WELC Report

Message from the WELC Coordinator

- Ms. Carmela Santucci

The Language Centre held its Parent/Teacher interviews on Tuesday 13th of November. As always, the evening was well attended by families. During their time in the New Arrivals Program students work very hard to improve their language skills and to familiarise themselves with schools in the Australian educational system.

WELC is fortunate to be placed on site of a secondary college. From their first day of enrolment, Language Centre students are exposed to a secondary school setting. Westall Secondary College’s values, learning behaviours and high expectations are reflected in the Language Centre. WELC students are included in the Westall community and are expected to participate in College life as active members. This includes the wearing of uniform, class attendance and upholding respect for their learning and the learning of others. I am proud of the attitude and effort students have made in their learning and Parent/Teacher interviews is the opportunity for sharing this with families.

Ms. Carmela Santucci

WELC Excursion to Sovereign Hill

We visited Sovereign Hill, Ballarat which is a place where thousands of people came from around the world to find gold to make their life better. On Monday, 5th November we went there to discover what life was like in 1850s during the Gold Rush. We went there on two coaches that took about two hours to get there.

When we arrived there we went to meet a teacher and went inside a classroom which had a lot of things from 1850s that the students used to use during that time. She also chose Louis and Mioftu to dress up in costumes worn by rich people during the 1850s. After that, we went on a gold mine tour to The Secret Chamber by tram. While on the tram, we weren’t allowed to speak but needed to be very quiet so the driver could hear if anyone had a problem and needed help. When we were going down, we felt scared because it was very dark and we couldn’t see anything for a few minutes while the tram took us down to the mine. When we reached the bottom of the mine, we walked through tunnels lit by candlelight. Before we got to the Secret Chamber, we learned how the diggers got up to the top in an elevator. After that, we went to watch a story about two Chinese brothers who were sent to Ballarat by their father in 1850s in search of gold. Then we got out and had lunch together.

At 1:00 pm, we went to see a gold pour demonstration. The blacksmith who melted the gold was very funny. He taught us how the gold bar was made and he chose Brian (lucky guy), to come to the front and hold that gold and he said that it was heavy. After that we went to see the Chinese camp where the diggers lived during the Gold Rush years. The place looked very uncomfortable because they lived in tents and the space was so small and had only a few things in there. We also saw a Chinese temple, a shop and a chemist.

Before we left Ballarat, we had a go at panning for gold at the creek. There were so many people looking for gold. I tried panning for gold too, but I didn’t find anything. However, my classmates My and William found specks of gold. Finally, at 2:15 pm we went back to school.

Overall, we really enjoyed what we saw and learned because we got to see a lot of new things and learn how hard life was in 1850s.

Kimleang (Group 2)

On 05/11/2018, we went to the Sovereign Hill, I saw many interesting things. First, I went down the underground to learn about how the gold was found. Although it was very cold in there, I learnt a lot of knowledge. Second, I watched how to make candies! Because I very liked eating candies, I was very interested in this. After they finished, they shared candies with us, it was very delicious! Next, I watched how to make gold, the maker put the gold in the fire. When the gold had enough heat, he used the tool to hit it, then he picked it from the fire and poured cold water on it. The gold was finished! He give it to a child because he wanted people to feel what the gold weight is. The child tried his best to hold the gold up, it was really heavy! The last activity was a historical lesson, a gentleman was our teacher, he was very interesting. He told us a lot of history about Australian clothes. Not only that, he let my classmates to wear the clothes! They looked very funny, but bring a lot of happiness to us! This was a very meaningful activity ,I will never forget

Guangxu S (Group 1)

On 5/11/2018, we went to the Sovereign Hill. There were lots of interesting things in here. The most interesting one for me was the movie of the two brother who came from China. In the ancient time, when their father heard about The Sovereign, he told to his two sons that there are great opportunity in here. Therefore, they stared to find gold and their mother gave a talisman to the order brother since she hoped that her son can find gold and can back to china successfully. When they came to Australia, they spend a long time on the road. Finally, they arrived the Sovereign Hill. In fact, everything for them were terrible. They were very poor and no money supported them to live in here. Even though they found less gold and could live in here, there were some people did not like Chinese and they attacked the cottage of Chinese. Although they met lots of problems, they never give up. Eventually, they found a big gold mine.  They were very happy and cried at that time. However, the gold mine collapsed and the older brother died. In the end, the younger brother had married and he had two sons. It was a sad story.

There are some interesting things too. Such as finding gold in small river, watching the process of make candy and the school.

Jinrong Z (Group 1)