New App for LOTE

Sensai would like everyone to please install a new app for Japanese lessons. The app is called Languages Online and it is free to install from the App Store.

Please install Languages Online for Japanese lessons this week

Arigato!
ありがとうございました

Good news, Bad news or NO News...?

With the latest iOS upgrade (iOS9), Apple released a News app. A few of our Year 4 parents have expressed concerns about some of the News content. When the off-field antics of certain footballers are considered sufficiently newsworthy to report in explicit detail via this News app, many more parents, even of older children, may discover similar concerns. This post explains how to remove News content from the iPad.

In Settings > iCloud, you will see News listed as a feature of iCloud that can be toggled off:

Settings > iCloud > News

The News app will still appear when you turn it off, but it won’t have any content when opened. 

Unfortunately there’s another step required to turn off the News content that automatically appears on the Spotlight search screen (swiping L > R from the Home screen). Here's what to do to remove this:

Go to Settings > General > Spotlight Search. Scroll waaaay down to Spotlight Suggestions and toggle this OFF:

Settings > General > Spotlight Search > Spotlight Suggestions

I’ve not yet experienced any issues with notifications from the News app but you could also turn those off in case. Go to Settings > News > Notifications and turn notifications OFF.

Settings > News > Notifications

Thanks, Parents, for monitoring your children's iPad use. Your vigilance benefits our entire community!

Apple Charger Recall

You may have already heard in the news that Apple have issued a global recall for AC wall plugs (chargers) of iOS devices (iPads, iPhones and iPods) shipped between 2003 and 2015. In very rare cases, these chargers may break and create a risk of electrical shock if touched.

You can find more information about this recall, and how to tell if your charger might be affected, on the Apple website.

If you believe you have an affected charger at home, you can take it into any Apple reseller and exchange it for a new, redesigned adapter, free of charge. Alternatively, you can request a replacement via the internet or contact Apple Support.

Onwards and Upwards...

On the eve of a brand new school year, it's time to thank parents of our 2015 Year 6 students, for your time and attention as subscribers of the 6Padwise blog. Now that your Senior Primary child is beginning secondary school, you can avoid unnecessary blog posts from us in the future, by clicking the Unsubscribe button in the email footer below.

We wish you and your children all the very best as you embark on the next wonderful chapter in your school journey...

...and have a great first week in Secondary School!

Poetry Corner

Little Brothers

by Lily B.

Little brothers steal all of the attention but they are so silly, 

They only play the play station and footy even when it is chilly, 

They will never leave you alone from the time they can crawl,

And from then they don't seem to have any common sense at all, 

They don't care about dresses, makeup, bling, or gloss, 

They fashion sense but that's their loss.

They are really bad at faking being sick but get a day of school anyway,

And when his sister tries the same she's told that she's going to school that day, 

That's when little brothers tease and pull faces without their parents knowing, 

And even if the sister tells him she'll dob, his face is still glowing,

And when she does tell her parents they'll believe their innocent looking son, 

Then his sister will glare at him the parents never realise that he's the naughty one.

Little brothers don't scream at the sight of toads, bugs or even dirty pigs at the petting zoo, 

And instead of seeing the fashion shows they watch sport and scientific stuff about goo 

They don't have sense! They keep their hair short and let their nails grow too long,

If you admit that he looks terrible (because he does) he will tell you that you are wrong.

Little brothers are super annoying and selfish and brainless and they stink, 

They're silly and tasteless and don't even like beautiful colours like pink, 

Everybody who has one that I know wishes that they don't,

You'd like to hope that he will stop annoying you when you know that he won't.

It is unguessable what they have in their head,

Lucky for me I have a little sister instead.

Australian and Japan

Students in Year 6 have Japanese lessons with LOTE teacher, Sensai Flynn, each week.

Lily B. explains her latest LOTE project:

"Our task was to create a report about the differences between Japan and Australia. We had to inform the audience about the demographics of Japan and Australia to compare them, explain the cultural elements of Japan and how they are represented in Australia and write a bit about the global issue of whaling with our own solution."

Here is Lily's very comprehensive report:

Introduction

Japan and Australia have a relationship where they trade and help in times of disaster. This relationship surprisingly started off badly with Australians being afraid of Asians who were living in Australia for a better life. The Australians feared invasion. There was also a war between them but soon enough after the federation of Australia, more people were needed for the country, not only Europeans, so Asians were allowed and a relationship formed. It was quite easy for them to become trading partners since they are close neighbours. They are different in some demographics but similar in others. 

Japan is loved by Australian tourists in fact just over 80% of people surveyed would love to go to experience the Asian culture. They have many reasons why they'd like to go including the scenery, food and the manga characters that some Japanese enjoy to draw. Unfortunately an issue regarding whaling is being debated about at the moment but Japan and Australia will hopefully keep the relationship that they have now in future even if there is an argument going on. Although Australia and Japan are different in many ways, they are allies and are ready to help each other at anytime. 

Comparison Table

Populating with almost 127 000 000 people, Japan has over 5 times the amount of Australia's population of 24 000 000. Although Japan has a larger population size, Australia is over 20 times larger which results to about 336 people every square kilometre in Japan . This is massively more crammed than Australia with 3 people per square kilometre. Nearly 350 more people live in a square kilometre in Japan than a square kilometre in Australia. Even though Japan is larger in population, Australia is a larger country and has much more space.

Only about three years apart life expectancy of both of these countries are similar and so is the per capita income. The average life expectancy for Japan is almost 85 years and has the 3rd highest life expectancy in the world. For Australia the age that most people live up to is just above 82 years and is ranked to have the 10th highest life expectancy. The per capita income for both countries is quite similar too, even though there is about a $5,000 difference between these two country's per capita income. This is because if you were to compare differences there are other countries that have tens of thousands of dollars less than Japan and Australia such as India, Pakistan, China and North Korea. Some countries also have per capita incomes above Australia's like America. 

Culture

Because Australia was found by Europe, Australia doesn't have much of its own culture, it just shares Europe's however after federation Australia soon was filled with other cultures. There are things like Indian restaurants, festivals like Chinese New Year and many people learn different languages at school. Some of the only things that identify Australia not Europe are the animals, vegemite and aboriginal culture. Australia is a mix of a lot of different cultures including Japanese.

Japan has many cultural elements that are shared with Australia of which one is the food. Japanese food is enjoyed by many Australians, especially sushi. Sushi is a seafood dish with seaweed, rice and your own choice of seafood and vegetables. The seafood and vegetables are in the centre and surrounded by rice which is held together by the seaweed. This makes it a cylinder shape. With many selections of seafood and vegetables in the middle, sushi has become quite popular over Australia. In order to keep sushi popular in Australia there are over 100 sushi stores just in Brisbane.

Another cultural element that is shared by both countries is language. In Japan it is important to learn English in fact sometimes to get a job they need to be able to speak English fluently. Some Australians also learn Japanese but not all Australians do since it doesn't usually make a difference in what job they get. Both countries often have exchange students from the other country, where students from one country stay at somebody from the other country's house in another for a certain amount of time so they can study that culture. Being able to communicate is a big part of their relationship.

Manga is another cultural element of Japan. Manga is a popular style of drawing done in Japan and is the Japanese traditional type of art. It is very unique and most of the time it is difficult to see what is being drawn until it is complete. Not many Australians draw this style but a few manga tv characters like hello kitty and pokemon are well known by Australians. This is an important feature of Japan.

Martial arts are originally from Japan and now are sometimes done in Australia. Martial arts are Asian types of fighting, which are usually for self defence, it includes karate, jiu jitsu, ect. This is mostly done by boys but some girls do it too. Even though not too many Australians fight in these styles, some of these types are very well known. It will likely grow to be more popular in Australia over time.

Origami is another cultural element of Japan which is also done in Australia. Origami is the art of paper folding and is quite popular in Japan. Many Australians do it too just not very often. It is mainly a girl thing but lots of boys and girls enjoy making a paper plane, folding paper into a bird shape or creating a colourful mini hat. Sometimes origami is done with beautiful coloured paper though other times it is done with white paper. It has to be done with square paper so then all sides are equal. It is an important part of Japan's culture.

Although there aren't many cultural elements of Australia, and Japan doesn't have any Australian restaurants, Australian food is quite popular in Japan. These foods include vegemite, lamingtons, barbecue food and hot cross buns. Japanese come to Australia to eat them since they aren't sold in Japan. They're quite popular among Japanese and are rarely eaten but one of the most common questions in Japan at the moment is, "Where is the nearest place that I can buy vegemite?" Unfortunately the answer is always Australia. One day in the future there will hopefully be Australian restaurants in Japan.

Sharing Japan's culture, Australia has a lot of things that Japan has. This relationship will hopefully change to both countries sharing each other's culture. I think that both countries have great culture yet very different to each other's. They will hopefully grow to be stronger
allies and share more culture of each other. 

Whaling in Japan

Did you know that some species of whales have a tongue that weighs about the same amount as an elephant? As mammals they have lungs yet some can stay under water for over 2 hours at record breaking depths of over 3km down.The Baleen whale eats an animal called plankton, which is a creature without a back bone, it is very small and is at the bottom of the food chain. Whales migrate to waters surrounding Antartica during the warmer months then migrate to warmer waters as it gets colder. During their migration times they are often sighted breeching, leaping mostly out of the water and twisting to land on their back, or squirting water through their blowhole along the coastline of Australia. Unfortunately Japan is hunting these unique creatures in the Antarctic.

Whaling is done by the Japanese for many different reasons. It is part of their culture to eat seafood such as whale and sushi. Another reason they whale is for the products that can contain blubber, a layer of fat below a whale's skin, such as soaps, candles and cosmetics. Although there was a whaling ban in 1986, the Japanese claimed that they were killing the whales for research but it turned out to be an excuse to make their whaling seem legal. Many Japanese people are keen to keep on whaling and are going to try to continue whaling no matter what any other countries think or do.

Although Australians are telling the Japanese to stop whaling, Australia used to whale quite often. Australia used to have a large industry for whaling but over time opinions changed and now Australia chooses not to whale since species had started to become endangered. Some people argue to the Japanese that you don't need to kill whales to research them. Although Australians are trying to convince them to stop, the Japanese are still continuing to kill about 1000 whales a year.

Trying to protect the whales, Australians are building whale sanctuaries along their coastline. The sanctuaries were built to protect endangered species of whale, from the whaling ships, while their species recover. So far this isn't working too well since in order for good results to be shown, Japan would have to reduce the amount of whales they killed so that the population of whales would grow. Some Australians have also attempted to catch the Japanese whalers as being illegal which they have. Unfortunately with or without the sanctuaries and being caught illegal Japan is still letting the whale populations die.

In order to save the whales in future, a group called The Sea Shepherd have been keeping watch of all whaling ships. The goal of The Sea Shepherd is to save marine life for a better future. They are trying to save whales by ramming whaling ships or boarding them and fining the drivers. Although this may be helping whales slightly it is very dangerous for The Sea Shepherds and there has already been a few accidental collisions between them and other ships including one Japanese whaling ship. Even though they are just trying to help the marine animals, The Sea Shepherds can be violent to other ships and this may make Japan think that Australians have sent these ships to attack them.

My opinion is that Australia could mark a border of where their waters are and charge all whaling ships that pass the border a certain amount of money for each whale they caught, depending on how endangered the species that they killed are. It'd probably cost them more to kill the whales than to sell the meat or products. This would be good for Australians because whaling in the surrounding waters would lessen but it still may not save all the Antarctic whales. On the other side the Japanese might be upset by this and may see it as an unfriendly sign which might stop the relationship between them and Australia and may even cause war. It could be difficult for the two countries to regain trust and may take time. It could also be very dangerous for all the boats that would be watching and fining whaling ships because that is a lot like what Sea Shepherd does so there might also be collisions. It probably wouldn't be worth the trouble.

Another solution would be to reduce the legal amount of whales that are allowed to be killed to a much smaller number. Australians would be glad that not as many whales would be hunted and species could be saved. Although this is a possible solution, the Japanese may chose not to obey that rule and whale as many whales as they like. It seems like this idea might be worth trying but Japan may fight in a war against Australia, stopping the trading between them. Even if that didn't happen, it is again like Sea Shepherd, boarding whaling ships.

Whaling is causing species of whales to become endangered and will likely continue until they are extinct unless something more is done about it. It isn't just Japan whaling a lot, Norway and Iceland do it too. I think that whaling should be stopped instantly so that in the future whales will still be around for as long as they possibly can. 

Conclusion

Australia and Japan are trading partners with different cultures though Australia shares some of Japan's. They are very different in population and country size but have a similar life expectancy and per capita income. Even though Japan is in the Northern Hemisphere and Australia is in the Southern, they are still some of the closest neighbours which is a likely reason of how they became trading partners. Although most of the time they work well together, there are things that they don't agree on like the whaling issue though they have still managed to work together after previous problems. I think that the relationship that Australia has with Asian countries is unique because Australia shares some of their culture. Even though Australia didn't have much of a culture it has developed a unique culture of mixing other cultures and will hopefully never let go of this relationship with Japan. 

Leaving St Catherine's?

Students who are leaving St Catherine's at the end of the year (boo hoo!) and are not enrolling elsewhere at another BCE school, you will lose access to your BCE student account (including LIFE, email, MySite and School Portal) after December 31st, 2015.

Bye bye BCE student accounts!

So.... If you are moving on to another Catholic primary school in Brisbane, or a BCE secondary school such as Clairvaux Mackillop or Seton College, then you can relax - you will keep your BCE student account for as long as you are enrolled at that school.

If you are moving on to a State or other independent school such as Villanova, Loreto, St Laurences, All Hallows, Redeemer Lutheran or Lourdes Hill (for example), you will no longer have access to your BCE student account after the last day of 2015. We recommend that once school finishes, you retrieve any files, messages or information currently stored with your BCE accounts that you want to keep, as soon as you can and definitely before December 31st.

You are also advised to change the primary email address on your Apple ID, if it is currently your BCE student email address. You can change the primary email address on the Apple website.

We're sorry to see you go!
Come back anytime, we'll always be here...