Languages Update
Year 9 Languages Challenge
The Year 9s took part in the Year 9 Languages Challenge in the last three days of Term 3 and what a challenge it was! The theme was Girls around the World and the quest we set for the girls was to investigate the life of a girl of their own age in another country and reflect on why the girlhood experience in some parts of the world is different to ours here in Australia.
The day started with a keynote address from Diana Paez, an award-winning documentary maker from Colombia who emigrated to Australia ten years ago. Her most acclaimed work is called Nuestras Voces (our voices), and is a documentary about the experiences of Hispanic migrants who arrived in Australia between the 60s and 80s. She inspired the girls with her advice on how to make an engaging story, using voice overs and alternating still images with live footage as well as introducing them to the concepts of A reel and B reel footage and the power of both in documentary making.
We then welcomed four special guests:
- Elnaz Nourizadeh from Iran, owner of Mesopotamia Art Space in Coburg and a ceramicist and sculptor.
- Reveka Hurtado from Venezuela, owner of Papelón a Venezuelan/Colombian cafe in Footscray.
- Alexis Ngunyi, a motivational speaker and student from Kenya
- Omaiha Azeem a student from India.
Over two days, the girls interviewed one of our guests in groups and put together a product showcasing the country and culture of the places their guest came from.
The groups kept a project book about their journey and here are some of their comments:
It was a fun day yesterday. She gave us amazing and interesting activities for us to reflect on our own journeys.
I loved working with my group to brainstorm ideas to ask her.
It was a real pleasure to see how the groups honoured the life and country of their guests in their final presentations on the last day.
We followed the presentations with a session in the kitchen where Reveka taught the girls how to make a traditional Venezuelan and Colombian food called Arepas which are a flat bread made of corn meal and once cooked, are often stuffed with pulled beef, chicken, avocado, cheese or ripe plantain. The girls also got to try fried ripe plantain and a drink called Pabelón in Venezuela which is a drink made from unrefined cane sugar known as panela in Latin America. We finished the program with a movie based on Mexican customs around family and death to round off three fabulous days.
Over three short days the girls learnt about life as a girl growing up in a different part of the world and followed their interests in researching another country. They collaborated and engaged with their groups, sharing their strengths to create a product they could all be truly proud of.
Challenge accepted and done with heart!
Julie Devine
Head of Languages