Recalling a dream trip
In 2005, Maureen Johnson came to Australia from Ontario, Canada as part of IEU’s teacher exchange program. She taught at St Canice’s Primary in Katoomba and lived in the community with her husband and four children for a year before returning home. The experience had a positive impact on her and her family and she said that “my kids still talk about our trip to Australia”.
“I’d always wanted to come to Australia, ever since I was a little girl. The teacher exchange was really the only feasible way to be able to go and experience the culture and not just visit and leave. So it was really quite an experience for my family because we were part of the community,” Maureen said.
Back in Australia on holiday recently, Maureen used the opportunity to ‘touch base’ with her old kindergarten class, who are now in Year 12 and about to graduate.
“They sang the songs and said the poems and told the stories that I had totally forgotten and that they had still remembered.
“I was really touched.”
On her experience teaching in an Australian school, Maureen said: “They were open to what I brought, which was lovely because my ideas were new and fresh I loved that they let me go to different schools to go and see how other teachers taught. I liked that because you could take what you liked and make it your own.”
