Aquaduck and More: Week 5 of PSP+ on the Gold Coast
G’day! Week 5 marked another great week of our July-August 2025 Primary School Preparation Plus (PSP+) program. Filled with lively discussions to creative storytelling, each day brought unique experiences that immersed our students in the vibrant culture and language of Australia and the Gold Coast. This week focused on themes of Australia from food to animals and more. Students participated in various activities including an Aquaduck excursion, following recipes to create chocolate spiders, a Tennis workshop and a picnic at a local park. The week concluded with a visit to Paradise Country where students were able to see some of Australia’s most majestic creatures. It was a week packed with learning, laughter, and memorable moments.
Monday, 11th August 2025:
We started the week by welcoming new faces, spending the first hour getting to know each other, chatting, and sharing smiles. We did ice breaker activities, solved riddles and challenged each other to learn new facts.
The topic for the day was Number Patterns and Australian Geography. We investigated some number word problems and solved some missing numbers in number patterns. In Geography we learnt about the features of Australia’s landscape and discussed what types of animals live here. We then had a quick game of Trivia, with one team winning a small prize. After lunch students did a picture scavenger hunt activity where they had to find items around the school to draw. We finished the day off with some origami and created a jumping frog!
Tuesday, 12th August 2025:
On Tuesday, we started today off with our Literacy and Language activities. The theme for the week was ‘Making Noise’! Students learnt about different ways to describe sound. Students then had to apply their new knowledge by completing in a listening activity. Next, we did a Science lesson where we learnt about how sound passes through molecules. We conducted an experiment using string and paper cups to create a phone. We used different variables to investigate what impacts they had on how well students could hear sound through their string phones. We finished the day off with an adventure on the Aquaduck! Students were able to each have a turn at being captain of the Aquaduck and steer the ship on the broadwater.
Wednesday, 13th August 2025:
Our morning session began with Language and Literacy, focusing on the topic ‘Making Noise!’. We learnt about the famous composer Beethoven and learnt vocabulary related to classical musical instruments. After our break we began our HASS lesson where we discussed first nations musical instruments such as the Bullroarer, Clapsticks, Didjeridu, Gum leaf and Body percussion. After a reading comprehension activity based on First Nations musical instruments we applied our new knowledge to use body percussion to create our own thunderstorm. Our afternoon activity consisted of making some delicious Aussie Treats!
Thursday, 14th August 2025:
On Thursday we started with our Literacy and Language activities, taking turns to read a sentence from our books continuing on with our weekly theme on musical instruments. We read about some children who were planning to put on a show for their parents and what musical instruments they were going to make for the performance. We then had an individual activity where each student raced to match musical instruments to the correct matching word. Some of us struggled with words like bagpipe and accordion which the teacher later played on the screen to show what they sounded like. Once everyone had matched their pictures, we went around the room and practiced saying the names of the instruments. After lunch we were excited for the afternoon tennis activity. We walked together to the tram and caught the tram to the Queens Park tennis courts in Southport where our amazing coach was waiting for us with a huge smile. We started with some tennis drills and then got to hit the balls using both forehand and backhand techniques over the net. It was the most fun, we loved running around the tennis court and got lots of great pictures.
Friday, 15th August 2025:
Today was sadly our last day at school. We started the morning with a small test to remember vocabulary from yesterday’s musical instruments. We then finished our language and literacy chapter and practiced speaking about our favourite subjects at school, during this time the teacher explained how we can have a conversation where we disagree with the other person about something we believe to be true and this was also shown in the video we watched from the language book. Before lunch in pairs we decided if we wanted to make a guitar or a drum and the class started crafting and creating their musical instruments. After lunch in the courtyard, we played heads down thumbs up, musical chairs and some memory games, then we finished the day by packing all our books and creations into our bags and had pizza and our chocolate spiders for our end of holiday program party. Everyone had a lot of fun, and we said goodbye at the end to those students who were not joining us for the Saturday excursion.
Saturday, 16th August 2025:
On Saturday, we had such an exciting day at Paradise Country. We saw so many amazing Australian animals, starting with the cuddly koalas, who were resting in the gum trees. The kangaroos were super friendly, and we even got to feed them right from our hands! We spotted some cheeky dingos sunbaking, but they didn’t have much energy.
We got to feed the beautiful lorikeets that were very hungry, and we patted the Shetland pony. We tried to pat the donkey also, but he started making lots of noise and we got a little scared. Everyone had big smiles, took lots of photos, and learned so much about Australian wildlife. It was the perfect adventure filled with laughter, and lots of animal fun!
We had a busy fun filled and learning centered week, finished with a great Saturday activity. Everyone waved goodbye and we were sad to see the students leave.
Since 2003, BROWNS English Language School has delivered world-class English Language training to international students from around the world. More than 35,000 students from more than 100 nationalities have completed a BROWNS program, making BROWNS one of the leading private ELICOS providers in Australia for adults and young learners.
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