Pred nekaj tedni smo s sodelovanjem posameznikov in slovenskih organizacij sirom Avstralije, izpeljali zelo uspesno Prvo uradno trgatev mladike mariborske Stare trte. V sklopu tega dogajanja smo s skupino PLATIN obiskali in razveselili tudi nase rojake v Melbournu, Wollongongu in Sydneyu.

Koncem leta 2007 smo na pobudo uciteljice angleskega jezika iz Maribora ge. Nevenke Pilih pristopili k projektu medsolskega sodelovanja med osnovnima solama OS borcev za severno mejo v Mariboru in Monbulk Primary School - eno od sol na podrocju Yarra Ranges, kjer smo posadili mladiko mariborske Stare trte.

Prvo, zelo sprosceno in poucno predstavitev o Avstraliji, smo imeli 28. februarja na OS borcev za severno mejo v Mariboru. Ker sta obe soli zelo zainteresirani za cim tesnejse in daljnorocno sodelovanje sem preprican, da je pred nami daljse obdobje tega koristnega dogajanja.

Kot clan UO Dandenong Ranges Music Council -a (Obcina Yarra Ranges), pripravljamo vse potrebno za odrsko uprizoritev v angleski jezik prevedene operete Planinska roza - Mountain Rose. Ker je to zelo obsiren in zahteven projekt, je pred nami se veliko dela in priprav, vendar upamo, da bomo v letu 2009 ali 2010 tudi ta projekt na podrocju slovensko-avstralskega meddrzavnega kulturnega sodelovanja uspesno in karseda opazno izpeljali.

Vesel slovenski pozdrav

Vinko Rizmal
SAATCE - Koordinator projektov

Slovenian Australian afternoon at our school

it was Thursday, 28th February, the day we were all looking for – teachers of English and the pupils involved in the Slovenian – Australian project. We were preparing carefully for the afternoon which we called The Slovenian – Australian afternoon. Our guest, Mr Rizmal, kindly accepted our invitation and joined us at 3 p.m. in our English classroom. First he was welcomed and introduced to the group by Mrs Pilih, the teacher of English and soon the conversation started. There were a lot of things the pupils wanted to know and they prepared a lot of questions for him. They wanted to know why he and his family imigrated to Australia, how he likes living there, what the differences between the two countires are, about typical food in Australia, what teenagers are like and how they spend their free time, about cities in Australia and animals that live there. Mr Rizmal created a pleasant attitude and the children couldn't stop asking questions. They learnt a few new words, typical for the country we were talking about (e.g. the outback, marsupials, Aboriginal, …).

Time flew very quickly and after an hour we had a quiz in which pupils proved that they were listening carefully and learnt a lot. We continued the session tasting somethnig typically Australian that Mr Rizmal brought for us – Vegemite. We spread it on slices of bread and it was funny looking at the kids and their reaction – some liked it, the others didn't. The school caffeteria also prepared some snacks for us which recharged our batterries a bit so that we could start with the second part of our session –the workshop. Pupils wrote letters to their future Australian friend at Monbulk Primary School and when we meet next time again, we'll make a poster to introduce the whole group and our school and send it to Australia.

It turned out that the pupils were very interested in Australia, its culture, characteristics and its people and this project could be a beginning of beautiful cooparation and maybe even some long-distance and long-lasting friendships.