Our+Friends+In+Australia

Hi Richard glad to be chatting with you.

Firstly I'll address the formalities. Mandurah is about 74kms from Perth, the capital of Western Australia. With a growing population of 51,000 plus 1.8% being Indigenous. We have 6 public Primary Schools, 3 Public Middle schools (yrs 8-10) and 1 Senior Campus (Yrs 11/12 only. We also have 4 Private 1 catholic, 2 Christian, 1 Lutheran which covers primary and Secondary, a TAFE which is adult learning and Murdoch University has build A mini campus here for those who can not get to Perth.

We have several shopping centres, which include Coles, Woolworths, Target,K Mart, Big W and many many specialty stores - buying the latest fashionis definitely not a problem here. If your not happy with that catch the bus to Perth City and shop till you drop. Train link is in development and should be here by the end of the year.

We have heaps of restaurants and fast food outlets, MacDonald’s, Subway, Pizza, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Mexican, Al a Carte.......... We have an Aquatic centre, gyms, Skate Park, movie cinema, beautiful beaches, good fishing, prawning, crabbing and regular festivals on our foreshores.

Our school is the only Senior Campus with 1012 students, we provide many programs for our varied clientele. we have University bound and the kids that want to do apprenticeships or hands on jobs.

A couple of sites you may like to look at would be:

www.mandurah.wa.gov.au www.visitmandurah.com

Pinjarra is a local town only 15 minutes from Mandurah. It is the local home of the South West Aboriginals. Pinjarra only has a small population with 2 primary schools and 1 high school. I mention this because it is here that 30 - 300 Aboriginals were slain by European settlers back in 1834.

www.walkabout.com.au?locations?WAPinjarra.shtml

We are a very large tourist town with 550,000 visitors coming here a year. But with all that we have to offer our local youth still complain they have nothing to do and wondering around the streets seems to be a favourite pass time.

The kids I hope to use for this interaction are in a program called Bilydar, they are disengaged, at risk Aboriginals. I am not sure how it will work but I am motivated to give it my best shot. I am still learning about Wiki's myself.

About me honest, upfront perhaps a little unorthodox in my methods of teaching. I am 41 and majored in English and Drama but have worked online for 3yrs, I am passonate about at risk kids but they are really hard work at times lol.

I look forward to working with you Richard and hopefully sharing with you more than just Wiki space. I think it will be good to share strategies and talk honestly about the 'real' issues we face with this type of student and keeping them engaged and interested. I am more than happy to be honest about the problems I encounter so that I can reflect on them and improve.

Hugs Tracy

ps Let me know if you want to know anything in particular, and as you are the more experienced lol, give all the suggestions and advice you like (I'll let you know if I have a problem with anything).

http://www.sga.net.au/Distributors/map_images/map_WA_400.jpg