International Students

Kyle TE's Outstanding Speech at the 2024 Australian International Education Conference (AIEC)

The 2024 Australian International Education Conference took place in October in Melbourne, drawing nearly 2,000 international education professionals from around the globe.

We are incredibly proud that our Year 10 international student, Kyle TE, was selected as the student speaker representing the Australian Government school sector. This year marked the first time the high school education sector was part of the opening and welcome speeches at this prestigious event.

On Wednesday, 23 October 2024, Kyle, proudly wearing our school uniform, took the stage after an introduction by renowned MC, Stan Grant. In his exceptional welcome speech, Kyle shared his personal journey with the audience, representing the Australian Government school sector with great poise and confidence. It was an incredibly proud moment!

Following his address, Deputy Premier of Victoria, Ben Carroll, personally congratulated Kyle and me, and the Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, Tim Watts, commended Kyle, calling him an “amazing international student.”

Throughout the morning tea, numerous delegates approached Kyle, expressing their admiration and calling his speech the “highlight of the day.”

Kyle’s participation in this event was an exceptional opportunity to highlight our school and showcase the achievements of our International Student Program.

Please find Kyle’s reflection below: 

The 2024 Australian International Education Conference (AIEC) was an incredible experience where I had the privilege of opening the event with a speech about my journey and insights as an international student in Melbourne. Addressing such a diverse audience of educators, policymakers, and prospective students was an honor, and I knew my role in setting the tone for the conference was important.

Preparing for the speech offered me a chance to think deeply about what makes Melbourne unique. Initially, I thought writing the script would be the hardest part; being new to this, I expected it to take weeks. However, with the dedicated support of Ms. Huang, my international student coordinator, I finished the draft within days. Mr. Matthew Flemming from IED even praised it as "excellent," which felt incredibly rewarding.

As it turned out, delivering the speech was much more challenging than writing it. The practical instructions—chin up, back straight, and speak clearly—were difficult to execute, especially before an audience of thousands. The real challenge came in memorizing every word of the 500-word script by heart, but thanks to the Term 3 holiday break, I had plenty of time to prepare.

When the moment arrived, and Ms. Huang gave me a nudge to step forward, I was filled with nerves but also a sense of purpose. Sharing the stage with another student speaker, I had a moment to compose myself before beginning. Standing there, I realized this wasn’t just about me or my school; I was speaking on behalf of all government school international students across Australia. With renewed confidence, I delivered my speech with pride.

Returning to my seat, I heard the reassuring words, "That was great, Kyle." At first, I wasn’t sure if people were just being polite, but soon it became clear that my speech had resonated with the audience. Deputy Premier Ben Carroll’s kind words and acknowledgment of my presence added to the surreal nature of the experience, and when he shook my hand, it felt like a culmination of all my hard work.

The feedback I received afterward was overwhelming. Several attendees shared that my speech was the highlight of the day, and even the entire conference, leaving me feeling immensely proud. Reflecting on the entire process—from drafting and practicing the speech to presenting it before such a prestigious audience—taught me the value of stepping out of my comfort zone. Learning to write, prepare, and confidently deliver a speech was empowering, and representing government school international students was a responsibility I took seriously.

In hindsight, I am immensely grateful to Ms. Huang, who practiced with me daily and was my constant source of encouragement. Special thanks also go to Ms. Belinda McGee, our Assistant Principal, for her feedback during my lunchtime practice sessions. I’m grateful to my homestay family, who listened to my speech countless times, and to Ms. Fields, who coordinated with IED and arranged additional coaching sessions. Lastly, my heartfelt thanks to Victoria IED and the AIEC organizing committee for giving me this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

In the future, if someone asked if I would do it all over again, my answer would be yes—1000%.

Attached below is Kyle’s speech.

Sally  Huang (黄老师）

Director of International Student Program

（国际学生部主管）

Doncaster Secondary College

Reading Program

In Term 4 of this year, our reading program has been booming, thanks to the support from the EAL team. We have been working together to assist our international students who are struggling with English in both ELC and EAL classes. English teachers provide the learning materials, which are used in class. Our international team follows the teachers’ lesson plans on Compass and conducts extra reading sessions during recess, lunchtime, and after school.

Currently, we are reading the story Crash in the Jungle. We ensure students understand the text, pronounce words accurately, and read sentences fluently. We use the ELC’s learning tasks to check their comprehension of vocabulary from the story, understand the content, and respond to questions based on the tasks.

For example, we used Pre-reading activity from Compass, students are asked to explain the meaning of words such as forest, rainforest, tropical rainforest, jungle, and continent in their own words. Sometimes, we use tasks they have already completed in class to reinforce their learning or introduce tasks they haven't done yet to prepare them for the next class.

An EAL teacher recently shared that she is pleased with the progress of a student who has been attending our reading program since his arrival at the school. He is now able to answer the English teacher’s questions with confidence.

We hope our international students keep it up and fully engage in the reading program. With the school's commitment to supporting students’ education and academic performance, we believe they will achieve their best at Doncaster Secondary College. Keep striving, and you can go far. 加油! (Pinyin: jiayou; literally means "add oil" in Chinese, which translates to "keep going" or "stay strong" in English.)

Ning Hong

International student program assistant

International Students Maths Mentoring Program: Term 4 Success

In Term 4, the International Students Maths Mentoring Program has been an invaluable source of academic support for international students, fostering growth in their mathematics skills. Congratulations to our dedicated Maths Mentors, Elly TE, Peter XUE, and Kyle TE, for their exceptional work organizing sessions to support their peers. Their dedication and leadership have played a key role in the program’s continued success.

Mentor Report: 

Over the last few sessions, we designed a variety of maths games and question sheets to understand and support students’ progress. We also had discussions with each student, exploring both areas where we could improve and the topics in maths that they are interested in. These helped us prepare ideas for next year and gave us valuable insights into their learning journeys. It has been rewarding to see their confidence, engagement, and skills grow over time. We’re so proud of everyone’s achievements this year and look forward to continuing this journey together. We wish to see them again next year! -Elly TE

The Math Mentoring Program has been a success in my book, even with a few hiccups along the way. I've noticed that my peers have gained a better understanding of math and seem more interested in the subject. During our sessions, we mix things up with different math games and activities. I always do my best to answer any questions they have, and if I run into something I can't explain, I get another mentor to step in. I think my support has made a difference by creating a space where students feel comfortable asking questions and more confident tackling tough problems. -Kyle TE

Reflecting on my math mentoring sessions, I saw how my personalized support helped my students learn better. By creating a friendly environment, they felt comfortable exploring difficult concepts. I often used real-world examples to make abstract ideas easier to understand. Encouraging them to share their thought processes allowed me to adjust my explanations to fit their needs. This focus on problem-solving instead of memorization deepened their understanding and greatly increased their confidence in tackling tough math problems. -Peter XUE

Mentee Reflection:

I enjoyed playing games with my fellas the best, I learned fastest is not the best and arcuate is the best. I also enjoyed learning different maths with different year levels I found it pretty cool. I would like to focus on algebra. I found algebra very fun and I also wish I could improve my problem-solving next year and build my understanding of the question by learning great English. -Issac UN

I enjoyed having some Math Competition with the club mates, I feel really excited and happy in the competition. I learned a lot of new Math knowledge from other students. I want to learn more about geometry and solid geometry because I am weak in these topics. -Daisy ZHANG

I learned a lot of ways of to improve maths and some knowledge points that I behind in class and this program helped me very much. -Claire Shi

I learned the importance of repetition and review. I learned the concept back in my country but I forgot about it. It’s a great chance to consolidate my understanding. I also learned the expression of math in English, in my home country's language I understand it really well but when it’s English sounded really weird to me. This is also a great opportunity to learn these expressions a well. -Chan Kim

I enjoy the task most about the Maths Mentoring Program, I have learned a lot of problem-solving skills from it. -Judy WANG

As for topics that I’m interested in, I think calculus should be the one.  -William JIN

The thing I most enjoy about the Maths Mentoring Program is the minigames and competitions. What I learned is how could improve calculating without using a draft paper, and how to calculate fast. It helped me become better at calculating faster and it is extremely convenient. -William WAN

I would like to improve more of them as I am not very good at that type of math. It can help me very much so next time I do not get such a low grade and will understand them in my future exams. -Ivana UN

Sally  Huang (黄老师）

Director of International Student Program

（国际学生部主管）

Doncaster Secondary College