Looking After International Students: Lessons from Chasing Time English Drama Series
Mia Tarau
International students’ lives evolve around so much more than ‘school’: in addition to the few hours they spend in class, there is a large amount of learning taking place in the background. Daily life challenges as they learn how to navigate early adulthood in a new country include adapting to a new learning paradigm, managing health issues, juggling language challenges, and learning how to adapt to new systems in their new country – from banking to renting their first homes or living with host families. It IS a lot, and it can all become too much, too quickly. What a teacher can do to support them in class time is valuable, but limited – so who else has a duty-of-care towards international students, and how can the learning institutions support them? Departing from our usual teaching/learning focused content, I chose to explore this question and focus instead on international learner support in this blog post, inspired by the student-focused work at the Australian university where I teach.
The Role of the Host Family:
Example scene from Days Crossing Episode 2: https://vimeo.com/870454643/d281a6d67
Understanding the culture shock that the students will go through when moving in with a host family is crucial in helping international students settle in and fall into a healthy routine in their new country. Things like how different cultures wash dishes or rules about wearing shoes inside might seem small to the untrained eye, but these are issues discussed extensively by students amongst themselves. When schools contact host families, some form of intercultural competence training should be guaranteed by the learning institution to ensure transition is smooth for international students. This could make the experience perfect for all parties involved, resulting in what this scene delicately frames as ‘She’s been the perfect exchange student’.
The Role of Institutional Support/School Counselling:
Example scene from My Name Is Lucky Episode 1: https://vimeo.com/870454587/51e5b8148
School Counsellor: Your teachers are worried about you. We all are.
This episode highlights a crucial aspect involved in ensuring and maintaining student well-being: a collaboration between teachers, whose role is to flag concerning learner behaviours, and institution-wide student support services. This is one of the most crucial dimensions involved in making sure international students fare well and thrive in their educational journey. My university ensures that this happens by having a solid hierarchy of interventions if anything of concern arises:
1. The first point of contact with the student is the classroom teacher, whose role – in addition to teaching – is to run individual consultations with learners weekly, focusing primarily on providing additional, tailored learning support to each student who may need it.
2. If any concerning changes in behaviour are noted, these will be flagged to course coordinators AND to learning advisors or student support services, as needed.
a. Learning advisors work with individual students further, tailoring learning intervention programmes in accordance with each student’s learning needs. These cover anything from language support to learning strategies, time management, adapting to life in Australia, or university skills.
b. Student support officers address other daily life needs, focusing primarily on strategies and interventions aimed at enhancing and maintaining learner mental health.
3. To bring it all together, students of concern or students at risk are issued with individual learning plans, detailing specific learning environment adjustments if required. These are made available across all these departments, from student support to course coordinators and back to the teachers, so that they can ensure all learners are provided with a classroom atmosphere that would assist all students, ensuring they all do their best and achieve the best possible educational outcomes.
What strategies does your institution have in place to ensure international students’ well-being?