LANGUAGES

YEAR 7 SPANISH INCURSION Dia de los muertos (The Day of the Dead)

Last Wednesday on the 20th of November, the year 7s had a Spanish incursion for the Day of the Dead or "El día de los muertos". We went in groups of 2-3 classes for 2 periods of the day each. It was an amazing experience with lots of different fun and interesting activities led by three people from Mexico named Alejandro, Maria and Miss Carolina.

At the incursion we learnt some more facts about Mexican culture and how they celebrate the Day of the Dead doing things like paper cutting/folding, making marigold flowers and making mini clay skulls which are all used to decorate the altar they use to respect the loved ones they lost.

It was truly an amazing experience and I hope the next year 7s will also be able to do it next year as well as having many more incursions like this in the near future so that we can learn even more about this beautiful culture.

Mila Feather, Year 7

On Wednesday 20 November we participated in a Day of the Dead incursion. Special performers came to tell us all about the traditions that they celebrate in Mexico. There was dancing, singing, learning and arts and crafts activities, like creating paper flowers, doing paper cut outs and creating skulls out of clay. I had so much fun, and I really enjoyed the whole day.  

First of all, we had a little introduction. As soon as we sat down, music was being played with guitars and violins. It sounded beautiful and exotic, really amazing stuff. The performers were wearing beautiful and eccentric outfits with black embroidered suits and big hats. They were very skilled and talented. Once the song was over, A lovely Mexican lady started talking to us about the song that was just sung, and then explained to us what we would be doing today. 

Once the talking was done, we went on to do our arts and crafts activities. I chose to do the clay skull making. We each got given a chunk of clay, and let our imaginations take the wheel. Some made skulls with patterns, and some had big deep eyes. Each skull was unique and different. Once I finished with my skull, I took it over to lay it on the special table, as a decoration.

Once we had finished our arts and crafts, we sat down for more music to be played, but this time there was dancing too. People got to take turns putting on special long flowy skirts and doing special and cultural dances up the front. We also got to try out cool toys that people used to play with in Mexico before playing fancy video games. And finally, we ended with a conga line with lots of people. A great way to end the day.

Overall, I had such an amazing experience, really diving into the culture of the day of the dead and immersing myself in traditions.

Sid Noble, Year 7

Dear McKinnon Community,

Yesterday we celebrated the known Mexican holiday Day of the Dead, or El Día de los Muertos in Spanish with Mexican music and dances and we created traditional Mexican decorations like flowers made of paper and calacas, which is Spanish for ‘skulls’ The calacas were clay blocks we could shape to skulls and decorate and the paper flowers were just a few little pieces of paper that we stapled together and shaped like a flower.

After that we learned a traditional Central American dance called La Raspa. It is a very simple dance that requires you to only jump and spin. It is to be danced by 2in 2 people. 

The people running the activity were three Mexican people called María, Carolina and Alejandro. Alejandro and María played traditional Mexican music while Carolina explained us what to do.

The whole experience was a lot of fun and made me want to go visit Mexico myself the next time El Día de los Muertos is happening.

Shahar Ben-Meir, Year 7

UNTERNEHMEN DEUTSCH

3rd Prize nationally among 65 business ideas! Yes, this year our Year 10 students have again formed teams and participated in the ‘Enterprize German’ project/competition run by the Goethe Institut. Over most of Term 3, alongside more conventional classwork, our students worked through three modules of learning, where they got to know the business and economic links between Australia and Germany, chose a company (most of them German companies operating here in Australia, but also a few companies based here but with strong German links), looked at the operations of that company, had a meeting with a representative of that company, and developed a business idea (product or service) to suggest to that company.

Our student teams all came up with interesting ideas and submitted their materials to the Goethe Institut’s online platform. 65 business ideas were submitted to the competition by students learning German at 15 schools in four different states of Australia. A jury consisting of representatives of the German-Australian Chamber of Industry and Commerce, of the German Embassy, and of the Goethe Institut selected one of our teams’ ideas into the short list of seven, and at the online Awards Ceremony that idea won Third Prize! 

Congratulations to Jasper Wilson, Josh Foong, Vibhan Jivanjee and Ruthvik Pammi on their idea for the company BMW, involving a new type of subscription service for people who would like to drive BMW. A jury member said that their idea is very future-oriented and has indicated that she would welcome the opportunity to discuss the idea further with our student team. 

Well done! The students themselves told attendees at the online Awards Ceremony that the project was a nice change of scene from conventional classwork.

David Nutting

German Teacher