Curriculum & Pedagogy

Year 7 EAL

This term, Year 7s have been busy drafting and finalising their Oral Cultural Story CATs towards a final presentation in Week 6. Tasked with investigating a well-told story from family/community, students were required to sit with their narrator, listen attentively and capture in writing what they discovered. 

Where stories were hard to come by, students returned with family anecdotes; some were old, while other stories were more recent.  

Returning to class, students then used the narrative arc to explore each element to identify places in the arc where they could elaborate, and if needed, extend their story. Using the power of conjunction words and a healthy kit of relative pronouns, students endeavoured to include some longer, more complex and more meaningful sentences in their writing. 

Year 11 EAL

Year 11 students delivered excellent persuasive speeches two weeks ago about various relevant topics, including the growing concerns of teenage vaping, plastic pollution and attaining provisional license at 17 like other Australian states. The students performed so well despite their initial anxieties of giving a formal speech in a language that is not their first, in front of their classmates. It was great to see the passion for their chosen topics and to see them overcome their fears of public speaking. For many of them, it was their first speech ever!

Megan Dixon 

CALD Leader