English and Debating

VCE EXCURSIONS AND INCURSIONS

Our students and teachers have been off to a flying start this year. Year 12 English students attended a viewing and lecture on Hitchcock’s Rear Window on Monday the 5th of February at ACMI. Whilst students have already viewed the film, familiarity with the text is an essential component of student success.  ACMI’s Dr Susan Bye’s insightful lecture further explored important aspects of this film, including the ‘kuleshov’ or ‘shot reverse shot’ technique employed by Hitchcock to draw the audience into the protagonist’s point of view.

Our year 11s have been treated to two incursions both relating to texts they are studying. Maxine Beneba Clarke, author of Foreign Soil, visited our school on Thursday 21st Februrary. Her talk deepened students’ knowledge of the cultural, historical and political contexts of her short stories. Students asked very interesting and though- provoking questions which truly demonstrated how the Year 11s have connected with this text. Many students also seized the opportunity to have their books signed.

The Year 11 students were introduced to Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, on Tuesday 5th March.  Complete Works performed the majority of the play whilst also pausing to discuss important aspects of the play in terms of plot, themes, symbols and historical context. Once again, students responded positively, asking insightful questions in the Q & A session at the end of the performance.

Getting to Know our Year 7s

Every year staff are very excited to meet our new year 7 students. Over the last few years the English team have got to know their students through the ‘Re-inventing Me’ project. The project takes the pivotal moment of entering high school as an opportunity to chart other important moments in individual student’s lives. Students also respond to questions about their identity through a range of other projects. The outcome was the colourful poster-filled wall that greeted parents and students on the Meet the Teachers Night on Thursday 21st of February.  Students proudly showed off their class work which also provided interesting talking points between parents, students and teachers.

Debating and Public Speaking

On Thursday March 28th our 2019 debaters debuted at the DAV regional competition at Ivanhoe Girls Grammar.

Interschool debating provides students the opportunity to build confidence in effective public presentation. It encourages logical and critical thinking, social awareness and an interest in current affairs. Just look at the topics laid out for the juniors over the course of the year – all areas of topical interest.

Round 1: That we should ban horse racing

Round 2: That all political parties should have quotas for female candidates

Round 3: That we should abolish standardised testing (e.g. NAPLAN)

Round 4: That convicted criminals should not be allowed to publish accounts of their crimes

Round 5: That refugees should have full access to the Australian welfare system

This year we are pleased to announce a ‘bumper crop’ of new debaters – we have 6 new teams of enthusiastic Year 7s and 8s who have taken on the challenge of debating. Our senior team members of Year 10s and 11s, whilst still honing their debating skills, provide invaluable assistance to the new recruits.

Further opportunities for public speaking will be announced in Term 2.

Karen Lynch

Head of English