Cowra’s own Katie Clements has had the trip of a lifetime, and she’s bringing it back to share with her students.
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The child care worker has recently returned from a two-week exchange program run by TAFE NSW, and was ecstatic about the opportunity to get to share her knowledge with her students at Cowra Early Childhood Mobile Service, which runs out of Mandurama and Gooloogong.
“I’ve incorporated some some of the Chinese language with the children,” Ms Clements said.
“Like saying ‘hello,’ which is ‘Nǐ hǎo,’ and counting to 10 in Chinese as well.”
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The majority of the two week trip involved students travelling on a 45 minute bullet train trip out of Shanghai to work at the Wuxi International Child Care Centre, a site with 700 students.
It is a far-cry from Ms Clements’ current workplace, but neither that nor the fact it was her first plane trip stopped her from embracing the experience.
“It was first time everything, basically,” Ms Clements said.
“I thought I was going to much more nervous than what I was… I got along with everyone really well.”
Jenny Preston, one of Ms Clement’s teachers at TAFE NSW and an attending supervisor on the trip, raved about the experience.
“[To] see other people experience things for the first time, [it’s] life changing [and] really hard to explain,” Ms Preston said.
She also stated that Ms Clements was one of the fastest to pick up the language, and that all of the students became more confident by the program’s end.
“[They] realised all kids around the world are the same, [there’s] lots of talking, cuddles, singing [and] dancing,” Ms Preston said.
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“All of the group got amazing personal growth out of it, they are all more confident [and they are] all very keen to travel and work overseas.”
The description of this experience certainly extends to Ms Clements, who is already talking about going back to Wuxi to do more work.
“I think you could say I’ve caught the travel bug,” she laughed.
It is the fourth time that TAFE NSW have run the trip to the Wuxi Child Care Centre, which is one of several trips that the technical college runs each year in China and India.
These trips also cover study areas such as Welfare, Nursing, Business and Community Services.
To learn more, prospective students can visit the TAFE NSW website or contact the campus direct at 131 601.
