Happy Australian Arts Lesson Time!

Over the past two weeks, our special visitors from Isahaya Commercial High School enjoyed a variety of Australian culture lessons at the College. One of the highlights was an Australian Arts lesson, kindly offered by our fantastic Visual Arts teachers, Mrs Psaila and Mrs Sanders.

As their own school does not offer visual arts, the students were especially excited to experience something new. They eagerly learnt different art techniques they had never tried before and spent the full 100 minutes deeply engaged in creating their own Australian beach artworks.

Mrs Psaila and Mrs Sanders were very impressed with the students’ focus and behaviour throughout the lesson. By the end, everyone proudly completed their artwork and was able to take it back to Japan as a wonderful memory of their time here. 

A big thank you to Mrs Psaila and Mrs Sanders for making this such a memorable and inspiring experience for our visitors!

Mrs Mariko Suzuki

Leader of Learning - Languages

Year 9 & 10 Japanese - Intercultural Exchange with Isahaya Commercial High School

As part of our sister school program, students from Isahaya Commercial High School in Nagasaki joined our Year 9 and 10 Japanese courses for intercultural lessons filled with learning, laughter, and cultural sharing.

Year 10 Intercultural Lesson – Wednesday 20 August (P5–6)

The Year 10 session began with our Japanese visitors introducing their school life, the famous foods of their city, and the dialects spoken in their region. Afterwards, our students rotated through five activities prepared by the Japanese students:

• Picture Reading – reading Japanese picture books and translating them into English.
  
  
• Kendama – learning tricks with the traditional Japanese cup-and-ball game.
  
  
• Shodo (Japanese Calligraphy) – experiencing the art of brush writing.
  
  
• Hyakunin Isshu – exploring a classical anthology of 100 poems by 100 poets.
  
  
• Sado (Japanese Tea Ceremony) – a graceful demonstration by students from the tea ceremony club.
  
  

The highlight of the day was trying authentic matcha green tea. Many students found the bitter taste challenging, but they respectfully finished every cup with a heartfelt arigatou gozaimasu (Thank you very much).

Year 9 Intercultural Lesson – Thursday 21 August (P3–4)

The following day, Year 9 students hosted their own cultural exchange, preparing four activities for the Japanese students:

• Aussie Slang with Kahoot – teaching various phrases and testing them in a fun quiz.
  
  
• Drawing Board – creating colourful artworks together.
  
  
• Dance Session – learning iconic Aussie moves like the Nutbush and the Macarena.
  
  
• Physical Activities – running lively games such as Duck Duck Goose and Musical Chairs.
  
  

Despite the rain, the session was a huge success, filled with energy, laughter, and new friendships.

Student Voices

To capture the spirit of these exchanges, here are reflections from our students:

“Hello, this is Saumya from Miss Matsufuji’s Year 9 Japanese Class speaking on behalf of my fellow students about the Intercultural Lesson we had with the Isahaya Commercial High School students. On August 21st, we had a lot of fun showing Australian culture to the Japanese students… It is an understatement to say that we all bonded and connected well during this cross-cultural experience, as this exchange highlighted the importance of such events in breaking down barriers.” – Saumya Punj, Year 9 Japanese

“The intercultural lesson was amazing as it helped me to improve my Japanese skills. I had lots of fun teaching the Japanese students: they were super nice and polite. I would definitely do this intercultural lesson again.” – Dharshini Mahesh, Year 9 Japanese

“I greatly enjoyed talking about Australia and all of its funny quirks, and from what I could tell they enjoyed it as well. If I were to have a similar opportunity, I would without hesitation take it. This lesson allowed both the Japanese students and us to share and talk about our two cultures.” – Aidan Harvey, Year 9 Japanese

“The intercultural lesson was not only really fun to create and form, through the brainstorms and the onset realisation that Australian slang was exceedingly weird, it was also really fun to share our unique culture with another which is so vastly different. It was definitely a memorable experience to be teaching very sophisticated and mature Japanese students the word crikey or bogan and hearing them repeat it in a confused but enthusiastic manner.” – Dawson Jia, Year 9 Japanese

These two intercultural lessons were a wonderful opportunity for our students and the visiting Isahaya students to share, learn, and connect. Through language, games, traditions, and laughter, both groups gained a deeper appreciation of each other’s cultures and built friendships that will be remembered long after the exchange. Experiences like these highlight the true value of our sister school partnership and the importance of intercultural understanding in today’s world.

And of course, there are always more exciting and fun experiences ahead in our Japanese courses, so stay tuned!

Miss Miho Matsufuji 

Japanese Teacher