By Michele Sharp, Head of Languages

Each year the Radford languages department hosts Language Assistants in the Secondary School. They are usually university students with an interest in pursuing a career in education. Assistants are a fabulous resource for the language department as they contextualise learning for our students and support teachers with developing authentic language-teaching materials. Assistants live with Radford families during their stay, giving them the opportunity to improve their English-language skills and learn about everyday life in Australia. We are very grateful to families who support this program by hosting an assistant for a term.

Sadly, it is time to farewell Mr Tom Paquier, who joined us at the start of the year to begin his role as Language Assistant. We thank him for all his work with our students and wish Tom all the best for his future studies.

By Mr Tom Paquier, Language Assistant

Nine months ago, in late January, I arrived in Canberra. It was my first time abroad by myself, and I knew I wouldn’t return to France for a long time. So, I thought I’d better get used to life here quickly. At first, it didn’t feel real. It felt like I was on vacation. But not long after, I became homesick - a month after I arrived, I started missing my friends, family and country. It was a really hard time for me, and even though I loved Australia, I just wanted one thing - to go back to France.

But time passed so quickly, and I got used to it. I travelled throughout Australia and discovered amazing places such as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Cairns, the Gold Coast and more. One thing I’m sure of is that when I arrived in Australia, I never thought I would do and see so many things. During my journey here, I’ve met incredible people. The staff at Radford have been so helpful in so many ways. The teachers have been of great help too and were so lovely. Overall, my experience at Radford has been fantastic, and the people here have made it even better.

Speaking of people, I would like to thank all the families who hosted me during my stay here. Thank you for sharing your life with me, thank you for the food, thank you for sharing your culture but, above all, thank you for making this journey unforgettable. Each family was unique and extremely fun to be with. I will certainly miss you all a lot. I hope we will get to meet again.

I would like to thank all the people involved in this amazing experience: the teachers, the language department staff, the students and everyone I didn’t quote. Thank you to Japanese Language Assistant Ms Haruna Masuda for making this journey so much fun. Thank you to Ms Richards and Ms Lefebvre for accompanying me this year at Radford. And finally, a huge thank you to Ms Bouteiller, Ms Bateman and Ms Sharp - without you, nothing would have been possible.

This program has had such a big impact on my personal life. I’ve really grown up in these eight months and learned so much. Coming here, I found some answers to the questions I was asking myself, but with answers also came a whole lot of new questions. But that’s what these experiences are for. You live things, you meet people, you open your mind to a lot of different opinions and lifestyles and learn from them. Finding answers to your questions means that you’ve improved, you’ve grown up. Having new questions means you’ve experienced, that you’ve actively taken part in new things, and you’ve been pushed out of your comfort zone. In fact, to grow up and elevate yourself means you’ve lived, and I lived through countless experiences here.

I am now going back to France with tons of unforgettable memories (and probably with a bit of an Australian accent), already nostalgic of what has been the best experience of my life. Australia is a beautiful country, with such amazing people, and I am leaving with the hope and the will of returning one day.

And because I will never be grateful enough for what I’ve been given, thank you again to everyone that I met on my way.