From 26 July to 4 August, 12 high school students from Nagoya visited Sydney for a ten-day study tour.
First, they visited Cherry Brook Technology High School to experience classes in Australia for three days. After that, they headed for Kiama to meet some of the Sydney-Nagoya Sister City Committee members and their host families. At night, they had a good time enjoying dinner at a popular restaurant in the area where the students also surprised patrons with a dance performance. The host families also kindly took the students to Kiama to do the Gerringong Coast Walk during their stay. They learned not only about the beauty of Australia but also the Australian culture and way of life.
On 1 August, they visited St. Aloysius College to attend class with students in Australia. During the class, St Aloysius students studying Japanese delivered a presentation on sports and animals in Australia in Japanese for the visiting Nagoya students. The students also formed teams to take part in a quiz about Australian and Japanese culture and language which proved to be a lot of fun. The visiting Nagoya students made use of their prepared self-introduction speeches and photos of Nagoya during their conversation with the students from St Aloysius.
On 2 August, Nagoya student’s delegation visited splendid Sydney Town Hall to pay a courtesy call to Councillor Robert Kok. Following a delightful tour of Town Hall led by Kieran Tonge, the president of the Friends of Sydney Town Hall, Nagoya students participated in the Welcome Reception co-hosted by Cr. Robert Kok and Sydney-Nagoya Sister City Committee. The Lord Mayoress’ room was filled with an enjoyable mood, combined with Japanese song and dance performed by the students.
On 3 August, Nagoya students visited Shore school and Wenona school in North Sydney. All the Nagoya students tried their best to communicate in English with the Aussie students who participated actively in group discussions. After the study tour, the students interviewed CLAIR staff about life in Australia and career progression, expressing what they dreamed for their futures.
On 4 August, Nagoya students visited Taronga Zoo which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. Taronga and Nagoya Higashiyama Zoo, as part of their sister zoo relationship, have been exchanging a variety of flora and fauna via an exchange programme over the past 30 years since the first Koala went to Japan in 1984.
The students were really proactive in sparking conversation with locals in English during the study tour and a student representative also made a speech in front of a number of sister city committee members in Town Hall. We believe the students will be active global citizens in various fields in the future.