3/5/2007 - 19 full and partial scholarships available through AFS Intercultural Programs
An opportunity to learn Japanese outside an ordinary classroom!
Monday, 30 April 2007 Not-for-profit student exchange organisation AFS Intercultural Programs has great news for Japanese fanatics! An exciting opportunity has arisen for students who are eager to practise their Japanese skills and for those who wish to explore Japan outside their classrooms. 19 full and partial scholarships are now available for high school students in Australia aged between 15 and 18 to study and live in Japan for up to a year; thanks to AFS Japan, Anglo Coal Australia and Mitsui Coal Holdings Pty Ltd, J-Power Australia, the Sony Foundation Australia, the Kamenori Foundation and Japan-Australia LNG (“MIMI”). The Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations will also give its full support to AFS in promoting these scholarships.
18 year-old Joshua Brennan was one of the lucky students who embarked on an AFS exchange program to Japan last year. After studying Japanese for several years, he decided to put this into practice and found his AFS experience a great lesson in life, “The main reason I ventured to Japan was to heighten my speaking skills, and this I did. Little did I know how much I was not only going to learn about the culture and its people but also myself. I learnt a lot about my own patience, generosity, and kindness,” said Joshua. “I made so many friends and consider myself to have a ‘second family’ in Japan.”
An AFS full year scholarship to Japan is worth $11,200 and includes return travel, host family placement, full orientation, enrichment activities and most medical costs incurred during the stay. Learning the history behind Samurais, travelling on bullet trains and bathing in onsens are only some of the wonderful things that students can undertake.
AFS is frequently asked by parents, teachers and students about the impact of taking “time out” during school years to go on exchange. AFS has 60 years of experience in student exchange and research shows an exchange year provides students with improved independence, flexibility and valuable social, life and language skills. Returned AFS students frequently perform well in language studies in their final high school exams.
Tim Looker, a parent of another AFS student, was impressed with the impact the exchange program had on his son. “There is no specific objective measure to gauge the impact of programs such as the ones AFS provides… the experience has had a profound positive effect on a boy who I am sure will make his own contribution to the benefit of our world as he grows and matures.”
For more information about the AFS Japan scholarships, please visit www.afs.org.au or call AFS on 1300 131 736. Enquiries must be received by 31 May.
Media Contact:
Barbara Ratusznik
barbara.ratusznik@afs.org
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