Williamstown High School has just concluded its eight visit with sister school SMP Labschool in South Jakarta, Indonesia.
Indonesian teacher Matt Grose, said students from both schools always enjoy the visits.
“We have an agreement with the school to receive up to 20 students to the school on a biannual basis, we host these kids for a period of 10 days to two weeks,” he said.
“In the past we have sent our students over to Indonesia, but more recently it has become a home stay programme where they experience what life is like as an Australian teenager.”
Matt said while the students are here they enjoy a special program designed for them, including sitting in on classes with their buddy student.
“They go on cultural excursions and we prepare special classes for them to do here that are culturally unique to Williamstown and Australia,” he said.
Other activities include cooking classes, sports classes, language classes as well as attending other standard classes prepared for Williamstown students.
“Our host families have been absolutely magnificent this year, we have paired the kids with our students at a similar age to them.
“So many of the kids have been saying to my colleague Sharon Croft and I, that they don’t want to go back home.”
As a whole the Williamstown team said the students enjoyed experiencing life as an Australian, and this program will continue to ensure the kids make new friends across borders and improve language skills.
“We hope this can continue long into the future to help build a better cultural understanding, and to contribute to better Indonesian and Australian relationships going forward.”
Jennifer Pittorino
