Languages Week 2024

“Festa in Piazza” – Languages Week at Mazenod College 2024

After a week of in-class and interschool Language Competitions running in Year 7 to Year 9 Italian classes, the Language Week celebrations finished with a whole school lunchtime festival to celebrate the appreciation and commitment to learning languages at Mazenod College. Congratulations to the Year 9s on their second-place finish against St Brigids, Aquinas, Trinity and Santa Maria Colleges. The top Year 7 and Year 8 classes were rewarded by celebrating with a class pizza party, and the top students received certificates ranging from Bronze to Gold for their efforts.

What began in 2023 as a lunchtime celebration of gelato, cannoli and the traditional sounds of the piano accordion, in 2024 expanded to include other aspects of Italian culture. Recognising the contributions that a culture encompasses as part of its identity allows learners to find relevance in language learning, thereby embracing all facets of the culture.

At Mazenod College, students learn Italian as a second language, building skills, confidence and knowledge both linguistically and culturally. When we can’t travel to practice the language, we bring the culture to us for inspiration! This idea led to the creation of a celebration featuring food, music, dancing, and the renowned contributions of the Italian car industry. We named the event “Festa in Piazza”, reflecting another facet of the Italian culture; the town square (Piazza) as a meeting place. Ferraris, Fiats, Alfa Romeos, Abarths, and many others transformed part of our school into a showcase of culture through the world of automobiles! 

The gelato was a hit as always, with many students tasting Chinotto for the first time. The abundance of cannoli was hard to resist, topped off by the wafting scent of un caffe’ or una cioccolata calda from the Mazenod UBean Coffee Cart. Others immersed themselves in character while visiting our own “Venezia.” The sounds of the piano accordion, played by the talented Mr Graham alongside Mr Accordion Man, filtered through the festivities. Seeing the students embrace the event and participate, showing maturity while getting lost in the wonder and awe of another world, was rewarding and truly wonderful to witness.

Bravissimi studenti… until 2025!

Professoressa Raschella