Connecting to Learning in the DP: Languages (Spanish & French)
Spanish
YEAR 11
Students have been working on various topics centred on the IB theme of Organización Social. They have responded to questions on this theme, such as "¿Qué hay en tu barrio?" (What's in your neighbourhood?), ¿Cómo es tu instituto? (What's your school like?), as well as developing their ability to speak, write and understand Spanish.
More recently, students have been investigating the topic of el mundo laboral (the world of work) where they have used the future tense to describe their post-school plans.
We are currently broaching the very important 'preterite' tense, which will take students’ speaking, writing and comprehension to the next level. Many have made great use of online learning tools such as Education Perfect, Spanish language podcasts and the fantastic app Duolingo to support their learning. ¡Bien hecho todo el mundo! :)
YEAR 12
The Year 12 Spanish class has recently completed their Spanish internal assessment. This being the speaking and listening component of the course, it's often the one that students feel most nervous about. Students this year had more reason to feel apprehensive as lockdowns have reduced their face-to-face class time significantly over the past two years. They worked incredibly hard to overcome this by doing lots of practice orals via zoom and worked diligently from home to practise the structure of the oral. Showing an amazing amount of drive and resilience they, overall, performed exceptionally well and were on par with previous years' results. Despite everything, they are still reaching their potential and working to a high standard, and we couldn't be more proud of them.
Kat Girbau, Ben Paddick & Rob Grundy
teachers of DP Spanish
katherine.girbau@preshil.vic.edu.au
ben.paddick@preshil.vic.edu.au
robert.grundy@preshil.vic.edu.au
French
YEAR 11
In Year 11, our theme Experiences covered some really fun and interesting topics! In our first few weeks we researched sport and followed the French team's success (and failures) at the Olympics. We researched Paris 2024 and the amazing eco initiatives they are using. We also took the time to research and teach each other about the customs, traditions and history of Belgium. A shout out to Poppy for her presentation on the social customs of kisses!
Students have also taken on the enormous task of learning a complicated grammatical feature of French: the subjunctive. At the end of the term, we completed a mock oral assessment on Education Perfect. I am so proud of the Year 11s and their passion and resilience for French during this difficult time. Bon travail!
YEAR 12
Like the Spanish Year 12 students, our French class has recently completed their oral exams, which ended up having to take place online. Every student got through this, in spite of the challenges, with only one five-second Zoom freeze across the whole class! They fielded questions, mostly about the impact of social media on society and issues such as the environment and pollution. Each was given a visual stimulus (similar to the one below of the Eiffel Tower in smog) and had to give their opinion on the topic it represented as well as make a link to francophone culture. Their capacity to be adaptable to the online format and still be successful in their efforts was really impressive, and I felt so proud to be teaching such a resourceful group of students.
As we move into the new term, we will be concentrating our efforts on the skills of reading and writing in preparation for final exams. Bonne chance à tous!
Simone Braid & Rob Grundy
teachers of DP French
simone.braid@preshil.vic.edu.au
robert.grundy@preshil.vic.edu.au