HELPS U:Connect Volunteer Programs

Tim: So my name’s Tim. I’m studying Biomedical Science. I joined the Buddy Program so I can feel like I was traveling while I was still in Sydney.

Tim: I get to meet people from different cultures, learn about their way of life, how to say hello in various languages.

Tim: We really just talk about anything. I just meet with Joy, we chat about our week.

Joy: So my name is Joy and I joined the Buddy Program because I feel that one, it's really good for me when I want to study something about Australian culture.

Tim: Occasionally we sort of exchange some cultural things.

Tim: Well she taught me about a Vietnamese nursery rhyme. It has some interesting origins and sometimes I teach her some Australian idioms which she might not have heard before.

Joy: Meeting a volunteer give me like some time to relax myself.

Tim: So if you are thinking of volunteering you definitely should.

Tim: It’s a great way to come out and help some people but you actually get a lot out of it yourself.

Tim: I’ve managed to steal some travel plans off people, meet some awesome people like Joy and just learn about a lot of different cultures. So definitely give it a shot!

My name is Rachel Khalef. I do a double degree of Medical Science and Arts in International Studies.

I have been volunteering for a year and a half.

I wanted to become a Peer Advisor because I felt like I wasn’t really contributing to university as much as I wanted to.

Students need most help with communicating with someone.

Not always they have the opportunity to talk to people and I guess that’s what Peer Advisors are for.

We are here to talk to them, help them maybe understand their assignments and maybe guide them in the right direction.

I don't believe we do need any special skills at all.

It is a volunteering position in which anyone can join as long as you’re friendly and you enjoy to talking to people.

Volunteering as a Peer Advisor has helped me tremendously with my communication skills.

I did find myself that I gained the confidence for it.

It has helped me demonstrate these skills that I have gained in my coursework.

I was able to learn how to make friends better, to know how to talk to people, how to approach them.

What I love the most is the really friendly atmosphere.

Knowing that you do not know the answers to everything but still get accepted by people and getting encouragements every single day that you do volunteer.

Hey I’m Gav. I’m doing a Bachelor of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering.

This is also my first time doing Talkfest. I just kinda came and then really enjoyed it and said ‘Can I volunteer’ and they said ‘Yeah’.

You just need to be an open person. You know, have fun talking to people.

Just relax a little bit as well, you don't need to be like super good at English or anything like that.

For me I enjoy first of all meeting new people and learning more about the world.

What other students have to deal with and the way they study.

I’ve made quite a few friends. It's good to see people weekly and say ‘Oh hey, yeah. How you doing?’, ‘How's your week been?’

I feel a bit more integrated in the uni as well. You get to spend more time with actual people instead of just going home and studying on your own.

Seeing cross cultural boundaries being broken as well is one way to talk to people.

I’ve learnt to be more of an approachable person, in more ways than one.

Instead of just catering to like a local type student, you know being more approachable to other cultures and seeming less scary I guess, smiling a bit more.

But also seeing people smile at the end of the day and knowing that you might have contributed to that smile really you know, warms your heart a bit.

To become a Talkfest volunteer go to the HELPS webpage and follow the links to complete an application.

My name’s Steve Hunt. I’m a member of FEIT.

Conversation Groups is an informal gathering of students led by a conversation leader.

The conversation leader’s role is really to try and get the students to talk, and to interact, and to get them engaged in talking about a subject which is of common interest.

Help them a bit with pronunciation and a little bit with grammar, in a very non-judgemental unthreatening way.

I started off preparing and I would put a few things up on the whiteboard. Most often, we never even got around to talking about them.

We got diverted onto other things. There’s always been something interesting happening in the week.

I get a lot out of it because I get to talk to a lot of students from different countries. Around the table I might have Iranians, Slovakians, Russians, Chinese, Vietnamese, Koreans.

All around the one table… all talking English, and all interacting with each other and sharing jokes together.

I mean we try to have a few laughs along the way. There’s always something funny that we can bring into it.

If you are thinking about volunteering, you don’t really need to prepare very much.

All you really need to do is to be there and try to get all the students engaged and involved in talking.

They’re there to speak English… They want to practise their English.

All you’ve really got to do is to gently prompt them along and ask the occasional question.

My name’s Steve Hunt. I’m a member of FEIT.

Conversation Groups is an informal gathering of students led by a conversation leader.

The conversation leader’s role is really to try and get the students to talk, and to interact, and to get them engaged in talking about a subject which is of common interest.

Help them a bit with pronunciation and a little bit with grammar, in a very non-judgemental unthreatening way.

I started off preparing and I would put a few things up on the whiteboard. Most often, we never even got around to talking about them.

We got diverted onto other things. There’s always been something interesting happening in the week.

I get a lot out of it because I get to talk to a lot of students from different countries. Around the table I might have Iranians, Slovakians, Russians, Chinese, Vietnamese, Koreans.

All around the one table… all talking English, and all interacting with each other and sharing jokes together.

I mean we try to have a few laughs along the way. There’s always something funny that we can bring into it.

If you are thinking about volunteering, you don’t really need to prepare very much.

All you really need to do is to be there and try to get all the students engaged and involved in talking.

They’re there to speak English… They want to practise their English.

All you’ve really got to do is to gently prompt them along and ask the occasional question.

I'm Teraesa, I work in the Faculty of Engineering and IT in the School of Software.

The Buddy Program is an incentive by the university that matches students with volunteers in a conversational English capacity.

What I like about the Buddy Program is it gives me an opportunity to mix with students that I don’t normally get a chance to deal with.

I work at the ABC and the reason I joined this HELPS Buddy Program was because I myself have been in Australia as an international student.

Being a Buddy is very simple. It's just be there, talk to the person, listen and just have a nice flowing conversation.

I do benefit in the way that it helps me network. It helps me grow as a person, also in confidence. I know now I can talk to anybody and everybody.

The other thing I enjoy about the Buddy Program is . . . I get to talk to people from different backgrounds, different cultures, different countries.

I’m learning a lot about their culture, they’re learning about Australian culture, Sydney life.

I think if you are willing to volunteer, it’s very simple. If you're at the ABC, all you have to do is just walk across the road and spend about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

If you are an alumni it’s much easier for you to keep connected to your university, give back to the university what you gained from it.

To join the Buddy Program register on the HELPS web page.