Professional Learning

Armidale High School, NSW

Sector: Government
Year levels: Secondary
Partner school: Sekolah Tun Fatimah, Malaysia

Deborah Moore, a teacher at Armidale High School in NSW, is an Indonesian speaker, Japanese teacher and 'lover of Asian culture'. Having spent time in Malaysia in the past, Deborah was quick to register her school for the Australia–Malaysia BRIDGE school partnerships project and had the support of the school's principal.

Armidale High and its partner school, Sekolah Tun Fatimah in Johor Bahru, have embraced the use of ICT in their partnership. Students are using the Flat Traveler project to swap digital stories of their daily lives in Australia and Malaysia. They also interact using a classroom Edmodo and are expecting to use video conferencing tool Adobe Connect in future, in addition to sharing their work through a wiki.

Through the BRIDGE project, Deborah visited Sekolah Tun Fatimah, connecting with partner teacher Rohaiza Tapsir. She said it was a 'wonderful experience on so many levels', allowing her to gain a deeper understanding on Malaysian culture. Rohaiza will participate in a reciprocal visit later in 2015.

Deborah has expressed hope that the BRIDGE project will 'not only benefit students and staff from both schools, but it will also spread into the community, promoting cross-cultural understanding and empathy for other cultures.'

I have been so impressed with the level of engagement and interaction between the students from both countries. Our project has only just begun but the enthusiasm is contagious!