Immersion Portfolio

Immersion programme

Portfolio

20 May 2017 – 15 July 2017

Australia Immersion programme

Location: queensland (the university of queensland)

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Reflective Journal Entries

1. Interaction with the homestay family

  During the two months in Australia, my stay with my lovely host family was indeed very special and memorable! To be honest, at first, I expected my host parents to be more ‘strict’ and ‘old-fashioned’, but fortunately, it turned out that my host parents were a very sweet and loving retired couple, who not only gave me a shelter in a new country, but also treated me like a family member. Under their presence, not once had I felt like an outsider or even home-sick. They truly made me feel like I was their own grand-daughter and I feel extremely blessed for this unique experience.

  I still remember how they used to always ask how my day went whenever I came back home. Also, every night, during dinner, we used to sit down and enjoy our meal together, just like a family. We used to have conversation regarding different issues and topics at the dinner table. For instance, since my host dad was a Malaysian and my host mum was an Australian, we talked about the cultural practices and differences among these cultures. They even shared the local history and different stories about Australia with me, which had definitely given me more exposure to the Australian culture and widen my horizons. I will never forget them and their hospitality, it was so hard to bid them goodbye on the last day.

1. Interaction with the local Australians

  Apart from my host family, I’ve encountered many other local Australians during the immersion trip in Australia. The first local Australian that I have encountered and interacted with would be my Brisbane Greeter tour guide. The first assignment we were given at the University of Queensland was to participate in a local ‘Brisbane Greeters’ tour and then prepare a presentation on the area that you have visited in Brisbane to persuade the class to visit the place. So, the tour guide that we got was a very friendly old gentleman, who was born and brought up in Brisbane. He showed us around the city, giving us a lot of insights and information about Brisbane and its people. He mentioned that Australia is a very diverse and multicultural society, in which you are able to see people with different nationalities and from all walks of life.

  Speaking of local Australians, I remember the time when my host parents once took me to one of their relative’s 60th surprise birthday party. The birthday party was held in the countryside and there were probably more than a hundred people present at the event the other day. Thanks to my host parents, I got an opportunity to interact with more locals in the countryside, making me realize the differences among the local Australians in the city and the countryside. For instance, I have always heard that the Aussies use a lot of slangs and has a rather lazy pronunciation when speaking English. However, it wasn’t until I reached the countryside that I witnessed this difference in variety of English in Australia. The people in the countryside tend to use more slangs than the locals in the city. For example, the first time I heard people use ‘darl’ instead of ‘darling’ was in the countryside too!

  I feel like the local Australians are very down to earth people, placing a high value on relationships, and grasping every opportunity to make their loved ones or even strangers feel like they’re loved in their country.

1. School Placement Week

  To conclude, the one week teaching placement at the Kenmore South State School was indeed one of the main highlights of the summer immersion programme so far.

  In about a week’s time, I grew affection for the students as well as the school that it was so hard to bid them goodbye by the end of the week. First of all, the education system in Australia is quite different to the education system in Hong Kong. I feel like the Hong Kong education system is too ‘exam-oriented’ and students face a lot of tough competition, in which they are encouraged to compete with their own classmates and friends. Such pressure may somehow lead to a decreasing motivation for the students in Hong Kong to learn for their own interest. On the other hand, during my one week of teaching placement in Australia, I realized that the Australian students are active learners instead of passive learners. They are always keen to learn new things and broaden their knowledge in all different subjects. Moreover, schools in Australia tend to focus not only on students’ academic achievements, but also on students’ behavioral management. Moreover, as experienced from the Kenmore South State School, schools in Australia have a higher learner diversity in classes, which is not a common practice in Hong Kong schools. In my class, I realized there were a few students who were autistic and dyslexic, one of them was even a diabetic patient. Despite their differences, the school did not isolate them or gathered them into another classroom to provide ‘special’ education to them, instead they showcased the phenomenon of inclusive education by bringing in additional teacher support in the classroom to cater for such students so that they do not feel isolated. I feel like this is something that the education system of Hong Kong lacks. Therefore, Hong Kong can try to learn from the Australian schools in order to make the education in Hong Kong more inclusive.

1. Lessons at the University of Queensland

  To start with, I personally found the lessons at the University of Queensland very engaging and informative. It was a great opportunity for us to learn more teaching strategies and methodology which we could use in our future classroom when teaching. I remember one of the lessons was a foreign language lesson, in which the teacher had planned to teach us Italian. The lesson was aimed to allow us to experience how students learn a foreign language such as Italian or even English.  She came in the classroom speaking only Italian and made use of different teaching strategies to assist our learning and understanding. For instance, she used visual aids such as pictures to elicit and explain vocabulary. She also used different gestures and body movements to help students understand what she was speaking in Italian.