Bringing a little bit of Australia to Sauðárkrókur

This week I have had the pleasure of visiting the local school here in Sauðárkrókur.  The school has around 400 students and this week the upper school 9-16 years old were learning about various aspects of different countries around the world.  I was invited to participate in the Australia group where the children were given a general overview of Australia with a closer look at Indigenous culture and in particular Aboriginal art.  The students looked at the variety of symbols used by Indigenous Australians in dot painting and were asked to create their own symbols and their own story and paint in the style of the traditional Aboriginal dot painters.  The groups rotated between each of the differing country sections over the 3 days.  The students that visited "Australia" were of mixed ages from 9-12 years old, they were bright, interested and asked many questions and certainly seemed to gain a lot from the activity. Students are taught English from the age of 10 and many took the opportunity to practice their English with me.

I am always in awe of the way children approach these art activities and the results are inspiring as you can see by the pictures below.  I took many photos, however unfortunately some are a little blurred...sorry about that.  These pics are only just a small selection of the wonderful array of images painted by the students.
I was certainly impressed with the school, it has great facilities and a lovely relaxed atmosphere where everyone is on first name basis (as they always are in Iceland) teachers and students alike.  Parents are welcome at anytime and can pop into the classes whenever they wish, even the 14-15 year olds seemed  not to mind "Mum" visiting their classes to see what they are learning (pretty sure mine were not so happy for me to be involved at this age but here it does not seem to faze the students).  Classes start at 8.10am and finish between 2 and 4pm depending on the age group (the older students stay longer) and on Fridays school finishes at 1pm with breakfast and lunch provided each day for students and staff.

I was made to feel very welcome and I know that I got just as much, if not more from the experience than they did.