We made contact with an Australian teacher who was also not matched in the official process. After a few e-mails and a Skype, we determined that our teaching load, accommodations, and location were acceptable enough to proceed with an exchange. Neither of our locations was anything either of us had considered, but he commented in an initial e-mail:
Would have never thought of your location, but in my travels I have found that a lot of the time the places you wouldn’t have thought of turn out to be the best times.
We decided to approach our exchange coordinators and request the match. The coordinators sent details of the proposed exchange along with our application packages to the proposed schools. Included was a form by which the proposed exchange was accepted. Three signatures are required on either side of the exchange, ours, our school administrator, and our superintendent. These forms are then returned to the exchange coordinators who then communicate with each other to confirm that all is acceptable at their end.
This is where we sit at the moment. While we are beyond excited, everything is tempered by the lengthy list of things to do between now and the end of December when we board the plane. Cleaning out closets, getting around to all the little repair jobs that never seemed that urgent, making a list of seasonal maintenance issues, tucking away personal knick-knacks and photos. It’s rewarding work, but time-consuming nontheless. We talk about how the house will feel ready for sale when we’re done but we’ll benefit from the effort when we return.
I’m also thinking more about the school and the classroom. Encountering a YouTube video from my exchange school showing some school activities really brought home how personal the exchange is – It isn’t just a year of professional growth for me, it’s a year with individual students for whom, I hope, the exchange year will be one of learning, sharing, cultural and academic exploration. My expectations are realistic – reading other exchange blogs it’s clear that for many students school is school, and a teacher is a teacher. It will, no doubt, be a challenging year being the new teacher in the school managing new curricula, and not being able to bring my decade’s accumulation of cred with me – really starting from scratch.
Google Earth is on almost all the time now and we have done a tremendous amount of reading and researching information about the community, the job, our son’s school, and travel opportunities. I mentioned elsewhere in the blog how our thinking has has been very general, iconic, and continental. Now with a specific community and address, we are thinking street level. Where to get groceries, how long is the walk to school, where do we fuel the car, who sells the best curry in town. We are also enjoying exploring possibilities for layover opportunities there and back like Fiji, Cook Islands, Hawaii, or Beijing.
Any travel suggestions?
We are an Australian family of 4 who have been unsuccessful in making a match with a Canadian teacher through the official exchange program ( like yourself ) for 2 successive years now and are interested to hear where and how you made contact directly with a match. We are hoping to try again for 2015…. Thanks, brian and Jo
Sorry to hear that you haven’t been matched – there are so many variables. By posting on teacher discussion boards (and here) we were able to connect with others who were not matched. Not everyone we talked to was a suitable match for one reason or another. We did eventually connect with someone who was willing to come to our little corner of Canada and had a little corner of Australia we were comfortable with. Neither of us had considered each other’s particular locations but they were close enough to see living there for a year. As my exchange partner said in an e-mail, “Would have never thought of Winnipeg but in my travels I have found that a lot of the time the places you wouldn’t have thought of turn out to be the best times.”
Exchange coordinators do say that there really isn’t anything you can do to increase the likelyhood of a match – it depends very much on who applies on any given year. I do think that making yourself visible online, sharing your situation, drumming up applicants, and actively seeking a partner could, as it did in my case, result in a match. That, in combination with an openness to something a little different than you might have envisioned (don’t compromise too much, though!) could have a positive effect.
It’s good to know that perhaps we can become a little more proactive about things and that sometimes the planets align and lucky matches can be found! We are based in a stunning part of Victoria, Australia, just on the leafy fringes of Melbourne. Brian is a generalist classroom teacher in a delightful school of approximately 200 children, and can teach in all year levels across the primary school. We have 2 of our own children aged 7 and 10, and are very keen for the opportunity to spend a year in Canada with them while they are still young. We will be applying through the official teacher exchange program again for 2015, but would welcome anyone from Canada interested in a chance for a year teaching in Australia to contact us directly through a reply to this message. We would also love to hear from anyone with details of other sites, blogs etc that may help put us in touch with that lucky match! Cheers, Brian and Jo.
Hi! I came across this blog as I am hoping to do a short exchange to Australia at some point in the future. I am a college level English Second Language teacher in Montréal, Quebec. I would be exchanging on my own (my husband and teenaged children would stay back in Canada) so I would only like a 3 month exchange. If you know of anyone interested in a shorter stay that would be great! I would rent a place for the exchange teacher to stay in, while he/she is in Montréal. I hope you find your match soon. I am just beginning the process now, but I now see it may take quite some time to find a match.
Cheers and best of luck to you all!
Meg
Talk to your local teacher exchange coordinator about a shorter term exchange. I have heard of them, but I don’t know exactly how you’d go about it. All the best with it! Share your news as you get it, am interested to hear what you learn.