TALKING ABOUT THE WEATHER: New kindergarten teacher Marisel Blefari takes Mount Beauty four year old kindergarten students through a talking and writing session about the weather in the Upper Kiewa.
Teacher happy to have made move from Argentina
Written by Alex Craig.
It is a long way from Argentina to Victoria’s North East, but Marisel Blefari has made the transition without too much fuss.
Ms Blefari arrived in Australia with her family three months ago, and picked up the position at the Mount Beauty Kindergarten shortly after.
The position was left vacant suddenly when teacher Elene Wood was forced to leave due to ill health.
Ms Blefari is fully bilingual in English and Spanish, and has been teaching bilingual kindergarten in Argentina for 20 years.
She is qualified to teach and care for children from birth to five years.
Her English language skills are a result of her sojourn in Australia between the ages of 5 and 16 when her family moved here for a period.
The family came to the North East because Ms Blefari’s brother lives in Bright.
"We decided to leave Argentina because it has become a very dangerous place to live," Ms Blefari said.
"My husband and I have an 8 year old and a 14 year old, and we were constantly worried about their safety.
"Here the children can walk around town and go to the store; we couldn’t do that in Argentina.
"Also we wanted to open our children’s minds to new experiences and put them in touch with another culture."
Ms Blefari said that North East Victoria is a safe and beautiful place, and has a similar climate to Argentina, though a bit colder than she is used to.
"The people have been very welcoming and friendly, and the parents and kindergarten committee have been very supportive."
The organisation and structure of preschool education is a little different from what she is used to, but the students are similar.
"Children are children the world over," she said.
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