2019 International Students Homestay & Guardian Information Session  

The annual International Students Homestay & Guardian Information Session was held last Friday 1 February at the College.

It is a tradition of the College to have a Homestay & Guardian Information Session at the start of a new school year, passing on information and updated policies to our host parents and guardians. More importantly, to keep close contact with this very important group of people who are providing accommodation and looking after our International students on a daily basis.

Thanks to all the House Formation Leaders who attended the session. This is a great opportunity for our host families to know more about our House System and the responsibilities of our House Formation Leaders.

Thanks also go to Glen Coulter, the International Student Academic Advisor. For any concerns regarding the academic side of the students, host families and guardians are welcomed to make contact with Glen.

Another highlight of the session was the speeches made by our Year 11 student Eric Du and Year 12 student Daven Xu. Eric shared his experience living in the host family, how he was afraid of living in a foreign family before and how he found out later on that his homestay experience was beyond his expectations and rewarding. Daven, as a Senior student, shared with all the host parents and guardians some strategies of managing and guiding the younger International students. Both students expressed their thanks to our host families and guardians for their care and support towards all the students.

Our International Program is highly dependent on our Homestay and Guardian community to provide a supportive and caring living environment for our International students, helping and enabling them to adapt to the new environment and new culture as soon as possible. We sincerely appreciate the great efforts made by our host parents and guardians and we look forward to working with you all in 2019.

‘International Mentor program’

January speaker – Luke Johnson, Class of 2012, achieving a Band 6 in the HSC Chinese Beginner Course. After finishing a double degree of Primary Education and Arts in International Studies at the University of Technology Sydney, Luke decided to explore his career opportunities, and now works at an International Primary School in Hangzhou, China. He also opened a café restaurant to promote Australian food and culture. The restaurant is named ‘Mona Vale’, after the beautiful Sydney Suburb where he grew up.

Luke shared his language learning experience, encouraging International Students to integrate with other students as much as possible. He also shared his experiences in handling the culture shock, and understanding the similarities between different cultures.

The International students asked questions like “what did you think of international students when you were at school?”, and “how did you grow your social abilities in a second language environment?” It was a great opportunity to share different perspectives, with both Luke and the international students leaving with a great level of joy and self-reflection.