College Newsletter

International Students

All DSC staff and students would like to recognise the incredible resilience of our International students.  They have not been able to travel home to visit their families for over 18 months. This has been incredibly tough for our students and we do hope that you will be reunited with your families soon.

Virtual Homestay Visits

 

In the last 5 weeks, the International Student Program has been busy with virtual homestay revisits for compliance purposes as well as to check in with homestay hosts. We have nearly 30 international students living with homestays and most homestays are currently working from home. Those homestays are helping students with their study and communication with students’ family members overseas. We want to thank all of our lovely homestays for caring and supporting internationals, especially during their remote learning.

 

We are using Zoom Meeting to conduct the revisits. A big thanks to our lovely hosts, who tried their best to make the meetings efficient and workable.  They showed us their home by taking their device around the house.  We could see their nice and clean living area, kitchen, the student’s room and even their gardens.  Obviously, they are providing a very comfortable and safe environment to our international students! 

 

Homestay hosts are playing a very important role in our student management. They not only provide them with quality food and accommodation, but they also help to supervise our students’ attendance, academic progress and wellbeing by following Compass to be connected with the school community. Some hosts even drop our students off to school and pick them up after school every weekday.  

 

We have even heard some hosts say: “She/He is another daughter/ son / grandson of mine. They are helping me with the housework and sharing their stories with us…” which made our students feel at home and relaxed. 

 

Thank you to our hosts!

 

 Ms Tara Fang

International Student Program Assistant 

Public Speaking Competition

Online Conference

Last week, Berry Eain, Harry Bui and I attended an International Students Public Speaking Competition online conference for the preparation of this event. Mr. Martin Ramsay, the organizer of this competition, went through details with our 2 finalists which included the selection criteria, the topic, the length and other important information. There was also a Q & A session at the end of this conference. I am confident that our school representatives Harry and Berry are more than ready for it!

 

Sally Huang

Director of International Student Program

 

 

FINALIST PROFILE:

BERRY EAIN

Hello. My name is Berry and I have been in Australia for over 2 years. I am a passionate photographer who loves to capture every moment possible. I also run a small home-based bakery on Instagram during lockdown to keep myself busy and to help me stay away from devices. I am so excited to participate in this competition and gain more insights about other students’ perspective on this year’s topic: 
"Every ending is a new beginning”
WISHING EVERYONE THE BEST OF LUCK!!
Berry EAIN, Year 10

 

 

FINALIST PROFILE:

HARRY BUI

Hi everyone, my name is Harry and I’m currently a year 12 student at Doncaster Secondary College. As a year 12 student, most of my time is spent on studying. However, I’m still teaching both Vietnamese and English online which has provided me opportunities to talk and listen to different people's opinions. I can’t wait to listen to all of the participants' speeches on the topic of “Every ending is a new beginning”. Fighting everyone!!!
Harry BUI, Year 12 

Virtual Homework Club:

 Language Support Program

Based on students’ Semester 1 reports and feedback from the Year level coordinators, we have identified some International students who need a little extra support to improve their academic results. For this purpose, the International Team set up a Homework Club Language Support Program to assist these students. During remote learning, we ran the Homework Club virtually to help them with English Oral, homework, classwork and overdue tasks.

 

Six International students were invited to attend Homework Club, which is held during 2pm- 3:15pm on Wednesday.  In the first session, they had two topics to practise their oral English: 

  1. List three happy things they have experienced during the sixth lock-down; 
  2. Discussing the COVID-19 vaccine and whether they will take it or not.

Students shared their happy experiences, such as doing some exercise with their host family, video chatting with their families in their home countries;  some students watched their favourite  Anime and they even shared their experience of watching a certain Anime.  They also shared their opinions regarding taking Covid-19 Vaccine. 

 

In the second session, the students were given five tips for speaking English politely, such as: 

  1. Listen and be understanding.
  2. Avoid negative words and instead, use positive words in a negative form. For example, don't say: "I think that's a bad idea."  Instead, say: "I don't think that's such a good idea."
  3. Say the magic word: Sorry
  4. Use little words to soften your statements. For example, don't say: "I don't like it." Try instead, "I don't really like it, I'm afraid."
  5. Avoid 'finger pointing' statements with the word 'you'.  Don't say:  "You don't understand me."  Instead, try: "Perhaps I'm not making myself clear."

I encouraged students to write in complete sentences with proper grammar, presenting on MSTEAM Whiteboard. I also helped students to understand their homework instructions and offered help with their further homework  questions if they are having issues to understand the homework. They are welcome to leave messages on international MSTEAMS and I will respond to their questions.

 

Ms Tara Fang

International Student Program Assistant