The Northern Beaches is home to a thriving population of over a thousand resettled Tibetan refugees. Teacher, Lauren Weatherall of The Forest High School shares the ways Tibetan students are welcomed and assisted to overcome language and cultural challenges.
For many years now, TFHS has welcomed Tibetan students who bring with them their rich culture and experiences, as well as their warm and good-humoured nature. Many of these students arrive from India, Nepal and Tibet with limited knowledge of the culture or language and must negotiate a new way of appreciating their own Tibetan identity within the Northern Beaches lifestyle.
It is a delicate and inspiring process to observe and be a part of, and one that goes beyond caring for students just as learners, but also as cultural warriors and beacons of hope for more accepting and informed future societies. We proudly call ourselves an inclusive and diverse community of learners at TFHS. And we honour and appreciate the authentic ways the Tibetan students and their families have partnered with us to provide endless creative and socially empowering cultural experiences for both staff and students.
TFHS has established a weekly ‘Conversation Club’ which takes place at lunchtime each Tuesday, and to which we have welcomed a variety of guest speakers, as well as offering language games, study support and paired speaking activities with our Australian students. Conversation Club has been hugely successful, not only in seeing our Tibetan students’ confidence and language skills flourish, but also in bringing together our native and non-native English speakers.
It is a measure of our success at how often now we observe Tibetan students playing basketball or hanging out with their Aussie mates at lunchtime, as well as to see how eager they are to respond to questions in class with their newfound fluency. Through our community partners at Community Northern Beaches, we have been fortunate enough to be able to employ a local Tibetan translator and community liaisons officer – Samdrup Jehru, who has been invaluable in bridging the gap between families and schools.
Although there have been many successes for our Tibetan students, there is still a lot more we can do, in helping them achieve a genuine sense of confidence and belonging; and to ensure that all Tibetan families become more active members within our school and local community. With readers’ support and generosity, we hope to employ another part-time Tibetan translator; develop arts and cultural projects such as film documentaries and books (celebrating Tibetan culture on the Northern Beaches); and equip all students with up-to-date technologies and effective learning support resources at home and in school.
As teachers there is nothing more rewarding than to see students empathise with one another and learn about global issues, building everyday connections as life-long friends and peers.
If you would like to donate or help The Forest High School enhance the lives of these incredible students and their families, please contact lauren.weatherall@det.nsw.edu.au
Should you wish to join or contribute to the TFHS community, please contact our P&C President on kelly@rapidplans.com.au