International Students
It's a Bake-Off!
The Homestay Bake-Off competition, organized by International Education Division, is back due to popular demand! Our International students Henry HOU and Mike CAI joined their homestay family and created a wonderful Western desert to impress the audience. To Henry and Mike, it’s a great opportunity for them to bond with their home host family, to have some fun, to learn how to bake, and to relax at the weekend!
Chocolate mousse cake
Ingredients: Black and white chocolate, oreo, cream, gelatine leaves and cocoa powder
Host family Craig and Lisa Jones and Chloe Jin with Harry Hou.
Mike Cai bakes a delicious carrot cake with his host family
DSC Short Story Winner
In the last edition of the College Newsletter, we announced the winners of the DSC Annual Short Story Competition. A big congratulations to Year 8 EAL student, Nicole LI, for her winning entry. Nicole has kindly allowed us to share her story here.
Skodel Check-In Pilot Program
Our school has been selected to take part in the Skodel Check-In Pilot Program which is a DET initiative. Skodel is an online product which allows schools to regularly check in with their international students to see how they are feeling by completing an online check-in. Student mental health and wellbeing is very important to schools and DET. The results of the check-in will assist the International Student Coordinator and the Well-being staff at the school in monitoring student wellbeing and engagement and identify any areas where additional support is needed.
Recently I attended the training session for Skodel Check-In Pilot Program initiated by DET. It’s really good know that it’s super easy for students to use. It gives students an opportunity to privately share what matters to them with school staff. They will be sent short online check-ins (via email or mobile app) that take 30 seconds to complete. By using emojis, students respond to questions regarding their wellbeing. Skodel also provides 3 translated versions which are Mandarin, Vietnamese and Khmer. This feature is very beneficial to our international students as most of our participants are Chinese. The data from Skodel is provided to the school and allows for early intervention for students at risk. More importantly, it is also a tool for students to provide positive feedback to teachers and celebrate achievements.
Please find attached a Student's Guide to Skodel.
Sally Huang
Director of International Student Program
Homework Club
The 4th and 5th Homework Club sessions were run online as usual. 5 students from Y10 and Y11 attended the Club. In the 4th session they talked about Holidays, such as:
- What was your favourite holiday?
- Why do you like it?
- What did you eat and drink on this day?
- Where did you spend it?
- What is your holiday plan for the coming holiday?
They had another topic about their room in their homestay. They talked about which direction their room faces; if their room is tidy and what their ideal room looks like.
In the 5th Session, they went on with the topic of Holidays. This time they talked about how they spent the past school holiday.
Students talked about their holiday around “where”, “with whom” and “how long for" questions. They watched a video on how to talk about holidays with more adjectives and describing words instead of using general words such as: nice/good... Eg. using picturesque/sleepy/fascinating/touristy/stunning/out-of-the-world to describe something they saw during the holidays. Student presented their own sentences through chat.
Students shared their opinions and ideas. I also helped some students with their homework.
Tara Fang
International Student Program Assistant