of an oral report one of her students was giving, a Turkish girl in year 7. The oral report was about her favourite teachers. Apparently during the report she said she likes Mr Cameron because "he is the only teacher who is able to control this class". That made me feel nice and warm and gooey inside.
• It's amazing how some students who are badly behaved can actually respond well in different circumstances. One of my year 8 students who gives me a hard time actually began to learn and ask intelligent on-topic questions just because his other badly-behaved mate wasn't there. This happened twice.
• My 24 year old neice, Leah, is getting married!
• Here's a link to a great PBF comic that addresses, I think, the issue of global warming. (LANGUAGE WARNING)
• How great is Mystery Men? It was obvious that there were difficulties in the script and in the production, but all the characters are loveable and the humour is sharp. It's the only film with Ben Stiller in it that I like (probably because he gets beaten up a lot). Problems included the disappearence without explanation of one of the main bad guys (Cassanova Frankenstein's Psychiatrist), the lame "Skunk scene" as well as continuity issues. It's a rough diamond.
• The reasons for going to war in Iraq have pretty much evaporated. It's pretty clear now that there were no WMDs or even a WMD program, which means Iraq was not a threat. It's also pretty clear now that Iraq was not involved in 9/11. The hundreds of Iraqis that keep turning up dead every week indicates that the current situation is worse than what it was under Saddam. Finally, it seems now that the Iraq war has actually made the world less safe from terrorist attack. Our PM, John Howard, has gone on the airwaves and said that this recent intelligence report is form the same agencies that said that Iraq had WMDs. At the time, though, there were enough contrary reports to pretty much prove that someone (ie Bush, Cheny, Rumsfeld) was pressuring these intelligence agencies to report falsehoods. I'm thinking of the "Dodgy Dossier", the Yellowcake Forgery, the Aluminium Tubes affair, the fact that pre-war weapons inspectors found nothing and the pre-invasion resignation of Andrew Wilkie from the Australian Office of National Assessments. For those who were being objective and careful, enough evidence existed at the time that brought into question the upcoming invasion. It's all well and good to say "the CIA told us there was a threat" - but even at the time it was obvious that there was political interference within the CIA to create a false report. I guess that's why countries like Italy, France and Germany refused to support the invasion.
• Being Ramadan means that some of my students are fasting. Apparently they can't eat or drink during daylight hours, which means that many muslim students can't participate in school sport at the moment. That didn't seem to stop a few muslim girls from playing handball in the playground yesterday, though.
• I spoke to an Afghan year 7 student a few weeks ago. He told me that when he was a boy he witnessed war and killing first hand, and that used to cause him nightmares. Now that he is in Australia, the nightmares have stopped.

Being in Griffith (part 9)

• Had pretty bad asthma the last 3-4 days. Warm North-Westerly winds have stirred up pollen and dust. Last night it rained slightly and this morning I walked out to the car to discover it covered with muddy raindrop splotches. If this town is bad for Asthma I probably won't want to stay here.
• Saw something silly last night on Austar - one of the adverts had a guy saying that all the technology you see in the film Minority Report is now available. Wow. Rocket packs for cops and the ability to see into the future - all available now.
• It seems that one reason why the Iraq reconstruction went so haywire is because the officials who were sent to Iraq by America were inexperienced party hacks who were loyal to the Republican party and were trying to set up a captialist utopia.
• One reason I don't like Al Mohler is because he supports the use of torture on suspected terrorists. I think this is wrong on two counts: 1) It is immoral and therefore unchristian, and 2) It doesn't work.
• I found out the other day that South Africa's population is shrinking. The CIA world factbook indicates that the birth rate is 18.2 births per 1000 people, and the death rate is 22 deaths per 1000 people (Australia is 12.14 and 7.51 respectively). As a result, the population is shrinking by 0.4% each year. Crime and AIDS seem to be doing the trick.
• At Griffith Presbyterian there is a South African family who have come to live in Australia permanently. Their decision to leave South Africa has meant that their friends in SA - including many Christians - no longer talk to them.
• 8 teaching days to go before the end of term. Woohoo!
  
  

Being in Griffith (part 8)

• I'm being an ogre to the kids now - I'm putting lots of them on lunchtime detentions and following through if they don't turn up.
• My favourite dish in Griffith is the Spaghetti Campagnola from Belvedere's. Ham, peas and mushrooms in a cream sauce. Mmmmm...
• One of the reasons I don't cook much Indian is that when you buy the paste, you need cream or yoghurt to add to it - neither of which I have regularly to add to it. As I was shopping last night it occurred to me that I could possible use a can of condensed milk (sort of like using a can of coconut milk for Thai). I will report back when this had been tried.
• I actually managed to watch the three League matches over the weekend. As a Manly supporter I was obviously annoyed about the loss against Newcastle (I prefer Newcastle to lose these days), but I was greatly encouraged by Brisbane's loss. I got more satisfaction out of Brisbane losing than from Manly winning.
• The rain last week dumped 10mm onto Griffith. This is not much compared to the 100s of mm dropped on Sydney and Newcastle in the last week... but apparently it was enough to make the grain growers happy. Since it also precipitated in the Snowy Mountains, the water available for irrigating will obviously be increased over the next 12 months.
• The oil price is dropping - but I think this is due mainly to a decrease in demand rather than an increase in supply (as well as speculators no longing factoring in a "terror risk"). Indications appear to be that both America and Australia are now on the cusp of recessions, with unemployment rising slightly and the property markets contracting in both nations. Makes me glad to work for the government at the moment.
  

Being in Griffith (part 7)

• It's raining this morning. After one month I'm becoming a country person and getting happy about rain. I am looking out of the window of the staff room now and actually seeing rain drops. I have year 10 first period - let's hope most of them decide to stay in bed.
• Ross Gittins examines the issue of "incentive pay" for teachers. I think he's right - mostly. I suppose it would be nice for teachers to get pay deals that are more in tune with other professionals, but I think it would be better if money was spent on incentive for students to perform well at school. Many teenagers do not see how important education is - in many cases they just cannot because their intellectual development means that they do not assign value to the work they do at school. I see this every day (especially with my year 10 class) - it is hard to convince students that there are intrinsic and long-term rewards for good behaviour and hard work at school when their minds can only focus on the extrinsic and the short-term.
• SMH reports on the growth of Linux - especially Ubuntu amongst low-end users. 2007 will not be "the year of Linux", but I think that the coming economic readjustment will force many cash-strapped, low-end users into seriously considering Linux. As for me, I am just annoyed that I have to endure using Microsoft here at school - and I'm a KDE fan rather than Gnome, which means I'm a Kubuntu fan, not a Ubuntu fan.
• Steve Irwin - what can I say? I never watched the guy's shows and I found him plain annoying. He was a media darling overseas because of his stereotypical "Aussie" behaviour. I didn't shed a tear when he died, but I suppose it is a reminder that death comes to us all.

Being in Griffith (part 6)

• I came up with an interesting idea yesterday whilst doing a professional development. The idea is to go to some local middle-sized businesses and get between $2000 and $4000 in sponsorship for the cash needed. I then get that money and divide it equally amongst members of my year 7 class - that's 20 kids. But the giving of money does not occur now but at the end of term 4 - the last week of school. That's between $100 and $200 they'll receive. But here's the catch - every time a student truants one of my classes, I'll fine them $5; If they turn up late, I'll fine the $2; If they don't remain in their seat in class, I'll fine them $2 every time they do so; If they are violent and/or abusive, $5... and so on. My guess is that the class' behaviour will settle down immensely and they'll learn heaps. I would then use that experience as the basis for an educational study whereby money is also given to students who pass key competencies, and also given to those who excel.
• I had my first experience of evaporative air-conditioning over the weekend. The trick is - strangely - to have a window open near where you are so that the cool air rushes around near you as it exits the building. Unlike reverse-cycle air conditioners, evaporative ones actually increase the air pressure inside a building - it's like having a giant fan blowing in.
• Now that I've experienced some heat here in Griffith, it's now time for the temperature to drop back down to freezing again. I had ice on my windscreen again this morning.
• I went to a farm on Sunday that is owned by some friends I went to Bible college with back in 1992/1993. It was great to catch up with how their lives have been going in the last 13 years and how God has been working. It also introduced to me just how much fun farms can be for kids. Ross (the farmer) had a quad bike which he then tied to a kid-sized wooden racing car (obviously used in the past as a billy-cart). He then drove the bike (and thus the car) around the farm with a kid riding along. Great fun! He also had a Honda CX-650 that he bought about 5-10 years ago and graciously allowed me to ride around the farm in it too. After dinner he showed me his .22 rifle and we agreed that the next time I visit I would have a go shooting at a target.
• Please pray for a disagreement that I am having with a good friend at the moment over certain theological issues.

Friday's a cruisy day

Period #1 year 10 - studying Australian music in 1970s. Wrote and talked about Sherbet, Skyhooks and Little River Band. I had asked some students to bring in some AC/DC and/or Cold Chisel but they forgot.

Period #2 year 7 - about ten minutes into the period the bell went off for an evacuation drill. Sepnt most of the lesson supervising kids on the oval.

Period #3 - free

Period #4 - "IBR" which I did yesterday, so it's a free.

Lunch Time duty

Period #5 - free

Will probably go off to "Exies" after school for a drink with the other teachers.

Back in Newcastle for the weekend

* I've made a quick trip back home to see the family. 750km travelled on Friday, then the weekend here, then 750km back on Monday.

* I actually went to the beach today - no swimming because it was cold and windy - but at least I can say to the kids back in Griffith that I saw the sea on the weekend.

*Pluto is no longer a planet. I've been aware of the "Pluto controversy" for years now. Essentially the problem is that 1) Earth's moon is bigger than pluto, 2) 2003 UB313, an object orbiting our sun, is bigger than pluto, and 3) Pluto's orbital status confirms that it was "sucked in" from the Kuiper belt and not part of the original forming of the Solar System. I'm all for the downgrading. It was that or suddenly getting 8 new planets.

* Can you believe that I am actually interested in "Rockstar Supernova?" Curse Shannon and his Austarness!

Being in Griffith (Part 5)

* In America there is the Mason-Dixon line. Here in NSW it is the League-AFL line. Griffith is just north of the line, which means that Rugby League is the dominant winter sport. Travel south to Narrandera and you enter AFL territory. Anyone who thinks AFL is purely a Victorian sport needs to think again - vast swathes of southern NSW are dominanted by the sport.

* The front pages of the local newspaper are dominated by the death of a little girl who was run over accidentally by her father about a week ago. Then I find out today that the funeral is being held at the Presbyterian church - do I know the family? More soon.

* Standing in front of classrooms full of teenagers is bad enough as it is, but it is worse when you catch the flu from them. I took Wednesday-Thursday-Friday off last week and am about 2/3 of the way through antibiotics. School was yuck today - especially when faced with students who couldn't give a damn.

* Saw the Bond flick The Living Daylights last night on Austar. It was the first time I have ever seen it - and Timothy Dalton as Bond. I was surprised that Dalton actually made a good fist of it - he wasn't great in the role but he wasn't bad either. Sadly, he was let down by a most appalling and unbelieveable script. I would have shot myself for writing such drivel. The film suffered from an appalling edit as well that ensured that the bomb that had 10 seconds to go off then magically had 30 seconds to go some 12 seconds later - we knew because we kept looking at the led display. Probably the worst Bond Movie I have seen - though I'm certain there are others near the bottom of the pile.

* I'm really looking forward to the Republicans being thoroughly thrashed in November. Neil the Cassandra strikes again.

* Iraq keeps moving closer to Civil War. Even if 10,000 Iraqis were dying each day due to violence, the media would still be saying that "civil war is getting closer". Accept it - since "Mission Accomplished" Iraq has been in Civil War. Thanks America.

Being in Griffith (part 4)

Shannon, the guy I live with, does not have a PC, and the Department of Education is now telling staff that they can't use the internet for personal purposes, which means that my access to the net (and thus this blog) will be sporadic at best.

I'm sitting here in the Griffith Public Library - probably the best place to go online. There are no internet cafes in town just yet.

Some observations of life here so far:

* The school does not have enough casual staff to cover teachers when they're ill. Consequently, classes often have to go out into the playground since there are no teachers to look after them. Considering the amount of staff sick at this time of year, the amount of kids running around the playground at various times can be concerning. This sort of thing is common in country schools - but not seen at all in better resourced areas like Sydney and Newcastle, where anyone who is sick is usually replaced by a casual teacher.

* Because of the lack of teachers, every single teacher has, as part of their teaching load, a number of periods set aside every fortnight to cover the lessons of teachers who are not present. This means that around 0.9 of the teacher's load are actual lessons, and 0.1 are described as "IBR" : "In-built relief".

* Being exposed to Austar has its advantages and disadvantages, apart from that wonderful line from the Pink Floyd song Nobody Home ("I got thirteen channels of *&^*& on the TV to choose from", although in my case there is around 40 channels), I occasionally get to view some of the programs available on the Australian Christian Channel - channel 140. The fact that it is located immediately after TVSN and the Expo Channel - channels both dedicated to selling things - is wonderfully ironic. I have, as a result of this, heard Phil Pringle and Brian Houston - both of whom are peddling the false teaching that God will provide us with happiness and self-actualization if we only release the power that he gives us through Christ. No biblical expositions so far.

* Man I am hating Windows. Both at school and here in the Public Library I have to have multiple windows open rather than tabs. At both school and this library I am having some strange mouse movements - where suddenly the mouse arrow will disappear up to the top left corner and I have to drag it down again. I am also missing Kubuntu - even more so since the wife rang the other night to tell me she can't get the printer to work.

* I'm missing my family a lot. One good thing is that before I even got the job we had decided to get new mobile phones and we are now happily taking pictures and movies of one another to send. It's nice to have a video message of my kids saying hi to me. Wow. We live in the future now.

* One advantage of not having the family around is that I have been able to have more regular quiet times. Reading through Ezra and Nehemiah recently was interesting since in both books there is no record of God speaking directly to anyone. Both Ezra and Nehemiah were obviously God's agents to bring about the re-making of post-exilic exile but there was absolutely no direct guidance given to either of them.

* This message is for Tom - No I haven't.

* My little girl, Lillian, managed to fall over and gash her head last week - a process that cost her three stitches. It's not good that I'm not there. Please pray that God will provide more long-term or permanent work for me so that the family can come down and escape the evil clutches of a certain in-law.

* According to a pedometer I bought, I am averaging over 10000 steps each day working at school. This will be good for my health and weight.

* I have a number of difficult students in my classes. They're not too bad yet but I just need patience and time to understand "the system" before things cool down.

* While at sport the other day (year 7-8 Rugby) a gale blew up as the roll was being taken. One student came up to me and asked "Sir, is that wind due to a low pressure system?". "Yes" I replied. "See?", he told me "I do learn things in your class!".

* I am learning just how much Griffith sits at "the bottom of the barrel" in terms of its attraction to teachers. The teaching profession, like all professions, has its share of crazies but it seems as though GHS has attracted much more than its fair share of wrong people over the years. I was told today of a former teacher who apparently had undiagnosed Aspergers and who was completely incapable of teaching properly. Another one apparently discussed sexual positions with a class of year 10 students and was only sacked after he decided to join in a fist-fight while watching a Rugby game at the school oval. Two former teachers were described as "alcoholics" to me as well. There's also a problem because the school has attracted overseas teachers who have varying degrees of teaching ability. One woman was apparently a physics professor in Eastern Europe, but when she came to GHS she did not have the ability to teach basic year 7 science since a) She couldn't speak English properly, and b) She did not have an education degree and thus the knowledge needed to be able to teach teenage students.

* Went to Bible Study on Wednesday night after dinner with the minister and his family. It's not good that Griffith has just one evangelical church, but from what I can see they are informed and mature in their Christian faith.

* I took my entire DVD collection with me. In the last few days I have watched The Party, Platoon and half of Pulp Fiction.

* Interesting episode of Compass the other night - interesting because it did not have anything to do with religion. It was about WW2 veterans finally dealing with their PTSD after 50 years. A clinic in Melbourne has set up a support group for WW2 veterans, who are also given individual therapy and antidepressants. The result has apparently been astounding - with all these guys in their mid 70s suddenly treating their long-suffering wives better and learning how to confront issues.

Being in Griffith (part 3)

For the past two Sundays I've been attending Griffith Presbyterian Church, pastored by Peter and Anna Gobbo. Coincidentally / providentially I was at Bible College when Anna Gobbo (in her pre-married state) was there as well. I've found the church to be Gospel-centred, Bible-based and welcoming. It appears to be the only choice of church to go to in Griffith.

Griffith is a relatively large country town. There's around 28,000 who live in the town and its suburbs, but this increases to around 50,000 when outlying towns in the district are taken into account.

My rule of thumb is that wherever there is a major supermarket, there also exists a potential for at least one evangelical church. Griffith has a Coles and a Woolworths and a largish IGA, along with plans for another Woolworths to be built. If Griffith Baptist church is included in my narrow definition of "evangelical church", then there is probably potential for at least two more evangelical churches to exist in the area.

I'm currently sharing a house with a single guy named Shannon, a PD/H/PE teacher. We get on well (so far) and he has Austar which is wonderful because it means I can catch up on all the shows I've missed over the years.

Griffith High School is a mixed bag. There are some good kids and some bad ones. The multicultural community of Griffith is reflected in the school with no one culture in dominance. I have Islander kids and Aussie-born Italian kids, but also some Turkish and Afghan kids. One female Afghan student wears a Hijab although she often has her hair uncovered.

Well - I'd better go again. Lots of schoolwork to catch up on.

Being in Griffith (part 2)

I've now been in Griffith for just under a week. What are my impressions of the place?

Griffith is a very multicultural area - and I mean VERY multicultural. No one culture here represents more than 50% of the people.

White Anglo Aussies probably make up around 25% of the population.

Aussie-born Italians make up around 30-35% of the population.

There is a very large Sikh population from India, which means that turbans are in vogue. There is also a small amount of Indian Sikhs from Fiji.

There is a large population of Tongans and Samoans.

Quite a number of Afghan refugees also live in the town - with a sizeable amount coming here via boats which landed on Christmas Island, Ashmore reef and so on.

The reason why there are so many different cultures here is because Griffith is one of the few places in Australia which has a demand for unskilled labour. Agricultural workers to pick grapes and fruit are in demand. As a result, unemployment in the town is around 3%. This means that there is actually a comparatively small population of people needing direct welfare assistance. This is obviously a good thing, and I suspect that the crime rate is relatively low for this reason. The fact that so many people have jobs also means that racial tensions between minorities is not so pronounced.

One teacher here has told me that he is surprised at the lack of single parents in town - obviously many kids at my school come from familes that have both a mother and a father.

Historically, the Italians control the town. It's at the point now where Australian-born Italians make up the largest ethnic group - but from my own short research it is obvious that this group is now completely "Aussified" - both parents and the kids I teach seem to be Australian born. Most Italian-born Italians are the grandparents.

It's this influence that has driven Griffith's religious culture. The area is pretty much dominated by Roman Catholicism, with only a small amount of protestant churches. There is no Christian school in the town, which means that Christian parents have a choice of either the government schools or the catholic schools.

From what I can gather, there are only two evangelical churches here - the Presbyterian church and the Baptist church. The Uniting church is reasonably liberal in its theology but it has a large and thriving evangelical movement amongst its islander church. Apparently the Griffith Uniting Church was evangelical back in the 1970s but has since then gone downhill. The Anglicans are "more catholic than catholic".

The Charismatic movement here has impacted the Roman Catholic church in some way, although I'm not sure to what extent. There are a number of Charismatic groups that are associated with the Catholic Church in some way. Pentecostals are here as well in the form of an AOG church and a Foursquare gospel church, but neither of these churches seems to dominate either.

The bell's rung... back to class. More soon.

Being in Griffith (part 1)

I left Newcastle on Saturday 29 July for Griffith. I had just two days to get used to the manual transmission of the car some friends lent me, but the trip was reasonably uneventful.

I left at around 9.00am and arrived around 5.30pm. I travelled over 700 kilometres in total from the Shell Service Station in Mayfield to arrive in East Griffith.

Some thoughts about the trip:

1. The McDonalds El Maco burger is not that wonderful. It's not bad but it's not good either.
2. I made some hilarious mistakes using the manual transmission. Often I would intend to shift down from 5th to 4th, but manage to go too far and shift it into 2nd. When you're travelling at around 90kph that's not a good feeling. In order to compensate I then tried to shift it back, only to shift it into reverse, which is not nice either (don't worry, the noise warned me before I took my foot off the clutch). It was also funny trying to shift from 1st into 2nd, but miss 2nd and go into 4th directly. I stalled the car 3-4 times in car parks doing that.
3. The Burley Griffin Way is a clayton's highway that goes from Yass directly into the centre of Griffith - a distance of over 250km. It is a single laned road but it was surprisingly free of traffic during that time. I only got caught behind one slow moving car but overtaking it was a cinch. I think I went past one East-bound car every 10-15 minutes as I headed West, and only once had someone overtake me. Pretty good for 250+km of driving.
4. The M7 in Sydney has to be one of the best bypass ever invented for anyone who wishes to bypass Sydney. Travelling from Newcastle I had to endure only about 5km of Sydney traffic (from the Newcastle Freeway to the M2 entrance in Pennant Hills), before having a luxurious, if circular, trip out west. I have an Etag which means that I could use the M7 (there are no toll collecting booths and they have cameras that take pictures of non-Etag equipped cars and send you fines).
5. As a result of the M7, I drove non-stop from Newcastle to the Pheasant's Nest Mobil near Camden for a bathroom break. Another 100km later and I was munching El Macos at Sutton Forest. A few hours later I stopped for 15 minutes for a rest at Harden (where I watched a League match) and another 10 minute rest about 40km out of Griffith.
6. When I arrived in Griffith it took only a few minutes to find my place of residence - I'm living with another teacher (a single bloke) until the wife and kids come down. That night, both of us went to my head teacher's house where I had my first taste of Griffith cuisine - Pizza, Pasta and Red Wine. All three of which went down very, very well. Griffith has a history of Italian migrants stretching back to its foundation and the Italian restaurants and take-aways here are very good. I'm not a pizza man, but the stuff they cook here is wonderful.

I'm typing this insde the school Staffroom - it's Tuesday. I'll let you know soon about how things are going at the school, but I will say that, so far, it's been good.

Griffith Bound

I can now reveal to you all some of the events that have been bothering me and the family for a while - I have accepted a job offer to teach at Griffith High School. This is only a temporary position that will last until the end of the year, but there is a decent chance that I may be able to find some more permanent work at the same school over the long term.

I will begin teaching on July 31st - day 1 at the High School. The family will remain behind in Newcastle for most of third term and then will move in with me during the holidays between terms 3 and 4 (October 1-15).

The reason for Anna and the kids to stay behind is pragmatic - Anna has a two-day per week position at Centrelink where she works as a Social Worker. For her to leave her job straight away and for all of us to travel to Griffith without the promise of full-time employment (or even accomodation) is too risky. But it also means that we'll be apart for a long period, which sucks.

I've contacted a church in Griffith that looked good and discovered that I was at Bible College with the pastor's wife back in the early nineties. She then informed me that a married couple, graduates of the college, have been attending the church for a few years, which means that three people I went to Bible College with are at the church.

All this is huge. I have given both the pastor and my future head teacher at the High School this blogsite address so they can see pictures of me and read my FAQ to find out more about me. Hello to both of you.

There's a number of friends I haven't spoken to directly about this yet so sorry but things have been a bit hectic.

There are other major issues that still bother us - but these shall be revealed presently. In the meantime thanks for your prayers.