University High School Workplace Visits
University High teacher John Tiernan is one of three teachers who run the 'Galileo' program for Year 9 students. As part of the program, John contacted AEF to arrange two visits to Asia-related workplaces, to demonstrate the growing importance of Asia literacy in his students’ future careers.
‘Students were super happy with the day and reflected on the importance of Asia for their futures and Australia’s future,’ commented John.
John and 15 of his students visited Kumo Izakaya, a Japanese restaurant owned by Asia Literacy Ambassador Andre Bishop. Andre shared his ‘Japan’ story with students from an early interest in anime and video games, to how he set up his Japanese restaurants and sake bars in Melbourne, detailing the numerous visits to Japan to better understand the food, sake and culture.
Students then had the opportunity to watch Andre’s friend Junko Azukawa demonstrate the art of calligraphy whilst explaining the roots of Japanese letters and the philosophy behind the art.
Next the class completed an activity about China and it’s growing market for clothing manufacturing, which was followed by a talk from Confucius Institute Director Julia Gong about the increasing amount of collaboration between Australian and Chinese businesses.
Thomas Day, who also works at the Confucius Institute then offered his personal insights on the benefits of understanding China and speaking Chinese, in terms of future career prospects.
‘I’ve learnt how many opportunities come from knowing a language’ said one of the students.