The club has coordinated with seven other central Victorian clubs including Campaspe neighbours Rochester to bring eight teachers from Malaysia to Australia for training, development, and practice.
Echuca-Moama’s sister club, the Rotary Club of Melawati, worked with six other clubs around the Kuala Lumpur area to facilitate the teachers' selection and pre-departure requirements.
Club president Rob Foran said the teachers will be in Australia for five-and-a-half weeks and will be working at five schools across Echuca, Bendigo and Melbourne.
He said it is a program which benefits the visiting teachers but also gives local students and teachers access to new methods and practices as well as the added attraction of the cultural exchange.
“Twin Rivers Specialist School and Twin Rivers Primary were keen to jump onboard with the concept and have been extremely accommodating as the program has taken shape,” Mr Foran said.
“The Rotary Club of Echuca Moama will also be hosting a lunch for the teachers on Saturday at 12pm.
“Everyone is welcome, especially those from the education and disability sectors and you can secure your seat at trybooking.com/CRAJD”
With the first Malaysian teachers arriving at Twin Rivers last week, they’re already well into their rotations.
Some of them told the Riverine Herald about what they are hoping to achieve from their visit.
Felixia: “I’m really excited to have the opportunity to join the Australia expedition for special educators. I hope with this trip, I can learn from educators from a diverse background, exploring innovative ways to integrate inclusion for children with special needs.”
Mushi: “I hope the training content will be engaging and collaborative. I aim to bring back new perspective and fresh idea for teachers who work with special needs children.”
Hor Yern: “I look forward to build good networks with the teachers and the trainers in Australia and hope this could create a happy and positive learning environment for special needs children in Malaysia.”
Nuraimi: “As one of the participants in this program, I'm looking forward to learn more about special education systems in Australia, especially the inclusive education and workforce transitioning programs.”
Punitha: “I consider myself very lucky and blessed to be part of this program. By joining it I believe it provides me with tools for providing person-centred education and better adapting lessons based on different learning types and levels.”
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