Languages Domain

In this newsletter edition, I would like to highlight a few noteworthy extra-curricular events that happened over the course of Term 3. 

Year 8 German Queen Victoria Market Excursion 

In Week 4 all Year 8 German students headed to Queen Victoria Market to explore different foods from German-speaking countries. Students were also asked to reflect on and to appreciate the contributions different migrant groups have made on the amazing variety of foods on offer at the market. In class discussions, teachers illustrated the strong link between identity, culture and food and students shared their personal connections to traditional foods in their families. Students were encouraged to try different foods at the market, and some students willingly embraced the German Bratwurst with Sauerkraut. 

German Regional Poetry Competition 

The German Poetry Competition has been a long-standing event amongst schools teaching German, and in the past Box Hill High School has achieved numerous wins both in regional as well as state finals. Unfortunately, during COVID many competitions including the poetry competition had to be cancelled. It has not been easy to reinstate some of these events. Thus, we are proud to have hosted the first Regional Poetry Competition for Years 7 to 9 in the North East region at BHHS on 9 August with participants from BHHS, Mount Waverly Secondary College and Caulfield Grammar School. I would like to thank Tanishi Sharma (9E) and Ananya Seth (9F) for representing BHHS at the competition and Mr Smith for organising the event. We are excited that the German Poetry Competition has been reinstated in our region and look forward to increasing numbers of German students participating in the event in future years. 

PASCH FIFA Womens World Cup Competition 

I think it is fair to say that many Australians were caught up in the ‘soccer fever’ that the ‘Matildas’ and the 2023 FIFA Womens World Cup created over the past few weeks. As a PASCH school we were fortunate to be given the opportunity to participate in an exclusive competition to win tickets to the game between Germany and Morocco on the 24 July. Congratulations to Jimmi Kloot who won two tickets for creating a fantastic chant for the ‘Matildas’. Please read Jimmi’s report of his experience below. 

'I first heard about this competition in late June from a teams post from my German teacher, Ms Kuhn. It turned out that you had to make a video chant in German about your favourite team, cheering them on. I thought I’d give it a go. The next day I came up with a basic script with what I wanted to say, with some of the key words on website like ‘tor’ (ball) and ‘Gewinnerinnen’ (champions). Then I took it to my German teacher who helped me get it grammatically correct. Then in the holidays I recorded my chant and sent it in. A few weeks past and then a woman from the Goethe Institute emailed me telling me I’d won. I had to set up an account on the FIFA world cup ticketing app and she’d send me the tickets. So, I set up the account, the tickets arrived and on Monday the 24th of July, my dad and I caught a train into the city and walked to AAMI Park. We found out that our seats were in the German section, behind the goal and we got given a massive German flag at our seats. Then we luckily watched Germany’s rather convincing win, they beat Morocco 6 – 0, which was quite entertaining. So now I have a gigantic German flag in my room which I don’t know what to do with, but overall, it was a great experience. Thank you to the Goethe Institute for the tickets and to my teacher, Ms Kuhn, for telling me about the event'. 

Jimi Kloot, Year 8

Hang on to your flag, Jimmi! You never know where your language skills might take you and what doors they might open for you. 

By Jana Kühn

Languages Domain Leader