LANGUAGES
ANOTHER IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCE OF MCKINNON LANGUAGE STUDENTS
In the Victorian Language Perfect Championships from 31 August to 7 September 2015, McKinnon Secondary College achieved the 4th place out of 184 schools!
- Students answered 306,764 questions
- McKinnon Secondary College Score: 113,417 points
Congratulations to all students involved on this fantastic achievement and prices will be awarded to the top students!
Phoebe Dunn achieved the first place in German having competed against about 2500 students and James Hardy achieved an incredible result with his 4th place competing against more than 6800 participants in French.
In Japanese, Nao Nakamura has to be congratulated on the 1st place with 3100 students enrolled in this competition, and Amy Zhao and Wenjing Sun achieved the 2nd and 3rd place in Chinese with around 1650 students in Victoria competing against them.
FRENCH EXCHANGE INFORMATION MEETING
An information session was held for Year 9 students and parents on Monday 14 September. Ms Dickson and Mr Hubert explained how the French exchange is run during Year 10. A prerequisite is to attend Year 10 French and express interest.
If you are interested in this program and missed the information session, please contact the exchange coordinators by email or go to the French exchange pages on the school intranet.
Application forms and deposit of $200 to the Bursar are due by Friday 20 November 2015.
Andrea Fowler
Head of Languages
WHY LEARN GERMAN, WHEN EUROPE IS SO FAR AWAY?
From 10 September until 12 September, the Year 11 German students spent three days in South Australia researching early German migration and Australia’s ties with the European powerhouse.
An early start on Thursday saw 15 McKinnon students board the short flight to Adelaide. As soon as they touched down in South Australia our action packed itinerary began. They caught the bus to Hahndorf, a relic of the German towns that used to be a feature of South Australia in the 19th Century. Students scavenged away through their research booklets, taking as much in as possible from their surroundings, including an exorbitant amount of traditional German food.
This set the scene for the remaining two days: bussing through the Adelaide hills and taking in the German migration history. Highlights included: the Cedars estate, originally the home of Hans Heyson, a German-born artist famous for his paintings of gum trees; ‘Kegeln’, 9-pin bowling; meeting David Herbig, a relation of the early German settlers; the Maritime Museum in Port Adelaide, a great exhibition of the migration experience in the 19th Century; and dinner in the ‘Kneipe’ (Pub) on the final evening.
Beyond the history, this was also an opportunity to celebrate the language learning journey of our Year 11 students and build a really strong culture within the group leading into Year 12. Their persistence and curiosity in their language learning ensured that the trip was a tremendously valuable experience.
Joshua Kamener
German Teacher