On Monday morning, we left Lexis Byron Bay campus and headed, by bus, to Emmanuel Anglican College in Ballina. We all gathered in their school library and were greeted by staff and students in both English and Japanese! Each student was paired with a ‘buddy‘ – a student who would take them to their classes and look after them throughout the day.

After our welcome, each student was given a tour of the beautiful school grounds by their buddy, before joining them for their morning classes, which included Maths and Science.

Enjoying some chats with their buddies during the morning break.

Enjoying a fun game of Handball during break time!

After break, I joined some of the students in English class, where the teacher was explaining how to structure an essay.

From 12pm, we joined the Japanese classes! This was lots of fun and each group of students (Year 8 and 10) greeted our Hiroshima Juniors in Japanese, while our Juniors greeted them back in English. Everyone had a little chat to get to know eachother better.

During these classes, our Hiroshima Juniors gave a brief presentation to groups of students, introducing them to their home-place, Hiroshima.

Some Japanese-themed decorations in the Japanese room.

Activities in these classes included ‘Kahoot’ – an interactive learning game to help with language skills, listening tests and finally, a ‘speed chat’ – where each of our students had 5 minutes to chat with a student in English, before moving on to the next student when time was up.

At 3pm it was time to leave and we all met at the front of the school, where everyone had the chance to say goodbye to their buddies. Thanks for having us, Emmanuel Anglican College! 🙂

Learn English in Byron Bay. Lexis English students study General English, IELTS, FCE, CAE and English plus Surfing and Yoga in a friendly and professional school right in the heart of Byron Bay and only 15 minutes from the beach.