Languages news

'One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way.' – Frank Smith

As we are coming up to subject selection, I thought it would be timely to spend some time talking about options for Languages. There are many benefits to studying a Language – here are just a few:

Academic achievement – improvement in literacy, cognitive development and thinking skills through learning languages.
Work and career opportunities – the ability to compete on a global, multilingual job market.
Global citizenship – gaining the ability to deal respectfully with others.
Personal benefits – opportunities to travel through student exchange and tours; communication worldwide.
Maintenance of cultural identity and diversity.

For those who are interested in learning a little more, at the end of this article there are some links to academic studies related to the benefits of studying a second (or third!) language.

Google soft skills

A few years ago, Google conducted an analysis of its personnel data and came up with a list of the most important qualities of top employees. The top characteristics of success at Google are all ‘soft’ skills:

being a good coach
communicating and listening well
possessing insights into others (including others different values and points of view)
having empathy toward and being supportive of one’s colleagues
being a good critical thinker and problem solver
being able to make connections across complex ideas.

Not surprisingly, these are all the sorts of things we do in our language learning classrooms. It’s not just about language acquisition. Even if your daughter is not planning to continue with her language studies, she is practising critical and creative thinking, as well synthesis and analysis skills that will stand her in good stead in whatever direction she chooses for her future studies.

Language pathways at Shelford

Current Year 7 students are required to continue studying at least one Language in Year 8. They can choose either Japanese or French, and in 2022 we are very excited that they will also have the option to continue with both languages in Year 8.

Studying a language is compulsory in Year 9, but students who choose to study two languages in Year 8 in 2022 are not locked into continuing two Languages in Year 9. They can drop back to one Language in 2023 if they choose.

Current students in Year 8 will continue with the same Language they are studying this year into Year 9 in 2022. At this stage we are not offering beginner’s courses at Year 9, so although it may seem as though Year 8 students can choose either French or Japanese on the form, they should select the language they are currently studying.

Languages are completely optional in Year 10, but a Year 10 sequence is a pre-requisite for VCE Language studies.

We encourage you take advantage of the upcoming Parent–Teacher Interviews to make a time to discuss your daughter’s Language options with her language teacher. We’ve put up some posters around the School with links to some more information about studying languages, and you might also be interested in following these links:

Research papers:

Julie Devine

Head of Languages