Here is a recount from Darshi (Room 21) on her recent MOTAT trip with her class:

As I walked into Room 21, I felt a mingled feeling of nervousness and excitement. I was nervous because today was our MOTAT trip and we were going to be in groups of about five or six. I didn’t want to end up in an all-boys group! Then, when I was hanging my bag up, Lincoln said to me, “You have the best MOTAT group.” I felt kind of relieved. I looked at the board that showed the groups. I was with Siyara, Miles, Enyu, and Curtis. Then the bell rang. Mrs King did the roll and after a little bit of talking it was finally time to go.

The classes going to MOTAT all sat in the lunch eating area while the teachers told us some stuff about our trip. After what felt like forever, it was time to go on the bus. There were multiple buses - one bus couldn’t hold all the children going to MOTAT! Me and the rest of Room 21, plus some people from the other classes, got onto the bus. The trip to MOTAT was long, but there were lots of sights to see outside. Soon it was time to get off the bus. I was so excited! When we were in our lines, Ryan said, “Why does that say TATOM?” He was obviously talking about the MOTAT sign. “No, it says MOTAT, not TATOM,” said another person. Then one of the MOTAT workers called Ashley said we were starting our trip. She led us to a thing that kind of looked like a huge tent. “This is the Meeting Area,” said Ashley. “You can eat morning tea here.” 

A bit later it was time to explore MOTAT with our groups. Our group (Miles, me, Siyara, Curtis, Enyu) and our parent helper, Curtis’s mum, looked at the map. For about forty-five minutes we checked out the different places. There was an olden day school. We were reading a board listing the school etiquette. Apparently you weren’t allowed to speak Maori or write with your left hand. And naughty children would get slapped with a cane! Then after a bit of searching we found the Printing Press. There were no computers or iPads or laptops in the olden days so you had to type using a typewriter to write. We saw the first printers, which looked very different to modern day ones. Then we moved on.

Next we came to another building all about communication. There were telephones that people used a long time ago. You could have conversations with your friend across the room! There was also a J-Key. It had four coloured buttons and a joystick in the centre. You could move the joystick and hit the buttons in a different order to type letters. We each tried to write our names with it. I was unsuccessful on my first try, but I managed to get the hang of it. Somehow I put a capital ‘R’ in my name instead of a lowercase one. Then our group came to a dark place. There were video games to play there, including a game in which you race a snail! I really liked that building. After a while it was time for our lesson. All of Room 21 sat down in one of the MOTAT classrooms. Various items were perched on some tables around the room. One table had inventions that were all invented by New Zealanders. Surprisingly, there was Lego on that table. Another table had quills on it that Ashley said were goose feathers. I was eager to try quill writing! I used a typewriter too. It wrote in cursive. I had just finished my quill writing when Ashley said the lesson was over.

We played for a bit and went on a slide which was supposed to teach us about friction, but really, I think most of Room 21 just did it for the fun. Then we went to the Meeting Area and had lunch. The Meeting Area was covered in bird droppings. Some sparrows came in searching for food - and somebody’s lunchbox was open! When lunch was over our group went to the communication building again and spent roughly twenty minutes there before we had to go for our tram ride. There were other passengers on the tram too, so we were all a bit squished. We stopped for a photo, and then we headed back to MOTAT. Believe it or not, but it was already time to get on the bus and go back to school! 

On the bus, me, Siyara, and Christina were having trouble deciding where to sit. In the end Siyara sat with Christina and I sat with Curtis’s mum. I was sad that we were going home. I really enjoyed MOTAT and I hope we go there again!

Written by Darshi Subramanian

Room 21