English Language Centre

Activites in Semester 2

The ELC students have experienced diverse activities in Semester 2 and they would like to share their wonderful experiences with our school community. The following student articles have displayed their enthusiastic attitudes towards their learning and involvements in all the activities provided from Wantirna College. The students have built up a sense of belonging to our community and more confidence in their learning and living in Australia with great supports from our staff, students and their home stay families.  

Ms Sunyi Song

English Language Centre Coordinator

Singing with the “Beauty and the Beast” cast members

James XIE, Kelly YE and Xin CHEN

On September 13 afternoon, we have a big surprise from Miss Song--- a singing class with the actors who were in the production “Beauty and the beast”. It is the most wonderful experience that we had since we came to Melbourne from our home countries. Before that afternoon，we still felt that everything was strange and unknown since we began our Intensive English Program at the English Language Centre. But after this music lesson, we can feel that we are much closer to local students and know more about Australian school life.

In the afternoon, the sunshine was soft, the air was clean and fragrant. Miss Song suddenly said, “Let’s change the classroom, guys!” We all felt very amazed because teachers told us that we would only have one classroom for the ELC. We were thinking about the reason and were very confused on the way to other classroom. “Will we have exam? Are we going to a playground?” But when we were waiting outside the classroom, we had an answer. When we spotted the actor coming to us, the first thing we thought was they might have just come to a wrong classroom. But they stood behind us and Miss Song told us that “Here we go, they are your music teachers today!” We were really shocked at the start, but after we went inside and had a seat, we were really excited and nervous. By the way，our class had a very high praise for their production, to be honest, it was excellent. With the excitement, we started to introduce ourselves and it may be just our second time communicating with local students. We didn’t know what to say and how to express our feeling. But when we were talking, they always looked at our eyes and listened very carefully. With their respect and encouragement, we gained our confidence. They were kind and out-going . After a while, we became more confident, we shared our thinking and interesting things between our different cultures and the classroom was full of laughing and clapping.

The second part of this lesson was sing a song from the production. The most different thing from normal music class was that we were able to choose a person who we would like to be your singing teacher. We were all a little bit nervous because we really liked their character in the production and we thought they were really cool people. But when we sat together, they started to teach us singing skills and how to catch the tempo. They always told us many jokes to let us feel relaxed. Every time when we did something, they gave us applauses from their eyes. At the beginning, we only sang in a whispering sound until they kept encouraging us all the time. Suddenly, we got a huge power from their praise and showed our work to all the people in classroom group by group. After this part, we felt a joy of success. It’s one of our best memories in our school life.

We enjoyed it very much. Firstly, we learned a new English song which could help us learn English more in depth. Secondly, we made friends with local students. It helps us assimilate into local student life. Thirdly, we knew that not every local student was rude and would look Chinese people down. Most of them were friendly and gentle. They were enthusiastic and lovely. They taught us to learn ‘Beauty and the Beast’.  It was easy for them, but they still taught us patiently. They will not show racism against us. It was a fantastic and unforgettable memory for us.

A Real Mainstream Class Experience

Yingqi (Alex)Wang and Hanyang (William)Cao

On September 21 and 22, our ELC class students had a special experience. It was wonderful to be part of the mainstream class for us to blend in local student class. In the morning, when we came to class as usual, there were some unfamiliar students beside the ELC classroom door. After several seconds, we realized that they would be our buddy to take us to the mainstream class. At first, local students led us to the her Home Group. As they knew that we had little English, they always used some simple sentences to us and tried to understand what we talked about. It was the first time we met, but we got along well.

During Home Group, the teacher talked about parent teacher interviews coming Thursday but we just understood only half of what he talked about and we felt the need of our harder work. After a bell rang, our buddy guided us to the first class, some of us to Photography class, to English and the others to Mathematics. The task their teacher gave us was different from our ELC class. For example, photograph class task was take photos for some street views and class buildings. After we went back to classroom, the teacher told us to make a special effect for the photo using Photoshop. Moreover, in English we could watch some movies and then write your opinion about them. The health class teacher asked us to make a group of 3-4 people to act a small skit and the teacher gave us some examples of school troubles such as school bulling or poison. When students studied a film, they discussed a lot and shared their opinion.

Teachers spoke very fast and I didn't understand a lot but with local students explanation, we understood and finished the class work. During sports class, local students took our hands and taught us how to draw the heart rate. They all talked to us and always laughed with us. At the end of the day, we hugged and hoped we could study together again soon. Time flew while we enjoyed the good company with friendly local students.

Making Chinese Mooncakes and Lunch with Local Students

Shuohang (Ruby) Zhang. Xinxin (Doris) Guo. Peiji (Peggy) Dong.

That day was the most impressive day in Term 3. We made ice skin mooncakes by ourselves for Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival and shared the mooncakes with students who had given us a music class. We were looking forward to the activity for a long time. When we first heard about our activity, we were all amazed. We knew Tina would come to teach us how to make it but we were still a little bit worried about making mooncakes.

We were all excited that day. Although we had lots of things to do on the last day of Term 3, we never felt tired because we knew when we finished all lessons, we would make mooncakes. Not only we could enjoy the fruits of our efforts, but also we could share them with our local friends. When time finally came to make mooncakes, we rushed to the cooking classroom. Though we couldn’t wait to get started, Ms. song told us to wait with patience. After waiting for endless five minutes, Ms. Tina took all ingredients to make mooncakes to the classroom, glutinous rice regiment smooth like ivory, red bean paste and chestnut paste, which made us more appetizing.

With excitement, we began to make mooncakes and the method is simple but not easy. During we made mooncakes together, one group making moon cake skins, other adding fillings to the mooncakes and the other shaping mooncakes; we helped each other and enjoyed this experience. As the old saying goes” Haste makes waste”, we failed a lot of times and we even wanted to give up but finally we finished making in time. Looking at the pile of moon cakes, all of them with beautiful shapes and our love, a kind of unspeakable pride was rising in each of our hearts. We looked at each other and smiled at each other.

Tina and Ms. Song bought some tasty Asian food for us and we started eating when the mainstream students all arrived. Our Home Group captain Gloria shyly greeted our guests and directed them to try our mooncakes. We were a bit shy and felt awkward at first but we tried talking to local students and playing games together. The atmosphere started to get interesting and the local students were patient and listened to what we were talking about. Sometimes they used simple words to let us understand more clearly. It was amazing lunch time for us. We were so pleased to share mooncakes with local students, and we wanted to have some more activities like this in future. It was an unforgettable event and we were looking forward to a restful and meaningful holiday at the end of this enjoyable activity.

City Excursion

Qianhao (Alex) Li, Yingyou (Yoyo) Miao and Shujie Fu

As a wonderful start of Term 4, on a sunny early October 13th morning, our ELC students got together at parliament Station. After getting off a train, there was a fantastic event waiting for us.

First station we visited in the city was the Parliament House. It took a long time and a very strict examination to get in there. We took off all the stuff and placed onto an X-ray machine and the security guards checked us cautiously. When we were in the lobby, the member of the parliament Mr. Wakeling was already in there. We were shocked because of this precious building. Mr. Wakeling told us that the whole building was made of lots of golds, and it has a long history since 1855. He showed us many places in the parliament house. We went to the conference room for MPs, sat on their seats and listened to Mr. Wakeling’s explanation about his job. At that time, We were imagining being a MP and having a meeting with other MPs, it felt so good! Sitting on the real seat for a MP made everything so real. After that, we looked around with Mr. Wakeling who seemed to know every part of the House. We went to the library and unexpectedly saw the old Chinese book written hundred years ago. Not only had these, Mr. Wakeling also told us many speakers in the house and the presidents. When he finished the talk, I also learnt the origin of the Knox. Last place we went to was where the Statue of Queen was placed. The statue was in the middle of that room and there was nothing in that room floor. We took photos with Mr. Wakeling and that was the end of this significant Parliament House visiting.

After a long time walk, the State Library of Victoria was presented to our eyes finally. The structure of the library was gorgeous. It was built into the typical western medieval style. First, the librarian introduced us the history of the State Library of Victoria. After we knew a little about the Library, we went inside. The entrance looked the same as many other libraries but many things surprised us later. We went into the reading rooms and the green colour light and wooden tables were very exquisite. The books around the readers, the unique arrangement made the reader have more passion for reading. State Library of Victoria was different from other libraries. There were not only books but also had an elegant gallery. The pictures in there were real and seemed to tell the history of Australia to us. The newspapers are collected in the form of film and the library supplies the new computers and laser printer to the people. These things showed us that State Library of Victoria does not just retrospect the past but also join many hi-tech modern technologies.

Time passed quickly, at last, we had a visit to Eureka Tower where not only is one of the most famous sightseeing in Australia, but also as a symbol in memory of a rebellion during the gold rush time. It was so lucky that one of us scanned a historical fiction book called The night they stormed-Eureka, we had such a breathtaking chance to see with our own eyes. Thanks to the guide from Eureka Tower, we learnt the cruel amazing history in 19th century. By the way, the reason why Eureka Tower becomes famous is its design and features. According to the friendly guide, the building's gold crown represented the gold rush and a red stripe representing the blood spilt during the revolt. Moreover, what impressed us most was the speed of the lift, it just only took no more than 40 seconds to take people from ground floor to 88th floor. The lift was as fast as thunder, although it was just what we thought. After arriving on the 88th floor, we could not use any words to describe how gorgeous it was, just imagine, the blue sky, the running vehicles and the endless ocean. The magical feeling when someone standing on the 88th floor was that you are as strong as a giant, looking down and observing the charming of the Melbourne. Just like what majority of visitors did, our ELC students viewed quietly and admired by heart, what’s more, part of us took part in the activity called the EDGE.

After having a city excursion at Parliament House, State Library and Eureka Tower, all ELC students expand their horizon, obtaining knowledge about history, policy and even technologies. Although it was ELC student second time to have a city excursion, we still enjoyed no matter how long we walked or how long we took time to get there.

Wild Life Experience - Healesville Sanctuary

Gloria ZHANG, Kikk LE, Peter PENG and ReineNGUYEN

If someone asks us about the most unforgettable experience at Wantirna College, we won’t hesitate to say the day we had a memorable excursion to Healesville Sanctuary. Honestly, needless to say that this is one of the most worthy places in Melbourne.  What a nice weather! It was absolutely perfect for a picnic or an excursion. It took us nearly 1 hour driving to get there. Different from my imagination, an enormous and wild scene hit our eyes, the Healesville Sanctuary!.

It is not like other normal zoos, they do not lock animals in a small area. We learnt that it is a not-for-profit conservation organisation dedicate to fighting wildlife extinction. They help those injured animals get back to wild as well as help those endangered animals to breed.

We met Tasmanian Devils at first and learnt that most Tasmanian Devils are easy to get DFTD that theatens their life. The zookeeper mentioned that Tasmanian Devils almost eat everything, they are the “bush cleaner” in the wild. They can smell the food from a few kilometers away. After that, through the wombat talk, we know that Florence is a 14-year-old female wombat. The zookeeper said they tried several times to release her into the wild, but Florence always went after the person she saw at first. They have no choice but to keep her in the sanctuary. She also doesn’t have any baby, because there’s no male wombat.

While wandering in the Sanctuary, we saw a number of houses made by iron wires. There are many different types of birds living inside.When we walked up to the Pelicans, we saw a zookeeper feeding them small fishes. We asked her if we could have a go, she smiled and passed the fish to us. It was very thrilling to feed Pelicans, you could see their big mouth opened widely, waited for the fish. That scene reminded us of a Chinese documentary which talked about those fishermen in south of China how to fish with a Pelican. It is a really traditional way of fishing, only a few people know it in the present. In addition, we tried to hold a Red-tailed Black Cockatoo. When we held it, we couldn’t look away from its sharp claws because we were afraid that it would heart us. To our surprise, when it walked onto our arm to eat melon seeds, their claws were warm and a little bit soft.

After experiencing many things in the Sanctuary, we all looked so tired and out of energy, Ms Song and Mr Churchward asked us if we wanted to eat ice cream and some chocolate. Suddenly, everyone became so energetic and we all said yes. Then, Mr. Churchward drove us to the chocolate and ice cream factory which is Yarra Valley Chocolateria and Ice Creamery. The small valley was peaceful and pure, we opened the window to feel the wind blow into our bus and the atmosphere was filled with freshness, it really helped us feel better. When we arrived at that factory, we saw many others there to visit as well. We stepped into that place, first thing we did was to try three different types of chocolate. Chocolate was yummy but it was little bit too sweet for us. Their products were very diverse and you can see their chocolate-making process behind a huge glass window. We decided to buy ice cream, there was a long line, we thought that it might take a long time to get our ice-cream but no, they worked professionally, fast and thoughtful so we could have our ice cream quickly. For us, ice-cream there was not expensive because they gave us too much and especially, the quality was fantastic. Ice-cream was fresh and full on thick creamy flavors, each flavor had a clearly taste, these cups of ice-cream made our extremely burning afternoon become cooler a lot.

After the relaxing ice-cream taste, we got into our school bus and went back to school. On the way back, we chatted with each other, discussed about our excursion today talked about what we saw and learnt, some interesting things and more chatting, then we fell asleep. It was an expectant and meaningful excursion. We experienced and discovered many new things which we had never had before. We appreciated Miss Song and Mr. Churchward who created this great opportunity for us; they helped us add more knowledge in our learning way.