The Health Expo

Last Wednesday the 11th of May 2011, St George TAFE organised the Health Expo through the Student Association. I think there were more than fifteen stalls which were related to health care.

I saw some students having fun by rock climbing and some students were busy tasting international food. I bought one plate for me too. It was really yummy. I visited almost all the stalls but I couldn't found any one at the Breast screen stall.

However it was great opportunity to get lots of information about health care.

Two weeks break

Firstly, I should say I used my break time for a very important purpose. I spent the first week looking for a nice house for me and my family. At the end I got it successfully! After getting our new house I was so busy moving.

The second week was a bit exciting. I got a casual job as a Community Development Worker in a Settlement Project with the SMRC. My first day was a Cruise event. We took 72 people from the Bengali Community on a cruise .It is my first job in Australia as a Community Worker and I enjoyed my work.

However, I didn't get any time to go the 'Easter show ' but my kids went there with their dad.
Lastly I can say my break was fantastic!

TAFE HARMONY DAY

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Last Wednesday St George TAFE celebrated Harmony day. Really it was exiiciting and fantastic for me because, that was my first time celebrating Harmony day. Before that I didn't know how to celebrate Harmony day. I saw lots of students who came from different cultural backgrounds and they wore their own traditional dresses and brought lots of food as well. We enjoyed a Bangladeshi song and a nice speech by Japanese students and a Bangladeshi student. Lastly we all sang Advance Australia Fair together and we took lots of photos .

Harmony day

Harmony Day is a day where all Australians celebrate their cultural diversity. Harmony day is celebrated on 21st of March each year. This Day we come together to learn and understand how Australians have different backgrounds. Living in harmony makes Australia a great place to live. Lots of community events and product promotion are held to celebrate Harmony day . Harmony Day gives us the opportunity to celebrate what makes each Australian unique and share what we have in common. We have 260 languages including aboriginal languages and 270 ancestries. We are united by our acceptance of cultural diversity, mutual respect for one another by democratic tradition. The key message of Harmony day is 'Every one Belongs' which means all Australians are a welcome part of our country, regardless of their background.

All Australians are encouraged to get involved in Harmony Day.

weekend

I think my weekend a bit of different from others. Because a whole week lots of job waiting for me what's I need to be done in the weekend such as washing cleaning and some of them for next week preparation like shopping, cooking and ironing as well. Actually these are my routine work.
Easily I can say I don't have any leisure time after coming Australia. I should say life is hard in overseas without family or relative. Sometimes I feel bad when I remember how was my Bangladesh's life.

Summary of Luisa's talk

Luisa is a counsellor at St George TAFE. She talked about counselling service at St George TAFE . Luisa told us there are four counsellors working at st George TAFE and all the counsellors are registered psychologists.



St George counselling service provides support for all enrolled students of TAFE. They give advice on career planning , explain educational pathways and clarify the system of TAEF. Luisa also told us that St George TAFE counselling service is not able to help the students financially but they can show them how to get link up for government assistance. She finished with talking about the credit transfer system.

Happy Valentine's Day

I know today is Valentine's day. Actually Before I didn't know very much about origin of Valentine's Day, but right now I know what is origin of valentine's Day.

The Saint valentines Day commonly shortened Valentines Day. Valentine's Day honoured on 14Th of February each year. It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery and sending greetings card.

Modern valentines day symbols include the heart-shaped outline, doves and the figure of the winged cupid.

We celebrate Valentines day and it's very popular in our country. I have one exiting experience when I was 18 . Once I wake up in the morning and I saw a big red rose bunch with a nice greetings card in my room which is sent by my boy friend. Really it was very exciting for me. still it's my memorable valentine's day .

To night I will make a phone call and send an e-mail to my partner for celebrating this year valentine's day.

I think it's good to celebrate valentine's day because people can get at least one day in a year specially for wishing love. Which is give us really different recreation .

25th December

Christmas celebrates the birth day of Jesus Christ. Catholic, Christian and Protestants celebrate Christmas. Christmas celebrations in Australia include family gatherings, giving presents to family or friends and decorating the Christmas tree .

Many Australian families try to be home together for Christmas. At Christmas the main meal is eaten at lunch time .Australians eat food such as prawns and lobsters along with the traditional English food like turkey , Xmas cakes, pudding, chocolate and biscuits.

Santa claus is white bearded man ,wearing a red coat with white collar and cuffs, white cuffed red trousers and a black belt and boots. Santa Claus is known as father of Christmas. Santa claus brings gifts to the homes of good children .

In Bangladesh we don't celebrate Christmas widely because most people are muslim but we do have just a day's holiday on 25th of December.

My Study plan of 2011

I have a plan to study more next year so that's why I've applied for Certificate IV in Community Service Work and I want to continue my English study as well .

I think I need to improve my English skills for further study or to get a job. But I don't know exactly how many hours already I've used this year and also I don't know my result for this term.

Halloween

Originally 'Halloween' word comes from "All Hallows Eve'. Halloween is a night celebrated on 31st October each year. Halloween celebration started from 2000 years ago.

Its stayed with cultural religious and traditional. Actually peoples believe ghost walk in the earth this time that's why people gather and make huge fire to keep away from ghost. Lots of country including Europe America have tradition to celebrate Halloween. People maintain lots of custom to celebrate Halloween night eg; helps to neighbour to remove a gate from the house , fire etc.


I didn't know anything about Halloween holiday because my country Bangladesh haven't any holiday like this.

Two Weeks Break

My first week was lots of house work cleaning washing and a bit of outing like meet the friends. 5th of October I went royal national park at bundeena to see aboriginal culture,bush walk and alsoI enjoyed the sands walk around the beach.




second week was busier than First week because 9th October was my younger son (ratul) 's birthday. We booked novotel VIP lounge to celebrate birthday with only family and the 10th of October was another party at my home with other people specially for kids.



So I can say this break was so nice and busy for me spent maximum time with peoples gathering .

Winning the lottery

Normally once a month I go shopping to the Bay city shop in Arncliffe. Last month on 15th of July it was Bay city's first birthday. Bay city arranged a raffle draw to celebrate its first birth day. The first three winners would each get 40 items of free shopping from Bay city.

The good news is I was the one of three winners. It was really great for me. My younger son and I picked out 30 shopping itemes last week from Bay city and we still have 10 items remaining. I can say that my last week was so happy.

Odd one out

I don't have negative feelings about integration. I'm lucky because I don't have any experience about being 'called names'.

However, I think the language barrier is a very big difficulty for new migrants to face. Sometimes I felt like the 'Odd one out' when I first came to Australia. For example, once when I went looking for a job and I spoke to the employer, I felt my English wasn't good enough for that job. I thought I needed to develop my English skills more.

Tips for learning English

1. Watch TV .


2. Talk to native English speakers.


3. Speak English when you go shopping.


4. Write down new words and try to remember them.


5. Don't be afraid to make mistakes.


6. Write something in English everyday.


7. Read the local news paper.


8. Listen to English music.


9. Try to increase fluency.


10. Increase your vocabulary and improve you pronunciation..

Nilgiri

Nilgiri is the nicest place in Bangladesh. I went to Chittagong and visited lots of places but Nilgiri was really a great place for me in 2008 . It looks a bit similar to the Blue Mountains of Australia but I can say definitely it is better than the Blue Mountains, because the Blue Mountains are green on every side but one.On the other hand Nilgiri is green on all sides.

Another amazing thing is that if you stand on top of the mountain you can see rain on one side and a rainbow on the other side at the same time. Also I have seen clouds blowing that look like snow from one side and yet there is bright sunlight just opposite at the same time.

One more interesting thing here is that nilgiri is a Bangali word whose English meaning is blue mountain (nill means blue and giri means mountain).

My first blog-Introducing myself

This is a map of Bangladesh

Hi
My name is Mst Lutfun Nahar and I come from Bangladesh . Now I'm doing an AMEP course at St George TAFE, Kogarah. This course is more convenient for me because right now I live in Kogarah. I hope to do a course in community service work after finish my AMEP. I already have a Masters in History from my country and have three years and six months experience as a community worker.
I came Australia in 2004 with my husband. We now have two lovely boys Mitul and Ratul.