Picnic to GOMA(the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art)

Recently students went on an excursion to GOMA, the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art. The current exhibition’s title is ‘21st Century: Art in the First Decade’. The visit was a great ‘hit’ with the students as the art works and installations were interactive, quirky and very engaging. We were fortunate to have a very good guide who explained some of the mysteries of the art pieces and enabled yet another opportunity for the students to listen, ask questions and practice their English in a fascinating and enriching environment.
Elea

Students gather in  front of the recycled "Plastic Bags" sculpture at GOMA.

“I had a wonderful afternoon with my teachers and my classmates. I really loved GOMA it’s a beautiful and interesting place to visit. ‘Plastic Bags’ by Pascale Marthine Tayou is a beautiful big sculpture composed of many plastic bags of different colours. I really loved this day. I think it is good when a school offers different activities to do. I enjoyed it a lot.” Thanks.
- Monalisa.

Angelica and Monalisa are reading the wishes they have selected from the 'Wish Wall'.

Excerpts from the students’ essays:

“Our excursion to GOMA was great. I had never been to a gallery of modern art before so this trip was my first time. The arts displayed here are different and on first impression seemed a little crazy, you need a few minutes to think about them and then you can understand what the artist wants to say in their work. The ‘Wish Wall’ is about desires, and I got two wrist bands. One was about saving the animals of the planet - this is my desire.”  - Caroline.

Una and Roberto share their wishes....may they come true!

“Goma was both funny and interesting; every room had something special to look at. The display I liked the most was the ‘Wall of Wishes’. The wall can help people become aware of their own dream, and everyone needs to find the dream of their heart.” - Paula

Students look at the 'Spiral Slide' sculpture. It's an interactive installation you can slide down.

“I really liked going to the Gallery of Modern Art so very much. It was an amazing experience. There were so many interesting art pieces and we could interact with some of them. For me the most interesting art piece was the ‘Soul Under the Moon’ by Yayoi Kusama. It’s a dark room with a lot of little balls of different colors. There’s also many mirrors on the walls and ceilings so you have the feeling that there are infinite halls.” - Pedro.

“In my opinion the excursion was very good because the group could see a lot of different sculptures, pictures and modern art works. Also we could practice our English in a different environment other than the college, so it was great.”  - Sebastian.

Sebastian and Juan are about to slide down the 'Spiral Slide' sculpture.

“I’d never been to this gallery before and I had always thought Galleries might be boring. In the past I’ve never understood modern art, but this gallery changed my mind.  I found almost everything interesting. Who could imagine that a gallery would have a sculpture slide, a wish wall and a Lego place? From ‘Here to Ear’ was the most interesting for me. All these little birds flying around the room. Who could believe that birds could live like that? The art piece was constructed so that when the birds landed on the coat-hangers they made music. I loved it! This gallery is very special; you can interact with some of the art pieces. I will be recommending this gallery to my friends.” - Una

Pedro, Ana Maria, Angelica and Sebastian love the 'From Here to Ear' installation

- tiny finches fly freely around this room just above their heads.

“When I arrived at Goma I thought it would be boring but I was totally wrong! The exhibition is about art in the first decade of the 21st century and it’s showing contemporary art in a different way. For instance, ‘From Here to Ear’ (by Celeste Boursier- Mougenot from France) was a room full of coat hangers where little birds could live and make their nests. It felt like the perfect equilibrium between nature and art. This room made me feel happy. I really enjoyed visiting GOMA because I got to experience a new and different perspective about art and it changed my mind about art galleries being boring.”  - Angelica.

Marilia and Una are amazed at the elephant sculpture, it's so life-like.

[Student's Essay] Parliament House

Beautiful! is one word which can describe Brisbane Parliament house, the architecture and the perfect combination of colours and furniture makes this place a flash back to the past.
From the exact moment you see the building, you know it is special and excellent place to learn. So many times I have walked in front of it, but I never imagined it would be a gorgeous site full of interesting stories.

When you are inside is just amazing. Our tour started in the red carpet area near the grand staircase, it is just stunning! Parliament house was constructed a long time ago but it has suffered a series of rebuilding and changes in the architecture. Despite that, there are some parts and sites thatare original. 

The tour included a visit to two different rooms. One of them is for writing and discussing some of the ideas and programs to start. The other one is used for when Parliament is sitting to discuss the laws, taxes, etc.

I loved the moment when I stood face to face with Queen Victoria. It is a huge lead light window and her picture was beautiful. She is the Queen and I am the princess! I am famous in Australian history.

At the end of our excursion we had a nice conversation with the Parliament house guide who told us a few  interesting stories about ghosts. If you are brave you can have a tour at night and maybe the ghost will come and say hello to you. Another good story is about the tourists who go to take photographs on the stairs and the guards tell them stairs came from the Titanic ship! And then the tourists want to take more and more photographs.

I really enjoyed this excursion. I would like to have more of this kind of activities. I feel I that it really helped me to improve my English skills in a real world environment

From Victoria

IELTS preparation class

Spring on New Farm Park!

Upper-intermediate class went for an excursion to New Farm Park.

It's very nice place to visit at the moment! Why don't you go out this weekend!!

                                      We travelled by City Cat which was fast and fun.

                                    Look at the beautiful roses!!! Now we are in Spring!!

We loved the roses at New Farm park and every rose has a name eg Duet or Golden Dusk and Elea helped us understand the different meanings to the words.
       * Duet- a pink and white rose : two people singing in harmony.
       * Golden Dusk a yellow rose : sunset in the evening.

These all photos from our student Vanessa Aquino

22nd September 2010