Sally Burgess, a professor from the English Philology Department at the University of La Laguna, gave a wonderfully informative talk to the 4th Year Secondary students at our school, on Australia. Hailing from the “Great Southern Land” herself, she rendered a very personal account, touching on a variety of topics, from the population of the country, the food, the slang, the animals, to other more unknown facts like how long the longest beach is (180km!).
Without having to move physically to the country, the kids were able to envisage the length and breadth of it, with bits of information like how long it takes to travel from one end to another, and even what the time difference is from the east to the west coast. A lot of what she explained was new and even strange to the students, such as the fact that Australian notes are made from a kind of plastic and how expensive it is to renew an Australian passport – more than 300 Euros!
The talk also centred around the controversy around ‘Australia Day’ and how others call it ‘Invasion Day’, or even, ‘Survival Day’, and how the king of Australia is King Charles, and that the Commonwealth is a vestige of the Empire and the colonisation era.
All in all, the students loved the lecture – it was a “real ripper!” (Australian slang for great!).
marzo 22, 2024
