English activities

ARENA Artificial Intelligence incursion: Year 8D English

by Emma Schmitt, English and Drama teacher 

This term Year 8D all-boys English class were visited by Arena Theatre company and participated in an interesting incursion with three theatre makers, posing as CSIRO scientists. The boys were presented with the task of designing their own Artificial Intelligence and then asking questions of it to see whether it was real or not.

Initially the sense of mystery around the AI and its authenticity was fully in play, but after one student disappeared and a strange voice came over the speakers, (good work Arion) the class began to suspect these presenters might not be “real” scientists after all. I thought it was very rewarding for the boys to be treated with maturity, particularly in the many activities and conferences that took place before any construction of the AI or an actual “robot” materialised. The facilitators conversed with the boys on all manner of topics, giving them the spotlight and genuinely listening to their stories giving each class member the mic for a few minutes. The boys have never been so quiet, and with prompts like: “What is the most crazy thing you ever did in primary school?” the scene was well and truly set for a great afternoon. I was very proud of the boys, they really got into the spirit of the activity, asked many probing and interesting questions, and the theatre makers thought they were fantastic. The deeper questioning and thinking that came about was a great way to engage my students. Thank you Year 8D and Arena, come back any time, we enjoyed your visit.

Script work: 8D English 

A picture tells a thousand words!

Documentary scriptwriting was a really enjoyable way to finish the year. Congratulations to all the class on their final performance, an unpolished masterpiece.

Horror in 7C

Year 7C performed their short horror play last week utilising stagecraft and an Edwardian script to bring their old fashioned characters and plot to life. Thank you everyone: despite the time constraints you all pulled it together in time. I loved the monkey spirits and the Fakir, the ghostly narrators who poured the tea, and the rather spooky leads who were haunted by the very ill-gotten gains of the Monkey’s Paw. Costumes, lighting and makeup were all beautifully created by the backstage crew. Well done.

Year 7 debating: an enjoyable challenge

by Charlie O’Regan, Year 7

Year 7 Debating 2016 had a successful year! The team consisted of Charlie (myself), James, Edie and Dylan, with David Browning as our mentor/instructor. It started when we went to a session with a couple of other schools about debating, how it worked and what an actual debate was like. After that, we met on Mondays and worked on our debate tactics and topics. Our first debate was on “After-school sports should be compulsory”, and we were on the negative side. The debating team was James, Dylan and me, and we won by just one point. The next debate was the same team, and the debate topic was “The government should increase the funding to the Arts”, and this time we were on the affirmative. We won again, this time by three points. The final debate was James, Dylan and Edie, and it was “Parents should have access to their children’s social media account”. We were on the affirmative, but unfortunately lost. We all had a great time learning the challenging art of debating, and we were all really proud of ourselves when it was over. I recommend joining the debating team next year – it’s a great way to make friends and challenge yourself, while picking up on important public speaking and critical thinking skills. Thank you to David Browning for organising and helping us!