Languages 

It has been an incredibly busy but exciting first half of the year in the Languages department, and we’re ramping up for a jam-packed semester 2, the highlight of which will surely be the arrival of students from our sister school in Bologna! Keep reading to hear the latest from our own students and teachers.

Year 7 Italian

Here at Thornbury High School, we are proud of the fact that our students can start at zero in Year 7 and arrive at fluency in Italian by the end of Year 12. It is always lovely to hear that our students appreciate their Language classes and feel like they are learning every lesson.

At the beginning of the year, I anticipated Italian class to be boring. However, upon discovering that our teacher, Mr Tosi, infused the class with an engaging and enjoyable teaching style, my perception shifted, and I found myself more at ease with Italian. As our lessons went on, I found out to be learning more than I have in primary school. Now I have loved Italian, since our teacher has made teaching so much fun!

Cristina Palomar - 7E

8G Excursion - Discovering the local Italian community

Year 8 students from the Italian Immersion class made the most of this year’s lovely autumn weather, enjoying an excursion in our local area. On the day, students extended their understanding of Italo-Australian culture by meeting Italian business-owners who have migrated to Melbourne and now share their culture (and especially their food!) with the locals.

We arrived via school bus at local Italian restaurant Ari Pizza e Pinsa to participate in a pizza masterclass from the friendly owners. Once settled in, we played a class game of ‘Trova chi…’ (find someone who..), got into groups and waited in anticipation for our group’s turn to make a thick, Roman flatbread called ‘pinsa’. Once our group was called up, we assigned roles for who was going to oil, top and fire the pinsa, with the help of the owners encouraging us along the way. Whilst the pinsa was being cooked, it was a great time for us to chat with our friends, have big discussions and get to know each other better. As other groups’ pinsas were coming out of the oven and being served, the feeling of hunger was intense. However, to save us from starving, the shop owners also brought out pizzas which were delicious! Finally, when our group’s margherita pinsa arrived, we all dug right in and it was amazing! We would’ve eaten more if we could have! Then, to finish off our fantastic lunch, the owners chatted to us about their immigration stories which was an interesting end to the first part of our exciting excursion.    

Claudia McGregor - 8G

After having our pizza we embarked on a massive scavenger hunt that took us around Ivanhoe, asking businesses what they do, what they sell, how much something costs and everything in between. Our teachers had also instructed us not to do the even numbered tasks as a way of seeing if we were listening and paying attention. After roughly 45 minutes of running up and down Ivanhoe’s main street (competitiveness was at its peak), we ended at an ice cream shop called Cosi Duci where we had, you guessed it, ice cream! The owners told us their immigration story about how they came from Sicily, bringing traditional Italian gelato-making techniques with them. After this fun filled excursion, we sadly had to leave and go back to school. The teachers then rounded us all up and we boarded the same bus we came on, coming back just in time for the final bell, ending the day.

Fraser Smith - 8G

Italian Immersion Program - 9G

Year 9 Immersion is a great experience to partake in. Earlier, in Term 1 this year, we had plenty of fun designing our own companies with our peers, with dishes and recipes that they could offer. Later, we had a big party where we all celebrated and got to taste each other’s creations. More recently, in Term 2, we have been learning about how to save our food and reduce our waste that ends up in landfill. From using our community garden to composting food scraps, we can save enough food to feed countries. We have also been learning about the growing fashion industry, and how fast fashion compares to slow fashion. In groups we designed an advertisement entirely in Italian to persuade an audience to contribute to either fast or slow fashion. Overall, 9G has had a great semester so far learning all about the world we live in and how we can work together to maintain it.

Achilles Antonopoulos - 9G

Year 10 Italian

In Year 10 Italian, students have made so much progress, especially with spoken and written Italian. They have reconstructed their own identity in a police interrogation and predicted their friend’s future in oral role-plays, and written intriguing creative stories with jaw-dropping plot-twists. Some students have been so proud of their own learning that they even volunteered to help out younger students by demonstrating how to use the technique of drawing images to recall key information and transfer that to writing paragraphs in Italian from memory.

I enjoyed learning how to create an oral presentation and present it by memorising the script. I feel like this task really benefited me in Italian but also other subjects with memorisation. I am really proud of myself because when the teachers speak in Italian to the class, I find it really easy to understand and I am able to help my friends understand by being able to translate it. Also I have really enjoyed having Alessia (the Italian language assistant) here as she has been really helpful for my learning. I am really grateful for the opportunities I have been given this semester.

Amelia Speairs - 10B

We began the year with ‘Tempo Libero’ (free time). We started our lessons with ‘La Scatola Magica’ (magic box) during which we had to work together as a class to figure out what was in the box by asking questions and guessing in Italian. While writing our scripts for our oral presentation we learnt about different connectives and expressions to enhance our Italian skills. During term two we learnt how to predict the future with cards. After that it was exam time. To relax before the exam we played a few rounds of an Italian card game, ‘Scopa’. Our Italian has improved so much and we have made many memories this semester. Later this year we are hosting Italian students from our sister school in Bologna. I’m so excited to see my host sister again after so many months apart. I would like to personally say grazie (thank you) to Prof Borg for an amazing time in Italian this year.

Dana Tingwell - 10E

Sister School Visit

Exciting times ahead! 

We do have a sister school in Italy and for the first time a party of 18 students and an accompanying teacher is going to visit Australia and stay with our lovely community from Tuesday 23rd July until Friday 8th August. The visiting party will be hosted by our Italian senior students’ families, towards which our school is profoundly grateful! Grazie!

Both visiting and hosting students will be involved in many activities, excursions and also will contribute to our school life by running and participating in presentations and Italian conversation sessions. 

Let’s show our Italian sisters and brothers our wonderful welcoming warmth! I am looking forward to thrilling times!

Max Tosi

VCE

This semester in Year 12 Italian class has been, as always, chaotic and unpredictable but fun and exciting. We focused on learning about Italian culture more deeply and Italian traditions, social norms and mentality. We were able to interview people in Italy via zoom that were experts in the Italian sense of aesthetics, food and architecture. All these aspects make up a central Italian concept ‘senso della misura’ which means aiming for balance and harmony in every situation. While the content has been dense and interesting, every lesson is lightened by songs, dances, food (il famoso tiramisù di Alessia!) and Quizlets, which we take VERY seriously and competitively.

Sophie Grant - 12G