After finishing her undergraduate studies at the University of Melbourne, international student, Jingyi, is studying the Master of Modern Languages Education with the dream to bring the knowledge she's learning to the Chinese educational industry.
Q: Can you please briefly outline your life prior to studying this program?
After finishing the VCE program in China, I started my undergraduate study at the University of Melbourne.
Q: Why did you choose to study at the Faculty of Education?
Because I heard from people that the Faculty of Education is a global leader in teaching and education research. I was quite interested in education research, so I chose to study at the Faculty without a moment’s hesitation.
Q: Why did you choose to study your program?
I finished my undergraduate study majored in Media and Communications, and I did learn a lot from it. I used to be interested in teaching people English and Mandarin when I was still in high school. I also loved investigating cultural differences through learning languages and communicating with people. I found that the ways people learning and using languages might have great differences in the 21st century, due to the explosion in the number of media and communicative platforms. The Master of Modern Languages Education is just the right choice for me because it provides me with a host of theories and perspectives on language acquisitions.
Q: Are you enjoying studying at the Faculty of Education?
I really enjoy studying at the Faculty because of my talented lecturers and tutors. I love how they bring their professional knowledge to the class. I love how they guide the students to establish their own understanding of things rather than just telling students what is correct or incorrect. I am pretty sure that the teaching staff I met are the best in the teaching area.
Q: What’s the most valuable/rewarding aspect of your program?
The most valuable aspect of my program is that I will be able to apply pedagogies to my classroom instructions so that I can teach both Chinese students English and non-Chinese speakers the Chinese language.
Q: Is there anything you wish you’d known before starting the course?
I wish I could be able to learn the Chinese language better before starting the course so that I can contribute more to my work when necessary.
Q: Are you involved in any extra-curricular activities?
I was a member of Chinese Theatre Group and got to know a lot of friends there, and those people made my life in Melbourne even more fantastic,
Q: How do you hope your course will help your career progression?
My dream is to bring the knowledge I learned from the course to the Chinese educational industry, in terms of both the Chinese and English language teaching and acquisition.
Q: What do you hope is the next step in your life/career?
I would probably seek a job at an Internet company or a language centre, such as the one that develops smartphone applications which provide assistance for people to learn English or Chinese, or become a Chinese teacher in an adult group.
Q: What advice would you give to someone thinking about starting your course?
Master of Modern Languages Education does not only provide you with knowledge of language and pedagogies applied to classroom instruction, but also present an overview of different roles that languages play in the global context. You will be working with teachers from all over the world, seeing how languages are taught differently in their countries.
In this course, you will not only be trained as a professional teacher who specialises in language teaching, but you will also be asked to develop communication skills and intercultural awareness throughout this course. So, please do not hesitate to enrol on the Master of Modern Languages Education if you are interested in language education and multiculturalism!
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