The strong sister school link that dates back to 2010 has been celebrated once again with an exchange visit to Melrose High School in Canberra by 16 students from Min De Junior High School in Tainan in Southern Taiwan, led by Jimmy Chen, an English teacher at Min De. They immersed themselves in the Australian lifestyle for 10 days and helped build on the well-established friendship.

The Min De exchange students had wonderful opportunities to enhance their English speaking proficiency, as they stayed with Australian host families, attended school classes at Melrose with their homestay friends, participated in a social dance, and visited attractions in Canberra. They also tasted vegemite and kangaroo burgers, climbed the Melrose rock wall, saw kangaroos, koalas, and even held snakes!Many experienced snow and mustered sheep at a sheep station, for the first time in their lives.

The Min De visit ended with a farewell party performance on 8 August to affirm the friendship between the sister schools. It was attended by Melrose students and families, and Dr. Aaron Chen, the new Executive Director of the Education Division at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Australia, was invited to enjoy the party and personally witness the schools’ continuing friendship.

Melrose High School and Min De Junior High School in Taiwan have been sister-schools since 2010. Melrose and Min De both consider that their strong focus on language learning is enhanced by the biennial exchange programs that offer their students wonderful opportunities to travel overseas and experience authentic learning.

Photo:(From left) Ms. Erica Yu-Hsuan Yeh, a Mandarin teaching assistant from Taiwan; three Melrose High School staff members: Ms. Yuan Ma, a Mandarin teacher, Mr. Rob Hamburger, an exchange coordinator, and Ms. Shannon Carnovale, the deputy principal; Mr. Simon Vaughan, the school principal; Dr. Aaron Chen, Executive Director of the Education Division at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Australia; and Mr. Jimmy Chen, an English teacher at Min De Junior High School.