In July 2014, years 9 and 10 Mandarin students from River City Christian College, Echuca, visited Prickle Community Acupuncture in Melbourne to learn about Chinese medicine and how people from China approach health problems.
They spent the morning with Asia Education Foundation Asia Literacy Ambassador Joanne Sharkey, who told them how her education in China assisted her become a practitioner in Melbourne.
Teacher Choy Leung volunteered to let Ms Sharkey show the students how acupuncture is applied.
Holistic teaching
‘Students were inspired by how being Asia literate has helped Jo to learn and train in Beijing, and also when serving the local community back in Australia,’ said Ms Leung.
‘The main objective for the workplace visit was for my students to witness how learning a foreign language can open up career paths that would otherwise be difficult or unreachable. I chose the clinic because the practice of acupuncture is in itself history, tradition, culture and language – all encompassing,’ she said.
From school to work
The workplace visit was coordinated by AEF’s School Business Partnerships team, which can arrange visits for Languages, Legal Studies or Business Studies students.
