International students

What's your dream job?: Year 10 virtual careers experience

By Mary Liao, 

International Student Program Assistant

With many workplaces observing the government’s 'working from home' direction, some of our year 10 students were not able to complete their work experience placement onsite. 

As a result, a Virtual Careers Experience program was organised for students during the last week of Term 2. 

Students had the chance to dress-up in their dream job outfits. They share their reflections below about their future career aspirations.

William W's dream job:  Graphic designer 

Have you ever wondered who designs logos for companies, games, the poster on the street or even some really cool image you saw on Instagram? That's what graphic designers do.

Graphic designers create images and logos that express ideas to certain target markets or try to tell people things in small pictures. It's not hard to be a graphic designer as long as you are creative, willing to express your ideas and feelings in a graphic, and learn some editing techniques. 

Gloria G's dream job: Architect

I want to become an architect after finishing university. Architects help clients visualise their dream house. Also, it is an interesting process to design a building.   

Chloe W's dream job: Psychologist

My dream job is to be a psychologist. Psychology is based on communication and problem-solving. At the same time, helping others is the starting point of doing the job. The importance of having good mental health drives me to study hard and want to become a psychologist. Many people suffer from poor mental health, and as a society we need to pay more attention to this.         

My experience as a homestay host

By Ms Angie NG

I have two wonderful Malaysian homestay students living in our house, called Siewling and Suey. They both attend Doncaster Secondary College, where Suey is currently studying year 11 and Siewling is studying year 10.

Our household provides a multicultural experience, as we celebrate both Australian and Chinese traditions and cook a mix of western and Asian cuisine. As such, our homestay students can feel a sense of familiarity with their own culture (as they have a Chinese background) whilst being able to experience a new one.  

This year poses challenges for homestay students and their families overseas due to the outbreaks of COVID-19. Both students and their parents overseas are not sure about whether the students should stay in Australia or go back to their own country. 

As a homestay family, I believe it is very important for us to be positive and supportive during these turbulent times. During the lockdown period, I have had many conversations with their parents to explain the situation and to ease any worries they may have about their daughters’ safety in Australia. 

Though the girls and my kids are mostly staying home during remote learning and avoiding going to public areas unless necessarily, we've still had fun through DIY pizza nights and hot pot dinners to celebrate birthdays. Amazingly we celebrated three birthdays in April including Siewling’s! Also, both girls enjoy playing badminton with my kids in the courtyard in front of our house. Luckily for us, Suey and Siewling are very positive and upbeat towards the whole situation.  Support from Sally’s international student program team has helped us greatly too.

I believe that both Suey and Siewling have mingled into our family amazingly.  

We all enjoy general conversation about our daily lives and events during mealtimes, which is very important in our household as it is considered important family time. 

Ultimately, the experience of hosting homestays is a very enjoyable and beneficial one, both for the students and for the family.     

Saying 'thank you'

Recently we asked all international students who live with homestays to bring a gift bag home with them, as a way to thank their family on behalf of Doncaster Secondary College for their extra efforts and support during remote learning.

This gift bags were well received, and families sent their thanks via email, text and phone calls.

Homestay Ms Ng said, "I am flattered to have received such a lovely gift bag from the school.  I would like to thank you and the school for this warm and generous present. Thank you for your thoughtfulness. It means a lot to all of us."