"Cities Around the World"

By Mary Ellen Dallman



 
 


Exploring Sydney

 

and Reggio Emilia
 

 
 
 

Sydney, Australia


Interesting Facts About Sydney
Sydney, Australia, is capital of the state of New South Wales, and home to over 3,700,000 people.  Located on Australia's southeastern coast, Sydney is the country's largest city.   The strategic location of Sydney's harbor made it a historic center of shipping.  The areas historic charm has been preserved, and the view across Sydney Cove and toward The Rocks offers a beautiful backdrop for the Sydney Opera House.  Sydney remains one of the most important ports in the South Pacific and commercial ships litter the harbour's water. 
Most of the 18 million Australians live near the coast and about 40% of the country live in Sydney (3.7 million) and Melbourne (3.2 million). 
If you are interested in a superb travel guide for Sydney, consider the one published by The National Geographic.  You'll savor the photographs and find the guide to hotels, restaurants, entertainment, and shopping candid and helpful.
Australia is home the Whole Language Movement.  Schools throughout Australia use its literature-based focus to promote literacy and promote a balanced approach to the teaching of reading and language arts.  The website for the National Council of Teachers of English  (NCTE) hosts the Whole Language Umbrella (WHU).  The International Reading Association (IRA) home page offers members and guests a number of articles examining reading pedagogy, including the whole language method.

 
 

Reggio Emilia, Italy

Geographical Information about Reggio Emilia
 
Reggio Emilia, is the capital of the Reggio nell’Emilia province in northern Italy. Founded in the second century B.C., Reggio Emilia is an important agricultural and commercial center. The city 's social life is centered around the town's piazza, with its turreted buildings and cobblestone streets.  One of the region's main agricultural products, Reggio Parmesan cheese, is exported throughout the world from the Reggio Province. 
Interesting Facts About Reggio Emilia's
Commitment to Early Care and Education
 
Early childhood educators from all over the world travel to Reggio Emilia, Italy, to visit and study this community’s unique approach to early care and education.  This city of 130,000 directly operates nineteen preschools (“scuole dell’infanzia”) and thirteen infant-toddler centers (“nidi”), serving nearly 95% of the city’s children from ages 3-6 and 30% of children from 3 months to 3 years of age.
The schools of Reggio Emilia are remarkably beautiful, yet uniquely indicative of the neighborhoods in which they are located.  The Reggio Emilia Approach (REA) offers early childhood educators challenges and inspiration to think differently about the school and classroom environment, temporally, physically and aesthetically.   It asks us to reexamine the teacher’s roles, moving from hierarchical relationships to collaborative, cooperative, reflective, and reciprocal relationships among parents, children and teachers.  Project work characterizes this emergent curriculum, with careful documentation chronicling the learning process.  In the schools of Reggio Emilia, parents are equal partners and welcome contributors to all facets of the school.
The people of Reggio Emilia share their commitment to the children of their community by creating, sustaining and sending The Hundred Languages of Children Exhibit around the world.  The exhibit documents the Reggio Emilia Approach to early childhood education and displays original work by children, documentation of the children’s learning (photographs and transcriptions of children's dialogues), and accounts of the reflections of teachers.

 
 
 
 
Below you will find a bar graph comparing recent temperatures in Sydney, in the southern hempishere, with Reggio Emilia, in the northern hemisphere.
To see today's temperatures, visit AccuWeather.com.




 
 
 
 
 

medallma@valdosta.edu

M E Dallman's Hub Page

 VSU Preservice teachers' websites