Message from the Acting WELC Coordinator

The last two terms have seen a lot of change in our Language Centre. Like all other schools in Victoria, our students and staff spent Term 3 doing remote learning and teaching. We returned to onsite learning on 26 October. However, over the last two terms, we have expanded our program to include offshore students as well. These are students who are studying remotely in the Language Centre while living in their own countries. These students continue to learn remotely and it is wonderful to see our students in Australia, China and Vietnam connect with other students via video. Their commitment to their development of English, despite a worldwide pandemic, is inspiring.

The teachers have been very impressed with our students’ effort and perseverance over the last two terms. It has not been easy for anyone, but, every day, our students have logged in to Microsoft Teams, turned on their cameras and participated actively in class. A big thank you to all our students for your hard work and smiling faces, and to the teachers for helping run our program in difficult circumstances.

Students have undertaken a variety of extra-curricular activities, despite being in other countries and being unable to go on excursions. Primary and secondary students experienced a virtual zoo tour by Wild Action and were introduced to Australian animals. Students were also given the opportunity to ask the zookeeper questions. Both primary and secondary students had many interesting questions to ask!

Every Wednesday, our secondary students participate in online self-defence classes. In these classes, they learn key skills to stay safe and defend themselves against danger. Students have participated with enthusiasm.

At the end of this term, 8 students will graduate from the Language Centre and move on to other studies. A big congratulations from all the teachers at the Language Centre. We hope it all goes well next term.

Here are some key dates to take note of -

Important Dates

11 December 2020 – last day of formal classes

14 – 16 December 2020 – activities

28 January 2021 – Term 1 starts

I want to wish all our students and staff a safe and happy holiday, and I look forward to seeing you again next year. For those students, who will move on to other schools, good luck, and we hope to see you again soon.

Ms Deborah Morgan

Acting WELC Coordinator

Cooking Elective

Photos of food cooked by students during remote learning.

WELC Wild Action Incursion

Last month, the students in the Language Centre (local and offshore), got to see and learn about some of our Australian animals through an online incursion run by Wild Action. The animals included the koala, kangaroo, dingo, fairy penguin and black-headed python, just to name a few. Among all of these animals, the koala was a favourite for the offshore students, many of them saying how cute it is and look forward to coming to Australia to see the koala and other Australian animals live.

“I really enjoyed the wild action class. It is very interesting to see the animals that you can only see in Australia. There are many animals that I never saw before like kangaroos and koalas.”

Jason (Group 1 offshore student)

Below are acrostic poems about some of the animals written by the group 1 students:

The animal that lives in water

Under the sea

Really endangered

The opposite of speed

Love to eat fish

Exoskeleton is the turtle shell

Written by Barry

Eats termites

Cute

Hurts others by the spines

Impressive appearance

Dig down to be safe in a bushfire

No-nipple mammal

Ants are also one of its diet

Written by Binh

Different from the dog in other places

In the group there is a hierarchy

Never live alone

Go hunting in groups

Only eat meat

Written by Disheng

Fantastic

Relaxing on a rock

Only can find in Australia wild

Googly eyes

Written by Jason

Be able to live in the dark place

A pair of wings

Take bugs to eat

Written by Peter

Self Defence Lessons

This term in WELC, we are lucky to be providing self-defence classes for our students remotely. The program is run by Live Safe and the classes are run via a combination of MS TEAMS and Zoom platforms to give all students, both those onsite and offshore, the opportunity to participate. The students have been learning ways of defending themselves. The activities the instructors provide focus not just on defence strategies but also on keeping active and exercising. The students are enjoying these sessions and look forward to them every Wednesday afternoon.

Ms Katerina Tetoros

WELC Teacher

WELC Primary

In Term 4, students have been learning about Trees, Plants and Gardens. They have learned the vocabulary for each of those topics by using phonics to identify the words and match them to pictures. They have also learned about a plant life-cycle and are able to sequence plant growth and name some parts of plants.

A variety of activities are incorporated into their learning to help reinforce the vocabulary learned and to help them apply their new learning via oral presentation, written reports and illustrations.

Below are some pictures of activities they do in the classroom as part of the unit of learning.

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