International Students

International Student Learning Hub 

Our brand-new International Student Learning Hub has pre-opened to all International Students and their local buddies. This Hub is their place to seek support from the International Student Program, catch up with their friends over lunch, attend international student club or make a connection with local buddies. The hub is underway to its grand opening in Term 4 this year when all furniture and decorations are in place. 

College Principal Mr. Glenn MORRIS stated in the school newsletter that ‘We believe that along with the outstanding achievements of our international students, this space will be an integral part of our strategy to re-build our International Student Program for the benefit of all of our community.’

International students will also have a say of how to decorate their own hub. Some students have already brought their trophies, certificates, awards and artwork to be proudly displayed at the hub. 

We also want to share the feedback from the international student Venus and her local student buddy Christy. 

As an international "buddy," I'm pleased to meet diverse international students and support and guide them as they adapt to the new learning environment. Meeting new individuals gets me curious about their cultures, traditions, and beliefs, and interacting with these overseas students makes me feel simultaneously fresh and fulfilled at the same time. When I spend lunchtime with my international student friends in the brand-new hub, I don't just feel safe and happy; I also get the impression that everyone is welcome here and no one is being excluded. 

--Christy KWAN, 10G

As an international student, I am so happy that we have a hub where I could communicate with other people with different cultures and backgrounds, learn about different cultures, rituals and beliefs. Here we can also hang out with local friends to have lunch together. It becomes a “family” for our international students to study and have fun. I feel comfy and relaxed to have a warm place to eat and gather up with my friends, I am happy that our school provided us with a hub to make us feel included. 

--Venus FUNG, 10G

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It’s so exciting, our school’s brand new International Student Learning Hub has now opened on 18th August. The number 8 that is featured in both the eighth month, August and the date 18th, as well as the green-colored wall in the Hub represents luck, prosperity and vitality that we believe the Learning Hub will blossom to. 

Lisa, one of our newly arrival students said, “We feel so warm in our Learning Hub.” 

Our International team also held the sixth session for the newly arrival students in the new Learning Hub. We had many positive discussions about: 

• The Importance to maintain a healthy lifestyle
• How to get medical advice
• OSHC Claim Procedure

International student handbook: about Illness. In this session we helped them to gain a better understanding of their rights and where to get support from. 

We believe the Learning Hub will be an integral part of our international student program, and benefit both our international students and our community.

Ning HONG

International Student Program Assistant

Mid Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Mooncake Festival, is a traditional festival celebrated in Chinese culture. Similar holidays are celebrated in Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and other countries in East and Southeast Asia. Mooncakes, a rich pastry typically filled with sweet-bean or lotus-seed paste, are traditionally eaten during the festival. The festival was a time to enjoy the successful reaping of rice and wheat with food offerings made in honour of the moon. Today, it is still an occasion for outdoor reunions among friends and relatives to eat mooncakes and watch the moon, a symbol of harmony and unity. 

- Wikipedia 

Mooncake Festival 2022 is on Saturday, 10th September. The International Student Team has taken the initiative to buy mooncakes and shared with all international students. Each one of them has received an individual packed mooncake and they all feel well supported and valued by our school. We also shared some mooncakes with DSC community. 

Please find the students’ appreciation below. 

As a celebration this festival, DSC has kindly shared some delicious mooncakes with all the international students as an early celebration to this festival. There are various types of mooncake fillings such as lotus paste, sweat bean and egg yolk which I think are all tasty and nice to serve. 

Thank you for these wonderful gifts. I really appreciate them a lot and are really grateful to receive them. Back in Cambodia, we use these as offerings to the moon in the Moon Festival. 

I am very thankful for the Mooncake. My Mooncake is made of lotus flower paste, it's very delicious, soft, sweet and a little bit salty and the overall taste is amazing. I haven't eaten a Mooncake in a while. I had a fun time opening the Mooncake's box, it's wrap with some thin tape that will easily snapped when you pulled to hard, each box has 4 Mooncakes and some packages of utensils, in each package it has 4 small forks and 1 knife. I also had a fun time eating the Mooncake, I took the 4 forks and put each of them in each corner of the Mooncake and used the knife to cut in between making 4 small bites size pieces. So, everything about the Mooncake is fun.

-Y9 Cambodian International Student Lisa CHEA, Elly TE and Kyle TE

When we received the moon cake, we felt that DSC cares about us as the international students. Thanks to the DSC for this great gesture. 

-Y7 and Y8 Chinese International Student Peter XUE and Esther AIXINJUELUO

Some newly arrived Year 10 International Students and their local buddies did some research about Mid-Autumn Festival, please see the details below.

The origin and legends of the Mid-Autumn Festival are numerous, and Change running to the moon is widely spread. Change is the wife of Hou Yi, Hou Yi shot down nine suns, and the Queen Mother of the West gave its immortal medicine, but Hou Yi did not want to eat, it was given to Change for safekeeping. Hou Yi disciple Peng Meng coveted immortal medicine, forcing Chang E to hand over the immortal medicine, Chang E had no choice but to swallow the immortal pill in an emergency, they flew to the sky. Chinese will celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. People in this bustling city are madly in love with moon cakes, and the glittering lanterns and the glow of the full moon make the skyline of this famous city particularly magnificent.

The Mid-Autumn Festival was traditionally a time to give thanks to the gods. It is also a time of year that the moon is at its brightest, which is why lunar legends have permanently been attached to the celebration. In Chinese culture, roundness symbolizes completeness and togetherness, that’s why Chinese people used to say the Mid-Autumn festival is also a day of “heart-warming family reunion”. A full moon symbolizes prosperity and reunion for the whole family. Round mooncakes, round tables, and round chairs complement the harvest moon in the night sky at the Mid-Autumn Festival. 

- Year 10: Venus FUNG, Giorgio HEWA ATHAPATHTHUGE, Christy KWAN

Global Youth Dialogue 

2022 Global Learning and Engagement Symposium

On 18 August 2022, our International student Lisa CHEA and Alumni Harry BUI, along with DSC Principal Glenn MORRIS and Director of International Student Program Sally HUANG, attended the Global Youth Dialogue at the 2022 Global Learning and Engagement Symposium. The dialogue, comprised of a diverse group of students from Years 5 to 12, offered insights at the symposium to principals and leading teachers on the topic of global citizenship, answering the statement ‘it is easier to be a global student now than it was 20 years ago.’ 

Our school has been selected as one of the 6 government schools to provide our students talent to this dialogue. Both Lisa and Harry have been mentored and coached to confidently provide their thoughts on the topic by the department and Asia Education Foundation over a series of sessions prior to the symposium. Lisa and Harry represented DSC very well at this event, especially Lisa CHEA, as she has only been in Australia for less than 2 months. 

Please find Lisa’s reflection below. 

Students are required to participate in a live student panel at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre after completing four preparation workshops. We all had the opportunity to interact in person and get to know teachers and principals from many different schools, which made the symposium quite exciting. It was a wonderful opportunity for students to express their opinions about the current educational system and give suggestions for ways to improve it. Everyone did an incredible job outlining their own roles and coming up with different suggestions.

- Lisa CHEA - 09G

Reading Program to 

support International students

The Reading Program is one of the many opportunities that our international team offers to support our international students in achieving their goals for future learning. We help students who have large gaps in their reading skills, and design a reading approach based on current, sound research.

We offer different level books, some books with audio, some with illustrations in order to effectively meet the needs of every student’s level. We develop their vocabulary and comprehension skills through relevant books that connect to student’s experiences. 

The sessions run during recess, lunch time and after school in the International Student Office where we can help them with their speaking and reading skills. We ask them to write words and phrases on their notebook, and when they don’t understand certain words and help them find the equivalent words in their native languages. Some words may be challenging for them, and we help them pronounce these words, provide definitions as needed. 

We hope every one of them have benefited greatly from this Reading Program.

Attendance Awards

Term 3 2022

Congratulations to those students who have achieved 100% attendance in Term 3 study. You have shown us your ability of being resilient and being responsible for your own study.

Sally HUANG 

Director of International Student Program 

Doncaster Secondary College

Phone: +61 3 9848 4677