International Students

After School Support 

By International Student Program Education Support Officer, Mary Liao 

After school support has been running well for our international students. 

Beyond offering students emotional support during their remote learning, we also provide information and study support during these sessions.

Over the last two weeks, our Year 12 group has shared any concerns they had, and watched Mr Dennis' YouTube video, “Remote VCE Assessment Explained”. 

We also encouraged students to attend a Virtual Career Expo, and followed up their university and course preferences. 

For our younger year level students, as they are either new to Australia or have just graduated from primary school, we are more focused on language support and study assistance. 

In each session, in addition to welfare checks, we also help students with their study and homework difficulties. 

Last week, a group of Year 7s were struggling to understand the wording of their food technology assessment, so we utilised the session explaining the whole task in detail to the students.

Our support sessions are flexible and tailored according to students’ current needs. As we are returning to face-to-face education, we have been encouraging students to download the COVIDSafe app, and will be covering more about safety precautions in coming sessions.

My Experience as a Volunteer - Students Share their Views 

Being a volunteer is a rich and rewarding experience. We asked two of our international students to share their experiences as volunteers.

"During quarantine, I have tried to participate in as many service activities as possible. One of the most interesting organisations that I volunteered for was lending my eyes to vision impaired people. “Be my eyes” is an application that allows you to help vision impaired people via voice call or video chat. You just need download the app on your mobile phone, fill in your personal details and you’re ready to go. Since there are thousands of volunteers, the organisation sends you a notification when someone needs a hand and the first one to answer the phone gets to help. These people might ask you to check their expiry dates, ask you to help them choose colours or other simple things. I am very fortunate to become a volunteer multiple times and assist vision impaired people with their daily routines. Berry E (9E)

"I am a volunteer English tutor helping Vietnamese children improve their English language skills. This will support them with their studies and self-development. I started this role when the pandemic isolation began in both Vietnam and Australia, because I had a lot of free time on weekends. Spending time teaching kids made me feel calm. It also helped me to improve my own speaking skills, grammar and vocabulary. I feel so good when the students called me 'sir'." -Harry B (11A)