LANGUAGES

Welcome to our Indonesian students

Sunday  17 July to Saturday 30 July

Nine excited Indonesian students and their teacher from Celebes Global School in Sulawesi, Indonesia, were greeted at Tullamarine Airport by equally excited families from Lilydale High School on Sunday 17 July. They will participate in classes at Lilydale for two weeks and have been welcomed into our community with wonderful experiences of Australian hospitality and friendliness. All of the students have expressed how happy they are to be here.

During their orientation tour of the school, the Indonesian students were hesitant to look through the windows at the lizards in the Reptile Room, so it was going to be a challenge to take them in for their scheduled visit. The experienced Zoo Keepers managed to quell the fears of the visitors and most handled the reptiles. As always, the Zoo Keepers are to be commended on their professionalism and willingness to share their love and respect for the animals with our overseas visitors.

An excursion to Healesville is always a highlight for schools hosted by Lilydale High and despite the rain, the Indonesians were amazed at the birds in the Spirits of the Sky display, and participated in the Education for Conservation program, seeing kangaroos, koalas, Tasmanian devils and platypus.

On Tuesday 26 July, the CGS students will be performing traditional dances and songs in the Theatre during Period 3 for the LHS students of Indonesian. They are very excited to share their culture with our school community.

The Languages Department at LHS has hosted groups of students from many countries, including China, Japan and Korea, and our sister school in France, but this is the first time we have had the opportunity to host a school from Indonesia. It has been a chance for the LHS students who are learning Indonesian to interact with the CGS students and learn about their culture while sharing experiences of Australian life.

Sharon Stoyanoff

Head of Languages