A TERRIBLE DAY

The day began terribly. My alarm didn't go off and I left the house with only 1 hour to spare before my English class started.

I walked straight to Carlton train station, but because I wasn't lucky I missed the train, and Carlton station is a quiet station so every half an hour a train stops. I went to have coffee across the road, I forgot the time and I was talking on the phone with a really talkative friend, I looked at the time it was about 3 min to the next train.I was running to be on time, but I took the wrong train because I was in hurry and it was two trains stopping.

I was very angry and I came back home and didn't go anywhere. It was really a terrible day.

Cairns

Cairns is an Australian, touristic city. It is on the beach with a good climate to spend a holiday there.

The location of Cairns is on the north-west coast, in Queensland. The distance is 1700 km from Brisbane and 2500 km from Sydney. Approximately, about 123.760 people live in this city. Also, there are about 25 State primary schools, a Large TAFE Campus and a small University which is called James Cook University.

The climate in Cairns is tropical but it is the safest tropical city in world. In winter the average of the temperature is 24-28⁰C, but in summer it is 30-35⁰C. July is the coldest month, the temperature is 16⁰C minimum. Frequent thunderstorms happen usually on October-December. Summer is often wet and very humid. It often rains late afternoon or night.

The most important industries in Cairns are tourism and fishing, but many Australian and international tourists visit Cairns in winter because it is preferred to swim on this season. The popular tourist activities in Cairns are diving and river rafting. Most tourists go there because they admire the Great Barrier Reef, to have excellent diving on a very clear and warm water. Also, they like the beautiful beaches there. Cairns is a beautiful and interesting city to visit it.

Interview with Maya (a librarian).

Last week 2 AMEP classes interviewed Maya a librarian at St George TAFE. We did it on Video conference. At first we said hello, and we wanted to ask her some questions about her experience in Australia.

Students: Where are you from?

Maya:I'm from Russia.

Students:How long have you been in Australia?

Maya:I've been in Australia for four years.

Students:How did you start work?

Maya:At first I worked as a volunteer, which is without any pay.

Students:How did you get this job?

Maya:My teacher helped me and found it for me to start here in Australia.

Students:Did you have to study at University when you came here or you just used your qualification from overseas?

Maya:No, I didn't do anything at University here. I just did the EFS English course at TAFE.

Students:Did you come by yourself to Australia?

Maya:No, I came with my husband and my children.

Students:Do you speak English at home with your husband and children?

Maya:No, we speak Russian.

Students:Did you work as a librarian in your country?

Maya:No, I didn't.

Students:Can you tell us one of your responsibilities and explain it?

Maya:Yes; the first one is customer service: helping students to find the books, CDs and anything else like information for example.

Students:Do you like it?

Maya:Yes I do.

Students:So, thanks Maya for everything and thanks for your time. BYE.

Physical Punishment

In my opinion physical punishment is not good for children. This punishment leaves negative points in the memory of the child.

Firstly, according to psychologists, hitting children can be harmful for their development. If abused children are not confident, they will be scared from everything, can't make right decisions. Also children lose some IQ and can become bullies themselves, hitting everyone with the same method that their parents used.

Secondly, new research shows that physically abusing children when parents are angry can lead to a huge and serious physical damage. It causes injuries and if the parents don't restrain themselves they can cause brain damage or death, for example if the dad slaps his child and pushes him without any control, the child can fall on something and cause a big problem, like brain damage.

Thirdly, it has also been proven that using physical punishment does not work with children. When you do it many times, children get used to it and it will be a normal punishment and won't be scared. So, the child becomes more rebellious and says:"Ah! My parents are going to hit me and that is normal". Also<>

For these reasons, I propose to have some meetings to teach the parents how to choose the good way to punish their children, because the physical punishment is not a good way with children.

kangaroos

The kangaroo is an Australian animal, which we can find in different kinds.

There are about 60 differents pieces of kangaroo but they are very close. We distinguish two categories: the Macropodidae and the Potoroidae. Some of the macropod family are different in size and weight ranging from 0.5 kg to 90 kg. The potoroinae lives only in Australia. Kangaroos live throughout Australia.

Kangaroos are herbivorous, they eat some plants and sometimes Fungi. Kangaroos are variable between nocturnal and diurnal. Some of them are nocturnal but some are active in the early morning and late afternoon. Potoroids make nests while tree_kangaroos live above the ground in trees, but some of them live in caves and rock clefts.

usually kangaroos are brown, but there is one family which is white and its name Albino_kangaroo.

They have one thing in common: powerful back legs with long feet. all female kangaroos have front_opening pouches that contain four teats, this is where the young Kangaroo is raised until it can survive outside the pouch. Most kangaroos able to breed all year round.

The Editor

Dear Sir

Cigarette Smoke

Smoker Joe didn't convince me, because I am totally against his opinion.

Everyone should have Fresh Air and clean enviroment, so no one can have an excuse for their filthy habit.

Smokers don't have the right to annoy other prople. Cigarette smoke is very bad for people who suffer from breathing problems. The tax that you pay from smoking is coming back to you when you have health problems.

Smokers have to respect the others and should smoke at a smoke-free area.

M.Z.

St George area.