After 16 years teaching English and living in Japan, UTAS pre-service teacher Emily Millar has returned to her home turf of North-West Tasmania to complete her teaching degree.

Emily has been completing her second teaching placement at Don College over Term 2 as part of the Master of Teaching course. She has been working closely with Japanese and Visual Arts students, and mentor teachers Karen Marshall, Lisa Garland, Sonia Van De Wolfshaar and Loralee Newitt to refine her teaching skills and to gain an understanding of real-world teaching expectations. She has already completed all the theoretical components of the course.

In the Japanese classroom, Emily said it was fantastic to see students engaging so willingly with languages.

“We have been looking at numbers and time, and revision of other elements for the exams. The students are lucky to have Karen, and I’m really appreciative that they’ve accepted me as someone new with different techniques and a different teaching style.”

In Visual Arts, she has been seeing how students work with their teachers to progress their ideas for the major works they are working towards.

“There are a lot of different mediums students are working with: ceramics, painting, photography. The students have also been developing skills in critiquing and developing their own ideas.”

Emily hopes that in her teaching career she will be able to bring her knowledge of Japanese culture and her artistic discipline of painting together to provide transdisciplinary learning for her future students.

“There’s so much more access to Japanese culture now so it would be great to look at those art forms in Japan.”

Emily said she has enjoyed her first experience within a senior secondary environment. She said while at times it felt overwhelming to cover all the outcomes required for students to meet the standards of the course, it was great to see students engaging so enthusiastically in their learning.

“What has been really heartening to see is that students are pursuing subjects they love and trying something new in some cases.’

We  thank Emily for her assistance this term and wish Emily all the best in the remainder of her degree at UTAS and into her career as a teacher.