International Students
Victorian Global Learning Awards: Global Citizenship Award
The Global Citizenship Award is awarded to one international student from Year 11 and one from Year 12 to recognise their outstanding commitment to fostering integration between local and international students. Students who win this award have a high level of intercultural competency and understanding of global issues in internationalisation events, like student forums.
Year 12 International Student, Tien Hieu (Harry) B. 12B, spoke about his achievements in relation to the selection criteria for this award.
How have you participated in activities that promoted global citizenship?
As an international student in Australia, one of the most amazing projects I did in 2020, was my EFE “English For Everyone” program. The idea of globalism is developing day by day around the world and the need for learning English has increased dramatically in Vietnam, especially in the young generation. With this in mind, I created this program to help everyone, especially orphan children who don't always have the opportunity to learn English. A free English tutoring class for every Vietnamese student was offered to those interested in learning English. We had various classes ranging in different English levels from beginner to advanced. Understanding the need of communicating with native speakers, I also invited some of my Australian friends to join my class and help me to teach my classes. During my teaching, I becamse more grateful for the opportunities I've had. The students I taught in the orphanage, made me cry from their amazing and inspiring stories. Despite their tragic situation, I can see they have a deep desire to study, to develop themselves, and to work toward obtaining a better life for themselves. Additionally, I also had the chance to work as a Vietnamese teacher for foreigners on Discord. All of my students come from different countries and cultures such as Italy, France and America. Although I am their language teacher, they have taught me a lot about their cultures and the problems they are dealing with in their countries. I feel as though I have a broader understanding of the world now. From my personal experience, global citizenship starts within your community and the only thing you need is a passion for helping others.
Describe how understanding other cultures and global topics are important to you.
During the current pandemic, the racism toward the Asian community around the world has increased significantly with a lot of cyber and physical attacks towards Asian people which also includes international students. The reason behind this wave of racism is mainly because of the lack of understanding and respecting other cultures. A culture is a group or community that have similar life experiences at some point that shapes its member’s opinions and styles of living. Culture can range from where you were born, the languages you speak, your religions, and your perceptions in life. Learning about other cultures plays an important role in life.
Understanding other cultures provides people with a broader view of life and a greater acceptance towards other values and ethics, which encourages more empathy. Immersing yourself in an ocean of different cultures encourages people to examine various aspects of life and why they act the way they do and wear the clothes they wear. A cross-cultural experience makes people question their cultural bias and creates questions about the core of their own culture. When people know how to embrace various cultures around them, the world becomes a better place for everyone. Most cultures have their own standards and rules such as you have to use right hand to eat in India, and you cannot touch people’s heads in Thailand. To become a global citizen, you need to learn how to adapt to these rules to get along well with a person from another cultural background. With the rise of globalism, understanding other cultures and global topics is becoming more important. Being a global citizen, I will continue to call upon everyone to embrace different cultures around me. We are all humans who deserve to be loved and understood.
What issues are faced by international students and how do you support your peers to overcome these issues?
The year 2020 was a special year for everyone around the world with the COVID-19 pandemic. Most international students stayed in Australia without their family and COVID-19 became some people's worst nightmare. A lot of my international student friends experienced anxiety and depression during the lock-down. The most important thing for them at that moment was being able to share their story and get help from others. Therefore, as one of the captains of the Vietnamese International Students in Melbourne, I created online activities for these students. Our Facebook group ”Immortal International Student”, has over 20,000 members including Vietnamese international students around the world. The group has organised many events to provide an understanding community that will help our members to get through their hard times. In our group, international students are free to ask and discuss different problems that international students around the world are facing. With our group of administrators, we have tried to provide counselling sessions for our fellow members suffering from anxiety or depression; inviting experts in immigration policies to advise about student visa conditions if they want to go back to their home country. With our small community of high school students in Australia, understanding the struggles that students have to go through when studying online. We have provided free notes for different topics, organised Facebook chat groups for EAL and Math Methods with past students who achieved high ATAR scores. I also worked with one of the biggest agencies for international students in Australia (AUG) to organise a workshop about the different pathways for international students after finishing year 12.
Sally Huang
Director of International Student Program