Scotch Oakburn College has a long-standing sister school relationship with Osaka International Junior and Senior High School, both hosting students and visiting the school in Japan.
We were pleased to host two senior boys in the last week of February for three weeks, hosted by Year 10 students Alex Musk and Seton Brock and I thank the two families for their generosity and kindness when hosting. The visitors enjoyed an engaging experience, including attending Year 7 camp as Year 10 leaders and visiting Lake Barrington for rowing Regattas, including experiencing this year’s Head of the River. They had an amazing time and made lifelong friends. In July, Alex and Seton will re-connect with these boys as they will stay with them in Osaka for three weeks.
Last week we welcomed 13 Japanese students for a week-long home stay. They enjoyed classes with their host student, a fire and damper making session with Mr Mark Hassell, a trip to Trowunna Wildlife Sanctuary and some specialist class sessions. These included creating Australiana photograms with Miss Carmel Dilger, making Australian animal keyrings out of wood with Mr Stephen Dobson, an engaging music game with Mrs Catherine Kroon’s Year 7 class, joining in international games with Mr Paul McKendrick’s Year 8 HPE class, attending a Year 6 Chinese class with Mrs Ruby Lan, teaching origami to some Year 6 classes and engaging in cross communication language sessions in various Japanese classes with Ms Samantha Hartnack and me. It was great to see the enjoyment on the faces of the Japanese students and our students when undertaking this program.
Special thanks go to all the hosts who generously opened their homes so that this experience was possible for the Japanese students. I was particularly proud of how attentive the host students were with their visitors. Our hosts came from across the College; thank you to Lucy van der Aa (Year 11), Abbi Lloyd Bostock (Year 11), Olivia McLeod (Year 10), Samuel Fischer (Year 10), Rafe Addison Hall (Year 9), Tully Russell (Year 9), Jett Wilkin (Year 8), Lauren Palmer (Year 7), Lottie Moore (Year 7), Annie Barnett (Year 7), Alanna Welch (Year 7), Samuel Rhodes (Year 6) and Annabelle Luttrell (Year 1). Thanks also go to Makaela Fulton (Year 11), Abby Saunders (Year 11), Cy Eberle (Year 10), Henry Lloyd (Year 10), Nathan Abbott (Year 10), Elise Kingston (Year 12) and Iona Hamilton (Year 12) for being day buddies and/or assisting with the program when able. Finally a special thank you to Ms Miwa Worrall (Japanese language assistant) who worked tirelessly throughout the week to assist with translation needs and general running of this program.
みんなさん、本当にありがとうございました。
Hayley McLeod
Head of Languages
