English/Literacy

Year 12 English Tuition Program 

This year, eighteen of our Year 12 students are participating in a Year 12 English Tutoring program, with sessions running every week. This program is led by Dylan McIntyre, a past Lyndale Secondary College graduate who achieved a perfect score of 50 in VCE English in 2020. 

These tutoring sessions involve working closely with students in small groups to deepen their understanding of their English texts in preparation for their exams.  With one semester completed, the students involved have already enjoyed “extreme benefit” from the program. 

Here’s what some of these students have said about the program:

“It acts as a second resource separate from my class. I can access a different perspective or interpretation on things and receive more directed feedback and support that I might not get in class”

“It’s nice to be able to collaborate with students from different classes and have Dylan’s input as a past student”

“It has helped me to develop my skills in more areas and perform better on my SACs”

A survey completed by the tuition students recently shows how valuable this opportunity has been for these students. 

Avid Readers Principals’ Morning Tea Celebration 

This semester of college TOP READERS were invited to have morning tea with the principals and their English teacher.  This was an opportunity for these avid readers to meet each other and talk about some of the books they have read this year. These readers are also invited to join our Reading Ambassadors club, a group who are responsible for choosing many of the books housed in our library.  Our annual excursion to Readings Books Store in Carlton with the Reading Ambassadors is an event we all look forward to each year. 

Debating News

This year 2 Lyndale teams are participating in the DAV (Debating Association of Victoria) Schools Competition.  With one round to go in August, both teams have done extremely well.  Both our Grade B and Grade C teams are 3rd on the ladder at the moment.  

Here is what some of the debaters have said about their debating experiences this year:

"What have you got out of your debating experience?"

Learning how to think on my feet, publicly speak and work under pressure in a team 

– Danya Daoud

Bit more polished public speaking ability and confidence. Also improving my ability to keep a cool head under pressure 

–Ibraham Rifaie

My ability to think on my feet has improved to a point where I don't get nervous anymore when presenting in front of people. It's useful not only in a public speaking context, but even when you need to break down and explain a concept to someone in class or when you're having a discussion about current issues. 

– Ciya Joseph 

I feel like I’m a lot more comfortable with public speaking, specifically in a conversational manner where you must think on your feet. Debating also improved my resilience because even if I messed up my whole speech, rather than being embarrassed, it would actually make me more excited to debate again because I'm determined to do better the next round. 

– Haleemah Illyas

We would like to thank Ms Graham, Mr Hollingworth and Mrs Ioannou-Booth for supporting our debaters and attending the evening competitions at Haileybury College. 

Kalli Ioannou - Booth

Director of Whole School Literacy

Debating Lesson

Students in 7C English ‘down’ their books and pens to take part in some critical thinking. Here students have just considered what’s happening in the News and are preparing for a parliamentary style debate where they will represent an imaginary electorate and argue their case for an area of change in society. The lesson’s learning intention is to consider the most effective ways to reason and challenge a point of view.  

Polly Poon

English Domain Coordinator

A Memoir By Akshaj Mathur 7C

Moving 

The door opened with a creak and I stepped over the threshold.

Cold air bristled my skin.

My stomach dropped. 

Back then, none of these feelings made any sense to me. This was a place I was supposed to be comfortable with, a place that I’d seen a million times. I’d been waiting for this moment for so long, but now it all felt unnecessary. 

We didn’t need a new home.

This place smelt of white paint and freshly ground concrete, more like a construction site than a house. The living area was the size of a ballroom, and the bedrooms were the size of cupboards. I could barely fit myself in there, much less a bed. Everything was cold. The walls, the floors, even the carpets. There was no life. This ‘house’ was nothing but a dead shell, masquerading as our dream home. And I could see straight through the lies.

Our old home never lied. It had nothing to hide, in its small, cosy structure, its old orange lights flooding it with buttery warmth. It was always buzzing with the noise of the kitchen stove and it tended to give off the faint smell of precisely the food you needed at the time. Cool ice cream after a hot day and spicy noodles after a bad one. Our old home was filled with all of our old memories, the good and the bad. It had been my home for my entire life, all I’d ever known. 

And now they were telling me to leave it  - behind.

I looked to my family for help, expecting to see the same loss in their eyes. But what I saw instead was strange. It wasn’t regret, or emptiness … but joy. In this scary new place, they were laughing the same laughs as before. They were smiling the same smiles. They were looking at me the same loving way. As they praised the house and explored it, I realised that maybe I could give this house a chance. Because yes, this was a change, a big one at that, but I wasn’t doing this alone.

I know just how hard moving houses can be, though, looking back, I’m glad I gave this new place a chance. With my family supporting me through. 

ABC'S TAKEOVER MELBOURNE WRITING COURSE

Lyndale students from the year 8 and 9 SEAL program were given an opportunity to complete a writing course with producers from the ABC’s Takeover Melbourne. Takeover Melbourne is an exciting competition from the ABC that calls for stories from high school aged students from Melbourne. 

To enter students have been asked to enter true stories about themselves and what it’s like to grow up in Melbourne. Stories for this competition could be about anything they wish to share about themselves from their journey to Australia, personal challenges they have needed to overcome, interesting and unusual hobbies or personal tragedies that have made them stronger – the only stipulation was that it needed to be true. 

To support the writing of their true stories a producer from the ABC and the Takeover Melbourne team visited our school on the 7th of April and ran a writing workshop – this helped our students to begin developing their ideas for the competition. With the entries closing at the end of June we look forward to seeing the completed stories and hope that one of our pupils will be a winner of the competition. Winners will get to work with ABC producers to have their story featured on the ABC, get a look behind the scenes at the ABC, have the chance to meet a bunch of interesting people and learn about how to make change in their community.

Matthew White

English Teacher