New Unit of Inquiry getting started

This week saw the introduction of our next Unit of Inquiry - Art mirrors life

As part of our unit we will be visting art galleries around town and have artist and presenters come into us to talk about what they do.




We have a trip planned to go to the Asia Foundation to look at the work by Phe Sophon.

He will speak to the class about what influences him in his creations. His work is about everyday life in Phnom Penh and uses a style that is simple yet very intricately patterned.

Today we had Marty Sharples talk to the grade 4 children about film making. He shared parts of his documentry he produced called "Cyclo Diaries" - 30 days in a cyclo from Hanoi to Saigon.

It is a humorous and irreverent documentary about a month long journey by cyclo (Vietnamese Rickshaw) from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) by two Australians. The film documents a unique and extremely physically demanding cycling odyssey along Vietnam’s infamous Highway 1, often regarded as the most dangerous highway in the world. 

The film documents the slow physical deterioration of both cyclo drivers and equipment due to extreme weather, terrain, traffic, and general Vietnamese chaos over the course of the month. 





The cyclo has traditionally been used to transport people and goods in flat, urban environments. It’s inappropriateness for a 1800km cross-country trip on Vietnam’s mountainous roads soon becomes evident in the film. 
The gritty, action-packed film contains a number of cyclo crashes (and subsequent rehabilitation), plenty of interaction with both urban and remote Vietnamese communities and stunning vistas of Vietnamese landscapes. 

The trip raised more than $20,000 for KOTO (Know One Teach One) a Hanoi-based organisation providing vocational and personal support to disadvantaged children in Vietnam.