Zoo Trip

On February 19th, 2015, we went to the Auckland Zoo. We were able to view a range of the animals and thought about how these animals were in captivity and what had the zoo done to try to make the creatures feel like they were in an environment similar to that of its native home.

We heard that in the 1950's the zoo once kept 15 lions in a small concrete enclosure and there also used to be elephant rides all day. Another thing that used to happen was that they had trained chimpanzees that would be dressed up and pretend to be humans by drinking tea and even smoking cigarettes!!

This will now help us learn more about wild animals, animals in captivity and humans roles and responsibilities when taking animal rights into account.

When it comes to this earth we need to ask ourselves, whose home is this?

What is democracy?

We have watched this video in class and taken some notes about it's main points. For this task you must answer these questions in a clear and sensible way. Try to explain your thoughts in detail, so that any reader can understand your points.

1. What do you think the children in this clip are saying about democracy?

2. What is your personal reaction towards the children's ideas?

3. How does democracy apply in your life?

Rich Task - Taking Culture

We have been looking at heritage over the past term, and looking at the fertile question; My heritage, their heritage, our heritage - whose future?

In many instances in the world, one culture can dominate and take over another culture. In some cases in history people have been forced into a culture different than their own, such as Australia's 'Stolen Generation' and even when the Europeans first arrived in New Zealand a lot of them aimed to change the Maori into 'civilised' people by forcing their religions and beliefs onto the Maori.

My question to you is;


Is it right for one culture to be taken over by another?


I look forward to reading your thoughtful comments and please remember to justify your ideas.

Anti- Whaling

Last week we discussed the issue of Japanese whale ships in the Southern Ocean and their hunt to kill whales for 'scientific reasons'. Now, although it has been proven that whale meat does in fact make its way to Japanese markets, these ships still hunt and kill whales.



Since we spoke about it a New Zealand protester boarded one of the Japanese ships as part of his protest. He is now in Japanese custody as a prisoner, because he broke laws and trespassed onto the boat. He is now being called a 'pirate' due to what he has done.

For this post you have a few things to do. Answer the questions below after reading the article here.

What do you think of whaling in the Antarctic? Is it OK or not?
Is it fair that the New Zealand protester Pete Bethune is being held as a prisoner?
What should happen next?

YOU MUST also make a comment on something someone else said. For example: I agree with Johnny when he said ... OR Johnny I would like to ask you about what you said when ...

Keep up the awesome work Room 18, and we are looking forward to hearing about your ideas.