Resumption of the Language Assistant Program

By Michele Sharp, Head of Languages

Language Assistants

Prior to COVID-19, Radford languages department hosted language assistants in the Secondary School each year. We are very pleased that travel has resumed, and we can once again offer places for young native speakers to assist in our language classes. Language assistants are sourced through our contacts with overseas universities or sister schools and are university students/recent graduates with an interest in pursuing a career in education. They are a fabulous resource for the languages 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, which gives them the opportunity to improve their English language skills and learn about everyday life in Australia. We are always very grateful to families who support this program by hosting an assistant for a term at a time. If you are interested in becoming a host family, please ask your child to mention this to their Secondary School language teacher.

It is a fabulous cultural and educational exchange, and the students are enjoying demonstrating their language skills to Haruna and Tom. Please read below their reflections on life at Radford so far. A big thank you to Haruna and Tom for their work so far.

Please note: Haruna and Tom volunteer at the Homework Hub each week on Wednesday afternoon. I encourage students to make use of this time to do a little extra speaking practice or gain assistance with any concepts they find challenging.

Tom Paquier, French Assistant

Hi everyone! I’m Tom, the 2023 French Assistant, helping the two wonderful French teachers here at Radford. My journey in Australia began about a month ago, on 25 January, after a 26-hour trip. I was exhausted, but it was absolutely worth it! I’ve discovered a beautiful country with incredibly kind people. Luckily, I haven’t seen a spider yet, as they’re one of my biggest fears.

I was lucky enough to come to this school. I was studying foreign languages at university when my former high school English teacher (Mrs Bouteiller) asked me if I wanted to go to Australia as a French Assistant for almost a year. And here I am, thanks to her and her relationship with Radford’s language staff. That’s why I would like to thank Mrs Bouteiller and especially Ms Sharp for their investment in this project.

Working at Radford is a great opportunity for many reasons. Firstly, I am studying foreign languages, which means that coming here is perfect for helping me master my English. Nothing is better than a full immersion in the country to learn the language! Secondly, it allows me to discover a new world. In addition to discovering the Australian education system, I can also experience teaching. This new experience may help me for my future course choices and my personal career. Finally, coming here is obviously a great opportunity to travel across Australia, meet new people, create professional and personal bounds, apprehend a new culture and way of life, and of course make memories. Speaking of which, we already had the opportunity to take some days off and go to Sydney - an incredible city with a lot of things to do and see! Haruna and I went to see some of the most iconic places in the city, including the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, Manly and Bondi Beach.

Settling into Australia has gone really well. The staff are extremely nice and ready to help whenever you need them and so is my host family. The school has a very safe and pleasant environment and features great amenities. As you may have understood, I’m very happy to be part of this school and to work with my colleagues. I’m glad to see that some students are yearning to learn my language and culture. I was also astonished by their French - some of them are very good!

I hope to make the most of this opportunity the teachers gave me. It is of course a difficult experience having to leave my family and friends in France. I’m of course missing them a lot, but that is a sacrifice to make living abroad. I still have to get used to some customs here and the cultural shock, but I think I’m doing pretty well so far. This is a very enriching experience, learning to be more and more independent, mature and open-minded.

Again, a big thank you to everyone involved in this experience and to everyone reading this, be brave, go out of your comfort zone, make the most of it and travel!

Haruna Masuda, Japanese Assistant

Hi everyone! I’m Haruna from Osaka, Japan. I’m the Japanese Assistant for this year. I’m currently staying at the house of one of the students in a Year 9 Japanese class at Radford. It has been more than a month since I arrived in Canberra, and I’ll be here until the end of Term 3. I came here to help students with their Japanese classes, to learn how to teach Japanese in Australia, to learn English, and to experience living in Australia.

I like to travel; I have been to 15 countries. This is my third time coming to Australia. When I was a high school student, I went to the Gold Coast for two weeks to study English. On my second visit, I went to Cairns, Adelaide and Melbourne with my sister to see my friends in Adelaide and to travel. I also stayed for two weeks during this trip. My current, and third visit to Australia, will my longest. That’s why I was nervous before I came, but everyone here is so nice and so kind.

So far, I’m really enjoying staying here in Australia. There are many things that are different from Japan. The lifestyle, school education system and environment are different. The most surprising thing at Radford is that everyone has their own laptop, and they are using it in class. In Japan, we usually have a PC room in schools, but we can only use PCs in that room. So, we use textbooks and paper much more than here. Using smartphones in the class was also surprising for me. Most schools in Japan allow students to bring smartphones, but they do not allow them to use them during school. When I was a high school student, my school didn’t even allow us to bring smartphones! If you are interested in learning more about Japan, you can come and ask me anytime.

I feel happy that students are interested in learning Japanese and it’s my pleasure to help them learn. Many students are very active in class. I think that’s very different from Japan and I think that’s a good point. I’m really enjoying talking with students in Japanese class and also at Homework Hub. Japanese Homework Hub is on Wednesday, so please feel free to come and talk with me. I hope we can talk more and more.

I’m really enjoying life at Radford, but I’m also enjoying weekends and holidays. A few weeks ago, I was able to take a week off, so I went to Sydney for the first time with Tom. We went to many places in Sydney, but the most exciting place for me was Luna Park. The ticket for Luna Park was a little expensive, but the scenery was so different from the theme parks in Japan, and I really liked that. I was also able to see the Opera House and Harbor Bridge from Luna Park - it was really beautiful. I also liked Hyde Park Barracks. I was able to learn more about Australian history. I actually learned about Australian history at university, and I’m interested in it, so it was a good opportunity to know more. I enjoyed the Sydney trip very much. As I mentioned before, I love traveling, so I definitely will go on more trips in Australia - as much as I can while I’m here! I’m really excited to experience many more things in the future!