Alex

Alex (right) and Janet

I did Japanese by distance education for four years. The subject simply wasn't offered. While the Southern Cross Distance Education centre was fabulous the isolation was inevitable. I was the only person at my school studying the subject and one of only two in the entire region. I spent so much time alone in my school library getting increasingly frustrated. A large part of the subject is speaking and I didn't have peers to practice those skills with like you would have in a traditional classroom situation. When I was struggling it was often difficult to get help. The hardest thing was not knowing how I was progressing. With no one to compare my progress to it was easy to assume I was miles behind everyone else. This wasn't true. But the anxiety was a nightmare. Being able to connect with others would have been invaluable.