At HELPS, we are very proud of our volunteer support from UTS students, staff, alumni and community. In 2020 our programs were recognised as a finalist in the NSW International Student Community Engagement award
Talkfest and the Buddy Program are not running in Spring 2026
For UTS student volunteers
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Transcript
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!
What’s the purpose of the Buddy Program?
- International students improve speaking skills and confidence
- Some buddies take part in language exchange eg. English/French; English/Mandarin
- Volunteer buddies gain volunteer hours for UTS awards (eg BUILD, SOUL and Brennan) and a Buddy Program Certificate
- Everyone has a chance to reach out, give back, make friends and stay connected.
‘It's a unique opportunity to see Australia and Sydney through someone else's eyes and make friends in the process’
'Feel like maybe I understand just a little more about the world'.
What’s my role as a Volunteer Buddy?
- Catch up with international students (1 - 3 students at the same time) for weekly conversation
- 1 hour per week or 30 mins, twice per week - you might miss a week but it’s important to have regular catch ups
- You are not expected to:
- Prepare lessons or help with student assignments (send them to HELPS!)
- Be English language teachers (if you are confident with your English skills, that’s enough)
- Have contact with students outside the buddy program unless you want to
Just turn up and chat. Through the weekly conversation, students get the opportunity to improve a range of skills – fluency, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. If you’d like more guidance on helping with language skills go to our guides Helping with language skills
What do we talk about?
Anything that interests you – the best part of this program for students is that it’s a real world, ‘water cooler’ experience.
It’s not an English class that needs to be prepared.
But if you run out of ideas:
- Ask the students what they would like to talk about – it’s gives them the opportunity to initiate conversation in English.
- Other ideas:
- Their cultural background and experience in Australia – what is different from their country?
- Their schooling, current studies and future life/career plans.
- Their travel experiences and yours. Where to travel in their country.
- Their reasons for wanting to improve English.
- Google news items. If your student has lower language levels, you can try BBC English and ABC Learn English - they have short simple videos that can help get the conversation started.
- Anything about your life experience usually generates good conversation – students love hearing about life in Australia.
Remember people from different backgrounds may be comfortable with different levels of interaction and sharing of personal stories may only occur over time. Your buddy may also have different perspectives and values and it's important to be open to that without judgement.
More conversation topics if you need them: Conversation topics guide.
How do I find my student buddy?
- The Buddy Program is going through some change - you can now register your interest to become a volunteer here
- We'll get back to you soon when we can introduce you to your student buddies!
- It may take some time to find the right buddies but let us know if you have any questions
How do I arrange and record my meetings?
- You can schedule your meetings with your buddies after you meet. You'll be introduced to them in our new Buddy Program Team.
- Record your meetings in Career Hub. That helps us see how many people connect to measure the program's success.
- After your 6 meetings you can let us know if you'd like to meet other student buddies
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Want to become a Talkfest volunteer?
Engage with students from across the globe; learn about their cultures, network with people you may not usually meet and deepen your understanding of diversity in Australia.
TalkFest is a free, fun-filled event that connects international students and volunteers to promote cultural exchange and develop confidence in group conversations. With regular commitment as a Talkfest Volunteer you will receive a letter of recognition or reference.
'So many barriers were broken down. I just can't recommend it enough'.
'I loved contributing to diversity in the UTS community, whilst breaking cross-cultural boundaries and learning about our blissfully complex world.
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Transcript
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.
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HELPS have other volunteering opportunities throughout the year where you can develop your communication and leadership skills:
- Conversations@UTS. Assist our Conversation Leaders who run small, engaging conversation groups with international students online or on campus. If you're a confident group facilitator you may also be interested in running a conversation group with other student volunteers. More information on Conversations@UTS
- Promotional activity eg O'Day. Help us spread the word about UTS HELPS at events like O'Day during orientation week. If you enjoy talking to people and helping with games we'd love you to register your interest for future events.
For UTS staff volunteers
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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.
What’s the purpose of the Buddy Program?
- International students improve speaking skills and confidence
- Some buddies take part in language exchange eg. English/French; English/Mandarin
- Staff and community volunteers have a break from their working week and enjoy the cross cultural experience.
- Everyone has a chance to reach out, give back, make friends and stay connected.
What’s my role as a Staff Volunteer Buddy?
- Catch up with an international student (or two) for weekly conversation
- One hour per week or 30 mins, twice per week - you might miss a week but it’s important to have regular catch ups where possible.
- You are not expected to:
- Prepare lessons or help with student assignments (send them to HELPS!)
- Be English language teachers (as fluent speakers, you’re perfect)
- Have contact with students outside the buddy program unless you want to
Just turn up and chat. Through the weekly conversation, students get the opportunity to improve a range of skills – fluency, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. If you’d like more guidance on helping with language skills go to our guide ‘Helping with language skills’.
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Facilitate casual conversation for 1 or 2 hours per week with groups of international students to help them build their confidence, meet friends and improve their skills.
‘It’s very enjoyable watching students improve and become more confident. It’s also a great way to learn more about a very wide variety of different cultures and languages.'
'I love seeing how a student's speaking confidence is quietly developing'.
Interested? Email MaryAnn.McDonald@uts.edu.au
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Transcript
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.
For UTS alumni and community volunteers
Have you completed study at UTS and you're looking for an easy way to keep connected and give back? Or perhaps you haven't studied with us but would like to be part of our UTS volunteering community?
UTS HELPS provides an opportunity to do something meaningful for 1 or 2 hours per week. Become a HELPS volunteer and help us support international students while you broaden your own cross cultural communication skills.
Use the buttons to expand or collapse the section.
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Facilitate casual conversation for 1 or 2 hours per week with groups of international students to help them build their confidence, meet friends and improve their skills.
‘It’s very enjoyable watching students improve and become more confident. It’s also a great way to learn more about a very wide variety of different cultures and languages.'
'I love seeing how a student's speaking confidence is quietly developing.'
Interested? Email MaryAnn.McDonald@uts.edu.au
Read transcript
Transcript
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.